What they're saying about Tiger Woods' return
We asked fellow PGA TOUR players what their thoughts were about Tiger Woods returning to golf for next week's World Golf Championships-Acccenture Match Play Championship Feb. 25-March 1 in Tucson, Ariz. Here's what they had to say:
Rocco Mediate: "Good. It's about time. I'm glad he's coming back. Good for him. We need him. Period. Our TOUR is cool, but it's really, really cool with him. It's just a notch above. No disrespect. You can say what you want, but it's the truth. I've always believed that about him. He makes it what it is. We have, like I said, great players, Phillip, and everybody, they're all fine. But without him, it's not the same.
"He's the man. He's the king. He's it. Everyone's waiting, waiting, waiting. And I will guarantee you he wins that tournament next week. Guaranteed. I'll guarantee it. You think he's coming out not 180,000 percent? He's not coming out, well, let's see how I do. That's not going to happen. I'll bet you he wins that golf tournament next week.
Dean Wilson: "Awesome. It's good to have him back playing next week. He is not going to come back when he's not ready. So I'm sure he's ready. I'm sure he's been practicing and feels good. He just probably needs to get some tournament rounds under him and he'll be ready to go. And that might be only one round with that guy. So he might be ready first round out of the bat. You never know what that guy.
"A lot of guys get hurt and you never know. My main concern is that he's OK and that his knee gets fixed and he's ready to go. You just never know with golf -- especially how hard he swings it and how much torque he's putting on his knee. So it's pretty exciting for him to come back."
Kenny Perry: "It hurts the TOUR whenever you lose the greatest player in the world. With the economy as crappy as it is and all you hear is bad news, bad news, it's nice to finally get some good news. He'll bring a lot of excitement to our TOUR. He carries our TOUR and I'm glad to have him back. He's a good friend. I just think the world of him.
"I've left him alone. He's just had a new baby. He's been enjoying his family. He's probably changed too many diapers, he's house-burnt and he wants to get out here and start playing golf again.
"Anytime you say this kid's not going to be any good or do something, he proves the world wrong. He's the best that's ever played. So I wouldn't doubt -- if he came back and won it wouldn't shock me anymore. He's done that before. He's been gone for a while, he comes back, he wins right out of the gate. When he's ready to come back, he's ready to play. So you need to be ready."
Scott McCarron: "It means a lot to all of us, as far as the players on the PGA TOUR, a lot to the fans of the PGA TOUR, a lot to the sponsors, the tournaments -- it's huge. Golf without Tiger -- he's the big story. Obviously, we like to get in there in the mix every now and then and play with Tiger and maybe beat him every once in a while. He's a big story. We need him to come back strong.
"I'm so happy for him to be at home and be with his family and the birth of his second child. That means a lot. I kind of went through the same thing when I had my elbow surgery and was home for a year-and-a-half. So I know what he's going through and I'm sure he'll probably come back even stronger.
"I think most of us knew that he probably could have come back sooner if he wanted to but he wanted to be there for the birth of his second child. My gosh, that's probably one of the most important things you can do in your life. So I know he's pretty strong right now. I know he's been hitting balls for a while and feeling pretty good.
"What do I expect? I expect him to win the first week he comes out. I never expect him to do anything else. The guy is incredible. I've been fortunate enough to go on a couple of trips with him and practice and play with him. He works hard than I've ever seen anybody work. I wish my body could keep up and work that hard. I just can't quite do it."
Vaughn Taylor: "It's great for the TOUR. He's obviously our main attraction. It's been a long absence without him. It's great. I'm glad he's playing. Hopefully, the fans, they've been out but they'll come out more. It just gets everybody more excited and it's good for golf.
"From what I've heard, sounds like he's been practicing but hasn't been able to walk that much. I think I heard him say he adjusted his swing to make it easier on his knee. It's hard to say. His mental game, and you have to believe he's going to be playing well. It's hard to see him struggling so I think he's going to play well. Match play is just you and another guy, it's probably a good event to start back. I think he'll play well. If he is a little rusty, it won't take him a long time to get it back."
Tom Lehman: "He's obviously ready to come back. He wouldn't be playing if he weren't. So I think it's great for him. It's great for golf. It's great for the fans. It's great for the tournament next week. He's had a lot of success in those WGCs so it should be a lot more exciting now that he's back.
"Everybody knows Tiger's a very committed athlete so I'm certain that he's not coming back to finish second."
John Rollins: "I think it's huge. He obviously brings out a lot of people, television, all the ratings, that's who everyone wants to see. I think the absence, the nine months or whatever it's been, I think we survived.
It's been OK, but having him out here is a huge part of the TOUR and personally, I'm looking forward to having him come back out here and play.
"I haven't talked to him, anything like that. But I know he's not coming out here until he's 100 percent ready -- until he thinks he can win here and do that. And hopefully, his knee will hold up next week. I know those are some long rounds. We'll see what the new Tiger has in store.
