In golf news these days, there are basically two things to talk about -- Tiger Woods and Tiger Woods' bum knee.

The top golfer in the land (as of now) has been quoted as saying he has absolutely no clue when he will be back on the links in top tournament form, but Mark O'Meara said he could see Tiger being back as early as February.

"Tiger is doing really well and he is pleased with the way the operation went," said O'Meara.

"I'm afraid the (Dubai Desert) Classic (on Jan 29) is coming round a little early for him to be able to defend his title. That's a real pity. He is going to aim for a return in late February or early March.

He is not going to start hitting balls until the end of December so it would be pushing it for him to come here in January. I imagine he will make his comeback in one of the Florida tournaments. His plan is to play a couple of events before the Masters [in April]."

Donald Ross is known worldwide to golf fans as one of the consummate masters of course design. And now, thanks to the Wyndham Championship's recent move to the Sedgefield Country Club, PGA golfers competing in the FedEx Cup event (August 11-17, 2008) will get to experience the same pristine Piedmont Triad golf conditions that legends like Sam Sneed, Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer enjoyed for years after Ross' original design in 1926.

Of course, this isn't the Wyndham's first rodeo here, although it is the first year back to Sedgefield following a 31-year hiatus, and the return did not come at a cheap price. The recently finished, nearly yearlong renovation of the course cost over $3 million, but as tournament director Mark Brazil put it, the intent was to make Sedgefield "one of the favorite spots on tour."

Brazil pointed out that right now, "this golf course is as good as it gets" and by all accounts, he is absolutely right. A friend of mine recently teed it high and called the dense rough "diabolical" (by all accounts complimentary), while recent praise from former winner David Toms has already attracted some big name attention.

Three-time major winner Vijay Singh, who recently announced his entry into the Wyndham, joins an already stout group of golfers that includes Toms, last year's champions Brandt Snedeker, Tim Clark, Carl Pettersson, local favorite and Masters darling Drew Weaver, Davis Love III, and, of course, goshdarn American hero and two-time Wyndham winner Rocco Mediate.

Tiger Woods saved professional golf in the Washington, DC area with the AT&T National, but he might take his tournament and going home after 2009. The inaugural AT&T was last July, and after next year's event, it'll need a new venue because Congressional, the current host, will use 2010 to renovate all 18 greens in preparation for the the 2011 U.S. Open.

So now what? For starters, Congressional members will soon vote on whether to keep the tournament from 2012-2017, but in the meantime, AT&T National director Greg McLaughlin has been mulling the options:

McLaughlin said yesterday that there had been some thought to playing the event in 2010 at the nearby TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, now undergoing a $25 million course and clubhouse renovation. But PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem said last week he did not think that course would be ready for a professional event by 2010, and McLaughlin said he will turn his attention elsewhere, most likely outside of the Washington area.

It sounds like courses from Philadelphia to Oregon are under consideration, but, according to the Washington Post's Leonard Shapiro, Baltimore, St. Louis and Minneapolis probably would make the most sense.

Ultimately, I expect Tiger Woods to do what Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus did for their tournaments, Bay Hill and the Memorial: build a course and give it a permanent home.

Harry Varden, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus all have something in common at the U.S. Open -- they've all lost a U.S. Open playoff.

18 holes of grueling, stroke-match play on a golf course that's been beaten to pieces by the USGA, the field and the weather all week long and you're having to grind your way around it for one more day.

Tiger Woods wants to be in the same breath as those players in just about every category but this one, and he's playing a competitor in Rocco Mediate that is just about his worst possible foe, a guy with zero to lose.

Tiger's disappointments have never come from Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia or Vijay Singh in major championship stages, they've been Rich Beem, Zach Johnson and Michael Campbell, men that are just having that week.

Today's U.S. Open playoff is probably the most popular one since Lee Trevino threw a rubber snake at Nicklaus on the first tee at Merion Country Club in 1971, a U.S. Open that belonged to Trevino 18-holes later.

No, it isn't Buster Douglas versus Mike Tyson and it definitely isn't salmon eats bear, but Tiger has been pushed to the brink by a guy named Rocco, who keep smiling and joking and hitting fairways. Mediate probably won't win, because he's facing You Know Who, but it sure will be fun to see the two battle.

Just to stir the fire, only one has ever lost a playoff on the PGA Tour, and it isn't the man with a Peace sign belt buckle.

Jack Nicklaus didn't end his Memorial Tournament press conference by yelling for "those damn kids" to get off his lawn, but it wouldn't have been altogether surprising giving his nostalgic comments on how the tour has changed since he and Arnold Palmer were in their prime some 40 years ago.

Nicklaus was asked if Tiger Woods ever called personally when he decided to sit out this week's Memorial. "It's a different day and age today, guys ... It's all through agents.''

Nicklaus then hopped in the way-back machine for a quick trip to yesteryear:

But that got Nicklaus thinking about the way it used to be. ... Palmer was a rival, but he also was a mentor to Nicklaus, and the King once told the Bear that he almost always wrote sponsors a note of thanks for putting on the tournament. ``So every tournament I ever played in, I always dropped the sponsor a note,'' Nicklaus said. Then he paused, reflecting on his role as the tournament host at the Memorial.

``We get one or two,'' Nicklaus said. ``I'm not saying that of everybody. We do get one or two. But not very many.'' ...

``Guys just don't communicate anymore,'' Nicklaus said. ``Every once in a while, I might get something. But I don't think I ever had a note from anybody when they're going to leave the Memorial Tournament or not going to play or something that wrote and said, 'Jack, I'm sorry. I had a problem, I can't be here.''

