Playing Golf to Fight Cancer

This column appears in the March issues of Texas Links Magazines.

Take a look to your right. Now look left. Chances are you just saw someone who has been affected by cancer. One in three Americans will contract some form of the disease. Maybe that one in three is you. Maybe it’s someone you love.

The Walden 100 raised $55,000 last year.

My grandma turned 96 in January, and she’s a cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 and has been living cancer-free for five years. She’s my hero.

I lost an aunt and uncle to cancer when I was younger. My dad’s brother Melvin died from lung cancer in 1981. That same year, his sister Doris fell to pancreatic cancer.

My buddy Vince’s mom, Carol Sue, is a cancer survivor, too. But the deadly disease took down both of Vince’s grandparents on his father’s side. Dan McIntyre, the owner of Walden on Lake Conroe and a good friend of mine, is a survivor.

Just last year, another good friend (and a hell of a golfer) named Jeff Lam was diagnosed with colon cancer. He’s just 33 years old. As of mid-February, Jeff had endured eight of his necessary 12 chemotherapy treatments. He lost his hair, but not his will to fight or his optimistic attitude.

Since he was diagnosed, Jeff has only had the energy to play five holes of golf. The treatments are torturous, he said, and they leave him drained beyond belief. But he’s hanging tough. I believe him when he tells me he’s going to beat this disease and get back to living a healthy, active life.

You probably know someone with a similar story. We all know someone who has battled cancer. It accounts for one in every four U.S. deaths, second only to heart disease. This year alone, the National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be about 1.6 million new cancer victims. About 577,000 of them will die.

That’s more than 1,500 deaths a day.

But there is good news, too. Approximately 12 million Americans with a history of cancer are still alive today. Survivors like my grandma, Vince’s mom Carol Sue and Walden’s Dan McIntyre. These people stared down pure evil and endured treatments that take pain to levels we’ll never know.

And they beat cancer. They won.

Others like Jeff Lam are still fighting. All of these people are my heroes.

But they need our help.

On June 18, I’ll do my small part to help the cause. For the second straight year, I’ll take part in the “Walden 100,” an all-day charity event in conjunction with Golfers Against Cancer to raise money for cancer research. Along with about 50 other inspired golfers, we’ll tee off at the crack of dawn and play 100 holes before we stop.

Last year, we raised $55,000 in one day. We’re aiming to double that amount this year.

Golfers Against Cancer exists because there still isn’t a cure for the disease. GAC is about getting involved and helping however possible. Since its inception in 1997, GAC has raised more than $2.2 million for cancer research. The annual two-day tournament in November at the Clubs of Kingwood and Deerwood Golf Club brings in a lion’s share of the donations, but Walden on Lake Conroe has donated $625,000 from a decade of satellite events.    

Playing 100 holes in one day is grueling. It’s a grind. You get sunburned and blisters on your hands and feet. By the end of the day, you’re definitely worn out.

    

But however taxing it is to play in the Walden 100, it’s absolutely nothing compared to what cancer patients endure. It’s literally a walk in the park relative to what Jeff Lam, Dan McIntyre and millions of others have gone through.

I hope you’ll do your part to help find us a cure for cancer. More information on this worthy event is available on walden100.com. If someone you know is playing, please sponsor them and donate as much as you can.

     

Soon, I’ll start making calls to find sponsors and raise money. This year, I’ll play for everyone I know who has been affected, but I want to dedicate my efforts to Jeff Lam’s fight. He’s the type of guy who would be out there playing with us to raise money if he had the strength to do it.

     

I know all of my friends, family members and business contacts are going to pitch in and support me. Consider this a “thanks in advance” for your help. But this isn’t about me or you. It’s about those 12 million Americans still fighting against cancer. We owe it to them to help doctors and researchers find a cure.

    

I hope you’ll help.

Are You a Dishonest Golfer?

 

Why are people dishonest on the golf course? Because they’re that way in life, I suppose.

Hermann Park Golf Course near downtown Houston.

It stinks.

My friend and I recently teed it up at Hermann Park Golf Course near downtown Houston. For a municipal track next to a zoo, it’s a nifty layout with tight fairways and decent conditions for the price ($16.50 weekdays, $26.50 weekends). The greens are smallish and in better shape than you’d expect. They rolled just fine when we were there.

