The Lack Of Reps Mystery

John Strege notes Tiger's insistence that he just needs reps and yet won't be playing competitive golf again for several weeks.

Yet he now goes back into hiding, confirming on Sunday that he won't play again until the Australian Open on Nov. 10.

"It's a shame we're not seeing him play his way out of it," Golf Channel's Frank Nobilo said on Sunday's telecast. "There were signs this week."

We're not privy to his schedule away from tournament golf; he might have family and corporate commitments. Still, it would have behooved him to play at least another tournament in the run-up to the Presidents Cup, as well as to restore his own faith in his game.

After watching Tiger walk the first 36 and seeing how gingerly he strolls the fairways, I have to believe that he can't play more often not because of day care duty, but because his knees won't allow it. When the cold front moved through Thursday, the walking grew noticeably more ginger.

Then again, playing the Las Vegas event would have been wiser if his knees are that sensitive: warmer weather, flatter terrain. But Frys.com no longer sponsors that one.

Update on Monday, October 10, 2011 at 10:15 PM by Geoff

**Robert Lusetich is also having trouble with the lack of reps.

Yet, next week, the final event of the PGA Tour season — the Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disneyworld — will be played near Woods’ old backyard in Orlando, Fla.

Why wouldn’t he try to build on what he did here and tee it up in an event he’s won twice before?
“I can’t,” Woods said, “I have family obligations.”

Don’t we all?

Woods has a strict schedule when it comes to the custody of his two young children. And he certainly doesn’t want to do anything to endanger the child-sharing agreement he has with his ex-wife, Elin Nordegren.

But surely he could find the time to play a golf tournament in Orlando?

He is, after all, earning his living.

The Case For CordeValle

I penned a Golf World Monday item making the case for the Frys.com Open staying at CordeValle Resort. It's under contract for one more year before a hoped-for move to The Institute, the ultra-private course developed by the Frys.

By no means is CordeValle an architectural masterpiece. It's overbuilt and the bunkers are proportioned terribly, but it does have a couple of really nice par-3s and the 17th is fun. The site might make my top-ten all time great site opportunities blown, but the resort has a great vibe, excellent conditioning by Tom Gray and based on player reviews of The Institute, keeps the focus on the players.

Based on the players I talked to, The Institute has the chance of becoming a west coast Liberty National. The players would initially be wowed by conditioning, aesthetics and experience, but when they actually have to play an event on it, they will not be kind.

Wrapping Up The Tiger-Frys.com Open Courtship

I'm guessing we'll soon learn of Tiger Woods becoming part of the Frys family, but in the meantime I penned Golf World Monday's Big Read on Tiger's appearance, his game and how it was a great week for both parties despite the hot dog incident and not contending.

You don't have to be a Golf World subscriber to read all 950 or so words.

Daily Telegraph Shows The Tiger Hot Dog Incident

Thanks to reader Chris. While the story posting photos and video has fun with it, you can see the seriousness of what this could have been by the urgency of Joe LaCava's Atwal caddie Laddie Cline's reaction.

And nice work by security to get on him quickly though I'd like the knee to the back to have been a little nastier.

Now if we could just find out the name of this loser so that it comes up in Google searches for the rest of his life...

Update on Monday, October 10, 2011 at 09:18 AM by Geoff

**And the video is down at 12:15 ET!

Update on Monday, October 10, 2011 at 09:44 AM by Geoff

**Deadspin still has the video up.

Bryce And Briny Show Ends With Bryce Turning Into A World Class Curler

It was one of the great finishes of 2011, with CordeValle's driveable 17th adding to last year's mystique. But as thrilling as the Frys.com Open six-hole playoff was, I just can't get very excited about Bryce Molder's win over Briny Baird after watching Molder pat down the line of his sixth-playoff hole winning putt.

Before you send your hate mail, understand I'm well aware that there are ballmarks on the PGA Tour and he's entitled to fix them, but anyone watching live who is not Molder's instructor, immediate family or Chairman of the Briny Baird Hate Club, winced at the sight of him turning into a curler, patting a large area and not (at least while cameras were on him) having been seen using a handtool to fix a mark.

Some who watched live saw no foul, others laughed out loud at the audacity of the act. But, we can't watch a replay so you'll have to picture a young man with a short putt to win a golf tournament using his nice big putter head to pat down a ballmark the size of a cereal bowl!

You can also watch a Golf Channel replay at 8 a.m. PT, 11 a.m. ET Monday, according to listings.

There you have it. Bryce Molder wins. Jeff Rude has the details.

Here are the highlights from ESPN, which include talk of the Tiger fan incident:

Tiger Ducks Crazy Fan; Golf Channel Protects The Guilty Hooligan

Steve Elling documents what could have been a tragic incident Sunday at the Frys.com Open when a loser of epic proportions hurled a hot dog at Tiger and ran onto the field of play, only to be corralled by security.

The guy got a nice side salad of poa annua grass for his trouble. After he ran onto the green, the large security contingent assigned to Woods -- a mix of PGA Tour personnel, sheriff's deputies and Frys employees -- ordered him to stop.

