Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
At last, timing looks right for Tiger
The timing of Tiger Woods’s return to the PGA Tour following knee surgery has posed the biggest question mark in golf this year and maybe, just maybe, the answer will be delivered on Friday.
By 1700 ET (2200 GMT) on Friday, players have to commit to next week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona where Woods is the defending champion.
Although there has been widespread speculation that a likelier comeback for the world number one would be the March 12-15 WGC-CA Championship on the flat Doral layout in Miami, many signs now point toward Arizona.
Woods just happens to be sponsored by Accenture and he is eager to get in some quality tournament golf before the Apr. 9-12 U.S. Masters, the opening major of the year.
His close friend Mark O’Meara, who recently played a practice round with Woods, hinted at last week’s Allianz Championship on the Champions Tour that Woods could return in Arizona.
“He hasn’t told me personally when he’s going to start back but I know he’s pretty much almost ready to start back, so I wouldn’t be surprised,” O’Meara told reporters.
“But I don’t make his schedule and I know that everybody always wants me to tell everybody when he’s going to play.”
Woods’s management team have consistently said the game’s leading player would return the minute he felt capable of winning a tournament. According to double major champion O’Meara, he has already reached that stage.
“He’s hitting the ball really well,” O’Meara said. “I would say he’s better than ever. I think the break was probably the best thing that ever happened to him. I think he’s going to come back better than ever.”
Woods has not played since defying stabbing knee pain and a double stress fracture of his left tibia to claim his 14th major title at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in June.
After recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, he began hitting full shots midway through December and celebrated the birth of his second child — Charlie Axel – with his wife Elin earlier this month.
Timing is everything, so the saying goes, and the timing increasingly looks near perfect for a Woods comeback in Arizona next week.
PHOTO: Tiger Woods reacts after his drive from the 10th tee during the playoff round at the 108th U.S. Open golf championship at Torrey Pines in San Diego in this June 16, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Matt Sullivan/Files
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Golf has been a lot more fun without him. I used to be a Tiger fan, but his on course demeanour is not good. His spitting is disgusting. The “will he catch Jack” story has lasted too long already, and I am bored with it. I want the focus in golf to be spread between a variety of stories, not just that one. I hope no-one else ever threatens to catch Tiger’s record after he has set it, because their chase would probably take even longer. I wouldn’t even want an Englishman to win twenty majors; it would be much more fun to watch several Englishmen share twenty of them.
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If you have been enjoying golf more without tiger then you are in a minority. He is a historic player and it seems most people who love golf appreciate being around to enjoy the ride.