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9:48AM

SF Examiner: Despite staying home, Tiger talk takes over tourney

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner


THOUSAND OAKS — The posters of Tiger Woods are everywhere. Why wouldn’t they be? This is his tournament, isn’t it, the Chevron World Challenge, the one which benefits his foundation?

But as we know, Tiger is not here.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company
6:00AM

Newsday: Harrington curious about Woods rumors, too

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday


THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Padraig Harrington has won the British Open twice, won the PGA Championship, which makes him stand out from the crowd.

In other matters, gossip for example, Harrington's no different than the rest of us. He has a nagging curiosity.

"It's just part of life,'' conceded Harrington. "That's what we do. We're all interested in a bit of gossip and what's happening. And usually it's a long way from the truth.

"But it's part of human nature, I suppose.''

Harrington is in Southern California to play in the $5.75-million Chevron World Classic at Sherwood Country Club.

That's the tournament Tiger Woods hosts, the tournament that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, the tournament at which this year Tiger Woods is a no-show.

On the Tuesday of the Chevron, Woods normally spends about 45 minutes with the media in what has been labeled his State-of-the-Tiger address.

This year, when the demand for a few words from Tiger never has been greater, he was 2,600 miles away, having sent his regrets.

Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade at 2:25 a.m. Friday outside his home at the gated community of Isleworth, a posh suburb of Orlando, Fla. That's a fact. Another fact is the Florida Highway Patrol has cited Woods for reckless driving and fined him $164.

Why he was hurtling out of his driveway long after midnight has been the root of the speculation, and a Las Vegas woman has asserted she had an affair with Woods.

Woods issued a statement after the accident claiming "the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.''

It is the rumor stuff that people, including Harrington, find fascinating. "I have not spoken with Tiger,'' Harrington said Tuesday. "I know very little about this, barring what I've been reading online. I've learned a few new Web sites this week.''

Whether one was TMZ, the Hollywood-based gossip site that has published stories embarrassing to Woods, he wouldn't say. But Harrington did say he's drawn to scandalous stuff much like everybody.

"You get drawn in by it," Harrington said. "But at times when you're involved in it, you can see how far away from the truth they get.''

Steve Stricker, who is also playing in the Chevron, went undefeated with Woods as his partner at the Presidents Cup, and their wives walked together in some of those matches. He usually gets a quick answer when he sends a text message from Woods. This time, not a peep.

"Since I haven't heard back, I imagine he's in -- I don't know the right word -- a lot of pain," Stricker said. "And I don't even know what that means. I don't know what it's all about. I just feel bad for the guy. He's getting hammered in the media."

"I haven't talked to him," said Mark O'Meara, who took him under his wing when Woods turned pro at age 20 in 1996. - With AP

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Copyright © 2009 Newsday. All rights reserved.
6:00AM

Newsday: Woods won't show up at own benefit tournament

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday


THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- It's his tournament, but Tiger Woods isn't playing. Isn't even planning to show up. That's hardly a surprise considering his physical condition -- the bruises -- and maybe the mental one.

On his Web site, Woods announced Mondaythat he would be "unable'' to compete in the Chevron World Challenge, which because the event benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and normally is hosted by the man, has come to be known as the "Tiger Woods Invitational."

The statement gave the reason as "injuries sustained in a one-car accident'' early Friday morning in front of his home at Isleworth, outside Orlando, Fla.

"I am extremely disappointed that I will not be at my tournament this week,'' Tiger is quoted. "I am certain it will be an outstanding event, and I'm very sorry I can't be there.''

The other players, such as Lucas Glover, who won the U.S Open at Bethpage and Steve Stricker, No. 3 in the world who partnered Tiger at the Presidents Cup in October, are no less sorry.

They'll be pestered with questions about what they think happened to Tiger and caused the crash, a subject which as the days pass has grown dramatically.

The accident at 2:25 a.m. Friday sent Woods to a hospital in an ambulance and has sent gossip columnists into a frenzy.

Why was Woods leaving his home in the wee hours? What about a report in the National Enquirer that Woods had an affair with New York hostess Rachel Uchitel in Australia? Did Woods' wife break the window of his Cadillac Escalade with a golf club to pull him from the accident or because she was enraged over the rumors?

Perhaps Woods didn't want to face the questions. Perhaps, because of scratches and cuts on his lips and cheeks, he didn't want to face the public or the scrutiny.

"This is a private matter, and I want to keep it that way,'' Woods said. "Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about me and my family are irresponsible . . . ''

The 18-man Chevron tournament is held at Sherwood Country Club, an elite gated project with a Jack Nicklaus-designed course and around the perimeter off $4-million and $5-million mansions, one of which is owned by former hockey star Wayne Gretzky.

The club is located about 40 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, in the Santa Monica Mountains, where Los Angeles County ends and Ventura County begins. The original M*A*S*H TV series was filmed nearby.

Woods has been involved with the event, under different sponsorships, since the 1999 start in Arizona. It was shifted in 2000 to Southern California, where Woods grew up.

Although not on the official PGA Tour schedule, the Chevron attracts some of the world's top players and annually serves as Woods' opportunity to review his year in a State-of-the-Tiger address.

That normally would be held Tuesday, but it was canceled along with his entry in the event. Woods almost certainly will not play in any tournament until the end of January.

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Copyright © 2009 Newsday. All rights reserved.
10:18AM

RealClearSports: Tiger Crashes; PGA Tour Gasps

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com


When Tiger Woods was rolling along a few years ago, winning majors, winning minors, winning everything, the great Dan Jenkins predicted lightheartedly nothing could stop Tiger except an injury or a bad marriage.

