Countdown begins for Tiger's return

Reports yesterday that Tiger Woods is back at home after a week of family counseling in Arizona and that he is trying to get into a routine that includes golf and fitness are sure to begin speculation when he might return to the PGA Tour.

A source told the Associated Press that Woods returned to his home near Orlando on Saturday and has been hitting balls on the range at Isleworth, not far from where he ran his SUV into a tree in a middle-of-the-night accident on Nov. 27 that set off revelations of his extramarital affairs.

There is still no timetable for golf's No. 1 player to return to competition. It appears unlikely that Woods will play next week in the World Golf Championship at Doral, where he has won three times. His next possibility on the PGA Tour is the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where he is the defending champion and a six-time winner. The Masters, which Woods has played every year since 1995, follows. Augusta National officials have not indicated whether they expect Woods to compete.

"When he does come back, I hope it's in the Masters, and I hope he's in great form," Masters champion Angel Cabrera said yesterday on a conference call.

Meanwhile, Woods received support from an unlikely source yesterday when his former college girlfriend came to his defense. Check out this link to Golf.com:
http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1968826,00.html

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After all of the promotion it has received from Golf Channel, the premier telecast of Being John Daly was almost bound to disappoint. After watching it, Oldgolfdawg was asking himself why he bothered when he could have been watching the Ohio State-Illinois men's basketball game. To say the show was lame would be a gross understatement.

The show is supposed to be chronicling Daly's comeback from personal demons and his return to being a champion golfer. Yes, Daly has lost more than 100 pounds with the help of surgery and has vowed to change his ways with the support of his new girlfriend. But watching Daly smoke cigarettes and justify his outlook on a life full of blown chances -- with an occasional close up of his sad puppy-dog dog eyes thrown in -- doesn't exactly instill one with confidence that he's on the right road.

The show closes with Daly strumming his guitar and singing before a group of friends (perhaps more appropriately described as enablers) around a campfire. To date, Daly's "comeback" has produced lackluster results. In four tournaments in 2010, he has made the cut just once. His best result was a tie for 67th at the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico, where he shot a final-round 81.

Everyone likes pulling for an underdog, but betting on Daly is risky business even if he is a two-time major winner. Oldgolfdawg would be very surprised if Being John Daly enjoys a successful run. It's probably just a matter of time before it becomes derailed by its main character. To better understand Oldgolfdawg's misgivings, check out this golf.com link:
http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1969088,00.html

Tough lesson for Tiger

Oldgolfdawg was working on the sports desk of The Dallas Times Herald in March of 1982 when news came across the wires that comedian actor John Belushi had been found dead of a drug overdose in Los Angeles.

A few weeks later, Oldgolfdawg was playing a round of golf with Jim Woodruff, a veteran sports copy editor at the newspaper, when we began to discuss Belushi’s demise. “I don’t understand it,” said Jim while shaking his head. “There’s a young man who had the world by the balls and he kills himself.”

Details about Belushi’s death later revealed a different scenario, but the point that Jim was making was clear. At the height of his career, Belushi had blown it.

Though not nearly as tragic or final as Belushi’s fall from grace, the situation Tiger Woods finds himself in these days has a similar theme. At times success makes people think they are invincible. It’s hard to imagine what Woods was thinking when he began cheating on his wife. Cheating on one’s wife is risky business for anyone, but for someone like Tiger who had cultivated a devoted-family man image and whose fame kept him in the public’s eye, the risk was something only a Wall Street banker might consider taking.

Rock 'n’ roll legend Bob Seger is right in saying we all have “the fire down below,” but in Woods’ case apparently it has been burning out of control for some time. If Woods is seeking treatment for sexual addiction as recent reports have been indicating, it is a positive step in the rehabilitation of his sullied image. Sometimes people with so much don’t appreciate the things they have.

That was never the case with plain-speaking Jim, who was known to occasionally cut the rug with his wife Jodi, and who often bragged to Oldgolfdawg: “All me and Jodi need is a bottle of wine and we feel fine.” Enjoying the simple pleasures in life can be lost on the rich and famous, but down-to-earth Jim knew better.

Once Jim and Oldgolfdawg were working the sports desk during the morning turnaround of a 24-hour news cycle when he turned to me and said: “Say, I’m not real big on politics and such. But are there two Chinas?” He was editing a short story about Olympic table tennis just in case type came up short somewhere and some filler or spackle was needed to fill an unsightly hole. Before Oldgolfdawg could offer his two cents on the matter, Jim added, “Say, Is it Taiwan or Formosa?”

What Oldgolfdawg gathered from his days of working with Good Ole Jim was that what the native Texan didn't know about geopolitics, he more than made up for by knowing what really matters in life. It's too bad that Tiger Woods has had to learn that the hard way.

*Background information about this post from Wikipedia: On March 5, 1982, John Belushi was found dead in his room at Bungalow #3 of the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The cause of death was a speedball, a combined injection of cocaine and heroin. On the night of his death, he was visited separately by friends Robin Williams (at the height of his own drug exploits) and Robert De Niro, each of whom left the premises, leaving Belushi in the company of assorted others, including Cathy Smith.

His death was investigated by forensic pathologist Dr. Ryan Norris among others, and while the findings were disputed, it was officially ruled a drug-related accident.

Two months later, Smith admitted in an interview with the National Enquirer that she had been with Belushi the night of his death and had given him the fatal speedball shot. After the appearance of the article "I Killed Belushi" in the Enquirer edition of June 29, 1982, the case was reopened. Smith was extradited from Toronto, arrested and charged with first-degree murder. A plea bargain arrangement reduced the charges to involuntary manslaughter, and she served 15 months in prison.

The Dallas Times Herald, founded in 1888 by a merger of the Dallas Times and the Dallas Herald, was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the greater Dallas area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, and two George Polk Awards, for local and regional reporting. As an afternoon publication for most of its 103 years, its demise was hastened by the shift of newspaper reading habits to morning papers, the reliance on television for late-breaking news, as well as the loss of an antitrust lawsuit against crosstown rival The Dallas Morning News.

On December 8, 1991, Belo, owner of The Dallas Morning News, bought the Times Herald for $55 million and closed the paper the next day.