World in celebration:
Tiger Woods returns
AKRON, Ohio – Congress has stopped short of the abyss and dodged the national default. The Syrians are slaughtering their own. Somalia is starving. Unemployment is up, the Dow is down. Even so, all is well in the world.Tiger is back.
Rejoice.
In TV central, the needles flutter, hearts flutter, knees turn to butter.
Tiger Woods is back.
“We need him out here,” said Brandt Snedeker, winner of The Heritage in April. Or as he put it more precisely: “…just from the sheer publicity standpoint, the fans and TV coverage.”
For all of his personal problems, of his own making, Woods remains a marvel. Golf has been sagging for many a year, even through his incandescent pre-fire hydrant years. But the playing of golf, all through the country, has been no better than flat, and mostly down. Equipment sales have been way off. Most important, golf’s TV ratings have pretty much bled out, except when Woods is playing, and without him, TV gets the shakes. It’s TV’s desperate circular equation: Poor viewership equals poor ratings equals shrinking advertising.
It was last Thursday that Woods announced he would play in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone this week. He was returning from an 11-week layoff from his latest injuries, the ones to his left Achilles tendon and his left knee, celebrated for the surgery repair of 2008. He suffered them at the Masters in April, tried to play in The Players Championship a few weeks later, and withdrew after shooting 42 on his first nine holes.
He no sooner said he was returning at the Bridgestone than the media room at Firestone Country Club filled to the gunwales with media folk from around the world, bringing the attendance to 367, and guaranteeing that whatever else happens in this $8.5 million tournament, the viewers will have a steady diet of Tiger Woods.
He has pronounced himself healed of his knee and Achilles problems. “The great thing is, I don’t feel a thing,” Woods said. “It feels solid, it feels stable – no pain. It feels good to go out there today and hit balls like this, go practice and feel nothing and walk around and pretty much do anything I want on the golf course.”
It will be a somewhat new Tiger Woods who takes to the course in the first round Thursday. Most noticeable will be the presence of a goatee and the absence of Stevie. Woods’ latest firing was that of New Zealander Steve Williams, his caddie through 12 years, 13 majors and $88 million in winnings (of which Williams got at least 10 percent). Woods hired Williams to replace his first caddie, Fluff Cowan, whom he fired in 1999. Williams probably generated little sympathy, guard dog that he was, assertive toward fans he considered offensive. He was especially reactive to fans with cameras. He grabbed one and threw it into a pond. Another time, he grabbed a camera. Oops – the fan happened to be an off-duty cop.
It is widely believed that Williams earned Woods’ displeasure when, during the boss’ most recent recuperation, he caddied for Adam Scott a second time, but this time without permission.
“I thought it was time for a change,” Woods said, having most recently used Williams 11 weeks earlier. “Stevie is a hell of a caddie. He’s helped my career, and I think I’ve helped his as well. I felt very comfortable with the move.”
If Williams did help his career – reading putts, judging wind and clubs and the like – then the change could be significant here. Woods has won seven times at Firestone with Williams carrying his bag. Woods will have an old pal carry here, as a fill-in. The fill-in is Bryon Bell, an old pal, who also works for Woods. Of course, handicappers looking for an edge will have to flip a coin on this one. First, how will Woods do without his old sidekick to outwit the muscular old course? Second, with seven victories here, what’s to have to outwit? Woods should know the place better than his own driveway.
If the drama of Tiger Woods returning weren’t enough, then someone missed a great chance at superb theater. Steve Williams is caddieing for Scott here, and Fluff Cowan is caddieing for Jim Furyk, and whoever makes the pairings blew the chance to put either one in the twosome with Woods and one of his ex-caddies.
When Woods decided to come back from the first of his misfortunes – that long layoff from the problems with marital infidelities – he chose the Masters. It was generally believed he picked the Masters because he knew the course so well and because the media would not dare to hold a circus with the emphasis on decorum there. Now, with this return, speculation holds that there are three reasons. One is that it would be a warm-up for next week’s PGA Championship, and he does so want to get back to chasing Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors.
Leave it to England’s Lee Westwood to sum up the other two. Bluntly.
One, Woods has done so nicely at Firestone. And two, he’s not in danger of missing the cut. This is a no-cut tournament.
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