Tiger's Frys.com Presser Roundup

Yet another Tiger press conference, another comeback and plenty of takes on his performance as he prepares to tee off in the Frys.com Open (I'll be tweeting from the course...you've been warned.)

My take on Wednesday's presser and what this week means in the Tiger era.

GolfDigest.com's slideshow of Tigerisms included a few that were repeated Wednesday.

Doug Ferguson noted this about one of Tiger's playing partners Thursday.

He will play the opening two rounds with UCLA sophomore Patrick Cantlay, the low amateur at the U.S. Open who shot a 60 at the Travelers Championship a week later and was leading going into the weekend.

Cantlay at least met Woods on Tuesday when they played together in an outing at The Institute, the course where Fry's Electronics wants to eventually take its tournament.

''He was real cordial and real nice, and we joked around a little bit out there and had a good time,'' Cantlay said.

Steve DiMeglio sums up the highlights (it's the reps!) and notes this impact Tiger has had on the tournament:

And this is the first start for Woods in a Fall Series event, which has triggered an energetic response in this neck of the Golden State. Ticket sales are expected to more than double from 30,000 last year to 70,000. Media credentials tripled — from 100 to 300. Other increases included those in parking spaces (doubled), shuttle buses, security and corporate packages. And advertising and marketing — giant billboards featuring defending champion Rocco Mediate and Woods are towering over nearby Interstate 101 — were bumped significantly.

Steve Elling says with Tiger's pronouncements Wednesday, the expectations are high for round one.

But now that he pronounced himself healthier than he's been in years, and had time to dial in his game with eight to 10 hours of daily work, we should get a telling glimpse this week into whether he's still got the goods.

"Basically the lead leg is better than it's been at least three years," Foley said. "What he's able to do is put the reps in. People go, 'Oh the reps thing again.' Listen to any human-motion expert. The reps is the reps.

"When you have so many starts and stops because you're injured and there is a lack of continuity, it's very easy for the brain to go back to its most familiar pattern. There's no way around that."

Bob Harig is not sure the "reps" will translate to the golf course.

Whether that translates to tournament golf is another matter. Woods will never relent from his mantra that he enters to win, but the truth is he's completed just six rounds of competitive golf since the Masters. There's got to be some competitive rust to deal with. Although the Frys.com Open field is not of the high caliber he is used to competing against (even though Woods has dropped to 51st in the world, he's the fourth-highest ranked player here this week), Woods should not be expected to have his way.

Tournament officials say ticket sales have increased by 40 percent over last year's event won by Rocco Mediate and media interest required some juggling at CordeValle. October golf tournaments following the Tour Championship don't get much attention, but Woods has changed all that.

Harig also talks to Joe LaCava, who talks about the move to Tiger's bag from Dustin Johnson's.

"[Johnson] is a great player and a great kid. He was fantastic to me. He couldn't have been any nicer. He played great. The guy won a tournament, finished second, finished fourth in four months. The kid can play. There's no comparison between the two as far as that, it's just that it's Tiger Woods.''

And finally, Jeff Rude sums it all up:

Talk is one thing. Action is another. We’ve seen this over and over in golf, with Woods and other major champions whose careers hit major bumps. Despite optimism, you’re never sure exactly what you’re going to get.

Tiger Podcast, Wednesday Frys.com Open Edition

Sam Weinman talks to me about today's Tiger press conference and other matters related to his Frys.com Open appearance. Have a listen...

Listen to the podcast

Video Views From Cordevalle

I went out to the 16th and 17th holes this morning and tweeted some video takes on what appear to be the two best holes on the course. No wonder the finish was so wild last year...

16th Hole video (Twitter downscaled it so just hit the full screen box to see it larger)

17th tee video (same deal, mysteriously uploaded in smaller format)

17th fairway view video

Rocco: "You gotta look at what the ball is doing. It's simple. If it's going crooked, there's a problem."

Doug Ferguson with the takeaway lines from Frys.com defending champion Rocco Mediate's entertaining presser today at Cordevalle.

He said Woods’ problems are 100 percent physical, and that his sole problem is the swing.

“He owns the mental side of it,” Mediate said. “But on the physical side, here’s what I would say. You can mentally think certain things in golf, but if you physically can’t do it … if the club is in the wrong place, the ball won’t go where you’re looking.”

You can read the entire transcript here. Here's was Rocco's response to a question about his recent criticism of Tiger's swing:

So my point is I've always been a fan. I'm always going to be a fan. You know, things I said a month or so ago, that was how I feel. I mean if he's mad or he's angry, I don't really care. I mean if it does anything -- because you gotta look at what the ball is doing. It's simple. If it's going crooked, there's a problem. A lot.
We all hit them crooked. Believe me. But hopefully he figures it out because we need him, period. We've got to have him where he was before. As a TOUR we do.

Q. You just answered one of my questions. You haven't spoken to Tiger --
ROCCO MEDIATE: Not a word.

Q. -- in the last few weeks?
ROCCO MEDIATE: Not at all. I didn't expect to either.

"What is an amateur doing in the same group as major champions?"