Hermann Park is basically what you make it. If you want to bang driver and play bomb & gouge all day, you can do that. But you don’t have to. You can also work on course management with 3-woods, hybrids and long irons off the tees. It’s not a championship course by any means, but it is plenty fun.

It’s a perfect setting for casual golf and casual golfers.

Land is especially precious in urban settings, and Hermann Park does suffer a bit from adjacent fairways and the occasional golf ball whizzing by from other holes. We’ve all played on these kinds of courses. You keep your head on a swivel, but otherwise have a great time playing a game you love in a unique setting for a good price.

One thing inevitably happens in these situations, however. The idiot golfer who picks up someone else’s ball.

Why do people do that?   

This happened to my friend at Hermann Park. We were humming along, playing our match with the two other fellows we were paired up with on the first tee. They were plenty nice. Not the greatest golfers, but that was never an issue. They were encouraging to us, as we were to them. We played the first seven holes at a good pace, everyone having a great time.

Then, on the eighth hole, my friend’s approach shot came in hot and bounced over the green. I saw it hit the back fringe and carom to the rough behind the green. When we got up the green and looked behind it, her golf ball was nowhere to be found. Along with one of the other guys in our group, we spent a full five minutes looking for it.

Meanwhile, the fourth member of our group was on the green, lining up his putt. I hadn’t noticed him behind the green before we got there.

Finally, my friend takes a drop (and two-stroke penalty) and we finish the hole. On the way to the next hole, she says to me, “That guy picked up my golf ball.”

“What? You saw him?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

On the next tee, I ask him: “Hey, did you happen to pick up a Precept back there behind the green?”

He looks at us sheepishly, points at his buddy and says, “Yeah, I did. He told me not to say anything.”

While blushing, he reaches in his pocket, pulls out her golf ball and tosses it to us.

We said, “Thanks.”

What the heck? I didn’t get it then, and I don’t get it now. First, why would anyone pick up someone else’s ball at a claustrophobic course where so many stray shots are being hit? If it wasn’t our ball, it surely belonged to someone else on a nearby hole.

Second, he “wasn’t going to say anything” because his buddy said not to? Were they embarrassed? Why, then, did he admit it when I asked him directly?

We finished the rest of the round in relative silence. Not a lot of chatter between carts. My friend and I weren’t exactly mad at them; we were mostly confused. Why did he pick up the ball? Then for five minutes, he hung out on the green while watching us search for it. And then he cops to the theft on the next tee box.

Confounding.

What’s equally mystifying is why anyone would pick up someone else’s ball near a green at a public course. I understand finding the Pro V1 in a hazard or deep in the trees. When it’s fairly obvious that you’ve found a ball that someone else lost – and isn’t currently searching for – there’s no harm in claiming a diamond in the rough.

But when you see others looking for a ball, and you find one … the proper thing to do is say, “Here’s one! What kind of ball are you playing?”

Our playing partners that day needed a lesson on honesty. They could benefit from reading a copy of my book, “Finding Ti Ming & Tem Po, Legend of the golf gods.” In the story, the golf gods Ti Ming and Tem Po not only come alive  in the dreams of children to teach them how to play golf, they also teach them how to live with the values we learn from the game, such as honesty, respect and sound decision-making.

The kids in the story learn to play golf at the highest levels, and along the way they learn how to live honest, honorable lives. Our playing partners from Hermann Park could use the lessons found in my book. So could all junior golfers.

Golf is a game of a lifetime. Its lessons and values are equally enduring. Next time you see a ball in the rough that isn’t yours, please ask everyone within sight if it’s their ball.

USGA Denies McCaffery's Appeal for Amateur Status

NOTE: This is exclusive breaking news from Texas Links Magazines.

The United States Golf Association today upheld its ruling that Mike McCaffery professionalized his amateur status on Aug. 21 by accepting a check for $8,500 in a skins game at Beeville Country Club.

League City's Mike McCaffery last year had one of the best
summers in Texas amateur golf history. Much of it was
 voided after he accepted $8,500 in an August skins game. 

McCaffery, 41, met with the USGA Executive Committee for 30 minutes on Feb. 3 to appeal on the decision that stripped him of his amateur status last October. The ruling negated the bulk of one of the most impressive competitive seasons in recent Texas amateur golf history.

