Times wires
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Transitions field
The deadline for players to commit to next week's Transitions Championship in Palm Harbor is Friday.
Three of the latest commitments are Stewart Cink, Boo Weekley and Sergio Garcia. Steve Stricker originally committed but dropped out. That leaves Martin Kaymer (No. 1) and Paul Casey (No. 7) as the only players in the field who are among the current top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Defending champion Jim Furyk is No. 11.
The Transitions Championship is March 17-20 at Innisbrook's Copperhead Course, the third tournament of the four-tournament Florida swing.
Idle Tiger
Tiger Woods this week is playing only his fourth event of the year (today's round at Doral will be his 10th of the year) with one stop (the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill) left before the Masters.
Woods is coming up on 16 months without winning, the longest drought of his career. He is trying to revamp his swing and has yet to crack the top 20.
When asked Wednesday why he's not playing more tournaments, Woods said he has a family, including a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son. In a terse response, he said he was divorced and only those who are divorced with young children could understand.
Woods is a three-time winner at Doral, where the Cadillac Championship, a World Golf Championships event, starts today.
Twitter fight
Woods, meanwhile, is part of an emerging rivalry — between coaches.
Sean Foley, who has been working with Woods since last year's PGA Championship, started things off with an interview last year in which he said of Woods' former coach, Hank Haney, below: "Let's be honest about this. It's not like he was flushing it with Hank."
Then came a story posted Wednesday on Golf.com when Foley poked fun at Haney for once saying he knew Woods from observing without ever getting to know him. Haney has been firing back on Twitter ever since.
"If you want to be entertained, go to Golf.com and read Sean Foley's latest version of ripping Hank Haney, all I can say is wow," was the first of several tweets from Haney.
He sent out about two dozen tweets — mostly retweets from his followers — over the next five hours related to the dispute.
This week on tour
WGC: Cadillac Championship, TPC Blue Monster at Doral, Miami. TV: Today-Friday, 2 p.m. on Golf Channel; Saturday, noon-2 on Golf Channel, and 2 on Ch. 8; Sunday, 1-3 on Golf Channel, 3 on Ch. 8
PGA: Puerto Rico Open, Trump International Golf Club, Rio Grande. TV: Today, 6:30 p.m.; Friday, 11:30 a.m.; Saturday, 6:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 p.m., all on Golf Channel
Champions: Toshiba Classic, Newport Beach (Calif.) Country Club. TV: Friday, 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9:30 p.m.; Sunday, 10:30 p.m, all on Golf Channel
Times wires