Doug Ferguson explains how the unusual Tiger Woods pairing for this week's Frys.com Open came about. (He's playing with amateur Patrick Cantlay and 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen.)

The PGA Tour has been tweaking a few groupings this year to help make it more appealing for TV viewers. It starts with eight groups of three players - four groups in the morning draw, four in the afternoon draw. Twenty players are taken alternately from the world ranking and the FedEx Cup standings. The other four come from the winner’s category.

However, the tour now can have one “wild card” to swap out from the four players in the winner’s category. This week, Cantlay was chosen, and then put in the same group as Woods.

"With golf pros in town, host is set to unveil grand plan for Frys.com Open"

Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News says the Frys.com Open has two more years at Cordevalle before a long-planned move to The Institute, an ultra-private and, at least on Google Earth, an ultra-goofy looking golf course, owned by Frys founder John Fry. (Check out the hole I screen captured...giggles guaranteed!)

The line of trees along Foothill is broken up with just a small unmarked entrance gate and security shack. Very few people pass through that gate to play the course, which is a rugged and rolling 8,000 yards long -- built specifically to cope with today's advanced golf equipment -- as opposed to the 7,169 yards of CordeValle and most other PGA Tour venues. Generally, the only people who tee it up at The Institute are private guests of the Frys organization. That amounts to a few dozen people per month. Or less. Tuesday morning, Fry is hosting a small group of the PGA touring pros, including Woods, for a special hey-take-a-look-at-this-cool-new-toy round of golf there.

Tiger must really want to cut a sponsorship deal with Frys if he's appearing there.

Frys also has a grand plan to turn the Fall Finish into the Fall FedExCup Preview, awarding points for the following year's Cup.
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According to multiple sources, the Frys organization has made a bold proposal to beef up October by effectively turning the Frys.com Open into the kickoff event for the following season -- with a large purse and a bundle of FedEx points. The event could dominate a normally quiet spot on the golf calendar.

Tiger's Fall Finish Return: Storylines Galore!

I'll be reporting live this week from the Frys.com Open for GolfDigest.com, so check here and there for updates on Tiger's every move. In the meantime...

Tim Rosaforte previews Tiger's appearance in the Fall Finish and reminds that old chums Tiger and Rocco, well, may not be so chummy since Tiger may not have taken too kindly to Rocco's remarks about swing changes exacerbating health problems.  Just hope Rocco doesn't bring a VHarness as an olive branch.

John Strege reports that the tournament is grateful for the addition of Tiger, but it also underscores the lack of additional playing appearances by other stars.

The Frys.com Open hit the jackpot with Tiger Woods, but his appearance in the field this year still underscores what PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was attempting to achieve with his video appeal to players two years ago "to add a tournament or two to their historical schedules to assist tournaments that historically have weak fields."

Finchem's appeal might have fallen on deaf ears, but he had the right idea.

In this week's Pond Scrum, Elling and Huggan talk about Tiger's return, with Elling noting that Tiger has played just eight competitive rounds since the Masters, making his paltry two starts before the Presidents Cup...paltry.

Huggan: What I still don't get is how this one event -- plus the Aussie Open -- is anywhere near enough preparation for the Presidents Cup. I mean, isn't Tiger being a little disrespectful to Freddie? Can you imagine anyone deciding to play twice in more than two months before a team event? Tiger may have lost his game, but he still has his arrogance apparently.

Elling: Well, Mickelson isn't exactly stacking up on pre-Prez events either, is he? In that vein, I'll be interested in how Woods is received. The tournament site isn't far from where he attended college (albeit, he dropped out after two years) and that mojo from his fans might give him a leg up. Note: That's not an injury joke.

For those alarmed about Tiger falling out of the world top 50, Sean Martin explains that this means nothing to Tiger, unless he wants to play Doral.

Woods can thank Fred Couples for his spot at the 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Couples’ selection of Woods for the upcoming Presidents Cup ensures that Woods will be at the Bridgestone.

The other WGCs are the only events currently in question for Woods. He’d likely miss next year’s WGC-Cadillac Championship if he’s not back in the OWGR’s top 50 by next March.

The top 30 on this year’s FedEx Cup points list earned entry into next year's Cadillac. Woods failed to meet that criterion. PGA Tour players must be in the OWGR’s top 50 or top 10 in the FedEx Cup standings come next March to earn a start at the Cadillac.

JT, Las Vegas And The Tour

I pen a Golf World Monday item on what appears to be the flatlining relationship between Justin Timberlake and the PGA Tour stop in Las Vegas. 

"JT" is understandably losing interest in trying to prop up one of the worst dates on the Tour schedule, which arrives in early fall because, as you may recall, certain big names wanted the PGA Tour season to end earlier so they could make huge money in Asia recharge their batteries.

The primary side effect of giving a select few what they wanted has been a playoff system competing against the early weeks of the NFL and college seasons, U.S. Open tennis and baseball's playoff drive. That the BMW Championship draws a paltry 1.0 and the current scheduling structure is deemed a success seems a tad frightening.

