Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Even as he held firm that golf would survive no matter how long Tiger Woods stayed away, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said the sex scandal of his No. 1 player was the biggest "curveball" he's ever faced.

Happier times: PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem (left) and Tiger Woods enjoy a moment in the spotlight after Woods' Bridgestone Invitational win in August. Finchem says the star's leave of absence isn't "doom and gloom" for the PGA. AP PHOTO

Finchem tried Thursday to dispel a "gloom and doom" outlook for golf after the game's biggest star announced an indefinite leave to sort out his personal life. He predicted a successful season in 2010, while conceding no sport is as good without its best player.

"If Tiger is out for a couple of months or eight months or a year, we're going to have a successful year," Finchem said. "It won't be at the same level without our No. 1 player, there's no question about that. No sport would be at the same level without its No. 1 player."

Finchem has been commissioner since 1994 and is used to Woods being the talk of golf.

Not like this, though. And not at a time when golf isn't even being played.

"I can't think of anything else that was more of a curveball," Finchem said during a break from TV interviews. "Just the magnitude of it. I can't recall an individual in politics, entertainment, sports, with this level of focus that it's generating in the media. Everybody is talking about it. My 17-year-old daughter comes home from school, they're talking about it in the classroom.

"I've often said that up until (President Barack) Obama, he was the most recognized guy on the planet, and everybody thought he was perfect. The realization that he's not is huge news."

How golf gets by without Woods — and how it reacts when he does return — is yet to be seen.

Woods announced last Friday that he was stepping away from golf to try to save his marriage, although it hasn't stopped allegations of more extramarital affairs that have taken him from golf magazines to the cover of gossip magazines.

Finchem said the tour had no input on Woods' decision to take a break from golf. He also suggested that the many salacious tales of infidelity would not be subject to discipline under the tour's "conduct unbecoming" clause.

The tour does not announce suspensions or fines, although John Daly told The Associated Press last year he had been suspended for six months because of a long list of negative publicity, including his mug shot from a North Carolina jail where he was taken to get sober.

"Historically, the PGA Tour has never . . . taken a situation in someone's personal life and dealt with it from a disciplinary matter," Finchem said. "Our regulations relate to conduct unbecoming that's either in the public arena or law enforcement arena."

He said the clause was created to let players know "why certain behavior is inappropriate from a public presentation of our sport."

Finchem also said he wasn't concerned with Woods being linked to a Canadian doctor under investigation because his assistant was found transporting drugs, including HGH, into the United States. The doctor, Anthony Galea, said he treated Woods with "blood spinning" to help his recovery from knee surgery.

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