“The hearing was respectful and the dialogue was constructive,” Managing Director of USGA Communication Joe Goode told Texas Links in an exclusive interview. “The decision is final and we consider the matter concluded.”

Speaking through his attorney Guy Fisher at the closed-door meeting, McCaffery again admitted his wrongdoing and asked for leniency in his punishment. McCaffery noted that he returned the $8,500 check once he realized it violated The Rules of Golf’s Amateur Status.

Rule 3-2 states: “An amateur golfer must not accept a prize (other than a symbolic prize) or prize voucher of retail value in excess of $750 or the equivalent, or such a lesser figure as may be decided by the USGA.”

“We told them I used poor judgment and that I understand and acknowledge that,” McCaffery told Texas Links. “So what is the punishment? A month, a year, a lifetime ban? They can shorten or lengthen the punishment as they see fit. I was basically asking for mercy. I asked for ‘time already served,’ I’d give up medals and titles and asked for my status back.”

A former professional mini-tour player from League City, Tex., McCaffery in February 2011 was reinstated by the USGA as an amateur. Routinely blasting drives beyond 300 yards and showcasing a deft short game, McCaffery went on to have a phenomenal run on the state and national levels.

The highlight came in September when he won medalist honors during the 36 holes of stroke play in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Shadow Hawk Golf Club. During match play of the USGA national championship, McCaffery advanced to the quarterfinals.

Prior to that, he won the medal for the nation’s best U.S. Mid-Am qualifying score, an 8-under 64 at Pine Forest Country Club.

McCaffery also won the 2011 Texas State Mid-Amateur at Carlton Woods, the Texas Golf Association’s South Region Mid-Am at Riverbend Country Club and the Harvey Penick Invitational at Austin Country Club. He finished third in the Texas Amateur, played at scenic ACC.

TGA president Rob Addington said he couldn’t remember a player having so much success at the amateur level in one year.

After McCaffery accepted the skins game money in August, however, he professionalized his status. The October USGA ruling voided all his results past Aug. 21, which included the U.S. Mid-Am, the Texas Mid-Am and the Harvey Penick.

Part of McCaffery’s confusion, he said, was delineating the difference between “prize money” and “gambling.” At the Aug. 21 tournament in Beeville, McCaffery, who indicated on the entry form that he was playing as an amateur, won a $2,000 check for second place in addition to the $8,500 he won for skins.

Knowing that accepting the prize money was in violation of the Rules of Golf’s Amateur Status, McCaffery did not take the second place winnings. He believed that skins games fell under the Rules of Golf’s “Acceptable Forms of Gambling” provision, however, and accepted the $8,500. He returned the money a couple of weeks later once he realized that, too, was a violation.

In the Rules of Golf’s Appendix, the “Policy on Gambling” includes the following: “There is no objection to informal gambling or wagering among individual golfers or teams of golfers when it is incidental to the game. It is not practicable to define informal gambling or wagering precisely, but features that would be consistent with such gambling or wagering include: the players in general know each other; participation in the gambling or wagering is optional and is limited to the players; the sole source of all money won by the players is advanced by the players; and the amount of money involved is not generally considered to be excessive.”

What made this an unacceptable form of gambling, according the Rules of Golf, is the fact that the skins money came from the tournament organizers and was not solely put up by the players. This wasn’t a friendly bet between buddies; the skins money came from tournament dollars.

After the October ruling, Goode also said that McCaffery’s repayment of the money was a non-factor.

“After-the-fact repayment of prize money isn’t a valid defense of a violation of the rules of amateur status,” Goode said on Oct. 22.

For his part, McCaffery said he understood the USGA’s position. He was content with the time he was given to state his appeal, he said. At the same time, he believes he did the right thing by giving the money back and wants the chance to play amateur golf again.

“The USGA didn’t have to give me the opportunity to floor my appeal, so I’m satisfied from that standpoint,” he said. “But I don’t think (the ruling) is right. I’m not looking for anything other than to be able to play golf at the amateur level. I’ve had my time to play at the professional level. I would love to play as an amateur on the local, state and, God willing, national level. That’s what I want to do.”

Unfortunately for McCaffery, he remains ineligible to play in sanctioned amateur events.

