Art Spander - Sports Commentary

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The year that was in golf (a U.S. Open at Bethpage, 59-year-old Tom Watson nearly winning the British Open) comes to a close Sunday with what might be called the week that wasn't. Or, depending on viewpoints, the week that shouldn't have been.

Tiger Woods' annual tournament, the $7.5-million Chevron World Challenge, had everything to do with scandal, headlines, confessions and outrage, but because of the accident that kept Woods from playing but didn't keep the world from prying, it had very little to do with golf.

Woods, of course, was involved in that car accident at 2:25 on the morning of Nov. 27 in front of his home in the gated Florida community of Isleworth, outside Orlando.

That led to questions - where was he going at 2:25 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. Admissions of sexual dalliances by several women. Disbelief from those who idolize Woods and then an acknowledgment by Woods on his Web site that he is guilty of "transgressions."

Even Saturday the gossip and rumors continued -- a report from Orlando that Woods lost several teeth when he was hit in the mouth, either by a golf club swung by angry wife Elin Nordegren or in the crash, and that a fourth woman was involved with Woods.

"It's been a little weird," said Steve Stricker of this Chevron, a tournament that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. "I was really looking forward to this event, and all the things that were going on brought me down . . . I think we're tired of hearing about it. I was flipping the channels, and I mean even Nancy Grace is discussing it."

Stricker, who partnered Woods in the four-ball and foursomes of the recent Presidents Cup matches in San Francisco, understands why.

"We've built him up to such a person,'' he said, "and shame on us for thinking that's really what it's all about."

The 54-hole lead of the Chevron, at Sherwood Country Club about 40 miles west of Los Angeles, is shared by Graeme McDowell and Y.E. Yang at 10-under-par 206, with Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington at 9-under 207.

Yang, of Korea, is the one who beat Woods down the stretch in the PGA Championship in August at Hazeltine. McDowell, from Northern Ireland, was the last player in the field, invited to fill the void after Woods announced he was "unable to play."

En route to Orlando, where he lives, from the World Cup in China, McDowell was going through Los Angeles and was notified he would be invited. He stayed and played.

"I woke up Saturday morning [in China], put on the laptop to see what was going on . . . Tiger had been in a car accident,'' he said. "The shock and the scandal and everything made for some interesting reading.

"Typical locker-room chatter on Sunday. Probably disbelief more than anything, and obviously the rumor mill was working overtime on the weekend. Will we ever know what really happened? . . . I mean, it's been front-page news all over the world. He is that big."

The January issue of Golf Digest magazine has a computer photo cover of Woods, as caddie, lining up a putt for Barack Obama, the ultimate in bad timing.

The 2010 PGA Tour begins in a month, Jan. 7 in Kapalua, Hawaii. Tiger, if he's recovered from the injuries, probably will start at the San Diego Invitational Jan. 28.

"It will be interesting to see how he handles this," Kenny Perry told The Associated Press. "This is a totally different knock on him when he gets out there and plays next year."

- - - - - -
Copyright © 2009 Newsday. All rights reserved.