Buick Invitational: Tiger Returns!

Who would you rather play four rounds of golf with, Roger Clemens or Marshall Faulk? Why didn't organizers of last week's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic stick nice guys Clemens and Faulk with each other, instead of subjecting Matthew McConaughey and Amhad Rashad to them? Maybe they're okay to play golf with---McConaughey and Rashad seemed to be having a good time. You won't find me in the camp that wants to see Clemens come back to Boston, a camp that includes his other playing partner last week, Mike Eruzione. Clemens's playing record speaks for itself. So do Eddie Murray's and Ty Cobb's. All the action was happening in the Darius Rucker group anyway. What happened to the Hootie? Those were simpler times, the '90s. I only wanna be with you. Amen. Michael Bolton also played golf on TV last week, with his girlfriend Nicolette Sheridan in attendance. I guess it's pretty obvious that Sheridan is the new prime-time Cattrall. In a recent discussion about the Trollop Factor regarding Cattrall's character from Sex and the City and Sheridan's on Desperate Housewives, Cattrall's emerged as far more trollopy. Makes me think of the Hootie: Sometimes you're crazy/ And you wonder why/ I'm such a baby/ Cause the Dolphins make me cry. Chad Campbell was in the Clemens-Eruzione-McConaughey group Friday. That's three Texans and one guy from Massachusetts. And in the spirit of bipartisanship coursing through America, they came together and won the celebrity competition. McConaughey was even seen with his arm around Eruzione. Campbell went on to win the professional tournament. I wasn't sure he had it in him. This could be the break out season for Campbell that people have been talking about for a few years now. Nice to see Paul Azinger play well on the course and do some time in the ABC booth. Maybe Nick Faldo and Azinger will take their two-man show to the Golf Channel in 2007. That would accomplish two things: spice up the Golf Channel's coverage and keep Faldo and Azinger together as the most colorful tandem of TV commentators in the game. Which reminds me of the Hootie: You and me/ We come from different worlds/ You like to laugh at me/ When I look at other girls. This week Tiger makes his 2006 debut at the Buick Invitational. Tiger's won at Torrey Pines three times. Lefty's won it twice. Both have finished runner up; Tiger's second to Phil's first back in Tiger's ridiculous 2000 campaign. The last time Tiger made an overhaul on his swing, it started working in 2000. He messed with it again in 2004, saw results last year and could break a lot of records if this is the bumper year. Everyone out of the pool if this is another 2000 vintage. I see no reason to believe it won't be, based on the signs from last year: six wins, two majors.