Maybe he's filming a commercial today. Who knows? Maybe he's going to play a little more pingpong with that inferior 9-iron of his, that sort of thing.
Maybe he's in Maui, just relaxing. It's been a tough year, you know. He'll finish the year playing in 18 official PGA Tour events, which means he's worked 72 days. And isn't 72 par for a work year?
Maybe he's counting his money. Maybe he's making a movie. Maybe he's deciding whether he should run for governor.
Wherever he is, however, it's the wrong place.
Tiger Woods ought to be here.
This is easy to say, of course, because every columnist in every town where there is a PGA tournament believes Tiger Woods ought to be there. He's the best player, and when he plays, stories just kind of fall out of his bag and lie there on the ground. Tiger comes into your tournament, and it's an event worth watching.
Yes, Woods is a player who always has geared himself for the majors. The Chrysler Championship looks like it's going to be a nice tournament, but it's not a major, and it really isn't one of your more familiar minors. No one should be insulted that Tiger isn't here.
Ah, but Tiger shouldn't be here for us.
Tiger should be here for him.
This should be about things bigger than the Chrysler Championship. This should be about the sport and the man who has dominated it. This should be about the record book and entering it the proper way. This should be about Tiger having more passion for the sport than for the checkbook.
For instance, Tiger is attempting to lead the tour in money winnings for the fifth consecutive season. Is this important? It must be. They keep track of it, don't they?
So wouldn't you think that, with Vijay Singh threatening, that Tiger would want to show up and settle it on the course? Supposedly, Woods has taken great pride in winning the money title four years in a row. If so, isn't winning it five years in a row worth fighting for? Isn't it worth going down swinging?
Then there is the matter of Woods and his no-cut streak. By the time the Chrysler tees off, Woods should be ready to break Byron Nelson's record of 113 in a row, and he could set it here. Or, he could wait a week and set it at a bigger event, the Tour Championship.
Except for this. The Tour Championship doesn't have a cut. So what's the big drama?
If this streak is worth talking about, worth taking pride in, then it's worth doing it at a tournament where you risk failure. Anything else is like a baseball player winning a batting title by sitting out the last series of the season. Tiger can set the record in a walkover. Yeah, some drama, that. Some challenge.
Look, like most of you, I think Tiger Woods is terrific. His accomplishments are staggering. His shot-making abilities are magical.
But every year, it seems, corporations seem to steal a little more of Tiger. Eighteen tournaments? Since when did Tiger turn into an NFL franchise? Hey, if you want to be known as the greatest golfer of all time, shouldn't you line up a putt every now and then?
Frankly, there is one more reason Tiger should be here.
Maybe, just maybe, he could get the bad taste of this season out of his mouth.
As golfing idols go, Tiger has had a bit of a turbulence this season. He's been criticized, and he's been humbled, and he's listened to a worldwide debate about how he's in a slump even though he's made so much money he could afford to purchase all the new $20 bills for himself if he wanted.
There was a big deal made when Phil Mickelson made fun of his equipment, and a big deal made when Woods cast doubts on everyone else's equipment. During the Masters, he was criticized for not criticizing.
Oh, and guys named Mike Weir and Jim Furyk and Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel kept winning his tournaments.
What you would like to believe about all great athletes is this: That, down deep, more than the money and more than the celebrity, they love nothing more than the competition. That was Michael Jordan's secret; he played the game with a hunger that made you forget he was a money machine.
You would like to think that even Woods the Conglomerate, Woods the Prepackaged, is a little ticked off at the way this year went and, by golly, he wants to finish strong. You would like to see Woods the Competitor walking toward the first tee with a club in his hand and a glint in his eyes.
Look, no one is asking you to feel sorry for the Chrysler. It's going to be the best tournament Tampa Bay has seen. There will be enough birdies to go around. By the time Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh battle it out for the title on Sunday, you will have forgotten all about the guys who didn't show up.
For the sake of golf, however, it would have been nice for Tiger to tee it up.
In the end, it shouldn't matter that this is his state.
