A bit more than a week after Tiger Woods took to the airwaves to apologize to his wife, family and fans, a few subtle cues are pointing to his return.
Namely that he’s home and practicing golf.
Woods was spotted Saturday on the range of his home course at Isleworth Country Club near Orlando hitting balls. Both CBSSports.com and the Associated Press reported the story, citing an unnamed source but resident of the community.
During his televised address at TPC Sawgrass on Feb. 18, Woods admitted to being at an in-patient facility and said he would return to therapy. Several gossip outlets said Woods was at a drug rehab facility in Arizona and the AP reported Tuesday that Woods has returned from Arizona after a week of counseling with his wife and family.
One thing Woods did say in his statement was that he would return to golf, he just didn’t say when. Clubs in his hand and the teeth of the PGA Tour schedule still remaining will fuel speculation that it will be sooner than later.
He is not in the field for this week’s Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Next week is the World Golf Championships at Doral and Woods will need to declare by Friday if he’s going to play. The Arnold Palmer Invitational is at the end of March at nearby Bay Hill, where Woods is the defending champion and a six-time winner. There is also the Tavistock Cup, May 22-23, at Isleworth.
One last note — The Masters does not have a deadline to get into the field. Those qualified merely receive an invitation but a response isn’t required. Woods, a four-time winner and automatic qualifier, theoretically could just show up for his Thursday tee time.
Rap sheet: That John Daly has had run-ins with PGA Tour officials and assorted law enforcement types is not exactly news. He’s been outside the ropes for much of his career to the chagrin of the tour, but to the delight of his fans.
An official document obtained by The Florida Times-Union, though, details just how far and how often Daly was outside the lines.
A personnel file with the PGA Tour that totals 456 pages, is now public record and reveals Daly has been cited on numerous occasions by the Tour for offenses like “failure to give best effort” and “conduct unbecoming a professional.”
Daly has been fined nearly $100,000, placed on probation by the tour five times and suspended six times. In 2005, he is reported to have nearly hit an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent for failing to stop at a security checkpoint at the 2005 U.S. Open in Pinehurst.
The PGA Tour declined to comment and normally this information would not be public, but was turned over to lawyers during Daly’s 2005 lawsuit with Morris Publishing and became part of the court file, according to the Times-Union.
According to the file, Daly was assessed a $5,000 fine and another $1,500 in damages for trashing a hotel room at the Sawgrass Marriott in 1997. He hit a ball off a beer can given to him by Kid Rock at the 2008 Buick Open and he was fined $30,000 in 1993 for launching balls over the heads of spectators seated in a bleacher at the Fred Meyer Challenge.
Daly’s last brush apparently was in October 2008 when he spent a night in jail and was subsequently fined $10,000 for public intoxication in Winston-Salem, N.C.
His reality show, “Being John Daly” premieres March 2 on The Golf Channel.
Overstated: Word of President Barack Obama sending a message to Woods was inaccurate.
A report in the April issue of Golf Digest states that both Obama and former President Bill Clinton called Woods following his Nov. 27 traffic accident and subsequent infidelity scandal. Golf Digest has since corrected the story, stating the quote used was from a January interview Obama gave to People Magazine.
Golf Digest had both Obama and Woods on its January cover, but that issue went to press before the accident.
Step it up: The latest installment of “The Hank Haney Project” aired Monday night and let’s hope future episodes are more entertaining.
Haney is solid as usual but Ray Romano has replaced Charles Barkley as student on the Golf Channel show. Barkley is a tough act to follow and his swing was so awful that it made great theater. He also sincerely wanted to improve; it didn’t come across as merely a lark.
The problem is, Romano can actually play. His swing isn’t perfect as Haney points out in the first installment, but he’s whittled his handicap as low as an 11 and now states his goal as breaking 80.
Unless Haney wants his stock to drop, a 79 or lower had better be the result by show’s end and Romano hopefully kicks up the entertainment factor a notch because so far, it’s just another guy taking a lesson.
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