After the NY Post reported that Tiger would likely play at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, two sources told the Associated Press he would stay out of golf until at least The Masters:
The two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because only Woods is supposed to release such information, say he is likely to play first at Augusta National in April.
And I had my hopes set so high on the Tavistock Cup! I can almost hear the officials at Augusta cheering with excitement when alerted their sacred grounds will turn into a circus side show.
Hot Sauce Harry’s just rolled out its Cheetah Woods Habanero sauce. Only $6.95 a bottle! Yeah, seriously.
Now I wonder if Ari Fleischer had something to do with this.
Since the strange unfolding of events after the car crash on November 27, we’ve wondered why Tiger didn’t recruit a PR-savvy guru to help handle the fallout. Well, now, the NY Post is reporting that he’s (finally) hired Ari Fleischer, former presidential adviser to George W. Bush, to devise a plan for his comeback to golf at the Arnold Palmer Invitational:
“They were in his living room this week going over a strategy for how to handle Bay Hill in two weeks,” one source told The Post.
The other source told The Post, “I would be shocked if he didn’t play the Arnold Palmer.”
Since Tiger announced his indefinite leave, many have pinned Bay Hill as the logical date for his return (prep for The Masters, which no one can imagine he’d miss).
The Post also says Palmer has told “close confidants that Woods is definitely playing Bay Hill.” Meanwhile, longtime buddy and fellow Isleworth resident Mark O’Meara declared to the Golf Channel he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Tiger came back at the Tavistock Cup, the two-day exhibition matches which pits pros from Isleworth against the neighboring Lake Nona club.
Back to the curious decision to hire Fleischer who established Ari Fleischer Sports Communications in 2008. He was brought on by Mark McGwire to help repair the shunned hitter’s image after the steroid scandal in 2005. And that obviously went really well. Among Fleischer’s other clients are the NFL, the MLB and, of course, the oft-mocked BCS.
But more important, does this mean we finally know Tiger’s political affiliation?
Welcome to Balls in the Air, where I size up my Fantasy Golf picks of the week, featuring guys to watch (or not) and interesting story lines. Disclaimer: Don’t yell at me if my picks suck.
First of all, I’d like to take a second to give myself a big-freaking-high-five for posting this before the tournament started. (I know, finally.)
/HI-5!
Okay, I feel so much better about myself after that. Hoo-ray. Because you all care, I’m sure. Moving on to the picks!
Group A
Phil Mickelson: The defending champ needs to step up after a crappy showing on the West Coast swing. You gotta figure he’s found a new putting stroke by now (though not sure what was wrong with the one from the end of last season). It’s time to get hot, Phil — apparently Tiger is coming back soon, so the time is winding down to move closer to that number-one spot.
Group A Bencher
Steve Stricker: Safe pick…for every week. He’s a fantastic alternate to fill in for a potential no-show Phil. Hell, it would probably be smarter to have Phil on the bench. Stricks surpassed him as the number two in the world rankings after he won the Northern Trust Open. He’s placed in the top-10 in three for three starts.
Group B
Camilo Villegas: Uh, heard he’s playing pretty well on the course in between his job as the ambassador of Colombia. Apparently he has a lot of fans out in Miami (se habla Espanol). I’m told when he came second to Tiger in 2006, he overshadowed him (yes, seriously!). But he’s had more rest and not sleeping in his own bed this week, so might be a gamble.
Jim Furyk: My friend Kevin reminded me that Furyk has an excellent record at Doral (T2 in ‘08 and 3 in ‘09). He also advised me to take Furyk over Rory McIlroy, so if Furyk shoots, like, 76 every day, then I’m taking a hit out on him.
Group B Benchers
Rory McIlroy: The 20-year-old from Northern Ireland will be the first to share cover time with Tiger on Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘11. He picked up some tips from Jack Nicklaus at lunch last week because he’s eager to learn. And he’s been playing Doral since he was, like, nine.
Geoff Ogilvy: He hasn’t done anything spectacular since he won the season-opening SBS Championship. (Maybe the new baby is keeping him up?) But he sure loves World Golf Championship events with three wins tucked away.
Group C
Paul Casey: Three top-10s in three starts. When asked what he’d say to Tiger on the first tee, he replied, “Nike 1, blue dot. I don’t know, what do you say?” Exactly.
Group C Bencher
Ian Poulter: He won the WGC Match Play Championship. Enough said.
