Tiger's Tanned, Rested And A Resounding Maybe On Playing Masters

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Maybe it's shaving the goatee or just his overall upbeat glow for someone who has been off the grid, but while appearing on Good Morning America and promoting his 1997 Masters book Tiger Woods looked well. The positive appearance only adds to the mystery surrounding his latest absence due to back spasms.

Yes, he looks older without his hat and signature form-fitting golf shirts. But it's hard not to watch all of this and wonder what genuinely plagues him that he's still not able to go to his office: the golf course. But for his fans Woods offered a glimmer of hope. Steve DiMeglio reports after getting an exclusive sitdown for USA Today.

“I do have a chance,” to play, Woods told USA TODAY Sports in an exclusive interview. “I’m trying everything I possibly can to get to that point. I’m working, I’m working on my game. I just need to get to a point where I feel like I’m good enough, and I’m healthy enough to do it."

In the good news/bad news department, Woods is attending the Champions Dinner but essentially has left open the possibility for no decision on his playing status until the last minute.

Yes, we've seen this movie before and no one wanted to see it a second time.

DiMeglio filed a separate piece on the 1997 Masters book written with Lorne Rubenstein. Reading about this kind of detail sounds great:

Woods, who hopes to play in next month's Masters, explains how he used a persimmon driver to hone his swing the week before the 1997 Masters and made use of Golf Channel’s video library to study Augusta National’s treacherous greens. He tees up his thoughts about the changes made to the course to combat technological advances in the game.

In NYC, Alex Myers talked to the fans who waited a long time in line to get the book signed at Barnes and Noble.

The GMA segment featured a putting contest that made for good TV: