HEY TIGER, REMEMBER GOLF?

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE 

GOLF

So that's why Tiger Woods and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem were having weekly conversations.

At least, in part.

The PGA Tour announced Tuesday that it is partnering with the Tiger Woods Foundation to bring a new tour event to Washington, D.C. The TWF and PGA have reached a long-term agreement, although the title sponsor, location and other details won't be revealed until a news conference next month in the nation's capital.

The tournament will be July 2-8, and it is possible Woods won't even play in the inaugural event, since his wife, Elin, is expected to give birth in June or July.

Woods is making more news off the course than on these days.

Who would've ever believed that?

Woods has played in just two PGA Tour events this season and got bounced early in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships last week because he forgot to repair a ball mark.

The King of Golf forgot something so fundamental.

One little miscue might be just that. But it might be a sign of a bigger problem.

Woods said he was so focused on the line of the putt that he didn't even see the ball mark. He missed a four-foot putt that would've won the match against Nick O'Hern because the ball went off-line when it hit the divot.

Tiger Woods left a stone unturned. It's just not like him.

"That's my fault for not paying attention to detail," Woods said after the loss.

Woods is normally money when it comes to five-foot putts. The putting stroke and line weren't the problem. Woods could return to his home in Orlando, Fla., and correct that with a five-hour session on the putting green.

He could correct this other problem by playing a little more golf.

Woods is trying to juggle so many activities and competitive golf doesn't seem to be one of them.

Golf made Tiger Woods. It's who he is. It's why he's the most recognizable athlete in the world. It's why Nike shelled out $250million to use his smile.

When Woods first announced in December he would become a father, we wondered whether this would be the thing that would finally close the gap between Woods and the rest of the world. Fellow tour members scoffed at such a notion.

Baby Woods hasn't been born yet, but Woods seems awfully distracted.

Woods has a new tournament and course design business, impending fatherhood and sponsor obligations. There might not be a better multitasker than Woods on the planet.

Woods has played just seven rounds of golf on the PGA Tour this season. That's not even two full tournaments. According to his Web site, his next tournament will be the Masters from April 5-8. Surely he'll add another tournament or two before Augusta, but will it be enough to put him in contention at a course he owns?

He's the greatest golfer in the world, but as we saw in the Dubai desert, even he is not as his best when he hasn't been playing. Woods also skipped the Nissan Open before the Accenture Match Play Championships. Who knows if that would've made a difference. He's not playing in the Honda Classic this week. He's not scheduled to play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill -- at least as of now -- a tournament he won fourconsecutive years.

We can speculate all we want about why he's not playing as much.

But if Woods is skipping tournaments because he's unhappy with the PGA and is looking to make a statement about his importance to the tour -- as reported by a London newspaper -- he's spiting himself in the process.

If Woods feels his schedule was too hectic, he should cut things out.

But playing golf shouldn't be one of them.

Club scene more to Burns' liking

For Bob Burns, playing 30 events on the PGA Tour every year was no longer possible or enjoyable.

With two young children, Burns wanted to spend less time on the road and more time working from home. So Burns, who lives in Valencia, found another niche in the golf world via custom engraving golf clubs.

"I've always been interested in another business within the sport of golf," Burns said. "I've been working on it for three or fouryears, trying to find the need for something. I saw this empty space for really good tournament gifts from the 1900 period of golf."

The clubs he sells are engraved by a company in Tennessee. Burns has plenty of help, but he's spent much of his time overseeing and designing the Web site, hickorygolfclassics.com, which debuted in November. The style is based on clubs from the early 1900s. And they can be engraved for any occasion -- a charity tournament, birthday, Father's Day. Or, you can simply get your name on them.

Burns hasn't abandoned his golf game, even though he played just 24 events on the PGA Tour in 2005 and 2006. He went through Q School this year and didn't gain his card back but still envisions playing about 15 tournaments, a mixture of PGA and Nationwide Tour events.

He's played in two PGA events this year -- the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera-Maya Cancun -- and missed the cut both times.

"I always knew golf would continue to be a part of my life, no matter where I chose to compete or where I qualified to compete," Burns said. "I don't think I'll stop competing entirely. I was getting a little burnt out the last few years.

"My job has been golf ever since I got out of college (Cal State Northridge, 1991). This is just another avenue to go down in life and see how well you do it. It's something I've never done before, and it's been a lot of fun to this point."

Burns won the PGA's Disney Golf Classic in 2002 and has netted $3.28 million in career earnings.

Burns debuted as a PGA Tour pro in 1994, but that was the same year his home suffered damage in the Northridge earthquake.

Now Burns is enjoying working from his home office, where he his toddler children, Charlie and Madelyn, often wander in to play. His children and wife, Jayme, spent a lot of time with him on the road last year. Now, they don't have to go anywhere to do that.

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(1) Tiger Woods seems to be juggling so many activities. Competitive golf doesn't seem to be one of them.

Matt York/Associated Press

(2) no caption (golf club)

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