Christopher Clarey of the International Herald Tribune posits an interesting premise: that Tiger will be the sentimental favorite at the Open Championship at Hoylake this year.

… whatever happens in Hoylake from Thursday to Sunday, he will find that his swollen galleries - both here and in the world’s living rooms - will include a greater percentage than usual of those who are truly pulling for him instead of simply gawking at him.

Loss, as any great golfer understands, is part of the game, but loss, as Woods now understands, is an even bigger part of life

It’s an interesting premise, for I think that Tiger, while he is respected and perhaps even feared, has never been liked or loved by fans and competitors. His stony faced visiage, his singular focus on the game and the careful walls that he has constructed between himself and the world have, I thinked, worked to his long-term detriment.

No matter how poorly Arnold Palmer plays, I still would pay to see him. I loved following Gary Player and Chi Chi Rodriguez in the recent Senior Players Championship. And there are a number of guys on the regular Tour that I’d like to see play because I sense that they love the game as much as I do.

But other than to later be able to say that I saw him live, I don’t have any desire to see Tiger play.

And in spite of the premise that he’s now a sentimental favorite, I won’t be rooting for him at the Open. For me, the sentimental favorite will be Colin Montgomerie. The guy deserves a championship before all is said and done.

Yahoo/60 Minutes has a gallery of videos of Tiger Woods. There’s Tiger recreating his famous bounce-the-ball-off-the-wedge scene, portions of the 60 Minutes interview and more.

It looks like Tiger is going to miss the cut at the 2006 US Open. Let the recriminations, second guessing, whining, moaning, and punditry begin.

In a sign that Tiger will return to tournament golf at the US Open, the BBC is reporting that he practiced last Saturday at Winged Foot, working with swing coach Hank Haney. (Winged Foot, of course, is the site of this year’s US Open.)

When will Tiger return? As one who lost his own father in recent years, my answer would be “When he’s good and ready.” But the golfing media is slowly building itself into a frenzy.

“When will The Great One return?”

Most speculation centers around Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial, where Tiger has won three times, but at least one writer is worrying that Tiger will break his “consecutive majors streak.” It seems that Jack Nicklaus (who else) currently holds the record for playing in the most consecutive majors. And if Tiger misses this year’s Open, he’ll suffer a setback in his quest for yet another of Jack’s records.

Of course, even if he plays in this year’s Open, he still has another twenty five years to go before reaching Jack’s 146 consecutive starts.

Hey. Give Tiger a break. Let the guy take his time.