The mere prospect of a teleconference with PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was enough to see the media salivating like Pavlov's dogs yesterday, though it wasn't Finchem's name that set off these particular mutts.
With incessant conjecture about Tiger Woods' comeback continuing to dominate the world of golf, an innocuous comment from the commissioner at the WGC-CA in Miami on Sunday regarding the world No. 1's return to golf was enough to set these hounds barking.
Finchem had said that it was "my sense that we'll know pretty soon" - and when he announced the teleconference for Monday, the theory spread like wildfire that the commissioner was privy to significant information; that hard evidence of Woods' comeback plans were finally to be revealed.
So much for that theory. The highlight of yesterday's conference was the news that Farmer's Insurance, sponsor of this year's Northern Open, would continue to back the tournament next year. Hold the back page.
In recent days there have been vague signs that Woods is gearing up for his return - the news the 34-year-old has recently started training with his swing coach Hank Haney, for instance. Or the story, purportedly from sources close to Woods, that he wouldn't make his return until the Masters next month.
And so yesterday's conference was unaccountably viewed as the venue for those desperately awaited details of a comeback - never mind the fact that Finchem holds teleconferences with the press on a weekly basis. It's easy to be wise after the event, but why would self-confirmed control freak Woods allow the announcement of his return to be handled by a third party?
In the event, when pressed about Woods return, Finchem reiterated the same old schtick, commenting: "We have the general information that Tiger is preparing to play and there's been a lot of speculation about when he might come back out. Tiger's indicated to us that he will give us reasonable notice because we know we've got some preparation to do.
"But I don't have a specific date when he's going to come back and I can only assume, though, that all this speculation about late March and early April, if he is going to start back then, we will know soon. Beyond that I can't help you."
That's okay Tim. These boys may be beyond help. Right now, the media's all-consuming need to break fresh details in this story mean they're snapping at shadows, howling at half-glimpsed hypotheses. While details of his return remain a mystery, the press pack will continue to drool at even the mention of Tiger's name.
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