Tiger And Stevie's First Tee Reunion Delayed At Least Until The Weekend

GolfChannel.com has "learned" that the opening round pairing for Tiger is with buddy Darren Clarke.

Jason Sobel points out that this is a major setback for the Tour's featured groupings policy and though he doesn't say it as part of the Golf Channel/NBC family, I will! It's an unfortunately timed missed-opportunity on the eve of television contract negotiations.

Which means this pairing can’t be seen as anything but pandering to Tiger in his return to competition.

With “featured groupings” sprinkled into the opening two rounds at every PGA Tour-sanctioned event this year, the folks in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., offices have finally conceded that not all tee times are of the computer-generated, random variety. Rather than specifically place Woods with a player with whom he has little prior relationship, though, officials have offered him a favorable partner in longtime buddy Clarke.

Pond Scrummers Elling and Huggan had this exchange on Tiger's comeback:

Elling: The results are secondary. To me, this is all about how his leg reacts. Firestone is a parkland course with plenty of hills and slopes. He will face a few awkward lies. Millions of us will get some insight into whether this leg will be a major liability for the rest of his career. It will always be an issue to some degree, but to such a point where he has to walk off courses, like he did at Sawgrass? His physical readiness is more important than what he shoots.

Huggan: I hope he plays well. I don't think he will, but I hope he does. I'd love to see him play again close to the level he attained 10 years ago. But, as you say, the key is his knee. Will it let him play great again? I have my doubts.

Elling: I can't see how he can possibly be prepared. A player who once spent weeks working his way onto game shape before majors decided Thursday night that he wanted to play? Even with Woods' formidable skill set, it's hard to envision much happening, even if the adrenaline kicks in.
Huggan: What would be even better is if he comes back a changed man, one who interacts with the galleries, signs autographs and says thought-provoking and interesting things in press conferences. Oh, yes, and did you know the moon is made of cheese?

Elling: Right. Dream on, Spielberg.