No one is laughing any longer.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2009
9:29PM

SF Examiner: Stricker’s comeback lands him on Team Tiger

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner


He’s seen as the other guy, the accompaniment to the main act, part of a twosome which some might consider a single. Steve Stricker was Tiger Woods’ partner in all four Presidents Cup team matches, an accessory, perhaps, also a necessity.

A man who almost left the game, Stricker, 42, has no ego problems. And of late, after twice winning the Comeback of the Year Award and this year having won three times and moving to third in the world rankings, no golf problems either.

The person assigned to join Tiger, especially in the alternate-shot, foursomes format, has to understand it’s not going to be a walk at Harding Park. The fans are there to see Woods. Saturday morning they were yelling, “Hey, Tiger.” No reference to Stricker.

But he and Tiger work well together. And when Tiger holes a 22-foot birdie putt 17 and then rips a 3-iron onto the green for his second shot on the 18th to set up Stricker’s eagle putt, Steve just smiles. “I have a front row seat,” said Stricker. “We all know what he does.”

What the two of them did was win the final two holes of the foursomes to beat Mike Weir and Tim Clark of the Internationals, 1 up.

When a few weeks back Stricker briefly was atop the standings of the FedEx Cup, eventually won by Tiger, Steve said, “We’re taking up space in [Tiger’s] world, but I’m thrilled to death to be playing how I’m playing.”

Especially after never finishing better than 151st on the PGA Tour money list from 2003-05.

His wife, Nicki, once his caddy, was home with their two young children. He was feeling sorry for himself, was ready to quit.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do the rest of my life,” he said once. “I didn’t have the desire that I really needed to play this game ... Then at the end of the 2005 season, I went back to Tour school, didn’t make it and just kind of rededicated myself to work harder.”

Obviously, it worked far better than anyone might have imagined.

“I think we approach the game with the same mentality,” said Tiger of Stricker. “We just play it differently. I hit the ball a little farther. But our mentality and how we play and compete is exactly the same.”

Stricker, who grew up in Wisconsin but went to the University of Illinois, also has the right mental approach to be Tiger’s teammate.

“It’s been a blast,” said Stricker. “I hope he’s not sick of me.”

Nobody gets sick of winning.

Local legends make return to Harding


They had come home, in a sense, back to the course where long ago they had perfected the game. Ken Venturi and Johnny Miller were at Harding Park, for them a place of history and memories.

Each graduated from Lincoln High, a few miles away from Harding. Each had gone on to win a U.S. Open. Now Miller, 62, was working The Presidents Cup as NBC’s co-lead announcer with Dan Hicks, while Venturi, 78, was in attendance to observe and remember.

The trophy case inside the entrance to Harding’s Sandy Tatum clubhouse is dominated by the huge cup Venturi earned in the famous San Francisco City Championship of 1956, when he defeated E. Harvie Ward in a finals watched by 10,000 people.

Miller told the TV audience he used to fish in Lake Merced off the edge of the 18th hole, which for The Presidents Cup was played as the 15th hole.

“I followed him,” Miller said of Venturi who later was a commentator for CBS, “in his two careers, as a golfer and an announcer.”
Venturi, won the U.S. Open in 1964, the last year two rounds were held the final day, surviving 90-degree temperatures at Washington’s Congressional Club. Miller’s title came nine years later at Oakmont outside Pittsburgh.

It was fitting Venturi’s final tour victory was at the 1966 Lucky International at Harding, where his father once had been the pro. Miller never won at Harding but he did at Pebble Beach and Silverado in Napa.

On target


Despite an unseasonably cold, cloudy Saturday, another sellout crowd of some 28,000 — including Condoleezza Rice and former U.S. Open winner Juli Inkster — swarmed about Harding Park to watch The Presidents Cup. Support from Northern California sports fans has been overwhelming for this second of the five golf events promised to Harding Park over a 15-year span after $16 million was spent for improvements on the public course.

Who said it


Steve Stricker

Tiger Woods holed a 22-foot birdie putt on 17 in the morning after Steve Stricker’s relatively poor bunker shot and squared the match against Mike Weir and Tim Clark. Asked how he continues to come through, Woods quipped, “Luck.” Not exactly.  Stricker  said, “He kept telling me we are going to win. He was calling it all the way. Believing is one thing, and he pulled off some great shots at the end.”

Jim Furyk

“I love playing with Justin,” was Jim Furyk’s comment after he and Justin Leonard beat Ernie Els and Adam Scott, 4 and 2, in foursomes. “But we split up in the afternoon. We hit the ball so much alike. You need someone who plays totally different. Anthony [Kim] and I are two different people who get along great.” They also played strong against Scott and Angel Cabrera in four-ball.

Match to watch


Who else but Tiger Woods? Teaming with Steve Stricker, so far he is 4-0 in two foursomes, two fourballs. Today Tiger and the 23 others on both teams play singles, match play. Woods is 3-2 overall in five previous Presidents Cup singles, his losses coming in the last two Cups, to Retief Goosen of South Africa in 2005 and Mike Weir in 2007. After Saturday, he is 9-2-1 in foursomes, or alternate shot competition.

By the numbers


Total singles matches that will be played today: 12

Tiger Woods’ career Presidents Cup singles record entering today: 3-2

Vijay Singh’s career Presidents Cup singles record entering today: 1-4-2

To see The Examiner's complete coverage of the Presidents Cup go to http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/presidentscup/

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http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/Spander-Strickers-comeback-lands-him-on-Team-Tiger-63941002.html
Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company