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If the interviews Tiger Woods granted to Kelly Tilghman of The Golf Channel and ESPN's Tom Rinaldi answered anything, it's that Woods will continue to try to control the media when he meets the press the Monday of Masters week.
In an era when access to top names is controlled by spin-doctors and handlers, Tiger the brand, albeit a battered brand, looked like Tiger the person, but said nothing in a hurried, five-minute format that allowed little actual discussion.
It actually was the brand talking and the popular theory is that the whole exercise gave Woods an out if anybody presses him on subjects brought up in those interviews, allowing him to say he already has addressed certain sensitive subjects, even when he said nothing.
I've never believed Woods owes anybody intimate details of his private life, but the game's greatest player is seemingly a train wreck, so naturally the media wants to know where his head will be once the porn stars posing as victims disappear, even if other media sneer at the golf angle and demand the lurid stuff.
It's too big a story for scripts and pat answers and if that's what's thrown out, the media at the Masters should just walk out with the same attitude that caused the Golf Writers Association of America to boycott Woods' bizarre television chat last month at TPC Sawgrass.
If he says nothing, there are always transcripts available for the obligatory Tiger story, but a mass exit would send a message to somebody who apparently still feels entitled through efforts to manipulate the media. A walkout is something writers might want to discuss with their editors before the Masters begins.
Wouldn't that do wonders to Tiger Woods the brand?
Championship revival?
There have been plenty of optimistic predictions about the future of the Canadian PGA Championship since it was last played as a Nationwide Tour event back in 2005 at Whistle Bear Golf Club in Cambridge.
However, the historic event has remained in a state of dormancy since Jon Mills last won that event, so any talk of a revival is understandably met with caution.
"We've been saying close now for a couple of years and I think people are getting fatigued of `Yeah, we're close. We've heard that before,'" said incoming Canadian PGA president Glenn Cundari of North Bay, who maintains the possibility of a revival is "razor thin close."
Past president Lindon Garron understands the skepticism, but agrees an announcement could come soon.
"We're very close. It's encouraging. I think our board shares the same feeling that I do in that, if we're going to bring the Canadian PGA Championship back, it needs to mean something for our members," said Garron.
"Just to bring it back to play for the trophy, I think that is disrespectful to the history of that event," he added.
"I appreciate the fact that we've gone through a couple of presidents and it hasn't come back, but when it does come back, I think it will be of the stature that it should be and it would be nice to announce that in the near future," said Garron.
The short game
Mike Weir will play in the 2010 Telus World Skins Game at Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria, B.C., June 21-22 ... Jay Haas, a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour and 14-time winner on the Champions Tour, will play in the inaugural Montreal Championship from July 2-4 at the Fontainebleau Golf Club ... Canadian Open director Bill Paul says it's like old times with people asking if Woods will play this year. But again, Paul won't know until just before the tournament. On the off-chance Woods does play, it wouldn't have much effect on ticket sales with limited capacity at St. George's.