Long and interesting week at Ponte Vedra, including thoughts on the tournament and Tiger Woods

Wow, was that a long week in Ponte Vedra. Each day I woke up thinking I would write a blog and the next thing I knew it was 5 o’clock in the afternoon and I was too sapped by the heat to do anything except fantasize about going back to the hotel to take a shower.

The Players is the classic wannabe sports event. In recent years, The PGA Tour—they prefer to actually be called THE TOUR and that their tournament be called a championship and that The Players be called THE PLAYERS, not that they are a bit pretentious—has taken to insisting that it is NOT trying to convince people that their event is the fifth major.

If that is the case, riddle me this: Why does THE TOUR give the same five year exemption to winners of THE PLAYERS (Championship, I don’t think they insist on all caps for that) that it gives to major champions? Why does it give the same number of FedEx points to THE PLAYERS winner as it gives to those who win a major? This is where you could also wonder how it is that the winner of a playoff event gets more points than someone would get for winning all FOUR majors, but that’s another question for another day. And finally, how in the world does THE TOUR claim it isn’t trying to foist off its faux major as a major when it includes victories at THE PLAYERS on the Hall of Fame ballot as if they somehow carry as much weight on a player’s resume as a major does?

Of course we all know THE TOUR is never wrong about anything because they tell us this over and over again. When I jokingly made the point in January that the slide of the once prestigious Tournament of Champions could be pretty well summed up by the fact that it had gone from having Mercedes as a title-sponsor to Hyundai, The Tour (sorry THE TOUR) went nuts. There was all sorts of screaming and yelling about Hyundai’s new luxury car and yata-yata-yata. So I posed this question: If someone told you that you had just won a Mercedes and you showed up to collect it and they handed you the keys to a Hyundai, how would you feel?

There was also the issue of symbolism but THE TOUR doesn’t do symbolism, it does self-righteousness.

And then there was last Thursday when Tiger Woods walked off the golf course after shooting 42 on the front nine at The TPC Sawgrass. Those of you who read this blog strictly to monitor any shots at Tiger, better sit down because I actually defended Tiger.

You see, not only do I believe he was genuinely hurt—although there are conspiracy theorists who think his knee started to hurt again after his triple-bogey 7 at the fourth hole—I don’t think he should have played. I had surgery on my shoulder ONCE and I freak out whenever I feel a twinge now in either shoulder. Tiger’s had surgery on his left knee FOUR times. If he says it hurts and he needs to rest, I’m not going to question him. Throw in any achilles issues—I also tore my achilles years ago and believe me it is not a good injury—and he NEEDS to be careful, especially with a body that has proven brittle in the past.

So, when he pulls out of Quail Hollow, the one tournament he has played in past years simply because he likes the golf course, I believe him when he says he’s hurt. And when he shoots 42—42!—I don’t doubt that he’s hurt.

Commissioner Tim Finchem insisted that he saw no sign that Tiger was injured in the run-up to the tournament. He never saw him limp. I would think it would be tough to see him limp since he was carted to and from the back of the range whenever he practiced and I don’t think the commish was out there walking with him when he played nine holes on Tuesday and nine holes on Wednesday. (He also wasn’t in attendance at his ‘crown-jewel,’ for a good portion of the day Friday because he was playing golf with ex-President George W. Bush. No doubt W. will be inducted into The World Golf Hall of Fame just like his dad while the Hall continues to ignore Dan Jenkins and Jim Murray. Good job Hall voters).

Anyway, when I said on Golf Channel that I thought Tiger was hurt; that I didn’t think he should have tried to play AND I thought he felt some pressure from The Tour to play—The Tour went ballistic. I did not say that FInchem or anyone ‘forced,’ Tiger to play, a charge Finchem denied even though it hadn’t been made. I just said that Finchem had done a lot for Tiger last year—giving up his clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass for Tiger’s now infamous Tiger and Pony show and then sitting in the room with all of Tiger’s employees and minions and that perhaps—for once—Tiger felt he owed someone something and this was when The Tour had called in its chit.

I didn’t say it to be critical, hell The Tour needs to get Tiger to play more often and with Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy snubbing their event, it REALLY needed Tiger there. (I’m betting NBC is not going to be doing handstands when the weekend ratings come out with Tiger gone and Phil Mickelson nowhere near the lead. I was glued to the finish on Sunday because my guy Paul Goydos was in contention and I like David Toms a lot but I’m not exactly your typical golf viewer). I didn’t imply even that The Tour wanted Tiger to play hurt. What I was saying was that I believed the message was conveyed to Tiger—if he didn’t already know—that his presence in Ponte Vedra would be greatly appreciated.

