Cut Line: Tiger’s schedule, ruling, captaincy and everything in between

NASSAU, Bahamas – In this week’s Silly, eh, Challenge Season edition, Cut Line laments the silly response to a reasonable ruling and applauds Tiger Woods’ serious look at next year’s schedule.

Made Cut

Older and wiser. Tiger Woods was admittedly tired and he’d earned his fatigue honestly.

To finish off what turned into a triumphant comeback campaign on the PGA Tour, he played seven of the last nine events, a run that concluded with his walk-off victory at the Tour Championship for win No. 80.

But all that golf and emotion caught up to him at the Ryder Cup, where he failed to win even a half point for the first time in his career in the matches.

But it also turned out to be a lesson as evidenced by Woods’ response this week when asked about his schedule for next year.

“Seven of the last nine to end my season was too much, what can I handle going forward? I need to make sure that I am rested and ready to play,” Woods said.

Whether that means fewer events remains to be seen, but it certainly is the best indication to date that at 42 (soon to be 43) the 14-time major champion is thinking with his head as well as his heart.

The new boss. Although most golf fans filed this one under “way too inside baseball,” news this week that Greg McLaughlin has been named the CEO of the World Golf Foundation and president of The First Tee and World Golf Hall of Fame is worth noting.

McLaughlin is an industry veteran who most recently served as president of the PGA Tour Champions since 2015. Prior to that he served a variety of roles, including president of the Tiger Woods Foundation for 14 years.

It’s long been time for a change at the World Golf Hall of Fame, and McLaughlin will bring a fresh perspective to an organization that badly needs new ideas.

Much of what McLaughlin accomplishes will likely go unnoticed by the casual fan, but make no mistake, this is one of the best moves the organizations have made in some time.

Tweet of the week:

Fowler donated a golf bag, signed driver and a signed pair of shoes for an auction, which will benefit the Lyle family. Lyle died in August following his third bout with leukemia and Fowler still wears Lyle’s signature “Leuk the Duck” pin to honor the Australian.

Made Cut-Did Not Finish (MDF)

Scoop or no scoop? Technically, it was a scoop.

Tiger Woods admitted as much following his second round at the Hero World Challenge after having his second shot from a bush right of the 18th fairway reviewed for 25 minutes.

“I didn’t feel like I made contact twice,” Woods said. “It was such a short little shot, I was just trying to hit it sideways there. Under slow motion and high def you can see that the ball hit the clubface twice.”

Woods was not penalized, however, with officials ruling that although video evidence showed that he did “scoop” the ball out of the bush the only way to see that was with ultra slow-motion footage, which under a recent decision can not determine guilt if the violation can’t be seen in real time.

“In this age of high-definition slow motion television we’ve got a decision [34-3/10, limitations on use of video evidence]. Basically it says if the player did not know that he did that and the only way you can tell that is by using this type of slow motion technology, he’s exempt from the rules, so there’s no penalty there,” said Mark Russell, the PGA Tour’s vice president of rules and competitions.

At issue here is the steady drumbeat of conspiracy theories about the ruling, which is inevitable whenever Woods is involved.

On this, the rule is clear. And considering the struggles other sports have with slow-motion reviews, give golf credit for allowing common sense a voice in the room.

Missed Cut

Captain curious. Patrick Reed finally answered all those questions that he created following the U.S. Ryder Cup team’s loss in France.

Actually, for Reed there were no questions.

“It’s been, I don’t know how many weeks, but it’s been, in the golf world, it’s been a long time, a long time ago,” Reed said. “All of us on our side have moved past that. You know, basically when the tournament was over, all of us moved past it and we’re just kind of getting ready for hopefully two years.”

Jordan Spieth probably doesn’t agree. Reed was particularly critical of Spieth, who was paired with Justin Thomas and not Reed at the Ryder Cup, and captain Jim Furyk for a lack of communication.

Reed confirmed this week that he has spoken to Woods – but not Spieth – about what happened at the matches, although he and Woods declined to offer details, and said he doesn’t see any reason why the situation has to be resolved.

On this front, Woods probably has a different outlook. As captain of next year’s U.S. Presidents Cup team it’s his job to keep the peace in a team room that will most likely include Reed, Spieth and Thomas.

One way or another, Woods will find a way to resolve this before his team gets on a plane to Australia late next year.