Uh, apparently David Feherty passed gas.

Trying to sneak one out as he stood 10 feet away from the Woods braintrust, Feherty miscalculated worse than trying to hit a two iron off a downhill buried lie and trying to land it softly on the green. Instead of escaping unnoticed, the escaping flatulence fluttered Feherty’s buttocks with enough force to arouse Woods and Williams from their usually intense pre-shot routine. Even CBS microphones on the fairway picked up the sound and broadcast it for all the world to hear. Within seconds, Woods and caddy were laughing hysterically.

Feherty is an ex-golfer turned fairway golf reporter for CBS who’s best known for turning a witty phrase along with his inside-the-ropes golf commentary. Apparently his wit isn’t the only thing that get’s laughs, however.

The funny thing is, the clip of the incident made it on to YouTube by the next day, but details were so sketchy early on that most sources attributed the fart to Tiger. That’s what stardom gets you these days.

The 2009 Buick Open was supposed to be Buick’s last hurrah as a golf sponsor, at least for the foreseeable future. That’s why Tiger decided to play the event, even though it would take away from his preparation for the final major of 2009 (the PGA Championship at Hazeltine). Even though Tiger and Buick parted ways already last year, everyone still thinks of Tiger as Buick’s golf spokesman. To Tiger’s credit, he acknowledged  the importance of Buick’s committment to golf for the last 50 year and to Tiger’s own career for the last 10 not just by showing up for the tournament, but showing up with game and winning (everyone knows ratings are double when Tiger’s in the field and triple when he’s in contention on Sunday).

It was supposed to be a tournament that I looked by in my golden years and recalled as the last tournament Buick hosted in Michigan – the 69th PGA tour victory by Tiger Woods.

Instead, I’m afraid I’ll probably remember it as the tournament with the Feherty fart heard ’round the world.

The victory came at Arnold Palmer’s Bayhill Invitational, an event that Woods had won 5 other times in his career.

Woods began the day 5 shots behind 54 hole leader Sean O’Hair. Sean ended up shoot three over whil Tiger shot 3 under for the final round, giving him a one shot victory.

If you watched only saw the highlights, you probably felt the 16 foot putt on 18 for birdie to win was the shot of the day for Woods. I will admit that Tiger has an uncanny ability to pull off big-time putts in clutch situations. two of his other victories at Bayhill were won on the 72nd hole with long putts for birdie. But since I watched the entire last round, I can tell you that there was plenty stellar play beforehand that gave him the opportunity to make that final putt. And to me, the greatest shot of the day occurred a hole before, and probably won’t even get any air time at all.

The 17th at Bayhill is a long, difficult par 3. The pin was tucked in the back right with a gaping bunker protecting it. As the final group stood on the tee, Woods had a one stroke lead.  The smart play was to aim left and cut it back toward the pin. Tiger pushed the shot just a tad the high fadeit got hung up in the cooling dusk air. The ball landed about 2 inches below the lip of the facing bunker and plugged right in place. Now a fried egg lie like that is tough enough, but the steep slope made the stance almost impossible and the ball was actually underneath the overhanging, rough-lned lip of the bunker. Tiger had to kneel on his left leg in the thick rough just to be able to address the ball.

Tiger took a full shoulder turn and whacked the ball straight up in the air where it landed hard on the green and race about 20 feet by the cup. He missed the putt and fell back into a tie with O’Hair heading into the 18th.

So why do I think that bunker shot was the most amazing shot of the tournament when he didn’t even get it up and down? First of all, The average tour player would probably get that shot on the green one in 10 times. The average good amatuer would leave that ball in the bunker 9 out of ten times. The shot was that difficult. Even though he made a bogey, most other players would have double bogeyed that one. That bunker shot enabled him to only drop one stroke and still feel like he was in command going into the 18th.

Second of all, it showed that his knee is completely back – and probably better than it’s ever been. WIth the state his knee has been in the last three years, he wouldn’t even have been able to TRY that shot, much less pull it off.

Tiger’s back. In only 3 starts since coming back this year after a 9 month layoff, he won. He had looked good in his other two starts. I saw him in person at the Match Play in Tucson and he was hitting the ball well. His big problem was that his short game wasn’t quite at Tour speed yet. This week at Bayhill, Tiger’s short game was phenomenal, and that’s what won him the tournament.

That’s a good lesson for all you weekend Warriors out there. Spend at least half your practice time on the short game and your scores will improve. Here is a link to a free short game tips that will help immediately improve your short game.

I’m jacked.

Not just because Tiger’s back, but because I scored tickets for this event about 8 weeks ago in anticipation.

Scouring the schedule in late December, my guess was that Tiger would come back at either the Buick at Torrey Pines (which would have been a really cool way to come back at the same course he last had played), the Match Play in Tucson or the Doral closer to home in Florida. My gut reaction was that the Match Play was the perfect spot, so I put my guess into action and got tickets for myself and my 8 year-old son who wants to become a professional golfer.

When I first got the tickets in December (not easy on the pocket book, mind you, especially in the current economy), my son was excited, but the first thing he asked was, “is Tiger gonna be there?”

