I couldn’t have been happier to see Steve Stricker win the Northern Trust Open and dethrone Phil Mickelson as the world’s number-two golfer. So the guy is a little boring, but it’s hard not to cheer for such a genuinely nice and humble player — especially one that has a great comeback story.

After struggling for most of the first half of the 2000s, Stricker fell so far in 2005 that his world ranking dropped to 337th and didn’t make the top-125 on the money list. He was forced to return to Q-school, where he failed to regain his card. But things started looking up for Strick in 2006 when he was named the PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year (if that can be taken as a compliment) after seven top-10 finishes. The following year he played his way back to the winner’s circle at The Barclays. Once again, he was named the CPOTY — an unprecedented consecutive season recipient.

So that partly explains the tears in his post-win interview with NBC’s Roger Maltbie. Stricker clarified in his presser:

That’s a common thread for me. I tell myself every time I’m not going to cry, and maybe it’s seeing Roger that makes me cry. I don’t know, it means a lot. I work hard at this, and when it finally — you pour everything into it for 72 holes, and there’s a lot of emotions through the course of the round, and I typically don’t show any emotion. So I think it’s just the ending of it all and finally coming out on top that I lose it.

With Tiger Woods on his indefinite leave from the game, there’s the possibility of Stricker reaching number-one, but he’s not thinking about silly rankings:

[W]e all know who the best player in the world is, and I’ll just continue to do what I do, and that’s practice hard and work at it and try to improve. I’m not saying that I’m going to just not try to work at it anymore, but just continue to do the things that I do when I’m trying to — and that’s to try to get better. That’s all I can ask.

Meanwhile, with all the talking Phil has been doing, it hasn’t translated to his play. Let’s see, rewind back to the Farmers Insurance Open, where he confidently babbled about his improved accuracy and distance. Oh, and he launched his anti-USGA new grooves policy crusade, of course. He finished 19th at Torrey Pines, carding a final round 73 — after he flew in swing coach Butch Harmon the night before.

Then there’s his putting. We can’t forget his success after working with putting guru Dave Stockton at the end of last year. Well, in eight rounds he’s averaged almost 30 putts a round. Looks like it’s back to the drawing board.

While he opened with an eagle in the third round at the Northern Trust, he played the remaining 35 holes four-over. Whoopsie. Blame it on those darn grooves. Now enough FIGJAM-critiquing from me, there was enough of that elsewhere.

First, let’s go to the guys at the SI Golf Group in the latest edition of PGA Tour Confidential:

Alan Shipnuck: The thing about Phil is that he regularly lays an egg, even when he’s ostensibly playing well. He might win five times this year, including a major or two, but there will be plenty of weeks when he’s a non-factor. That’s what’s so remarkable about Tiger’s body of work — even when he’s struggling he contends.

Gary Van Sickle: Once again, the Phil hype outpaced the Phil reality. I think that’s the hazard of pinning the marketing and hype on one guy. Golf isn’t a game where you can predict who’s going to do well every week. (Not like, say, NASCAR.) It’s also the hazard of pinning the game’s focus on one player whose entire career has been built on spectacular inconsistency. Phil may win at Pebble by 12; it wouldn’t be a surprise. Or he may miss the cut, and that wouldn’t be a surprise, either.

That pretty much sums up the wonderful career of FIGJAM. Next up, excerpts from a FoxNews.com article without a byline:

[T]he grand transition plan didn’t allow for the fact that golf’s a meritocracy and Mickelson is now, officially, no longer the heir to the throne.

And after blowing his chances in both San Diego and L.A.’s Riviera, where he was seeking to become the first man to win three straight times at Hogan’s Alley, Mickelson doesn’t deserve to be. That might be a hard truth for Phil’s legions of fans to accept, but it’s also inescapable.

He had three months to prepare for the start of 2010 — knowing what was at stake — and couldn’t deliver. Think Tiger would’ve been an also-ran, finishing 19th and in a tie for 45th, if the roles had been reversed?

No, Phil blew it. He couldn’t even get himself into the running at Torrey Pines or Riviera because he couldn’t find a fairway with binoculars and a compass. Three months to prepare and he couldn’t keep the ball in play. It’s a sad reminder that obsession with distance in golf really is a double-edged sword.