In all the hoopla over the new TV deal, no one has discussed that a PGA Tour schedule extended just two or three more weeks stands a better chance of drawing improved ratings and more attention. Such a tweak would also force the tour to take better advantage of what should be a premier stop on their schedule: Las Vegas.

"The Hill" is one of thethe PGA Tour's more impressive hospitality and party spots.Not all agree, as the Las Vegas Journal-Reviews' Ed Graney slammed Timberlake while suggesting the 29-year-old tournament director is a more important asset to the event.

For all his star power, Timberlake has done little to paint the big picture of what this event means. He puts on an annual concert during tournament week that benefits the hospitals, always a great thing, but his involvement beyond that has been minimal at best.

We like to poke fun at Timberlake being late for the few minutes he actually addresses the media each year and for the predictable enablers who cater to his every whim and shoo away legitimate photographers not interested in taking his picture in the first place, but such facts speak to Timberlake's lack of outward passion about being here.

He isn't fooling anyone. He's not that good an actor.

In Timberlake's four years here, you can make the argument that the most-followed celebrity at a midweek pro-am was Amanda Beard in 2008, and not for her golfing skills. Timberlake has not come close to drawing on his fame in a way the Shriners had hoped. The truth? It would be best if the sides parted ways now, because this event doesn't need Timberlake to land in the spring as part of the FedEx series.

While Graney is correct to highlight the tournament operations (it's another event PGA Tour Championship Management could learn from), to cast aside one of the world's most popular and hip celebrities would be a colossal mistake.

Update on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 08:32 PM by Geoff

**Alan Shipnuck isn't a fan of the Vegas event scheduling either.

1. PGA Tour schedulers. It'd be even cooler if the Tour would give JT a decent date in the "regular season" to ensure his involvement and the long-term health of the tourney. I say add Vegas to the desert swing in February and move Pebble to better weather in the summer, but that's just me.

Na Resists Urge To Whiff, Still Wins

I have to say, listening to Kevin Na berate a security guard on Wednesday at Las Vegas did not have me running to the Caesar's sportsbook to plunk down $20 on the slowpoke to win. But clearly the incident didn't hurt the turtle from overcoming himself or his desire to take his sweet time, as he prevailed in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital For Children.

Interestingly, he should have followed up Saturday's non-whiff whiff with another non-whiff whiff, but he refused to non-whiff despite not feeling right over the ball:

The winner had five birdies and a bogey on the front nine to reach 21 under. He parred the first four holes on the back nine, then dropped a stroke on the par-3 14th to fall into a tie with Watney.

"I hit a terrible shot on 14," Na said. "I should have backed off. I always back off, but I felt, 'I'm going to hit this.' And I hit a terrible shot and made bogey.

"To bounce back after that bogey, to hit that chip to 3 feet - I had a great chip from down there - I was able to relax a little bit. Then I had a great two-putt for birdie on the next hole. It gave me a one-shot lead. I told myself par, par, you're going to win this golf tournament."

Na pulled ahead with his birdie on the par-4 15th and both players birdied the par-5 16th.

When's A Whiff A Whiff?

Check out the YouTube video while you can because I'm sure the men with the little red phones in Ponte Vedra are working to get it taken down.

Ryan Ballengee explains what happened Saturday with Kevin Na in Las Vegas:

On the 15th tee Saturday at TPC Summerlin, Kevin Na was in the middle of his downswing when he decided not to hit the golf ball. He pulled up his swing and finished it by missing over the top of the ball. It seemed Na had whiffed but he didn’t, according to PGA Tour officials.

Na told officials and reporters he felt his weight transfer was amiss and would lead to a hooked tee shot, so he missed.

“I’ll take it back; it feels decent, and my transition is what I’m always working on,” Na said. “It’s always my bad habit is I get quick. And on the way down my transition doesn’t feel right, and I try to stop, and obviously it’s impossible for me to stop. The only way for me to stop is I have to come up and go over the ball.”

I think I'll remember this next time I whiff one! Thanks Kevin!

I believe Woodward and Bernstein would call this a non-whiff whiff.

2011 Dunhill at St. Andrews And "JT" In Las Vegas Final Round Thread

Another Northern Irishman is looking to make a splash on a world stage in St. Andrews, while Nick Watney goes for his third win of the year in what looks like the makings of another exciting finish in Vegas...

TPC Summerlin's Short Par-4 15th, A Wobbly iPhone Video Analysis

I've always been fascinated by this Bobby Weed-designed short par-4 at the TPC Summerlin and I had a chance to look closely at it while making a visit to the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open (starts Thursday on Golf Channel.)

I Tweeted some videos today with my analysis. The short but sweet conclusion: I need to play this one, but I love the attempt at something different, I just don't know how well the options work in today's game, where so many guys can reach the green with driver. (341 uphill yes, but higher altitude, hot weather means it plays shorter).

Anyway, here are the videos in order...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5 (don't ask why it's smaller...technology is moody)