The man immediately put his hands over his head and lay down with his face planted on the putting green. He was cuffed and hauled off.

Sgt. Jose Cardoza of the Santa Clara Sheriff's Department said the man, 31, admitted he'd had a drink earlier in the day, but wasn't drunk or on drugs. He was taken off the course, cited with a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace, and released, Cardoza said.

Because he wasn't formally arrested, his name was not released -- which means the whole apparent publicity stunt backfired. Cardoza said the man was repeatedly asked why he did it, and mostly just shook his head.

"He didn’t kind of elaborate or tell us why," Cardoza said.

As you would imagine for a channel that (proudly) airs a Donald Trump reality show, the Golf Channel's instinctual reaction to not show the holligan's act and ensuing detainment by security was a mistake.

Rich Lerner said this of Golf Channel's decision to not air the incident:

"Golf channel cameras were rolling on the scene but it was determined that the footage would not be shown in order not to encourage attention seekers."

I'm of the opposite view: show the attention seekers, right down to getting tackled and cuffed. Make sure their faces get some air time so that these human fleas of society are humiliated to the point that no one in their right mind would ever do such a thing or hire such a heathen.

I know, wishful thinking.

Reader Tim noted that AP and Getty Images have not posted images of the incident.

Update on Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 08:59 PM by Geoff

**Jeff Rude is high on Tiger's first appearance since the PGA and so were his playing partners Sunday:

Woods started the day nine strokes off the lead, tied for 38th at 4 under. But he birdied four of the first six holes and quickly climbed into a tie for ninth, five strokes behind 54-hole leader Briny Baird, who hadn’t teed off yet. Starting on the back nine, Woods converted from 12 feet at 10, his first hole, then birdied Nos. 12 and 14-15 inside of 6 feet.

“How good was that?” Atwal gushed. “He’s close. It’s just a matter of playing a little more. But the first seven holes, he looked awesome.”

The third member of the group didn’t disagree.

“Mentally, he looked like he was in the game again,” Rod Pampling said.

But it still appears that Tiger needs to just play more, yet Bob Harig notes, that's not happening.

Now what? Woods continues to say that playing more will help, but he is not adding either of the two remaining Fall Series events, this week's McGladrey Classic nor the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Disney World -- a tournament he has won twice.

Only once this year has he played in consecutive weeks, and that came in August at the Bridgestone and PGA Championship, tournaments for which he had very little time to prepare.

Until he gets into a competitive flow of tournaments, it is hard to judge him, good or bad, from just one week. Finishing 30th against a weak field isn't very good, but a top-five finish would not have necessarily suggested he's got all his problems solved, either.

Rickie Wins And Here's Why Few Will Get Excited About It...

Rickie Fowler is an exciting player, fan friendly and really a nice guy by all accounts. Everyone wants him to do well.

But if you think winning the on the less-than-huge OneAsia Tour in the Korea Open is the reason you won't see much enthusiasm over his win, think again.

Nothing against Korean golf, because a win is a win especially when Rory McIlroy is in the hunt, but Rickie pulled a big no-no this week taking appearance money instead of playing in a tournament--the Frys.com Open--that gave him a huge confidence-building opportunity.

How do I know the Frys.com Open was a huge confidence booster for his career? Why, I read it!

From the USA Today a year ago:

"The Fall Series was a big part of me getting started on the tour. It gave me the confidence."

The colorful 21-year-old Fowler followed his impressive performance last season by finishing second twice this season, climbing to No. 33 in the rankings.

"That was my second tournament and I have to thank Frys for giving me the spot," Fowler said. "It gave me the confidence to go to Q-School, get my card and run around the tour in 2010."

And you repay them by chasing the easy money overseas. Quadruple bogey.

2011 Frys.com Open Final Round Thread

Tiger's making a nice front-nine move Sunday while Briny Baird tries to record his first win while holding off resurgent veterans Paul Casey and Ernie Els along with someone named Adam Hadwin. Should be fun! A special prize goes to the first person to post the most absurd example of Kelly Tilghman cheering Tiger on.

Tiger On Saturday: "I was really close to putting it together"

Doug Ferguson on Tiger's third round 68 that sounded identical to his second round.

You can see the highlights here courtesy of ESPN:

Bob Harig confirms the similarity to Friday's round, not necessarily a bad thing since that round showed glimmers of hope.

By the time Saturday's action was over, Woods was tied for 38th and nine shots behind Briny Baird. Baird, seeking his first PGA Tour victory in 12 years on tour, shot a 3-under 68 on Saturday for a two-stroke lead over Els and Paul Casey.

"I was really close to putting it together," Woods said, noting that he let good birdie chances at the 17th and 18th holes slip by before birdies on one and two. "It's getting better. It's getting better. I'm improving day by day, which is good. Obviously tomorrow I need to improve a lot and make the putts and post a really low one tomorrow."

Jeff Rude says Woods is "making progress under Sean Foley."