Ouch. Perhaps the harsh tone explains why the writer decided to remain anonymous. But hey, if you’re going to bash someone, at least have the decency (and balls) to sign your name — and so I can email you to impart my praise.

[Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images]

Add another victory for new LPGA commissioner Mike Whan. Hana Financial Group has signed a three-year contract to maintain its title sponsorship of the LPGA event in South Korea. The tournament had previously been marked as TBD for date, venue, purse and sponsor.

SportsBusiness Journal’s Jon Show reports:

The LPGA Hana Bank Championship will take place Oct. 29-31 at a course near Seoul that will be announced at a later date. Terms were not disclosed, but purse commitments put the annual expenditure at $2 million.

Prize money for the 54-hole event will be $1.8 million, up $100,000 from last year when it was held in Incheon, South Korea. Coverage of the tournament will not air in the U.S.

It’s a shame we won’t get coverage of it in the States. Is Korea out of network for the Golf Channel or something? I assume the other four events in Asia won’t be aired either. So much for that “groundbreaking” TV rights deal. I guess something is better than nothing, right?

Well, good news is that since disgraced former commissioner Carolyn Bivens stepped down, sponsors have been returning and contracts are being signed. Now the announcement of another tournament on US soil would make many of us absolutely giddy. Perhaps that’s just getting greedy, though.

[Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images AsiaPac]

CBS banned this ad from KGB, a company that answers questions via text message for 99 cents per question, because the network felt it was too offensive. Too bad, I thought it was kind of funny.

For anyone who cares about the Northern Trust Open on Super Bowl Sunday, good news — you can head out to your parties! Steve Stricker is 16-under with five holes to play and leads Luke Donald by three strokes. 36-hole leader Dustin Johnson trails by four shots at 12-under. As an aside, I picked Stricker for my Fantasy Golf team this week.

/big high-freaking-five to myself

Now go eat some wings.

[h/t NiceBallz]

With speculation running rampant on pinpointing Tiger’s return to golf (you know, since he’s out of sex rehab), TMZ is reporting he’s aiming for the Tavistock Cup, citing a source that works for the Woods family. Then Tiger will allegedly head to Georgia to prepare for The Masters.

This is the first I’ve heard someone throw out the Tavistock Cup — which takes place March 22-23 at Isleworth Country Club (and inside the gates where the car “crash” went down). While TMZ has been the number-one source for Tiger scandal-related news (or gossip), I’m skeptical.

But perhaps he’s attempting to make amends with the Isleworth community to draw some positive attention there. Surely the residents would be thrilled to have even more paparazzi try to sneak on the grounds. On the upside, it is a small event and tickets are only available to members of Isleworth and Lake Nona, tournament sponsors, and VIP guests — all of whom would strictly respect the “no ropes structure.” Plus, the timing coincides with the week of the Bay Hill Invitational, the event where, many predicted, Tiger would stage his comeback.

So I guess it’s as good a guess as any.

Google is running its first Super Bowl ad today. But the one above is a better option…or maybe it’ll air during Tiger’s first tournament back, or more appropriate, The Masters. I bet the green jacket suits at Augusta would love that.

[h/t Winston Wolfe]

Apparently NBC didn’t make any suggestions to its commentators a la CBS, or it was just Johnny Miller being Johnny Miller — you know, outspoken, brusque and kind of annoying. Johnny made his first national television appearance of the new season on Saturday, and when host Dan Hicks asked him for his opinion on the whole Tiger Woods saga, Johnny, of course, had one. Prepare to type angry responses.

Couple of things for sure. He’s damaged the game of golf. It’s been hurtful. He’s lost a lot of respect and his integrity is pretty shattered right now. And more importantly he’s injured his marriage and his family…President Obama did say something. He said `I’m a strong believer that anybody can look within himself, find their flaws and fix them.’ I hope Tiger, I’m sure he’s heard that, knows he has a heck of a road to hoe to get that respect and integrity back and build the game back up again.

To say “damaged the game of golf” is a little strong — perhaps he meant “Tour golf.” Otherwise he’s claiming Tiger is bigger than golf, a point that some have furiously rebuked. Oh wait, he did:

He’s become almost bigger than golf, Entertainment Tonight, People Magazine type of thing. He’s going to have to face the music and show he has done anything he can to repair his marriage and have some genuine sorrow in his voice and feeling from the heart to show he can change and make his life better.

