This fairly innocuous and not particualrly revelatory comment from Steve Williams to PGATour.com's Brian Wacker has turned into major news here at the Open Championship:
The one part of Tiger’s game this year that has been very sub-standard is his putting. He hasn’t putted well in any of his events. The key to playing well at St. Andrews is putting. The greens are very generous so you don’t miss that many greens.
A couple of reactions to Tiger's press conference were worth noting, starting with ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski.
But once, just once, I'd like for Woods to walk into the interview room, dial down the defense shields and, when asked the inevitable question about the post-scandal Tiger, say something like: "I'm not asking for sympathy; I don't deserve that. But I'm hurting. And it's hard to play golf -- it's hard to do anything -- when your life is upside down, when you realize the impact of your actions. You guys want to take your shots? Fair enough. But this is real life, with real people. If any of you have ever had marital problems, you know what I'm talking about. It's hard and I'm just trying to put my life -- and the life of my kids -- back together. You don't have to respect me. All I'm asking is that you respect what I'm trying to do. Deal?"
But this was also a fair point:
To his credit, at least he showed up for the news conference. He's shown up for every news conference since his return -- pretournament sessions, postround sessions (with the lone exception of stiffing the media one day at The Memorial). And he's done it even when he wasn't in contention for one of the tournaments. He might not have said much, but unlike some big league ballplayers, he didn't go hide in the trainer's room.
Steve Elling wrote this about the putter change:
For those who have watched Woods over the years, and know his reverential attachment to the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 model he has used since mid-1999, he might as well have said he intended to swim back to Orlando when the tournament ends. He calls it his "gamer" and it is unquestionably the most valuable piece of sports merchandise on the planet.
Get ready to spit out your oatmeal, but he's won $87.5 million in official PGA Tour money with the putter. Plus all but eight of his 71 U.S. wins and 13 of his 14 Grand Slam titles.
"So, you're saying it might be worth something on EBay?" his agent, Mark Steinberg cracked.