ShareThisSafe to say, Tim Finchem will not drag an elderly lady into one of Pebble Beach's bunkers, as Bill Murray once did. Finchem wasn't even sure how to answer the question, posed playfully this week, about staging an encore to Murray's act. He hesitated before saying, "That's really not my style."
Nobody can quite match Murray's style -- and certainly not Finchem, the sharp, straitlaced commissioner of the PGA Tour. But give Finchem credit in exposing himself to good-natured grief next month, when he plays in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
It will be Finchem's first appearance in the tournament, and it came at the behest of AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson. Stephenson was contemplating joining the field and encouraged Finchem to do the same. Finchem agreed, not really expecting it to happen, and was startled when Stephenson followed up on the idea.
Finchem's handicap index has been stuck on 6.2 for several years, he said, because he seldom finds time to play an entire round.
"It's a not-ready-for-prime-time swing, let's put it that way," Finchem, 61, said. "I've hit some balls, but playing 18 holes, especially on multiple days, hasn't been part of the equation for a couple of years. I'm not going out there with any grand expectations."
Davis Love III will be Finchem's pro partner; they will play alongside Stephenson and Hunter Mahan.
As for wider-angle matters, Finchem essentially dismissed any chance of a date change in the AT&T's future. The event annually earns strong television ratings, despite its ongoing struggle to attract top-20 players.
"The tournament is very successful where it is," Finchem said. "Most years, it has beautiful panoramic views and sunshine on the ocean, and people in the Northeast are freezing. It's a great tournament for television."
TIGER DRIVES: Watch out, world: He's using his driver.
This counts as a noteworthy step in the Return of Tiger, the biggest unseen story in golf until Tiger Woods actually strikes a ball in competition. Friday marks exactly seven months since Woods last hit a meaningful shot, during his epic 19-hole U.S. Open playoff victory over Rocco Mediate.
Now, on the road to recovery from reconstructive knee surgery, Woods advanced recently from short irons to long irons and his driver, according to a brief story posted on his Web site this week.
"I'm not swinging as hard as I can, but I'm working toward that goal," he said.
Woods didn't offer any clues to the Question: When will he make his 2009 debut? Most speculation has pointed to the CA Championship in Miami (March 12-15), but there's also some thought Woods might resurface in the Match Play Championship, starting Feb. 25 outside Tucson.
"So far, my knee has held up well, but I don't know when I'll be able to return to competition," he said. "I'm looking forward to rejoining the PGA Tour when I think I'm ready."
COURSE CHATTER: Geoff Ogilvy, who rolled to victory in the year's first PGA Tour event Sunday in Maui, is a bit of a golf-course aficionado. He studies and knows the architecture, and he's also not shy about expressing his opinion -- including bemoaning the monotony of many tour venues.
"I think for a while we got stuck in the narrow-fairway, long-rough kind of course ... chasing the U.S. Open model," Ogilvy said. "There's definitely a time and place for it, but every week it kind of gets boring."
Ogilvy was encouraged by a player meeting with tour officials last year in Charlotte, N.C. He's hopeful the conversation will lead to a wider variety of course set-ups, including the type of layout where he won Sunday -- Kapalua features wide fairways, modest rough and striking elevation changes.
OCHOA'S SCHEDULE: Lorena Ochoa, the world's No. 1 women's player, leaves no mystery about her 2009 plans: She lists the entire LPGA schedule on her Web site, with "Si" or "No" alongside each tournament.
Ochoa, incidentally, recently got engaged to Andres Conesa, chief executive officer of Aeromexico. This is relevant for LPGA fans because Ochoa, 27, has said she will retire from competition before she starts a family.
(Contact Ron Kroichick at rkroichick@sfchronicle.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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