My best answer at that time was, “I hope so.”

As the weeks dragged on. my doubts grew. I just knew it would be so much easier for him to choose the Doral being closer to home.

But a few things kept my hopes alive. He was the defending champion. He always speaks nicely of Tucson and was pretty instrumental in getting the Match Play moved there instead of at La Costa where it rained every year.

But most of all, I held out hope because Tiger likes big tournaments, and whether or not the golfing world has accepted the WGC tournaments as majors, no one should doubt that Tiger views them as very important. Who knows, 30 or 40 years from now, the WGC championships could be viewed as the most important events. After all, the Masters wasn’t always considered a major. The point is, if you look at Tiger’s record, he definitely makes sure he’s available for every major he can, and also for every WGC event. He also elevates his game for the WGC’s in a similar way that he does for the majors. Just look at the record. It’s pretty obvious that Tiger thinks the WGC events are important.

Of course, the only important thing for me is that Tiger is playing in Tucson. And I have tickets. So now I get to go home and tell my 8 year old, without any doubt: “Tiger’s gonna be there!”

That moment will be worth as much as the tournament itself.

Woods hobbled off Torrey Pines on Monday evening with the U.S. Open trophy in hand, only to shock the (golfing) world the next day with news that his 2008 season was ended. Woods was forced to miss the Buick Open in Flint, Michigan which he had committed to, as well as his own AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in Washington, D.C.

On his blog, Woods said,

As you probably know, I had reconstructive surgery on my left knee after winning the U.S. Open. I’m not sure how I got through the week, but it was definitely the biggest win of my pro career…

I’m wearing a full leg brace and will be on crutches for a few weeks. To be honest, I’m not sure when my rehabilitation will start. I can’t put weight on my leg yet. These are the longest days – it feels like a 38-hour day.

Hopefully Tiger will be able to begin the rehab soon. His intial plans are that he won’t play in tournament action again until the 2009 Masters. That’s a long time to be away from competitive golf. Lesser men have had long layoffs after injuries and never made it back to top form (Jim Furyk, Ernie Els and David Duval just off the top of my head). If anyone can do it, Tiger is the guy most people would put their money on.

As it is, we can only wait and see. But the way it is now, professional golf is 90% less exciting without Tiger in the hunt.

But the fact is, Tiger made a mistake.

I’m not talking about the fact that he continued playing in the U.S. Open on a hurt knee. I actually applaud him for that.

I’m talking about his decision to get knee surgery right after the Masters.

The key word here is “decision.” The surgery was not absolutely necessary at that point. He elected to have it done.

You might argue that his decision to continue playing in the U.S. Open was a worse decision. I would disagree. Here’s why.

Once Tiger made the decision to play in the Open, he made a commitment. He did what is lacking in a lot of people these days – he stuck with his commitment. He knew he may never get another chance to play in a major so close to home, let alone at Torrey Pines. He gutted it out and gave us a dramatic and thrilling victory that will surely go down as legendary. It may not have been “smart,” but it wasn’t a mistake.

The mistake was messing around with the knee in the middle of the season. He should have waited until the Fedex Cup was over in the Fall, or at least until the British Open was over. It would have allowed him to play in all the majors this year and would have given him a great chance to properly heal during the off season and prevented the major damage inflicted to his knee by playing on it too early.

I’m not saying his knee wasn’t hurting him right after the Masters. I just don’t think it was so bad that it had to be invaded with a knife. After all, on that knee he had already won 5 tournaments this year and had, at one point, the entire golf community asking the impossible question: “Could Tiger go undefeated for an entire season?”

Other golf pundits were saying this could be the year that Tiger won a real Grand Slam.

By not winning the Masters, that blew that possibility out the window. I think it also clouded Tiger’s judgment.

Look – I’m not trying to get into Tiger’s head. I’m not trying to second guess him. But let me ask this question: If Tiger had won the Masters, do you think he would have elected to get surgery on his knee two days later?

Me neither. That’s my point.

In the meantime, he missed the Players championship, regarded by most tour players as the 5th major, as well as Jack’s tournament (the Memorial) which is referred to by many as nearly as important as a major. And he seriously jeopardized his chance to even participate in the U.S. Open at a venue that he virtually “owns” (having won at Torrey Pines over a half-dozen times on tour). He made the decision with a calendar right in front of him, knowing he would miss all that, and knowing that it would be really tight trying to heal by the U.S. Open.

I like Tiger. I’m not dissing him here. I think he makes golf exciting to watch. He’s made the game more popular than ever. He’s made a lot of people filthy rich, including agents and caddies and Nike employes – and especially golfers like Rocco Mediate. Because of Tiger, Rocco made more money (and will continue to make more money with the exposure) by coming in 2nd place to Tiger at the 2008 U.S. Open than he had made his entire career before Tiger came along.

So Tiger is good for the game. That’s why his season ending surgery hurts so bad. It’s not just about Tiger. It’s about the whole tour and about the golf industry. And time will tell whether or not Tiger will ever be the same again.

That’s why I think Tiger made a mistake.