Well, that’s all. Great field this week. For the record, I wanted to pick Alvaros Quiros to shake things up — the dude is fun to watch and hits the ball so far he almost makes J.B. Holmes look like Tim Clark. But I guess I’m laying up while wearing orange pants.
You have until Sunday to vote for the 16th player to compete in the inaugural Mojo 6 tournament in Jamaica on April 15-16.
The exhibition event features a new format the creators have decided to call “Raceway Golf,” featuring 16 ladies pitted against each other in a series of six-hole matches. As the competition heats up, the players will have a chance to choose their opponents, which is designed to encourage clawing and bitch-slapping. Kidding!
The ladies who have committed to play are Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, Jiyai Shin, Brittany Lang, Cristie Kerr, Christina Kim, Angela Stanford, Mariah Stackhouse, Amanda Blumenherst, Yani Tseng, Anna Nordqvist, Na Yeon Choi, Brittany Lincicome, Suzann Pettersen and Kristy McPherson.
There are a dozen vying for the final spot. You can vote once a day here, choosing from Sandra Gal Beatriz Recari, Vicky Hurst, Anna Rawson, Amy Alcott, Nicole Castrale, Laura Davies, Jeong Jang, Eun-Hee Ji, Marianne Skarpnord, Catriona Matthew and Lindsay Wright.
According to the Golf Channel, Gal is leading the race, followed closely by Recari and Hurst. Interestingly, despite kicking off a PR campaign declaring she would donate all her winnings to charity, Rawson is in sixth place.
Speaking of which, I received two mass emails in five minutes with the same content but different subject lines (whoopsie!) — “Interview with LPGA Golfer” and “Pro LPGA Golfer Interview RE: Mojo6 Tournament” — from a PR flak, whom I’m assuming represents the company Rawson hired to handle publicity matters. Read and learn:
Hey!
I work with LPGA golfer and model Anna Rawson (www.annarawson.com), who was named Sports Illustrated’s Most Beautiful Female Athletes of the Year, Maxim’s Sexiest New Athlete and one of Golf Magazine’s Top Ten Golf Innovators.
I would like to see if there is interest in doing an interview with Anna about this incredible pledge Anna has made if voted into the $1 Million Mojo6 Tournament. See the release below for more details.
Best,
[Redacted]
Tip #1: Don’t send PR-y emails that are so blatantly impersonal. You know, at least take the time to say, “Hey, Stephanie!” Everyone knows there’s a standard email being sent, but the key is to pretend it’s somewhat personalized (I’ve had the tedious job before). I complained about it to my friend, a PR exec, who replied, “Tailor your pitching, tailor your pitching!!!” I’m always happy (or at least glad to be informed) to get these things, but for some reason, this one annoyed me. Especially after receiving it twice. Big PR boo-boo!
Alleged Mistress #4 Jamie Jungers. Congrats on being the equivalent of the smartest kid riding the short bus!
Howard Stern held some sort of freak show called Howard Stern’s Mistress Beauty Pageant in his studio on Wednesday. He gathered a group of ladies who allegedly fornicated with Tiger and asked them probing TMI questions. Apparently the former Trashy Lingerie “Trashy Girl” gave the best answers regarding Tiger’s endowment and turn-ons.
Jungers reportedly took home $75,000 and a pretty diamond ring. Meanwhile, Jaimee Grubbs, the former Tool Academy star who played Tiger’s awful voicemail to the world, placed second to win $15,000.
Unfortunately, famed Mistress #1 Rachel Uchitel couldn’t participate because of the settlement agreement she signed with Tiger, sez TMZ. Or maybe she was too busy planning Derek Jeter’s bachelor party in Vegas or something like that.
PUMA has acquired Cobra Golf from Fortune Brands, Acushnet’s parent company which owns Titleist and Footjoy.
The German sportswear company has been expanding its presence in the golfing world, snagging the edgy 21-year-old Rickie Fowler to endorse its product (like bright orange pants!) last fall. Now with the purchase of Cobra — which is set to close in the second quarter — PUMA will offer equipment along with footwear, apparel and accessories.
“Through the acquisition of Cobra Golf, we reinforce PUMA’s commitment to our sports performance business by strengthening our growing and successful Golf category,” said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and Chief Executive of PUMA. “Cobra Golf has a history of innovative performance products fused with an edge and is therefore a perfect fit for PUMA, reinforcing our overall mission of becoming the most desirable Sportlifestyle company.”
