US PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has had no indication from Tiger Woods about a possible date for his comeback to tournament golf.
Woods has been pictured practising and there has been mounting speculation that he could return to action in the unofficial Tavistock Cup next Monday and Tuesday, the Arnold Palmer Invitational later the same week or The Masters at Augusta from the 8th to 11th of April.
Speaking at a media teleconference in Miami this afternoon, Finchem was only able to add to the speculation that the World No 1 is close to making the announcement.
Finchem said: “We have the general information that Tiger is preparing to play and there’s been a lot of speculation about when he might come back out.
“Tiger has indicated to us that he will give us reasonable notice because we know we’ve got some preparation to do. I don’t have a specific date when he’s going to come back and I can only assume that all the speculation about late March and early April; if he’s going to start back then we will know soon.”
Only yesterday Finchem had stated: “I’m as excited as everybody else to see him back I hope this spring, but my sense is we’ll know pretty soon.
“Everybody’s done looking back at the circumstances that resulted in him stepping away from the game and (are) now focused on when he’s going to play golf.
“I think that’s good. I think that means people are paying attention to what he said.
“It’s going to be huge when he comes back and it’s going to be an interesting thing — how he re-enters the game, how he plays, how he deals with the reaction to his statement.”
Woods last played on November 15th, winning the Australian Masters in Melbourne.
Twelve days later came the car crash outside his home which put him first into hospital and then into hiding as a sex scandal erupted.
Woods admitted to “transgressions” on his website, then used the same forum to announce he was taking an indefinite break from the gave to try to save his marriage.
It was not until February 19th that he finally made a public appearance.
It was merely to read a statement rather than answer questions, however, and only towards the end of his 13-minute guilt-ridden, apology-laden address to family and friends at the headquarters of the PGA Tour did he actually mention his career.
“I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don’t know when that day will be.
“I don’t rule out that it will be this year. When I do return, I need to make my behaviour more respectful of the game.”
Not ruling out that it would be this year hinted that his lay-off would go on for many months at least, yet within days there was speculation that he was gearing up for a comeback much sooner than that.