The notion that Tiger Woods might be bigger than the game itself has some merit that is born out by television ratings in tournament in which he does or does not play. Woods is a transcendent star, certainly, but disregarding the celebrity factor for the moment, what you'll find is that the game's future is in good hands, with or without Woods.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, 19, has reached the quarter-finals of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and is threatening to become the youngest winner of a PGA Tour event in history. He already has beaten a strong field, winning the Dubai Desert Classic recently.

New Zealand amateur Danny Lee, 18, is the youngest ever to win the U.S. Amateur, eclipsing Woods' record. Lee recently won the Johnnie Walker Classic against a quality field and is expected to turn pro some time after the Masters.

Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, 17, seems to possess an abundance of talent and charisma, both of which should become evident once he grows more comfortable playing outside Japan. Ishikawa missed the cut in his PGA Tour debut at the Northern Trust Open, but he has invitations to play in the Transitions Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Masters.

Toss in Anthony Kim, 23, and what you have is one of the best and most exciting group of young players ever. None might rise to the level of Tiger, but collectively they could slow his assault on history.

-- John Strege

Northern Trust, in an effort to quell the criticism it took for the expensive entertaining it did at the Northern Trust Open recently, announced that it would return the $1.6 billion the U.S. government presented it as part of a financial-system rescue plan.

The Los Angeles Times story on the matter notes: "The bank hasn't said so directly, but it most likely didn't need the capital infusion, and went along with it because the government wanted participation by healthy and unhealthy banks alike."

Northern Trust deserved better than the treatment it received from the government and media outlets. If you haven't read the analysis by Golf World's Ron Sirak on the Northern Trust controversy, you can do so here.

-- John Strege

It is not surprising, of course, but once Tiger Woods made his exit from the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship so did a healthy percentage of fans. Attendance on Friday was down 21 percent from Thursday (11,130 from 14,120).

Moreover, attendance was up over the same day a year ago every day until Friday, when it was off more than 1,300 from third-round play a year ago.

-- John Strege

Wells Fargo & Co. will remove Wachovia from the title of the PGA Tour event it sponsors, the heretofore Wachovia Championship, citing a concern over giving "mixed signals about our priorities," Bloomberg is reporting.

Wells Fargo, however, will fulfill its sponsorship obligation, which runs through 2014. The tournament will be called the Quail Hollow Championship.

Wachovia Corp. was purchased by Wells Fargo in December.

-- John Strege

New Zealand amateur Danny Lee, 19, no doubt has a bright future, but he's already made an embarrassing misstep. After Lee won the Johnnie Walker Classic, he declared that he wanted to be the next Tiger Woods.

The following week, he entered the Nationwide Tour's Moonah Classic in Australia, shot 74-75, and missed the cut by five shots.

Children, the proverb says, should be seen and not heard. Good advice.

-- John Strege

Tiger Woods' loss to Tim Clark on Thursday was less to do with Woods' eight months of inactivity than the fickle nature of match play. There was a reason the PGA Tour abandoned the format it once employed previously in Tucson (the Seiko-Tucson Match Play Championship).

When each round matters more than the collective 72 holes of a stroke-play tournament, upsets are inevitable. Over 72 holes, Woods presumably will beat Clark most of the time. Over 18 holes, it's hit and miss. And so, after an over-the-top buildup surrounding Woods' return to competitive golf, the WGC-Accenture Match Play has gone flat and likely will remain so, despite compelling story lines that might pan out -- Mickelson winning back to back or Rory McIlroy, 19, possibly reaching the final.

In the mean time, spare us the what's-wrong-with-Tiger stories.

-- John Strege

Christopher Clarey of the International Herald Tribune has an interesting essay today on the deification of athletes by comparing the era of Ted Williams to that of Tiger Woods through the prism of the prose of the late John Updike.

There to record Williams' homer in his final at-bat in his final game, Updike wrote: "Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters."

"Immortality? Gods? Letters?" Clarey writes. "This is the language of a different era; of a more trusting, happily benighted place. Coming from the mind of a supremely literate, clear-eyed man, it is a reminder of the sway great athletes once held over their public, from the commoners to the Brahmins."

Today, noting the example of Alex Rodriguez, he cautions, "Any columnist or blogger who uses language that deifies an athlete at this stage had better be in an ironic state of mind. Gods and immortals are out; drug testers and whereabouts rules are in."

With Woods, "there is a lingering pocket of the old atmosphere, of Updike's inner kid," but Clarey concedes that there are fewer risks when the sport is golf, hence the breathless and widespread anticipation of Woods' imminent return to golf.

"Gods," he concludes, "apparently, do answer television executives' prayers."

-- John Strege

Even elite country clubs are not immune to the effects of the recession. The prestigious Atlanta Athletic Club will no longer cut its fairways in a crisscross pattern in an attempt to save money, Bloomberg reports.

"Maintenance crews at Atlanta Athletic, where golfing legend Bobby Jones grew up playing the game, will soon start cutting the fairways in a back-and-forth pattern, instead of the more decorative crisscross. The adjustment will save about 100 gallons of diesel fuel a month, or about $2,300 a year, said Ken Mangum, the grounds superintendent.

"'You're looking at every little thing you can to save a dollar,' Mangum said."

-- John Strege

That's what San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler called it, but he also succinctly noted why Woods' comeback was such a big deal to the sport: "Win or lose, Tiger is back, and in the popularity polls, golf has broken out of a tie with rhythmic gymnastics."

This from the Philadelphia Daily News: "During the Phillies' annual golf tournament Tuesday, suspended PGA pro John Daly joined Shane Victorino's foursome on the back nine, thereby disqualifying the group."

-- John Strege