Tiger Woods had a terse exchange with a magazine reporter Wednesday over excerptsfrom his former swing coach's new book and ended the conversation with a long stare and a sarcastic, "Have a good day."
If that wasn't enough, he fielded 10 questions about his putting.
And so began a bumpy road to the Masters for Woods, who has gone more than two years without winning on the PGA Tour and is approaching the four-year anniversary of his last major championship.
Woods, who last year moved to Palm Beach County, is playing the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., for the first time since 1993, when he was a 17-year-old with no big concerns except to finish high school.
Hank Haney's book, "The Big Miss," is scheduled for release March 27, the week before the Masters.
The book is about Haney's six years as Woods' swing coach, and Golf Digest on Tuesday began to release excerpts through its tablet applications.
In the excerpt, Haney details Woods' fascination with the military, particularly the Navy SEALs.
"I was beginning to realize that his sentiment ran deep, and that as incredible as it seemed, Tiger was seriously considering becoming a Navy SEAL," Haney wrote, referring to the summer of 2007. "I didn't know how he'd go about it, but when he talked about, it was clear that he had a plan. After finding out that the Navy SEAL age limit is 28, I asked Tiger about his being too old to join. 'It's not a problem,' he said. 'They're making a special age exemption for me.' "
When asked about the book, Woods said his disappointment with Haney hasn't changed. When asked his reaction to the excerpt, Woods replied, "Well, I've already talked about it."
The news conference at PGA National turned awkward when Alex Miceli, a Golfweek senior writer and contributor to Golf Channel, asked Woods if he considered being a Navy SEAL at the height of his career.
"I've already talked about everything in the book. I've already commented on everything, Alex," Woods said.
"Then I must have missed you answering that question," Miceli replied.
"Well, I've already commented on the book. Is that in the book? Is it in the book?" Woods said.
Miceli replied he had not seen the book.
"You're a beauty, you know that?" Woods said, trying to smile.
Miceli said a statement by Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, a day earlier suggested something was wrong with the excerpt, and he wanted to know if it was true. Woods paused for a moment, said with indifference, "I don't know," then stared at him and said, "Have a good day."
Scrutiny shifts to putting: Woods might long for the day when all anyone questioned was his swing.
Because until now, no one ever doubted his putting.
But as Woods begins his road to the Masters this week at the Honda Classic, scrutiny has shifted from his new swing to what used to be the most reliable part of his game.
Poised to make a run at Pebble Beach, Woods badly missed a five-foot birdie putt on the second hole and missed from three feet for par on the seventh hole just as Phil Mickelson was pulling away. Woods three-putted the last hole for a 75.
Last week at the Match Play Championship, despite missing two birdie putts inside 10 feet on the back nine as he tried to rally, Woods had a birdie putt from just outside five feet on the 18th hole to extend his second-round match against Nick Watney. The putt never even touched the hole.
"I should be able to fix it in a day," Woods said.
Players help each other all the time, so it should not be unusual that twice in the last three months, Woods has sought advice from Steve Stricker. The tip at the Presidents Cup was to release the blade. They played nine holes of a practice round Tuesday at Dove Mountain, and Stricker noticed the club was too shut going back, which Woods attributed to his missed putt against Watney.
No springboard: Winning an opposite-field event comes with a two-year exemption, though the FedEx Cup points are cut in half, and prize money is the smallest of the year.
Winning doesn't always guarantee a change in status, as the Mayakoba Golf Classic has shown.
Four of the last five champions were in Mexico last week -- defending champion Johnson Wagner, Cameron Beckman, Brian Gay and Fred Funk. The exception was Mark Wilson (2009 champion), who has won three times in the last 14 months. Wilson finished third at the Match Play Championship in Arizona and earned $600,000 -- $66,000 less than what John Huh earned for winning in Mexico.
Nice run for Americans: American-born players have won the opening nine events on the PGA Tour, the longest such streak since 1991 when the list of winners included Mickelson, who was an amateur at Arizona State.
Honda sticking with event: American Honda Motor Co. announced that it has signed a four-year extension as the title sponsor of the Honda Classic, keeping it the longest active sponsorship on the PGA Tour.