Now I don’t think Tiger will be granting Johnny that coveted first interview. But we can be thankful he didn’t proselytize the Church of Latter Day Saints to Tiger.

On Friday RadarOnline reported Tiger Woods has left rehab. Apparently his wife, Elin Nordegren, picked him up at Gentle Grove in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and they left together to spend some quality time alone as they attempt to repair their marriage. Multiple unnamed sources also told Radar that Tiger is determined to return to the PGA Tour.

So when will that be?

Australia’s Herald Sun published a dubious, unsubstantiated report on Thursday, claiming Tiger is set to stage his “shock return [in two weeks] at the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.” The only source cited is “strengthening whispers.” Instead the writer framed a tenuous argument for the timing of Tiger’s return:

It is also a favourite event for Woods, who has won it in 2003, 2004 and 2008.

With Tiger’s eye doubtless still on his quest for majors’ history, it’s safe to assume he will not turn up cold at Augusta and give up a chance to close on Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18.

Accenture was among the first sponsors to ditch Woods when all hell broke loose in November, but other elements of his impending return line up.

As a matchplay event, it’s more for the purists than perhaps a “regular” tour event would be, diminishing his chances of being harassed.

Similarly, if he was to play badly in round one, he could “disappear” again rather than sit in the glare of the media spotlight until the mid-tournament cut.

Uh, yeah. I call BS. I’m forced to believe the paper published the story to sell papers, which makes them the latest to capitalize on Tiger’s sex scandal. First off, Accenture just dropped Tiger, so unless he’s trying to make good with the company, why would he bring publicity (and money) to the event? Plus, it wouldn’t leave much time to work on recovering from his so-called addiction and mending things with his family. Coming back in two weeks would discredit the sincerity of his vow to being a “better person.”

Good thing is that most media outlets were just as skeptical of the report.  A source close to Tiger told FoxSports.com, “As far as I know (Woods’ return) will not be at the Match Play.”

Meanwhile, a PGA Tour spokesperson called it “speculation.”

Tiger’s caddie, Steve Williams, informed the NZ Herald News, “All that I will say is the story circulating out of a Melbourne newspaper has no fabric to it at all,” but refused to comment on when his boss would return to the links.

Nobody knows. Tiger might not even know. But the conventional wisdom has marked The Masters.

First, let’s go to Jim Furyk:

I’d bet we’d see him at Augusta. Tiger hasn’t come out and made any real public statements, so it’s hard to figure out. Everyone is guessing it will be Augusta. Whether he comes out earlier, or there, I have no idea.

Next up, Geoff Ogilvy:

The least amount of circus he could face would be if he went to Augusta first, as that would be the most controlled environment he could be in. But then if he truly wants to win at Augusta he’s going to want to play before then.

Here’s Mike Weir:

I suspect he’ll be back - just my guess - I think he’ll be back for the Masters. I’m hoping he’s back for the majors. They’re at such great venues this year, courses he’s obviously done very well on.

Most recently, Sir Nick Faldo chimed in:

There’s still two months until the Masters and I would have thought that would be a good place to sneak in early. He could have a week’s preparation away from everybody, and obviously Augusta is the most secure event and he’d have a relatively free run.

My guess? Definitely not the Accenture Match Play event. If he returns this year, Arnold Palmer’s tournament at Bay Hill seems to be the logical choice. Like Ogilvy said, Tiger will probably want a warm-up before The Masters. But the longer he stays away from the game, the less likely we’ll see him back on the fairways in 2010. Which makes us miss him all the more.

While we don’t look forward to the media circus at his first tournament, he can silence much of the negative chatter with a strong performance and a good attitude. Perhaps that’s wishful thinking. But I’d just like him to come out of hiding and play some golf — of course only when he’s properly recovered from being an asshole his sex addiction.

[Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images]

In Saturday’s edition of The Onion…

In response to accusations of cheating that he called hurtful, insensitive, and simply not true, Phil Mickelson lashed out at Scott McCarron Thursday, demanding that his fellow PGA Tour member publicly apologize for humiliating Mickelson’s 20-year-old pitching wedge. “You can say what you will about me, but you do not attack Ping-Eye 2,” said Mickelson, addressing McCarron’s claim that a loophole in the PGA Tour rules had been unfairly exploited to allow the club to take part in sanctioned competitions. “Scott, that pitching wedge has done nothing to you, yet you dare criticize the square grooves on its face? How could you? You either apologize to my wedge or I swear to God I will say things that will bring your stupid-looking putter to its knees.” According to sources close to Mickelson, the two-time Masters winner has urged his pitching wedge to explore taking legal action against McCarron for slander.