“I don’t have anyone to blame except myself,” McCaffery said. “It’s not about all the other guys who have done this exact thing. It’s not about the all the folks who are so jealous that they turned me in. I don’t think it’s about the USGA making an example of me, either. At the same time, if others can learn from this, maybe that’s the bigger picture for me.”

Goode said that there is indeed a lesson here from which all amateurs can benefit. 

“The USGA takes no pleasure in its ruling, but it’s our responsibility to enforce the rules of amateur status,” he said. “This case provides a cautionary tale of conduct that undermines the spirit of the amateur game and the importance of playing by the rules.”

Where McCaffery goes from here is yet to be determined. He said he’ll digest this ruling and investigate what playing opportunities he’ll have.

“It really leaves me in limbo,” he said. “My actions ‘professionalized’ me, but I haven’t declared myself a pro yet. I’ll see what events I can play in around the area. If there’s no chance I’ll ever get to play as an amateur again, I’ll probably look at playing at some mini-tour events and pro-ams. It’s all a big ‘What if?’ right now.”

For more updates on Mike McCaffery, the USGA and all the events surrounding golf in Texas, visit www.myTXgolf.com.

Spieth to Play in PGA Tour's Northern Trust Open

Jordan Spieth is headed back to the PGA Tour.

Spieth ranks second in the nation in scoring
average for the No. 1-ranked Texas Longhorns.

The Dallas native and University of Texas freshman received a sponsor’s exemption to the Feb. 16-19 Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club outside of Los Angeles. Spieth, a two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion and 2011 Walker Cup member, has played in three PGA Tour events as an amateur. He finished tied for 16th place as a 16-year-old high school junior at the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship. He tied for 32nd there last year.

Spieth wasted little time establishing himself as one of the best players on the No. 1-ranked Longhorns team. He claimed his first collegiate title last October at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in Windermere, Fla., with a score of 11-under-par 205. Spieth is ranked second in the nation in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings with a 67.64 scoring average.

The former Texas Links junior golf columnist also is second in the Royal & Ancient’s World Amateur Rankings. UCLA sophomore Patrick Cantlay, the top-ranked amateur in the world, also received a sponsor’s invite to the Northern Trust, as did six others including two-time Riviera champ Fred Couples.

For Spieth and Cantlay, the experience in the Northern Trust Open is more than just another chance to play with the best of the world. It’s also an opportunity to scout Riviera Country Club, which plays host to the NCAA Championship May 29-June 3.

Via text message, Spieth told me he is excited for the chance to play in another PGA Tour event. As for his freshman campaign in Austin, he said, “I’m loving every minute of it.”

Texas is currently playing in Hawaii at the Amer Ari Invtational. Through two rounds, the Longhorns lead the 20-team field, which includes No. 2 Oregon and fourth-ranked UCLA. Spieth shot a pair of 69s in the opening rounds and is tied for sixth place at 6-under with teammate Dylan Fritelli and six others. UT sophomore Toni Hakula is tied for second place at 8-under with Cantlay and USC’s Jeffery Kang. UCLA’s Pontus Widegrin leads at 9-under 135.  UPDATE: Spieth led Texas to its fourth consecutive win on Saturday. He shot a final round 67 to tie USC’s Jeffery Kang for the individual title. The Longhorns went wire-to-wire for the win and shot 30-under to win by five shots. UT’s Dylan Fritellu and Toni Hakula tied for ninth at 6-under.

For more updates on Spieth and everything that’s happening in Texas golf, check out the new Texas Links Magazines website by clicking here.

Win a Signed Copy of the Golf Gods Children's Book

Since my first crack at publishing a children’s book was released on Nov. 18, I’ve received a lot of positive feedback. Published by Author House, “Finding Ti Ming & Tem Po, Legend of the golf gods” tells the story of the mystical golf gods. The ancient and all-powerful Ti Ming and Tem Po come alive in the dreams of believers young and old and turn them into champion golfers. More importantly, the golf gods teach their students about the values we learn from the game, such as honesty, sound decision-making and the importance of self-confidence and respect for others.

Win a Signed Copy!

The results are life-changing for everyone involved.


California-based golf writer Bob Fagan recently read and reviewed the book. He wrote that it “has the makings of a classic.” (Read Fagan’s review here.) Blair Howard, a golf writer for About.com, also reviewed it and believes the book is “an amusing and appealing way for golfers young and old to find, or recover their game.” (Read Howard’s review here.) 

