FanHouse SteveWilliams

You'll hear golf historians complain about the current British Open venue, citing the Royal and Ancient's decision to avoid hosting an Open there since 1994, when, really, most say the complaints have to do with Turnberry's poor location in terms of travel. (The course is accessible by a single road that makes you feel like you're driving down a narrow alleyway). You'll also hear people call Turnberry overrated and too easy, and they'll point to the Duel in the Sun as an example.

Tiger Woods, who has never played Turnberry until this week, wants people to understand something. Turnberry ain't that easy. He even admits it.

"It's a lot more difficult than people are letting on,'' Woods said.

The U.S. Open is a formality at this point; Tiger Woods is winning it -- just like he did in 2002, the first time the tournament came to Bethpage Black -- because, well, Shane Bacon says so. Alright, maybe that's overstating it, but Tiger now has two wins this season, which, historically, is like giving him a four-stroke lead before he steps on the first tee. It doesn't help the field.

On Monday, hours after going to town on Muirfield Village, Woods headed to Farmington, NY to play a practice round at Bethpage Black. That's not atypical -- players routinely check out the major venues weeks, and sometimes months, before the tournament.

During tournament weeks, Tiger Woods is usually the first guy on the course during practice rounds. He likes to avoid the crowds, get in his work, and get out before the gawkers, autograph seekers, and would-be targets of Steve Williams' wrath descend on the course.

Well, nothing changed on Wednesday at Quail Hollow, site of this week's PGA Tour event -- Tiger still went off early. The only difference: his pro-am playing partner was Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, and the galleries following the group made it look like the final round of a major.

The birdie putt was said to be 15 feet. In truth, the ball exploded from the 72nd green at Bay Hill and shot through the consciousness of every golfer not named Tiger Woods, torturing the collective psyche of the so-called competition. If there were any doubts that Woods would be less than his indomitable self after knee surgery, his final-hole victory in the Florida darkness zapped the uncertainty like radiation treatment, leaving rivals with a familiar tsunami of dread.

Which might explain why Woods, healthier and happier than at any point in his epic career, dared to venture Tuesday into the same rare territory he did a year ago. He was asked again, in the interview room at Augusta National, if he could win the Grand Slam this year. Without hesitation, he said yes.

It was at the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational that Tiger Woods and Steve Williams first worked together. Woods wound up cashing a 56th-place check that week ($5,625 -- woo hoo!), and it would be his worst finish at Arnold Palmer's event.

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This weekend, Shane Bacon will be out at the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International caddying for one of the pros on the LPGA Tour. You can follow him daily with his Caddie Tales.

If you had a big tournament coming up and were going to go out searching for a non-caddie to caddie for you, picking yours truly probably wouldn't be the worst idea. At least that's what I told LPGA golfer Erica Blasberg.

I have played a lot of tournaments with buddies, bosses and even my dad on the bag. Since I was a 14-year-old heading to Wichita Falls, Okla. for the Texas-Oklahoma Junior Golf Tournament, caddying was something I was immersed in.

It's like a game of Clue, only the players are a bunch of "friends" of a golf star that may or may not be returning to the course over the next few weeks. Like, "I'll take Tiger Woods, with a 4-iron, at Doral."

Now Tiger's caddie Steve Williams is the latest to chime in on when Mr. Woods will be gracing us with his golfing presence, telling a New Zealand television station that Woods is "a few weeks" from returning to the PGA Tour.

I just want to hug someone. Can I hug you? Please? Just one? It's the Christmas season, and hugging is necessary when you are very happy about something during this time of year. Haven't you see Elf, you freak?

Tiger Woods, the best athlete in the world and basically the reason I still get up in the morning, announced on his website that he is hitting golf balls again, and is right on pace for the Masters. The Masters!!!!!!!! YES! I am actually so happy that I look like the Joker right now, but with fewer scars.

"I'm actually stronger in my leg than I think I've ever been," Tiger said in a press conference today. "As far as hitting full shots, (I've just started) the last couple weeks. So obviously I haven't progressed too far into the bag...It's fun to actually get outside and start swinging again and working on my short game. I've chipped and putted for a while, but as far as making bigger swings, I've actually just started."

In the press conference, Tiger went on to say that his intention is to play a few events before the Masters, but he can't say that is how it is going to go down.

He also dug a little deeper into the Phil Mickelson-Steve Williams issue, saying, "What ended up happening is I communicated with Phil, and we have discussed it. I talked to Stevie about it, and he feels bad, what happened."

Oh, and as far as the player of the year award goes, which went to British Open and PGA Champion Padraig Harrington?

The story that won't die in the golf world seems to be making a loop back to Steve Williams, who spoke Monday at a charity dinner.

Tiger Woods' caddy said that he regrets saying "I hate the pr**k" in regards to Phil Mickelson a day after Woods made public that he was disappointed in the comments concerning the famous Lefty.

"I don't deny that him and I don't get along," Steve Williams told The Associated Press from his home in New Zealand. "I shouldn't have said it, but no harm was meant. I was just having some fun."

Williams' apology seems just what you'd expect from the caddy who is better known for his cold demeanor around the golf course. He said he wishes he hadn't said it, but he didn't take a step back from the fact that he doesn't like Mickelson, or his man boobs.

Steve wasn't the only one to talk about this mess. Long time coach of Tiger Woods and current coach of Mickelson, Butch Harmon, spoke about it all and seemed more upset than Phil.

You know that part at the end of Wizard of Oz when the voice booms over everything? In the golf world, that is Tiger Woods, except it isn't some little man coming out from behind the curtain (Tiger has more muscles).

Tiger's caddy, Steve Williams, made some rather interesting remarks on the second most famous golfer in the land, Phil Mickelson, this past week, going as far as calling Lefty a pr**k and saying he hates him. Mickelson's response was extremely mature and handled as well as he could have -- "All I could think of was how lucky I am to have a class act like Bones (his caddie, Jim Mackay) on my bag and representing me."

Now, Tiger's voice reigns over them all, speaking for the first time publicly about the incident concerning his caddy.

"I was disappointed to read the comments attributed to Steve Williams about Phil Mickelson, a player that I respect," Woods said in a statement Monday. "It was inappropriate. The matter has been discussed and dealt with."

Alright, very Tiger. He said something without really saying anything.