For the second day in a row, Woods hit 14 greens in regulation, as well as six fairways, and putted well. He has made 11 birdies in the past two rounds, including five Saturday.

The unusual part of the growing pains is this habit of missing shots left of his target with the retooled swing. His mandate to former coach Hank Haney was to give instruction that would take left out at all costs; hence, his misses went right.

So this left-rough business is a different deal, one that would seem to be Needed Fix No. 1.
Why left?

“The body starts rotating, and obviously the hands chase,” Woods said. “So if I keep the body rotating, then I’ll be fine.”

Steve Elling points out that Tiger ended up playing just behind the leaders during their front nine play and they couldn't help themselves.

Buried in the middle of the pack, Woods was in the first group off the 10th tee, which meant he played his last nine holes of the third round directly behind the trio of leaders. Curious as the rest of the planet as to how Woods was playing, Ernie Els and Paul Casey took more than a few looks backwards as Woods hit shots into certain holes.

"What does that say?" Casey said, squinting to read a distant leaderboard. "Four under? Not bad."

And in case you were wondering, Tiger did make it to the Stanford game according to the school's tweet. He even made it into the locker room at halftime.

Reviews Of Tiger's Second Round In NorCal

Mark Lamport-Stokes reports on a resurgent and healthy Paul Casey taking the 36-hole lead at the Frys.com Open while I'm not proud to say I didn't watch a single hole of his while on assignment tracking Tiger for GolfDigest.com.

Here's my final take from CordeValle on Tiger, who's showing signs of progress.

And the gang who followed Tiger, with more positive reviews of round 2: Steve Elling, Bob Harig, Ryan Ballengee, Robert Lusetich and finally, Jeff Rude, who included this from instructor Sean Foley:

For his part, Foley said Woods’ swing still wasn’t fully reflective of what they’ve been working on for 14 months.

“Half of his swings were the way I want it and half were a hybrid of what he used to do,” Foley said.

The coach said the intention is for Woods to take half the course out of play, preferrably the left side.

“We want to cut it, but properly, not a blocky, wipey cut,” Foley said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. You need competition. This shows that under the gun he needs work.”

Tiger's Not-Triumphant Return, The Reviews

The less-than-positive takes here do not reflect the opinions of Kelly Tilghman--Official Team Tiger member--who, according to several readers, was making excuses for Tiger the entire Frys.com Open telecast Thursday, including the suggestion that caring for the children gets in the way of several tournaments and his game.

Actually, who am I to speak since I filed one of the more positive takes on Tiger's opening 73?

Robert Lusetich, not so positive.

Maybe Tiger Woods will be back, as he believes -- or at least says he believes -- and one day will break the record he's dreamed of since he was a boy: Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors.

But after a shambolic opening-round two-over par 73 at the Frys.com Open -- where he played alongside a 19-year-old college kid, Patrick Cantlay, who comfortably beat him by four strokes -- has that day ever seemed so far away?

Brian Wacker took the Tiger v. Cantlay route. Also, not so positive.

If this were a football game, it would have been over at halftime, only with the unexpected outcome of UCLA over Stanford.

Steve Elling, also not wild about the performance.

There was plenty to rubber-neck about Thursday, when Woods' latest comeback was marked by so many sloppy shots and skids, it looked more like a crash on U.S. 101, the busy highway located just a mile or so down the hill.

Bob Harig, agreed with Tiger's assessment of Tiger's round.

It is no secret that the magic on the greens is missing and has been for some time.

That was evident again Thursday during the first round of the Frys.com Open at CordeValle Golf Club, where Woods walked off most of the slow, rain-soaked greens frustrated and shot a 2-over 73 that left him six strokes back of leaders Briny Baird and Brendan Steele.

It was a disappointing return to competitive golf for Woods, 35, whose year has been derailed by injuries and inactivity and who is going on two years without a victory.

Alan Shipnuck for golf.com, also saw nothing new from Tiger.

The return to glory will have to wait for at least one more day.

Jeff Rude, also sounding like he's not seeing anything new from Tiger.

We used to count Tiger Woods’ victories, birdies and wow moments. We used to marvel at his recurring brilliance. We used to make sure we never took our eyes off of him for fear of missing something remarkable.

We still are compelled to watch – but to see if he can recapture form. We still count – but different things such as bunkers found and short putts missed. And we’re still amazed – but because he remains stuck in the mode of just another guy.

Ron Kroichick says the glory days just do not feel like they are coming back.

Set aside the fixation with his changes under swing coach Sean Foley. No matter how much Woods tinkers with his full swing, no matter when he finally figures out his new move, he will remain mired in mediocrity if he putts like an ordinary tour pro.

That's what separated Woods from his peers. At his peak, when he steamed to victory after lopsided victory, he made practically every putt he needed. He never seemed to miss inside 10 feet.

A Fun Touch At The Frys.com Open

You know I'm a sucker for the little things that enhance the fan experience, so I have to note the poles embedded in the ground to allow the standard-bearers a break while placing the group scores so that the numbers are visible to fans. Credit tournament director Duke Butler for this nice touch.