Global Golf Post: Jury Still Out On Woods' Game

By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

SAN MARTIN, CALIFORNIA — He still can play golf. Still can break 70. Tiger Woods may not be what he was two years ago but seemingly neither is Tiger what he was two months ago.

The tournament he needed may not have been exactly the reassurance golf needed but it was progress.

Anybody but Tiger and a golfer returning from a two-month layoff...

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Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post

Newsday (N.Y.): Fan throws hot dog at Tiger Woods

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN MARTIN, Calif. -- Tiger Woods got the competition he wanted and almost got a gift he didn't want: a hot dog hurled at him by a fan at the seventh green.

It was part of a wild Sunday at the Frys.com Open in which Woods recorded a third straight 68 and, no less significantly, Briny Baird recorded his 348th tournament without a victory.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

SF Examiner: Poor putting plagues Tiger Woods at Frys.com Open

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The mantra of golf is “It ain’t how, it’s how many.” Style points aren’t counted, strokes are. And the most important are those on the greens, which can save a round, or for Tiger Woods on Thursday, ruin one.

“This is probably the worst putting round I’ve ever had,” Woods said. Maybe an exaggeration. Maybe not.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Tiger Needs Low Score, Not Validation

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN MARTIN, Calif. — It's not about validation. Tiger Woods made that point. What he didn't make were putts. He's back, playing again, but the return hardly looked like he's back as a dominant golfer. Or even a challenging golfer.

Day One of the rest of Tiger's career took place Thursday at the Frys.com Open at CordeValle Golf Club, a charming but difficult little course carved into the coastal foothills 80 miles south of San Francisco. It's not far from Mission San Juan Bautista, which Alfred Hitchcock used as a setting in "Vertigo."

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Tiger Woods changes dynamic of Bay Area golf event

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

One man, and the dynamics changed. One man, and a golf tournament not everyone noticed a year ago is receiving star treatment. Tiger Woods arrives, and suddenly the Frys.com Open has arrived.

He needed some game action, as it were, competition. The Frys, opposite pro and college football and the baseball playoffs, needed a boost. Both sides are delighted.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company