Fagan and Blair agreed that “Finding Ti Ming & Tem Po” is a fun, magical story filled with character-building morals and life lessons. While it’s targeted at children and teens aged 8-17, the book will be enjoyed by anyone who loves golf, regardless of age.

Now you can get a signed copy of the book for free.

Thrilled and humbled by the feedback from this special book, I want to give back some of the good Karma. To this end, I will send signed copies of “Finding Ti Ming & Tem Po” to five of the next people to start following me on Twitter. All you have to do is follow me at twitter.com/mark_button (or @Mark_Button).

In the coming days, I will randomly draw five new Twitter followers to receive signed copies of the book.

For more information on the book and how it all started, please visit www.timingandtempo.com. I hope to see you on Twitter and good luck in the contest! Thank you so much for reading.

What a Year for Texas Golf

I’m not big on New Year resolutions … or any kind of resolutions for that matter. Most are empty promises. Either to yourself or others. Regardless, I am trying to better myself in many areas. One of which is writing.

Writing shorter in particular.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you probably have noticed that sometimes I can get a little long-winded and write some really long sentences and long paragraphs and long stories and that might drive you crazy and make you click off the page, curse my name or both.

Sorry about that.

In an effort to be more efficient, here are my top-10 Texas golf moments for 2011. There are only five of them.

Shorter, see?

Lefty’s Redstone Romp: Who can forget Phil Mickelson’s course recording-setting 63 in the third round of the Shell Houston Open? With his wife’s and mother’s oncologist, Dr. Tom Buchholz, on hand again in April at the pristine Tournament Course at Redstone Golf Club, Mickelson was inspired.

Phil Mickelson dazzled the crowds
at Redstone Golf Club with a victory
a week before the Masters.

He went low on the weekend with 63-65 to post 20-under par and won by three shots.

In the past 10 years, the SHO has had plenty of quality winners—Freddy Couples, Vijay Singh (three times), Adam Scott, Stuart Appleby, Anthony Kim—but last year was extra special. Mickelson loves Houston—Dr. Buchholz and M.D. Anderson especially—and the throngs of fans following Lefty at Redstone as he dueled Dallas native Scott Verplank in the final round will remember that show for a long, long time.

It might a while before we see that kind of excitement at the SHO again.

Unless Mickelson repeats in 2012.

History in the Making: In July, Jordan Spieth took another step toward cementing his legacy as one of the most decorated amateur golfers of all time. By winning his second U.S. Junior Amateur—this one at Gold Mountain outside of Seattle—the Dallas native joined Tiger Woods as the only golfers to win the national championship twice. (Woods won it three straight times from 1991-93).

Spieth won his first U.S. Junior Am in 2009. He was the heavy favorite this year and rallied in three early matches to claim nail-biting, 2-and-1 victories. Then the ball-striking savant wasted Chelso Barrett 6-and-5 in the 36-hole final match.

The second USGA title was a glimpse into the future. It won’t be long before Spieth is winning professional major championships—yes, plural—and becomes a worldwide sensation.

Make no mistake: still just a teenager, Spieth already is a star. He’s made the cut twice in PGA Tour events. He was the only American to post an undefeated record at the Walker Cup in September. The college freshman won his first tournament for the University of Texas in his third start. He has the game, support system, maturity, personality and poise to become mega-star on the professional level.

If he continues on the path he’s on now, it’s going to happen. This is not news to those who have been paying attention.

Catching The Spirit: One of the most unique golf events in the world takes place every two years in Trinity, Texas. Whispering Pines Golf Club, the No. 1-ranked course in the state six years running, plays host to The Spirit International, a co-ed amateur championship unlike anything else you’ve seen.

The two best male and female amateurs from the top-20 golfing countries in the world comprise the teams. They all live together for a week in a camp-like setting and compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in five categories.

 

Nathan Smith (left) and Kelly Kraft
had a memorable final round
walk to the 18th green.

This year, Americans Kelly Kraft (the reigning U.S. Amateur champ), Nathan Smith (a three-time U.S. Mid-Am champ), Austin Ernst (reigning NCAA champion) and Emily Tubert (2010 U.S. Public Links champ) pulled away from Mexico for an epic 10-shot win.

