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The Loop

Bryon Bell to caddie for Tiger Woods at Bridgestone

July 28, 2011

For a guy who hasn't hit an official shot in three months, Tiger Woods still has a knack for sending the golf world into a tizzy.

First came news that Woods will end his three-month layoff next week at the Bridgestone Invitational. Then we learned his good friend Bryon Bell will inherit Steve Williams' caddie bib and take over Woods' bag.

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*Bryon Bell has caddied for his friend Tiger Woods on a fill-in basis before.

Photo by Getty Images

That last nugget came courtesy of Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman, although still to be determined is whether Bell is filling in on an interim basis or if he will be the third permanent caddie of Woods' pro career (the other being Mike "Fluff" Cowan).

Bell, a high school friend of Woods', has a long history with the former world No. 1. Some of that experience is positive, like when he was on the bag for Woods' win at the Buick Invitational in 1999. But as an official part of the Woods business empire -- most recently as the president of Tiger Woods Design -- Bell was also linked to some of the more sordid details of the Woods' sex scandal. (It's rarely a good sign when you have your own bio page on TMZ.com.)

If nothing else, it suggests the two men know each other well. How that serves them on the golf course next week is anybody's guess.

But then that can be said about just anything concerning Woods these days.

*-- Sam Weinman *