I would agree that anytime Tiger (or any good player) plays, I’m happy. But from the perspective of how his return inside the ropes would be received, I disagree with you entirely. Had he played in his event in December, he would’ve been KILLED publicly. Now, I think people would love to see him at his craft and care less about his marriage and personal life.

By “return,” I mean end his self-imposed indefinite leave. C’mon, Court, I know we get into nitpicking fights but that was pretty clear.

are you saying that if Elin had decided to divorce him, they would have been done with it by now and Tiger would be mentally ready to play ?

I agree with you on the divorce front. At that point, I would wonder if golf could be an “escape” for Tiger.

ah – ok – gotcha

If Elin just said, “Sorry, big boy, it’s over,” it’s not so much a question of Tiger being mentally ready. It’s more a matter of “do I work on my golf or sit around watching TV, feeling sorry for myself?” We’d probably see Tiger sooner than later, simply because there’d be no real reason to stay home.

But if Elin says “I’ll stay if you give me a good reason,” I think it’s logical that Tiger would take longer to get back out on tour. It simply seems to fit how Tiger does things — he goes all-out, or he doesn’t bother. If he seriously wants to salvage the homefront, I suspect he’ll put most of his efforts into THAT and come back to golf once he’s sure he’s succeeded.

I agree on these points. If he’’s really serious about saving his marriage, then I would seriously doubt that Elin would feel very comfortable with him being away from her for extended periods. Her trust of him has to be about ZERO at the moment. To have him back on Tour with all the Gutter Groupies throwing themselves at TW would simply be impoosible for Elin to accept. If all this “sex addict” craps is genuine and not just PR planning, then he’s gone at least the year. If the marriage is over and ALL this is just for appearances, then he’ll come back and play Bay Hill and Doral before heading to Augusta. If that is how it plays out, then the whole idea of saving the marriage has been an act for his sponsors and public consumption. He’s a serial philanderer, and it’ll take years before Elin will trust him again. This all sounds just a little too disingenuos from my perspective. I’m betting he’s back before Augusta,but his marriage is history. We’ve all been treated to a little “high-school” drama presentation since Thanksgiving, and not a very good one.Too transparent. I’m not convinced for a second that Woods was sincere about his poor decisions. He’s still a phony untill he mans-up and offers a sincere apology to the game and all involved,. I’m wouldn’t bet a nickle on that happening,…but I do hope I’m wrong. We’ll see…………………………..Z.

I went to the store last night! It’s going to be a long weekend.

…RB…looks like you’ll have to send that $10,000 prize to someone other than OEG – he doesn’t want it. :-D

you’ve read my blog enough to know I’m a HUGE Watson fan, Vince. The quote from him was pretty much non-news though, in that it was just what everybody’s been saying since the start, so I made no comment.

But, ironically enough, while 60% of the post may be about Tom, it’s Tiger — not Tom — who’s in the post headline… so I talk Tiger.

Besides, I know you agree that he should save his family first if he can, and then come back. Don’t be playing us, young man! ;-D

Vince, don’t cuss again.

And it was about Watson because that’s the issue around which I feel tells that the general population wants Tiger back.

Of course Tiger can come back at time that he’d like, but this post was entirely about public sentiment – nothing about Tiger’s wish to do so.

I don’t think the WaggleRoom community will ever be known for keeping on topic with laser-like focus. And that’s what’s truly great about it. Out of 500 or 1000 words, maybe it’s one thought that triggers 100 comments.

I personally didn’t mention Tom Watson because he didn’t say anything that made me want to say anything. But Court did. And now you did. I don’t really care to change your mind. I care to have a stimulating conversation and/or debate. If you want to talk about Tom Watson, then say something about him that will make me want to say something about him.

Here’s my feeling about what you described: if you’re willing to cut down someone in a public space, then you should be prepared to be cut down the same, if not more so. Watson is a veteran and he knew what he might be subject to by saying what he did.

I have no problem with what Watson said. He has every right to do it (as I’ve repeatedly said). BUT – and read this very carefully – if Watson or anyone (myself included) is willing to criticize someone in public, they tacitly accept that they can be criticized in return.

that I agree completely with, is that Tiger needs to clean up his act on the golf course. I really don’t care what he does off it, but I would love to see him treat the game with a lot more respect. As far as what Tom Watson said about the other, to me it smacks of just a little bit of hypocrisy given his own silence and pleas for privacy when his private life came under the microscope.

we’ve only seen one tournament without Tiger this season – Torrey Pines is the only one he usually plays this time of year, and he missed it last year, too.