Almost as soon as I said it, Ty Votaw, Finchem’s attack-dog when it comes to any media ‘slight,’ was on the warpath, screaming I’d made the whole thing up. For the record, I don’t make things up except in my kids mysteries. (Note to poster a couple weeks ago who said I should keep on writing kids books that, ‘no one wants to read,’ do you think my publisher would still be publishing them if no one was reading them?). I had talked to players before Tiger committed and to quite a few people after he committed. The general sentiment was that The Tour needed Tiger at The Players and his committing to a tournament he’s never liked much on a golf course he’s never liked much was his payback for Finchem’s ‘support,’ last year and that there was no doubt The Tour had let Tiger’s camp know that.

Votaw has apparently never heard of Shakespeare (he doth protest too much) and doesn’t know much about public relations. He turned a complete non-story—seriously, does anyone really care what I think about the issue all that much?—into a national story with his and Finchem’s ‘categorical,’ denials. Years ago, when Deane Beman was commissioner he hired a very smart public relations man named John Morris, who completely made over his image and relationship with the media. Sadly—on many levels—John Morris passed away nine years ago.

Finchem needs a John Morris. I have always liked him and respected him and I think he’s a good guy—rounds of golf with W. aside. I wish if he was truly upset on Thursday he had picked up a phone and called ME because I would have instantly said on the air that he had called to deny what I was saying. Instead, Votaw ran amok.

My feelings about Finchem haven’t changed at all. I still like him and respect him and am always willing to agree to disagree with him or to agree to agree with him. But I think he needs to find a John Morris.

By the way, just in case you were one of the millions not watching on Sunday, K.J Choi won The Players.

To Paul (and others): after today, I will do my best to not write about Tiger anytime soon

On Saturday night I went to dinner with a group that included Paul Goydos, who people on the golf tour half-jokingly refer to as, “my guy,” because we’ve been friends since 1993 and because I openly root for him to play well. In fact, I felt a little bit guilty on Sunday when he played an awful final round at The Players Championship to drop from a tie for 15th to a tie for 52nd. In the vernacular of golfers, he spent a lot of cash on Sunday.

I like Paul because he’s smart and opinionated and funny and never afraid to share his opinions. On Saturday, as is always the case when people who care about golf get together, the subject turned inevitably to Tiger Woods.

“You write about him every day,” Paul said—referring to this blog and, as always, exaggerating, if only a little bit. “You just can’t resist.”

I told him he was right—and wrong. It isn’t so much that I can’t resist, it’s that the guy simply can’t stay out of the news these days. He’s a train wreck right now that keeps barreling through barriers day after day.

If there was ever a weekend when Woods should have been an after thought, it was this past one. He did NOT miss the cut at The Players so there was no reason for people to go off on tangents about the fact that he had missed consecutive cuts for the first time in his career. He did NOT make any kind of a move on the leaders on Saturday (Phil Mickelson did). He played early, finished bogey-bogey to shoot a one-under-par 71 and was tied for 39th place.

The only thing that even approached a news-making moment came as he was walking into the scoring cabin after finishing his round. Mickelson was standing outside signing autographs when a little boy, no more than 7 or 8-years-old, actually began heckling Tiger, saying something like, “You can forget about being number one Tiger, it’s over!”

Woods kept walking. Mickelson leaned down to the youngster and said, “hey come on, be polite.”

Sunday should have been a quick and easy day for Woods: play early (10:30 tee time) finish back in the pack and head for his plane to fly to Philadelphia for a media day scheduled Monday to promote The AT+T Invitational NOT hosted by Tiger Woods (according to a PGA Tour edict) but still benefiting his foundation and still being run by his employees. (A subject for another day).

Except it didn’t turn out that way. After two early bogeys and after missing the green at the 7th hole, Woods shook hands with fellow competitor Jason Bohn and told officials he was withdrawing. His neck hurt. Bohn, who has had serious back and neck problems in his career, said later he could see Woods was in pain.

And so, the last day of The Players Championship became NOT about eventual winner Tim Clark or runner-up Robert Allenby or Mickelson or anyone else in the field. It became about the pain in Tiger Woods’ neck. When Tiger’s neck hurts, the golf world needs therapy.

