golf

A year ago, Dan McLaughlin spent hours every day at the St. Petersburg, Fla., golf course Mangrove Bay, putting, putting, putting. He was not quite a year into what he calls the Dan Plan.

CARMEL, Calif. - Tiger Woods showing up at the Pebble Beach AT&T Pro-Am after 10 years away creates a buzz. It's kind of like Elvis (if he were alive) showing up to perform at a convention of Elvis impersonators.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Tiger Woods brings the most compelling golf story to Pebble Beach this week: the game's onetime king trying to resurrect his career at one of its most storied venues.

Billy Hurley III brings the most compelling life story -- the college standout-turned-Navy officer who spent five years serving his country before chasing his sporting dreams.

SAN FRANCISCO - Tiger Woods, in many ways, launches the third chapter of his career Thursday in Northern California.

Woods transformed golf in Chapter 1, steaming into historic territory. He seemed destined to chase down Sam Snead's career record for PGA Tour victories (82) and, more important, Jack Nicklaus' standard for professional majors (18).

SAN FRANCISCO - Just imagine all the anticipation, all the steady buildup, all the time for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and other top players to recharge their batteries in the offseason.

One PGA Tour season ends Sunday. The next one begins Thursday, four days later.

Really?

Strange how many are expressing sympathy for Kyle Stanley, as if he'd suffered through something more horrible Sunday than a valuable learning experience.

It was a high-profile one, of course, and an expensive one at that. But, on the upside, those tend to be the most effective.

Not quite six years ago, Arron Oberholser triumphantly strolled down the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach. Mike Weir graciously stepped aside to let Oberholser savor the applause -- a local guy making the Crosby-turned-AT&T his first PGA Tour victory.

Geoff Ogilvy showed up last year. Zach Johnson signed up to play this year. Both players are major champions and recognizable names in the golf galaxy, but neither will inspire mainstream sports fans to drive to the Monterey Peninsula or watch golf on television in February.

Tiger Woods is another story.

Beware the singles hitter.

That counted as the wide-angle message when Luke Donald -- he of the modest tee shots, sailing precisely down the fairway -- won the PGA Tour's Player of the Year award. Consider this a resounding triumph for little guys and the eternal relevance of chipping and putting, even in today's power-driven game.

The loyalists will say this means Tiger Woods is sure to resume his dominance. The haters will bemoan golf writers who, they insist, are fixated on a flawed man and past-his-prime player.

The realists fall somewhere in between.