Tiger Woods

The fans call their names. "Tiger, sign my arm," and "Please, Phil, sign my hat. " Yet it seems as if the most often-heard shout at professional golf tournaments televised by the Golf Channel and CBS is, "David, please, look this way. " Tiger Woods. Phil Mickelson. David Feherty. The three biggest rock stars in golf right now. Feherty was a golfer once too, a pretty good one, and he understands what it is like to be a star. He just wishes people would shut up about it sometimes.

— False starts? Kevin Na even drives himself crazy sometimes with the number of times he backs off a shot. Bogeys? Not Saturday. Somehow blocking out the murmurs every time he stepped back from a shot, the South Korean-born pro used two birdies in his final three holes to take a one-stroke lead at the Players Championship — and perhaps set himself up for an even more nerve-jangling final round. "I know how to play under pressure," said Na, whose first PGA Tour win came seven months ago in Las Vegas.

Michael Watson snap-hooked a drive on the 13th hole at Augusta National on Sunday but didn't mind one bit. It was all part of the plan. Tom Watson's son — and the caddie for his dad's scintillating 67 on Thursday — had girlfriend Beth Lindquist accompany him to help find his ball, which landed on a grassy area near the creek to the left of the 13th fairway. That's where she came upon a diamond in the rough. Michael got down on one knee, proposed, and the family celebrated that night with dinner at a French restaurant.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Looking back now, Rory McIlroy is quick to admit that skipping the Players Championship was a mistake last year. "It wasn't one of my brightest moments," the world's top-ranked golfer said. "Yeah, I'm glad to be back. " Wonder if Bubba Watson will feel the same way next year. Or Charl Schwartzel. Or Darren Clarke. For those who didn't pick up on the link, they are three of the last five major champions — none of whom are on the TPC Sawgrass campus this week.

Reaction from across the golf sphere -- and elsewhere -- to Tiger Woods' apology speech: NOTAH BEGAY III, PGA Tour golfer and former Stanford teammate: "I was emotional and got a little choked up. . . . It's tough to get any man in America just to go to marriage counseling, let alone go into a 45-day rehabilitation. Plus he's going back tomorrow, and that tells me that he's trying to learn about the issues." TIM FINCHEM, PGA Tour commissioner: "There's some anger in quarters, but mainly it's a sense of sadness.

Tiger Woods says he's back in the game. More than a month after announcing he would not be returning to golf until his leg injuries were fully healed, the star player declared himself "good to go. " When he plays in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitationalin Ohio, which begins tomorrow, he'll also be up against longtime friend and rival Darren Clarke. Even as he finished recuperating from his physical injuries, Woods was reportedly texting Clarke " mental " advice during previous competitions.

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain said that if he played well, he could beat Tiger Woods in the opening round of the Accenture Match Play Championships. Ultimately, though neither golfer played well, Woods managed to eke out a 1-up victory by getting up and down from the sand on the 18th hole. For a while, it appeared that Fernandez-Castano could actually win, as both players spent lots of time hitting from the scrub and desert that surround the fairways in Marana, Ariz. He jumped to a two-up lead after two holes, lost the lead, then managed to move ahead again early in the back nine.

Could the long road back for Tiger Woods finally be nearing an end? He's certainly shown some signs lately that his game is coming back, if not to the level of 2002, at least to a point where he has to be considered a contender whenever he tees it up. Woods birdied four consecutive holes on the front nine of the second round at Bay Hill on Friday to move within two shots of leaders Jason Dufner and Grahame McDowell. [ Update, 3:47 p.m.: Charlie Wi later finished with a 68 to move into a share of the lead with Woods.]

Last seen amid the Torreys in June, Tiger Woods materialized Tuesday morning amid the saguaros in February, luring one of the thicker practice-round galleries on informal record. Eyeballs resumed their craven need to tag along as he played and walked the 18 holes of the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club northwest of Tucson on the eve of golf's most momentous return since Ben Hogan at Riviera in 1950.

Tiger Woods, once one of the world's most bankable athletes but disgraced by his own infidelities, will put his face on public view Friday morning for the first time since the early-morning car accident in November outside his Florida home permanently altered his life. He won't be pouring out his heart to Oprah Winfrey or taking questions on "60 Minutes." Instead, Woods will be in his own kind of tightly controlled comfort zone to say he's sorry. In front of a single television camera at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., home to PGA Tour headquarters, and with three wire service reporters and an undisclosed number of pre-approved golf writers present, the 34-year-old superstar will make his first statement since admitting in December he was unfaithful to his wife, Elin, and would take an indefinite break from the game that built him. Woods will apologize for his behavior, his agent Mark Steinberg said Wednesday.