No sane person would question Woods’ pain threshold. He won the United States Open in 2008 playing on a broken leg. He’s had all sorts of physical problems throughout his career and played through them. Here’s what you do question: On Friday, after a desultory 71 left him well back in the pack, someone asked Woods how his knee felt. “Knee’s good,” he answered. Asked if he had any physical issues at all, Woods said: “No. Zero. Absolutely 100 percent.”

On Sunday, when Woods was asked by a small gaggle of reporters in the locker room what had happened on the golf course his first answer—helpful as always—was, “I withdrew.”

When he finally elaborated, he said his neck hurt; that he might have a bulging disc, that he’d been playing in pain for, “quite a while,” and that the neck problem had started before The Masters. Check me if I’m wrong on this: Is that the same as, “zero, absolutely, 100 percent?”

There are two issues here: the first is the fact that Woods and his IMG/Tiger Woods Inc. spin doctors simply refuse to give straight answers to straight questions. Is golf now hockey? Is Woods afraid that Mickelson will check him into a tree if he thinks his neck is sore? Maybe Woods should have told people Sunday he has “an upper body injury.”

If he was hurt before The Masters why did he play The Masters? If the pain was getting worse, why continue in a tournament that really means nothing to him? Neck injuries are a serious deal. They can ruin a golfer’s career (Jerry Pate comes to mind). Why mess with it at all if there was ANY kind of pain? Let’s not go down the path of, “he wanted to finish what he started,” because there isn’t a soul alive who is going to blame a player—especially one who is injury-prone to begin with—for being careful about an injury like this one.

If Woods would just answer direct questions directly—no one is sure to this moment whether Hank Haney is fired or not fired, his denial was a non-denial denial earlier in the week; no one knows if the clubs on e-bay were his or not although every equipment rep in golf swears that the ex-Titleist rep who put them up for sale is telling the truth—we all wouldn’t be left to speculate on what this means or what that means. Reading Tiger-talk right now is like plowing through a Latin test.

Of course there are far more important questions going on here. Does his neck need a massage or surgery? Should he even be trying to play golf right now? After Tiger had Left The Building on Sunday surrounded by EIGHT sheriff’s deputies plus his usual posse, I talked to a couple of players—no, Goydos wasn’t one of them—who have gone through a divorce.

Both made the same point: It took them at least a year, maybe longer, to even think about focusing on golf. The circumstances of the divorce don’t matter; nor does it matter who is to blame for it. “All you can think about,” said one, “is what’s going to happen to my children? Even Tiger Woods HAS to be affected by that.”

Maybe Woods’ neck will leave him no choice but to take an extended break from golf. Or maybe he’ll play more often than he planned—something he hinted at Friday while telling people he was 100 percent healthy—to get ready for the U.S. Open. But one thing one player said on Sunday resonates with me: “When he said at that first public appearance that it would be a while before he played golf I thought, ‘that’s the right play.’ I wish he’d stuck to that.”

Right now, Woods may be wishing that too. Of course he’s not about to tell us what he’s wishing or thinking anytime soon.

Paul, my apologies. I will try my best not to write about Tiger again anytime soon. But you might want to talk to HIM too. Believe me, I’d have rather have written about Dallas Braden’s perfect game today.

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Several people asked last week for more details on, ‘Moment of Glory,” which will officially be published on Thursday. I will write about it later in the week but it is on sale online right now and at most bookstores. One person raised a question: How have most of my subjects reacted to the books I’ve written. I can honestly say that, with the notable exception of Bob Knight, I think just about everyone I’ve written about in detail has either been happy with what I’ve written or believed what I wrote was fair, even if some of the facts were painful. (The Navy kids reading about their 14-13 loss to Army in the final chapters of ‘A Civil War,’ come to mind). As for the response to a book that meant the most to me it would almost certainly be the note Tom Watson sent me after I had sent him an early copy of ‘Caddy For Life.’ (Which by the way will air as a documentary on Golf Channel on June 15th).

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John's new book: "Moment of Glory--The Year Underdogs Ruled The Majors,"--is now available online and will be in bookstores nationwide May 13th. Visit your favorite retailer, or click here for online purchases

This trip leads to stories on my late friend John Morris on his time at Penn State, the PGA Tour

So here I am at The Players Championship for the first time in 11 years. The last time I was here was (obviously) 1999 when “The Majors,” had just come out and the main reason I came was to do book promotion work since a lot of the golf media was in town for the event. It also helped that The Final Four was in St. Petersburg that year so I stayed until Saturday morning and then made the drive across the state in plenty of time for the semifinals.

