Steve Stricker made some pretty cutting comments this past weekend about Tiger’s return to golf:

“

Whenever he comes back it’s going to draw a lot of attention to that tournament. I don’t know if Augusta would like that to happen, you know? To turn it into ‘Tiger’s Comeback Tournament’ instead of the Masters tournament, itself. Hopefully, he comes back before then. You’d think, as a player, being gone for so long, he’d want to come back before.”

I wouldn’t put it past Tiger to think about making his comeback at a Major. But maybe now that he has Ari Fleischer at the PR helm, more reasonable heads will prevail. I think a Masters comeback would be a public relations disaster, bringing every golf writer on the planet to speculate that Woody thinks he’s bigger than the game itself.

And speaking of Fleischer, I’ve come to the conclusion that the “leaks,” with various dates for Tiger’s return are just trial balloons. That sort of thing goes on in Washington all the time, and it’s a tactic Fleischer is intimately familiar with: send out a few ideas as “leaks,” and see how the public reacts. One rumor says the Tavistock Cup; another, Bay Hill; a third, the Masters. I have no doubt that some “insider” also will float the notion that Tiger will sit out the Masters. Then it’s just a matter of choosing the one that plays best with the media and focus groups.