Watch out, Nike!
Even though Tiger Woods isn’t playing in this week’s WGC-CA Championship, he’s still managing to make a presence. On Monday a source close to him told the Golf Channel that Tiger was working with swing coach Hank Haney last weekend at Isleworth, the gated community where Tiger lives. It was also reported it’s the hardest Tiger has worked on his swing since before the unfortunate car “crash’ in November.
Last week Charles Howell III and J.B. Holmes independently stumbled upon him hitting balls and gave shining reviews of his game.
Then on Tuesday, Mark Steinberg, Tiger’s agent, just happened to pop by Doral Golf Resort. (No word yet whether he chatted about the location of the cave where Tiger was hiding during those long winter months.) Steinberg doesn’t have any clients playing in the event either. But who knows, perhaps he just wanted to say hello to some old friends and scout out new clients (surely players are jumping on that thought!).
Meanwhile, Doug Ferguson reported that the PGA Tour has been notifying officials at every tournament between now and The Masters to make preparations for Tiger’s return:
“We’ve not indicated that we have inside knowledge,” [PGA Tour spokesperson Ty] Votaw said. “We just want them to be aware so they’re not scrambling.”
Best be safe! But of those three events, historically, Tiger only plays the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. That said, I’ve heard there are other solutions to preparing for the inevitable circus — I mean, would it really be too much to ask for Tiger to notify the necessary parties with ample time (he’s known to commit to tournaments at, like, 4:59PM the Friday before)? It sure would help save millions of dollars in wasted resources. I don’t know much about the Twelve Steps, but I’m assuming “Consideration” falls under one of them.
On Monday the big grooves controversy was finally settled after it was announced that PING agreed to waive its right to a 20-year lawsuit. So the following day, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and PING CEO John Solheim held a teleconference to make obligatory comments and answer questions from the media. I listened to it, but it was pretty uneventful — you know, filled with the usual thank-yous.
The Commish clarified this bit:
This was 100 percent a voluntary action by John Solheim and Ping to waive their rights, those rights emanating from antitrust litigation years ago, that prevented the PGA TOUR from — that could have prevented the PGA TOUR from prohibiting the use of pre-April 1990 Ping Eye 2 irons, which was the nub of the problem. There was no agreement to do this; John stepped forward to do it…There was no money here that exchanged hands. There was no settlement. John Solheim and Ping did this for the good of the game, and Ping received no financial or other direct benefit in exchange for taking this action.
Well, indirectly, he looks like a hero. But mostly, Mr. Solheim just sounds glad the matter is closed:
The family is very happy to do this, and I mean, it is purely a waiver on our part. We can go forward and not think about it, which is very important to the family, because I saw what my father went through years ago, and I didn’t want that to happen again. To achieve what we achieved yesterday is really neat.
In other words, he doesn’t want to deal with a big, messy lawsuit, like his dad did, so let the lawyers draft up the paperwork and tell him where to sign.
EA Sports revealed that 20-year-old Rory McIlroy will share the cover with Tiger on Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘11. The company is rolling out its new version of the game, featuring a Ryder Cup team format because it’s a match year. Apparently the inclusion of McIlroy, who hails from Northern Ireland, is to represent the European side. McIlroy, who has yet to play in a Ryder Cup, has been dubbed Boy That Will Save The PGA Tour, so clearly he was the logical choice.
But some might think the move has something to do with — oh, I don’t know — Tiger’s extracurricular activities. Of course, EA Sports, which has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to the troubled golfer, says otherwise via ESPN’s Jon Robinson:
[T]his truly was decided last October before all the events. That’s when we thought about the Ryder Cup and adding somebody else on the cover. It had never been done and we wanted to focus everybody on the team aspect of the game. That’s what we wanted to do regardless of anything else going on.
Mmmhmm. That’s what they all say.
Meanwhile, speaking from the site of this week’s World Golf Championship at Doral, McIlroy makes some generic comments about Tiger’s anticipated return:
It’s certainly going to be interesting to see not just how he plays but just how he handles the whole situation. But yeah, I think everyone is excited to see him just get back out on to the golf course and play golf. And from the reports I’ve heard, he seems to be swinging it well and as good as he ever was. It will be exciting the next few weeks, whenever he comes back, I know a lot of people are saying Tavistock or Bay Hill. It would be nice to see him back.
And it’ll be nicer when those dreaded questions don’t have to be asked or answered anymore.