In those days I stayed with my friends John and Kitty Morris. John was in charge of public relations for The PGA Tour in those days and was someone I had known since my early days at The Washington Post when he had been Penn State’s sports information director. More important, he had the complete trust of Joe Paterno, so if John told Joe you were okay, Joe would treat you accordingly.

The first time I interviewed Paterno was in 1979. I was the Maryland beat writer for The Post and, back then, Maryland played (and lost to) Penn State every year. I was sent up to State College the week of the game to talk to players and to Paterno. Even back then Paterno could be cranky and he wasn’t in an especially good mood at that point because a couple of players had gotten in trouble during the offseason and the team was off to a lousy start. In fact, it is possible the Nittany Lions had already lost twice going into the Maryland game.

I knew all this when I called John to arrange to see Paterno and the players. “The players are no problem,” John said. “As it happens our two best players, Bruce Clark and Matt Millen, are probably our two best talkers. Joe is going to insist I only schedule you for 15 minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes!” I said. “I need more than 15 minutes.”

“I know,” John said soothingly—soothing was always one of his best things. “Don’t worry. You go in there, get him talking and you’ll get all the time you want. I’ll make sure he doesn’t have anything pressing on the schedule right after you.”

I wasn’t all that happy with that arrangement but John turned out to be right. I asked Paterno something about ethics in college football and off he went for about 45 minutes.

Years later, when John moved to the tour, he played a major role in convincing Deane Beman that it was better to talk to the media than to battle the media and he continually pushed players to be more open and more cooperative. I still remember sitting on one of John’s rookie seminars when he was explaining why a player should always talk to the media before doing anything else if he was asked to do so.

“But what if there’s something I really want to work on over on the range first?” one of the rookies asked.

“Work on it second,” John said. “The range will still be there when you finish with the media. Chances are it won’t be the other way around.”

John always had heart problems. Early in 2000 he announced that he and Kitty were moving to Baltimore because he was on a list at Johns Hopkins for a heart transplant. Over the next 18 months I got to see him often. If he was angry or bitter about his situation he never showed it. His sense of humor never waned even a little bit. He was always a great story teller—and a treasure trove of Paterno stories—and he found one of the best hamburger joints I’ve ever been to right near the Hopkins campus.

They never found him a heart. He died in June, 2001. At his funeral, people were encouraged to just get up and tell stories about John. Paterno stood up at the exact same time as another man. This was coming off one of the bad years that led people at Penn State to try to push him into retirement.

“You go ahead coach,” the other man said.

“Thanks,” Paterno said. “First time I’ve gotten a call in a long time.”

It’s hard even now to drive in the gate at The Tournament Players Club and go past the tour’s offices without thinking of John. Since I was last here for the tournament the clubhouse has been entirely rebuilt and the tour has continued to try to make this tournament as prestigious as it possibly can. The money is huge—the purse is just under $10 million this year—and the golf course has gotten better over time although it will never be great no matter how many testimonials from players are put on the wall of the media building.

Of course back when I used to come semi-regularly the tournament was in March, which meant it had to compete with the NCAA basketball tournament. It was also seen by a lot of players as a warm-up to The Masters, which made the folks at The Tour a little bit nuts. I remember one year when Greg Norman had to withdraw, his agent put out a statement saying, “Greg is very disappointed. He always looks forward to The Players as an ideal warm-up for The Masters.”

Ouch. So now the tournament is in May, which means it isn’t a Masters warm-up and isn’t competing for eyeballs with the basketball tournament. It is, however, HOT—and humid. Of course it can be hot and humid here in March but not AS hot and humid. The players don’t seem to mind the heat. Personally, I can’t stand it, but I’m not playing and no one really cares if I’m miserable walking around the golf course—why should they?

There’s certainly plenty to talk about this week that’s for sure: Has Tiger Woods fired Hank Haney? (Word on the range is yes). Did he really give those golf clubs from his Tiger Slam that showed up on e-bay to his Titleist guy? (Word among the equipment reps is absolutely even though Tiger has semi-denied it). “The clubs are in my garage,” he said. WHICH clubs—there were two sets he used.

Can Phil Mickelson pass Woods this week and become number one in the world? Can Rory McIlroy come close to what he did in Charlotte last week? Can my guy Paul Goydos play well? (Okay maybe only I care about that). When will, “Moment of Glory,” be in bookstores. (next week. Okay, maybe only I care about that one too)?

Anyway, I’m off to do Golf Channel and then get out on the golf course for as long as I can take the heat. The only thing I can promise is that John Morris will be on my mind.