Tiger’s return date remains a mystery

By Mark Garrod

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

THE Tiger Woods waiting and guessing game goes on – just when it looked as if a date for his comeback was going to be announced.

Excitement mounted when PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem called a teleconference yesterday, but it was purely to announce a new tournament sponsorship deal.

Woods has been pictured practising and there has been mounting speculation that he could return to action in the unofficial Tavistock Cup next Monday and Tuesday, the Arnold Palmer Invitational later the same week or The Masters next month.

But Finchem was unable to shed any light on any of that and there was no announcement on the world number one’s website either.

"We have the general information that Tiger is preparing to play and there’s been a lot of speculation about when he might come back out," said Finchem.

"Tiger’s indicated to us he will give us reasonable notice because we know we’ve got some preparation to do.

"But I don’t have a specific date when he’s going to come back... if he is going to start back then (March or April), we will know soon. Beyond that I can’t help you."

Only on Sunday, Finchem had stated: "I’m as excited as everybody else to see him back I hope this spring, but my sense is we’ll know pretty soon.

"Everybody’s done looking back at the circumstances that resulted in him stepping away from the game and (are) now focused on when he’s going to play golf."

Woods last played on November 15, winning the Australian Masters in Melbourne.

Twelve days later came the car crash outside his home which put him first into hospital and then into hiding as a sex scandal erupted.

Woods admitted to "transgressions" on his website, then used the same forum to announce he was taking an indefinite break from the gave to try to save his marriage.

It was not until February 19 that he finally made a public appearance to read a 13-minute guilt-ridden, apology-laden address to family and friends.

Woods’ statement hinted that his lay-off would go on for many months at least, yet within days there was speculation that he was gearing up for a comeback much sooner than that.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, March 16, 2010