Tiger Woods Returns: Does His Swing Come With Him?

by Jeff Skinner

Here’s your Tiger Woods Fall Series Primer:

The Fall Series on The PGA Tour is normally filled with golfers trying to work their way up the PGA Tour Money List in an effort to earn or keep their tour card for next year.  Certainly that is the case as plenty of golfers are counting on a few good finishes over the next three weeks to solidify their situation.

But this week’s Frys.com Open takes on a bit of a different atmosphere as the Tiger Woods Circus  comes to town as Woods tees it up for the first time since missing the cut at The PGA Championship.

For those keeping score, Tiger has made eight appearances on the PGA Tour this season.  His injuries, physical and mental have kept the former world number one from having any real success on the course this year.  His best finish was a T4 at The Masters but mostly he finished back in the pack if he was able to complete the tournament.

But all that means nothing as his good buddy Fred Couples made him a (undeserving) Captains Pick to the Presidents Cup and this appearance is partly to kick the rust off his game to show Freddy that he’ll be ready for Australia.

Greg Norman is a little peeved at Tiger since he moved into Norman’s neighborhood and hasn’t given The Shark a call.  Norman tells Golf.com that Tiger will never win another major. Take that Tiger that will teach you not to call me!

If you think that Tiger playing a Fall Series event isn’t a big deal you’re wrong.  Over three times as many media credentials were issued this year as compared to 2010.

Tiger has been busy lately working on his game and he found some success when he set a new course record at his new home course, The Medalist, where he shot 62.  That’s Norman’s old club which he built and owned for awhile but still no call from Tiger.

Tiger also has dropped out of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings.  The last time he was this low was in 1996.

Finally, EA Sports is letting fans vote for other players to appear on the cover of the next version of Tiger’s video game, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13.  Again that says quite a bit about Tiger’s marketing appeal, but that’s another column.  Click here to see the candidates and vote. My choices don’t appear on the list, how about Stevie Williams and Michael Buffer and a little “Let’s get ready to rumble” from the voice himself.