FBR's wishful thinking

The chairman of next year's FBR Open expressed hope that a new date in 2010 might entice Tiger Woods to play in Scottsdale again.

The group that stages the tournament, the Phoenix Thunderbirds, have been told that the tournament will be played a month later next year, according to the Arizona Republic.

"You never know for sure with Tiger, of course," David Rauch, the 2010 tournament chairman, told the newspaper. "But the date change certainly removes some of the hurdles regarding his participation in our event."

This seems more wishful thinking than a probability. Woods hasn't played more than 16 PGA Tour events since 2005, and that seems unlikely to change given the fact he'll soon have two kids and that overtaxing his knee will probably be an ongoing concern.

Woods' schedule typically includes four majors, three World Golf Championship events, the Buick Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Memorial, the AT&T National that he hosts, the Players Championship, the Wachovia Championship, a couple FedEx Cup events and the Tour Championship. That equals 16 tournaments, not counting overseas events (other than the British Open), the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup.

-- John Strege