Smith’s final round eagle-two on the 392-yard par-4 14th started the U.S. party early.

Tiger’s Late Prowl: From the Obvious Department, it was a joy to see Tiger Woods’ game come around at the end of the year. He looked great at the Presidents Cup—even if his record didn’t reflect it—and he capped the season with his first victory in two years at the Chevron World Classic.

I’m giving a heap of the credit to Fred Couples. Many jumped on Freddy’s case when he made Woods a captain’s pick two months before the Presidents Cup. But that early decision put a ton of pressure on Woods to get his game in order. Once fully healthy again, he started practicing six, seven even eight hours a day. Woods wasn’t going to make himself—or Couples—look foolish after the captain bypassed PGA Champion Keegan Bradley, who deserved to be on the U.S. team.

When Woods wins a few tournaments next year, including a major championship, hopefully we’ll remember that it was Fred Couples who helped jump-start the comeback.

What’s the Texas connection here? Don’t worry about that right now. (Couples played college golf at the University of Houston and Tiger won the 1997 Byron Nelson Championship in Dallas, so there.)

Junior golfers will
love this book.

Ti Ming & Tem Po: Can I be self-serving for a moment? Of course I can. This is my blog, after all. One of the biggest moments of the year (of my life, really) came in late November. That’s when my children’s book was released.

By now, I’ve surely bored you to tears about it via Twitter and Facebook. So I won’t beat you over the head here. This blog already is too long.

I’ll just mention that “Finding Ti Ming & Tem Po, Legend of the golf gods” is a magical story full of character-building morals and lessons. It’s a great read for any junior golfer—or any parent, aunt or uncle of little linksters.

Go buy a few copies and give them as gifts. The golf gods will thank you with fortuitous bounces off trees and putts that fall in the cup instead of lipping out of it.

Happy Holidays and thanks for reading.

Tiger Woods is NOT Back

First of all, in the essence of transparency, some full disclosure. I am a Tiger Woods fan. Always have been. Probably always will be. I’m guessing some people just stopped reading and clicked off my blog. That’s fine.

Tiger Woods won Sunday for the first time in
two years at the Chevron World Challenge in California.
(Photo US Presswire)

Like him or not, Tiger is the most gifted, exciting golfer of his (and my) generation. He’s also the most important person we have in the game. He drives ratings, sponsorships, public interest and he inspires people to support local golf courses. Because of Woods, millions of people invest their money and time into playing golf. As someone who makes a living writing about the sport, I’m well aware of how badly we need him to be successful again.

So there weren’t too many people more excited to see Woods birdie the final two holes of the Chevron World Challenge to win his first tournament in two years by a single shot. He came through in the clutch like the old days, and it was joyous to watch. The upside of Woods’ victory is obvious: Golf just became more interesting—dare I say “relevant again”—to the masses.

Here’s the downside: Since that final putt dropped, scores of media-types and fans have fallen all over themselves to say the precious words that all of us who understand what is at stake have longed to proclaim: “He’s baaaaack.”

Give me a break. That’s ridiculous. Just because he won an exhibition event in a field of 18 players does not mean Tiger is back to being the dominant player who has won 71 PGA Tour events (Sunday’s win didn’t count toward that total) and 14 major championships.

Anyone who thinks Tiger is “back” to being the Tiger Woods we knew pre-sex scandal is disrespecting his standard of excellence. It’s also a sign of how quickly people can forget how great he was. Remember the year 2000? He’s a recap: Tiger Woods won NINE TIMES, including the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. He also finished second five times that year.

Yes, Woods is swinging the club better than he has in a long, long time. He’s compressing the ball again, creating a sound at impact that only he can create. His trademark “stinger” shot seems to be back, too. And he’s making more putts (though not as many as he’d like) in crucial situations. He poured in the 15-foot birdie putt Sunday on No. 17 at Sherwood Country Club to draw even with the gritty Zach Johnson. Then he slammed home the 12-footer on the final hole to win for the first time since the Australian Masters in September 2009.

But he’s not back. Not yet.

Once Tiger wins three or four (or five) times—including a major championship—in a single season, he’ll be back. That’s when Tiger Woods will once again be the Tiger Woods I remember.

I’m guessing that happens next year, by the way.