But I thought the culprit was the lob wedge? Eh, minor details. (Unless you want to insert a bad joke about the pitching wedge copping blame to protect the lob wedge or something like that.)

Well, sources have told me Phil has a nasty habit of filing preposterous lawsuits.

[h/t Shack]

The USGA finally responded to Phil’s scathing comments about the new grooves policy.

Last week Phil stirred up controversy when he decided to play with an old Ping Eye-2 lob wedge, which doesn’t conform with the new groove regulations, but is within the rules because of a loophole. He continued his crusade at his press conference on Wednesday, accusing the USGA of “killing” the game and manufacturers. But “out of respect” for the other players, he decided not to use the Ping wedge at this week’s tournament, confessing his “point has been made.”

He sure did.

Dick Rugge, the senior technical director of the USGA, said the system the organization uses to set equipment standards is meant to protect the game. He told Gary Smits:

The USGA does a lot to improve the game. As far as someone accusing us of killing the sport, I’m not going to get into a response to Phil Mickelson on that. He’s entitled to his own opinion.

Phil’s “opinion” is full of contradictions. To recap some of his previous comments, he wailed:

I’m very upset with the way the rule came about, the way one man essentially can approve or not approve a golf club based on his own personal decision regardless of what the rule says.

Rugge’s response:

…[T]he process is hardly “one man.”

I have a staff of 16 people, including six engineers with Ph.D.s. We get about 2,500 clubs submitted to us every year, and we approve about 80 percent of them as conforming. And the 20 percent have an appeal process. They can go to the USGA executive committee, so there’s 15 more people involved. We can’t please everyone, but I think we do the best we can.

Meanwhile, as Geoff Shackelford pointed out earlier this week, Phil admitted he stands to benefit from the groove change, but he refused to elaborate on his strong opposition to the USGA’s intent to bring back emphasis on skill.

Really, it seems that Phil launched his crusade to lash out at the USGA. He’s angry because a set of Callaway irons submitted to the USGA for approval were non-conforming. And it’s in his best interest to please his sponsor, which has always been his forte. Let’s be real — he’s not looking out for the other players as he so claims.

As for those who opt to use the Ping Eye-2 wedges, Rugge said, “They’re conforming clubs. I have no problem with a player who uses them.” But if the USGA’s intent is to protect the spirit of the game, it should have considered the repercussions of having such a contentious loophole — particularly one that allows players to arguably violate the honor and integrity the USGA is meant to uphold.

While the implementation of the policy could have been better, Phil has handled the situation poorly, acting like a spoiled child and launching a personal vendetta against the USGA because his sponsor’s clubs were rejected. But he can keep bitching about how it’s so terrible for his peers and the game. Nice work, FIGJAM.

[Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images Europe]

Despite his sex scandal and dropped sponsors, Tiger Woods topped Forbes Fab 40, a ranking of the world’s most valuable names in sports, with a modest brand value of $82 million.

Even though Woods isn’t likely to see a repeat of the $105 million he earned from sponsors last year anytime soon, his remaining deals, including those with Nike, Electronic Arts and Procter & Gamble’s Gillette, will still earn enough to keep him the world’s highest-paid athlete in 2010, even if he does not hit a single golf ball all year. Woods’ 2009 endorsement total, on which this list is based, was more than the next three highest-earning athlete spokesmen combined.

The Forbes report also suggested Tiger take a cue from Kobe Byrant to rebuild his image. So that would mean holding a super awkward press conference with Elin standing by his side — if she chooses not to divorce him. And it would call for Tiger to return to golf sooner rather than later. But as more time passes, chances of that seem slimmer, and the longer he chooses to stay away from the links, the more likely it will lead to more dropped sponsors (and decrease his “brand value”).

Meanwhile, last week Bloomberg BusinessWeek revealed that Tiger stands atop its list of most powerful athletes.

So, according to the dollar signs, he’s still undeniably the sporting world’s number-one brand man (and golfer). I guess sex sells, or something like that. For now.