Preview: Top 10 storylines in ’09 (Golf)

http://www.golfweek.com/story/tour-preview-top10-storylines-011209

1. Tiger Woods returns to action.

Go ahead, admit it. You miss watching Tiger Woods on TV from your cozy living room sofa on weekend afternoons. (It’s OK. So do we.) Well, it won’t be too much longer until he’s back.

Woods, who has been rehabilitating his surgically-repaired knee since last summer, began taking full swings with short irons in December and should be ready for tournament action by the end of February around the time of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

But returning at such a fickle event as the Match Play doesn’t make sense. Plus, Elin is due with the couple’s second child a week or two before the event. That’s why we’ve got our Tiger Return Radar locked on the WGC-CA Championship at Doral March 12-15. A nice tune-up there, followed by a week at Arnie’s Place will give Woods plenty of time to shake off any rust heading into the Masters.

2. Padraig Harrington goes for the “Paddy Slam.”

In case you haven’t heard, Padraig Harrington has won three of the last six majors, including the last two. He tied for fifth at Augusta last year, so a run at three in a row is not out of the question. One hiccup in the equation: Tiger wasn’t in the field at Royal Birkdale or Oakland Hills last year, and all indications point to Eldrick lacing ’em up at the Masters this year. Hold on to your lucky clovers.

Golfweek
1/12/09