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.

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.

Nevertheless, with Tiger out of action for the rest of 2008 and possibly into 2009, it is a great opportunity for another golfer on tour to emrge as the go-to guy. Prevailing wisdom would have Phil be that guy. But recent play has not given any indication that Phil is the guy. Maybe he never will be.

Case in point was last week at the WGC at Firestone. Phil was in control on the back nine, at one point sitting at -12 with a 2 shot lead. But poor play down the stretch really hurt Phil.

After coming back to the pack, he came to the 17th tee needing a par-par finish to most likely tie for the lead and go into a playoff. So what does he do? He pulls out a driver and promptly pushes his tee shot into the fairway bunkers on the left side of the narrow fairway. I emphasize “narrow.” In fact it is so narrow that Tiger (who usually “owns” Firestone) never hits more than a stinger 3 wood, and usually just goes with a 2 or 3 iron off the tee. Even shorter hitters like Jim Furyk never hit a driver there. It’s just too risky for the small reward you get if you atually do find the fairway.

In case you didn’t see the debacle, Phil bogied that hole and had to try to birdie the tough 18th to get back into a plyoff. Didn’t happen.

In my mind, I knew that Phil was going to lose the tournament as soon as I saw the driver in his hand on the tee at 17. It just didn’t make sense. I understand his desire to be aggressive and his need to play his own game. But what he has to make into his own game is the smart types of plays that win tournamets.

It’s hard to criticize a guy who’s won over 30 times on tour. No other active player has won more expcept for Tiger. And that’s the problem. Tiger is an aggressive player too, but he has learned how to temper his aggressiveness at the right time and play smarter. It’s why he has doubled Phil’s win total in half the time.

Phil has an awesome opportunity to really dominate on the tour with Tiger out. But unfortunately, it is the inconsistent course management strategies that will keep Phil from doing it this year. Unless he learns to be like Tiger in that regard, he will always play second fiddle, even when Tiger’s not in the field.

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.