Billy Casper was born roughly 10 months after Arnold Palmer and is nine years older than Jack Nicklaus, which makes him a contemporary of arguably two of golf's most important players.

Casper won 51 PGA Tour events, including three majors, so he knows something about golf. Speaking recently about the unavoidable Nicklaus-Tiger comparisons, he offered something other than the stock non-answer about both players being special in their own right, blah blah blah:

"They both are just unbelievable players but Tiger has two ingredients which Jack Nicklaus didn't have... One, Tiger has such a superior short game. Jack's short game, other than putting, was just a little above average. And two, Tiger's imagination to play shots that nobody else has played, try to play those shots and then bring them off is just amazing. Jack didn't have that imagination..."

I've heard the "Jack didn't have much of a short game" discussions before, and the standard response is that "well, you don't need much of a short game when you're hitting fairways and greens." Fair enough, I guess, but Casper's point stands.

In terms of imagination, again, that may have to do with Tiger never being particularly accurate off the tee. Also, tournament set-ups border on insane at this point, what with 12-yard-wide fairways, and courses routinely measuring 7,300-plus yards. Obviously, technology has almost everything to do with that, but I think it plays a pretty big part in helping differentiate players who competed in a sport separated by 40 years of non-stop changes.

That said, good luck finding somebody who thinks Tiger isn't the best golfer on the planet.

Notes from on site at the Shell Houston Open:

At the Shell Houson Open, John Daly is working hard. Hard enough that he needed a trainer to massage his back and uh er chest at :08 in the video link above.

I heard he spent six hours practicing on Sunday, before official practice rounds started. He showed up early before playing in the pro-am on Monday, and then practiced three hours after the round. Yesterday, he was practicing before I got to the range, and was there for at least four hours in the on and off rain showers.

Those who have seen him through the years at the SHO said it is the most they have ever seen him work, and the earliest they have seen him at the course

The practicing and pro-am habits of a PGA golfer shouldn't be news, but it is with Daly. Recently, in a 48 hour period, he got dumped publicly by his instructor Butch Harmon and was disqualified from the Arnold Palmer Invitational for missing his pro-am tee time. I guess Daly is trying to make amends one day at a time, and I figure it was worth mentioning the mundane details of the work he is doing.

No one disputes that John Daly is well-intentioned. Which immediately brings to mind that proverb about the road to hell. Despite the off-course stuff, the public break-ups, the missed tee times, and, well, everything else, Big John isn't a bad dude.

After missing his pro-am tee time last Wednesday (he was subsequently disqualified from the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which is kind of a big deal since Daly doesn't have his tour card and can only tee it up on sponsor's exemptions), he got Arnie on the horn:

Daly called tournament host Arnold Palmer on Saturday night, extending an offer to meet the three amateurs who were scheduled to play with him, and join them for Sunday afternoon at nearby Celebration.

The three amateurs, all from out of town, had already left Orlando, but Daly extended the offer to local representatives of the same business and a good time was reportedly had by all.

Everybody wins. Well, except those three amateurs who were screwed out of an opportunity to play with Daly last Wednesday. But the local reps -- those guys made out.

I'm sure Daly's gesture was much appreciated, and it just further reinforces what many golf fans already know: JD's a swell guy. But here's an idea: how about Daly focus on fixing his game, which includes not pissing off swing coaches, not getting DQed for missing pro-am tee times, and not letting NFL head coaches carry your bag (no matter how innocuous-seeming that may be). And take off your freaking hat when you're inside. Savage.

Last week, Tiger Woods shared his thoughts on slow play. That led me to wonder if one of the most reviled players on tour, Rory Sabbatini, could hold the solution to the issue that the PGA doesn't seem all that interested in addressing.

Suggesting Sabbatini-style justice for slow-play offenders was a ridiculous idea, I know, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a growing problem for many players.

Coincidentally, Woods was paired with Ben Crane during Saturday's round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Crane is notoriously slow and he's the guy who sent Sabbatini off the deep end during the 2005 Booz-Allen.

Anyway, the enterprising Scott Michaux of the Augusta Chronicle decided to put a stopwatch on both Woods and Crane during the back nine, and although the group finished their round in just under four hours (which is fast for anybody), there was a pretty big difference between players.

Even avid golf fans probably don't know much about Bart Bryant, the 45-year-old journeyman who spent much of the back nine of the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational tied atop the leaderboard with Tiger Woods.

Bryant, playing a group ahead of Woods, parred the difficult par-4 18th and made his way to the scorer's tent, presumably under the impression that the worst-case scenario would have he and Eldrick in a playoff.

Nah, that would seem to logical. Instead, Woods, who had been short with his putter all day -- and hadn't made a putt of more than 20 feet all week -- struck his second shot to 18 to the middle of the green, some 21 feet from the hole. After spending a good 90 seconds surveying his situation, Woods stroked the putt exactly 21 feet, the last revolution just sneaking over the lip. Birdie, 10-under, victory.

Woods is 3-0 in 2008, after finishing last season on a 2-0 run. He becomes the first player in PGA Tour history to win five consecutive tournaments on three different occasions, and runs his record to 43-3 when leading a tournament after 54 holes. His 64 career victories surpasses Arnold Palmer and ties Ben Hogan for third on the all-time list behind Jack Nicklaus (73) and Sam Snead (82).

And best of all, we're due another week of "Will Woods Go Undefeated in 2008!?!" talk. Awesome.