• Vote: When will Tiger Woods return to competitive golf?

How much does Tiger Woods matter? Who else could make the Tavistock Cup a newsworthy phrase on the same day Syracuse, Villanova and Pitt get bounced from the Big East tournament to kick March Madness into its annual pre-bracket frenzy? Sorry, but Adam Scott and Charles Howell III aren't getting that done.

Even as the basketball carnage unfolded at Madison Square Garden, golf earned headlines when reports out of the New York Post claimed Woods will make his official return in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. That tournament that follows the Tavistock, the non-PGA competition between golf clubs in Florida in which Mark O'Meara said he wouldn't be surprised to see Woods compete. But later in the day, Associated Press reports pegged The Masters as Woods' most likely return date.

In other words, we still don't know, and we're still talking about how much we don't know. What we do know is Woods has reportedly brought aboard Ari Fleischer, presumably to help smooth his return to the game. Gene Wojciechowski suggests spin control is a bad move for Woods if he's not holding a club on the fairway and that a sincere explanation would be a better strategy. That debate is fair game, but we're wondering about the other side of the equation. Is this the toughest PR hill Fleischer has tried to climb in sports?

“

I'd probabily go by what Mark is saying, since he is one of Tiger's best friends. But no doubt he will play the Masters no matter what. It will be interesting to see the response he gets when he goes out there again. I for one would like to see him get back on the course. Thank God my kid's not old enough to ask me uncomfortable questions about what he did yet....

” -- robgarnsey

“

As fun as it is to bash the guy, I really have no 'negative' feelings about him. I have to admit, if he comes back I'll start tuning in to golf a lot more. I'm just irked that he tried to play his fans for fools about what really happened that night. Ultimately I wish him the best and look forward to some good golf. It's still funny though.

” -- xrobologyx

“

Doesn't really matter when he comes back. We will be watching. Just let us know.

” -- Snakes and Barrels