"It will be interesting to see what his matches are like -- if he's able to eliminate guys early and not have to go the 18 and sometimes the 36 holes. I personally think he's going to be as good, if not better, than he was before he had the surgery. So we'll just have to wait and see."
Rich Beem: "Dude, I'm going to be in Mexico at the beach, sipping on margaritas in between my rounds. I'm going to be watching him just slug it out in the Accenture Match Play. I'm going to be down in Mexico. Glad he's back. It's good for the game. But it has no effect on me whatsoever right now.
"Obviously we're going to bring back some more fans and people are going to be excited about it. He's going to be on ESPN more than he is right now, and other places. But no, it's good to have him back and I'm sure he'll be not rusty all. I'm sure he'll go out and win and show us all how inferior we are, and that's great. (Laughter)"
Nick O'Hern (who has beaten Tiger twice at the Accenture Match Play Championship) "I'm not surprised. I live at Isleworth where he lives and I've been seeing him playing for quite a while now. He looks as though he's hitting the ball really well and playing better than he ever has. I think he was probably just waiting for the birth of his child to get settled with that and play a few before the Masters.
"It's incredibly important -- the No. 1 player in the world, possibly the greatest ever, time will tell there. I've learned so much playing with him and just watching him practice. I'm fortunate enough to live not far from him. I get a bit of a close-up view of what he does. His presence on the golf course is unparalleled probably since Nicklaus, Palmer and all those guys so to have him play golf tournaments is very special.
"I'm quite happy to be 2-0 at the moment. I'll keep it that way. We have a little bit of a dig every now and then. He chips a couple of balls at me. No, it's all good fun. We have a good time. I don't actually play with him when he's there. He goes about his business and I go about mine.
"If he's physically fit and as mentally tough as he is, I think, I'm guessing, he's probably going to win at least one major. His mind and his short game is probably the best in the world and that's what sets him apart from the rest of us. And if he's fit and healthy and hitting the ball well, it's a tough task for all of us to get past him.
"From my experience he doesn't like short-hitting left-handers. (Laughter) Of course, Brendan bombs it out there. I'm a big fan of match play where you get your first shot in. Hit your approach first, put the pressure on your opponent. But the big thing against Tiger is play your own game. I'm not going to try and do things, whenever I play against him, that I normally can't do. If you shoot good scores, in modern times, nowadays, 18 holes, anyone can beat anyone.
Geoff Ogilvy: It's good, obviously. He's missed when he's not here by everybody. That's good news. Hopefully, he's all right and he's defending the tournament. It's good that he can come back; if he was healthy, it's good that he did come back and defend.
"It's definitely a better atmosphere when he's around and obviously with this economy, the better atmosphere and the more excitement we create the better it is. So I guess it's a good thing there.
"When you play with him, you can tend to lift a little bit. But I think everyone's been trying just as hard the last nine months as they will be the next nine months. It's good that he's back. He's probably one of the most charismatic players of all time and probably the best player of all time so it's good to have him back."
Ernie Els: "Obviously, he had to come back somewhere. So the match play is a pretty good comeback. Who knows? We've obviously missed him and it's good to see him back and healthy. Obviously, the TOUR will benefit from this so it's all good.
"He's taken a bit longer than I did [with my knee injury]. I had exactly the same issue as he had and I came back a little quicker. I wanted to come back as soon as I could. Warm weather is where you want to come back at from these things. I came back in South Africa in December after I blew my knee out in July. So it was about 5-5 ½ months. It was swelling when I came back. Each round I had to ice it down and it was still swelling. I'm not sure if he's going to have the same issue. This kind of injury is quite serious. We walk a lot. We hit into the left knee almost every golf shot. So there's a lot of torque going in there. I think he's going to be fine. It probably will swell up a little bit but I think he's done the right thing to take a lot of time."
Steve Stricker: "I was talking to another media person, thinking it would be good for him to come back at the Match Play because if you're out of a hole or whatever, you can just move on. But still, there will be a lot of pressure on him and a lot of anticipation, a lot of hype on him, but I'm sure he's ready for it.
"He'll be very hungry. But he'll be a little rusty, I would imagine to start with. You can play all you want at home or practice all you want. But until you're under the gun hitting tournament shots under tournament conditions, it's a little different. So I'm sure he'll show a little bit of rust, but who knows? He may not, either. But I know any normal guy would probably show a little bit of rust.
"It's huge. It just draws more attention to our TOUR and next week's event. I really didn't want him to come back, though, because now I think I've got to play Dustin Johnson and that guy's playing good. (Laughter) I think it just focuses ... all eyes are going to be on next week's event. It's a World Golf Championships event which holds a little more importance. When he comes back, it's only good things for the rest of the TOUR."
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