“Tiger Woods Returns to Asia to Energize Young Athletes’ Love for Golf” (And Launch A New Design)

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Nike has announced (as expected) that Tiger will be making one of his goodwill tours of Asia replete with clinics (oh not the short game right now, please...) and no doubt to show the Swoosh to prospective customers.

And in the it's-a-mitzvah department, the April 24-25 trip will be preceded by Woods appearing in Beijing to confirm a lucrative course design gig in the land where golf is stalling, if not banned or illegal to build a course.

What a world!

"Really? Wow. O.K."

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Forgive me for being late with this one, but I was out at the interview area Masters Sunday and did not hear Bill Macatee's epic reaction to Tiger Woods suggesting he'd popped a bone back in place, nor had I heard the Faldo-Nantz reaction where you can almost feel them looking at each other incredulously.



Matthew Schwerha talked to Dr. Benjamin Davis, an orthopedic surgeon in Chicago who says it's possible.

“In football, it’s not uncommon to have hand injuries that are put back into place, and the player will return to the game,” Davis said. “In 2008, Tiger finished and won the U.S. open with a torn ligament and a stress fracture in his knee. Tiger has a proven record of physical toughness and he is a tremendous competitor. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

Bubba On His Peer Pressures: "I need to improve as a man."

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An ESPN.com survey noted that Bubba is not the most popular player on the tour and may need some non-PGA Tour assistance if he were to be walking down a dark alley.

Bubba was asked about this during his Tuesday Masters press conference. Very well handled by the two-time champion despite the best efforts of the ByTheMinuteGolf's senior Augusta Correspondent to get him to crack:

Q.  I was reading this morning about how you had written a check for the school and all that which is great publicity.  Did you see the survey on ESPN yesterday?

BUBBA WATSON:  No, I didn't.  I take that back, I heard about it because I did an interview ‑‑ I'm playing in China next week, so I did an interview for the China tournament and they asked me about it.

Q.  What do you think about when you read about that stuff?  On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does it irritate you, that kind of publicity?

BUBBA WATSON:  Here is the way I take it.  I take it as I need to improve as a man.  I take it with pride.  I need to get better.  And I think over my career, since my rookie season to now, I've gotten better.  But obviously there's more room for me to improve as a man.  And so hopefully next year or the year after, it improves.  It's a challenge.  It's great.  I'm glad that it came out and it's going to help me improve.

So if it's a bad thing and people don't like me, then I've got to improve and prove them wrong.

Q.  Do you get any sense of this in the locker room at all?

BUBBA WATSON:  No.  I had the same question asked to me, so I answered that question.  I put my name on there to, because I'm not going to call out anybody, there's nobody I dislike on Tour.  I dislike them if they beat me, but I don't dislike them as a person.  So I put my own name down there.  So one of those names were me; I wrote it down myself.

Q.  If you were being beaten up ‑‑
BUBBA WATSON:  Obviously, I've never been in a fight in my life, so if I was in a fight, it was my fault.  I caused somebody to get angry.  So yeah, I wouldn't help myself either.

Q.  Does this stuff irritate you at all?
BUBBA WATSON:  No, it helps me improve.  So I don't know which way I would go with that, but it helps me improve as a person.

I've had some mess‑ups on Tour, and I think I've improved in those areas and I'm trying to get better.  That's all I can do.  I'm glad people that call me out when they do; that's the only way I can get better.  If I don't know about it, then I can't improve.

Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com defends Bubba post-parking lot revelation. Sort of.

Can he be a bit of a hick, a goof? Do you sometimes wonder if his visor is impeding blood flow to his brain? Yes ... and yes.

But I've seen him talk about the joys of being a father and watched as his tears of pride unashamedly flowed. I've seen him at North Berwick Golf Course in Scotland, where he had a smile as wide as the fairways as he played a goof-around 18 holes with his buddies. I've heard him gush with excitement as he explained why the third round of the 2008 U.S. Open was the most fun he has ever had watching a tournament on TV (he had bet his wife that Tiger Woods would eagle the par-5 13th hole at Torrey Pines, birdie the par-4 17th and eagle the par-5 18th to move into first place -- and Woods did exactly that).

And yes, I've seen and heard Watson do dumb things, but he almost always publicly acknowledges his dumbness. It's as much a Bubba tradition as his pink driver.