Nick Watney answered what he referred to as a wake-up call at the Wells Fargo Championship by taking the lead. Tiger Woods might need one after missing the cut. Watney had gone nine straight rounds on the PGA Tour without breaking 70 and had failed to crack the top 10 in all nine of his stroke-play tournaments this year. He worked hard to change that, and it paid off Friday with an eight-under 64 that gave him a one-shot lead over Webb Simpson going into the weekend at Charlotte, N.C. A two-time winner last year, Watney had failed to crack the top 30 in a full-field event this year, and missed the cut in New Orleans for his first weekend off at a tournament since July.

Butch Harmon, who coached Tiger Woods from 1993 to 2004, says the Tiger Woods he watched play at the Masters is much different than the golfer he coached. "For me, and I think we saw this at the Masters, he looks like he's playing 'golf-swing' and not golf," Harmon told the Wall Street Journal . "In my opinion, he's very robotic. And you could see that at Augusta with all his practice swings and the double-cross shots when he's trying to fade it and he hooks it. I think everyone thought because he won at Bay Hill that he was back; well, he didn't hit it great at Bay Hill, he hit it OK. And Bay Hill's not a major.

Bubba Watson, who won the Masters tournament on Sunday in a playoff against Louis Oosthuizen, is a unique golfer, and not because he strikes the ball left-handed. Unlike most PGA Tour players, Watson doesn't have a cavalcade of coaches. He taught himself how to play the game by hitting Wiffle balls around his home in Bagdad, Fla., as a youth. Despite his willowy frame -- he's 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds but doesn't look it -- he's one of the biggest hitters on tour. Here are some other interesting facts about Bubba Watson, whose first name is Gerry: He uses a pink shaft for his driver.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Well, back to the drawing board. Or in Tiger Woods' case, the Jupiter, Fla., practice range. Two weeks after his romp at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods tied for 40th — by far his worst Masters finish as a pro. "I had the wrong ball-striking week at the wrong time," he said. Woods fought a snap hook Thursday, blew his cool Friday, then spent the weekend trying to limit damage as the swing that won at Bay Hill mysteriously disappeared. "I get out there and I just don't trust it at all," he said.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Peter Hanson heard the full force of the roars. And because they were coming from directly behind him, he knew exactly whom they were for: Phil Mickelson. "That was one of those special kind of Masters moments that I've been watching so many times on TV," Hanson said of Saturday's eagle at No.13 that thrust Mickelson into a share of the lead. Then the Swedish pro went out and created his own noise. Hanson birdied No.14, then added three more down the stretch on the way to a seven-under-par 65 that propelled to him a one-stroke advantage over Mickelson with one round to play for a green jacket.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Rory McIlroy's third round Saturday was not equal to last year's train wreck, when his bloody Sunday score was 80. But this year's version — a five-over-par 77 — was far worse than a fender-bender. The trouble started on No. 1, when McIlroy missed his approach wide right. He chipped over the green and then pitched well short, his ball backing up to 20 feet. From there, he two-putted. By the time you blinked, McIlroy was off the leaderboard. And he would not return, not after three-putting from 12 feet for a second double bogey on No. 7. McIlroy finally made his first birdie on No. 12. Playing partner Sergio Garcia also rolled in a birdie and then walked over to his European pal, extended his arms.

Turns out, he is what they say he is. He is what they shout. He is what they crave. He is what they believe. No matter how much his sleazy behavior has betrayed everything he claimed to be, Tiger Wood is still The Man. That's how it happens in sports, remember? That's how it happened at Augusta National on Thursday, in a roaring, revealing way that will ensure you never again forget. On golf's grandest stage, Woods crawled out from beneath a five-month sex scandal into the arms of an adoring public and the strength of an astounding swing.

Butch Harmon, who coached Tiger Woods from 1993 to 2004, says the Tiger Woods he watched play at the Masters is much different than the golfer he coached. "For me, and I think we saw this at the Masters, he looks like he's playing 'golf-swing' and not golf," Harmon told the Wall Street Journal . "In my opinion, he's very robotic. And you could see that at Augusta with all his practice swings and the double-cross shots when he's trying to fade it and he hooks it. I think everyone thought because he won at Bay Hill that he was back; well, he didn't hit it great at Bay Hill, he hit it OK. And Bay Hill's not a major.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — In his prime, Tiger Woods bounced balls off his wedge. Friday? He drop-kicked his club at Augusta National. Woods booted his nine-iron after dumping his tee shot on No. 16 into the front-right bunker. "We can safely say Tiger has lost his game ... and his mind," three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo commented on the CBS broadcast. Woods' take: "It's a simple nine-iron, not that hard. It's a very easy golf shot. " Not for him. Not this day. After getting to two under for the round and tournament with a birdie on No. 3, Woods played his final 15 holes in five over to card a 75, his highest round here since logging a pair of them in 2004.