Shag Bag

Paula Creamer won’t be ready for a return from injury when the LPGA makes its American start next week at the Kia Classic at La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif.

Creamer, out with a stretched ligament in her left thumb, needs more time to recover. She withdrew from the season-opener in Thailand a month ago and is in therapy. She originally hurt the thumb last June making a swing from the rough at the Wegmans LPGA.

“I am bummed, but I am working hard to get my thumb back,” Creamer said in a tweet.

It’s unclear if she’ll be ready for the year’s first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, in two weeks.

If Tiger Woods wants to limit his public exposure this year, he could choose to play a reduced schedule with minimal consequences.

Woods could do this even though he won’t become a PGA Tour life member until he completes this season.

If Woods fails to play the minimum 15 events that the PGA Tour requires of its members, he would not lose his exempt status for next year. He’s exempt through 2016 as a multiple tournament winner. He has multiple major championship exemptions currently in effect.

If Woods fails to play 15 events this year, here’s the most significant consequences:

• Loss of voting rights as a PGA Tour member.

• Loss of eligibility to win the PGA of America’s Vardon Trophy for low scoring average (60 official rounds required).

• Loss of eligibility to win the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Award for low scoring average (50 official rounds required).

Woods also could be limited in future releases to play in events that conflict with future PGA Tour events, but the Tour has discretion in those matters.

Woods is not required to play a minimum number of events to be eligible to play in the FedEx Cup playoffs. He only needs to gather enough points to qualify for the playoffs. He also is not required to play a minimum number of events to win the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year, which is based on a vote of the membership, or to win the Arnold Palmer Award as the Tour’s leading money winner.

Woods is eligible to become a PGA Tour life member at the conclusion of this season. That status is awarded to members who are active for 15 years and have won at least 20 PGA Tour events.

Padraig Harrington’s last-minute travels didn’t seem to be bothering him as he reached the turn at a windblown Copperhead Course on Thursday.

Although he’s well off the pace set by early leader Garrett Willis (6-under 65) at the Transitions Championship, the Irishman is even par through five holes after racing back from Washington, D.C., where he attended a St. Patrick’s Day party at the White House on Wednesday.

“President Obama is one of the most charismatic people of the world, one of the most powerful people in the world; you want to meet these people and see what they are like and get your own judgment on things,” Harrington said last week at Doral.

Harrington fortunately drew an afternoon tee time (1:12 p.m.) on Thursday which allowed him to make it back from Washington in time. Lucky, indeed, particularly for a system officials call completely random.

There will be an awkwardness when Tiger Woods returns to the Masters and sees his colleagues for the first time in four months.

What do you say to him?

It’s a real, practical issue for players who will see Woods for the first time since the scandal broke in Woods’ life. The greetings will be part of the healing process the entire PGA Tour will take part in when Woods tees it up at Augusta National in three weeks.

“I think you say hello, and you say, `It’s good to have you back,’ and you ease your way in,” said Jim Furyk. “He doesn’t spend a lot of time in the locker room anyway.”

Kenny Perry has a plan.

“I'm going to go give him a hug," Perry said. "I'm going up there and get right in his face and tell him if I can do anything for him, let me know."

British Open champ Stewart Cink has thought about the awkwardness sure to be there.

“When he walks into that locker room or dining area for the first time, it’s going to be like there’s a giant elephant in the room,” Cink told CBSSportsline.

Steve Stricker has his plan.

“I’m not going to treat Tiger any differently,” Stricker said.

Not much going on at Golf Channel right now. It's not like we are in the midst of the biggest story to hit golf since....well, no place to go with the rest of that sentence.

Yep. Just a lot of sitting around. It's not like all of us announcers are scrambling around doing interviews for other TV and radio channels when we aren't getting ready for or doing our own shows. None of that happening here.

And since it's such a slow news period I'm going to figure out a way to pass the time creatively. Kraig Kann thinks he ties the best knot in television. I'm not a big fan of his knot. It looks funny when you view it from the side, but I guess he isn't aware of the side angle issue so he's real proud of it. I'm going to get him to show me how to tie it by telling him how much I like it. I'll keep messing it up on purpose until he takes pity on me. Eventually he'll actually tie it for me. That's when I'll ask if he thinks it looks funny from the side. Look for Kraig Kann to be using a different tie knot next week.

That's right, things are pretty calm here. It's not like all the producers and their minions are running around crazy trying to catch up on breaking news or anything. It's not like the Big Bosses are roaming the halls looking for people to yell at. That's why I stay in the back room where they keep all of us announcer types together. Not even the Big Bosses venture back into to the bowels of the announcer section.

Apparently, they don't like "hangin' with the crazies." I'm getting bored again. That's right, still nothing going on at Golf Channel. No activity here. I'll head over to visit Kelly Tilghman at her cubicle. She's from South Carolina just like me. I'll get her to go all native and start speaking in South Carolinian. Just a mention of "sweat tea" or "boiled peanuts" and she'll break into a fill blown nostalgic tizzy fit. After Kelly sends me away, which won't take long, I'll head back to my cubicle for a nap. Maybe something big will happen soon. I could always pull the fire alarm. Wait, it looks like someone already did that!

Since the news broke Tuesday that Tiger would be returning to competitive golf at the Masters, much of the discussion has centered around how, and if, Augusta, Ga., will be affected by Tiger’s debut.

The general consensus is that not much will be different on the stunning green grounds of Augusta National. No more tickets will be sold. No more media credentials will be available. And for the most part, not much will change in the local economy since the hotels in the charming southern town and surrounding areas are completely booked each and every year for the season’s first major championship.

The patrons in attendance will most likely be polite and if they don’t want to lose their rights to a ticket, they’ll refrain from behavior that would be unbecoming of a spectator at Augusta National. The media will most likely be asked to keep their questioning to golf and not to venture into the personal life of Tiger Woods. But how about when Tiger tees it up for the second time this year?

If the world’s No. 1 player sticks to his usual schedule from here on out, expect stop No. 2 to come at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., and expect the Queen City to not roll out the same royal treatment for Tiger that he’ll receive in Augusta.

Don’t get me wrong here – Charlotte is a fabulous city and the Quail Hollow Championship is a superbly run top-notch event. It’s one of the best run tournaments on the PGA Tour. Year after year it receives high praise by golfers and fans. And last year the tournament was awarded “Best in Class” by the Tour Advisory Committee for “excellence in all phases of tournament operations and attention to detail in their entire presentation.”

It’s a first-class event. But Tiger can’t expect to enter into the same impeccably controlled environment in his second start as he will have for his first. And this is where we will see the comeback Tiger.

The second start will be a much more accurate barometer of how the fans and media will receive Tiger’s return as well. At some point Tiger will face uncensored questions from the media and scrutiny from those who were once his greatest fans. The true test will be how Tiger reacts in this setting – the second start. In his February statement Tiger said he wanted to make his “behavior more respectful of the game.” This is where his behavior inside the ropes will be tested. And outside the ropes, the same holds true in his interaction with fans and media. This is where Tiger can really attempt his comeback.

So get ready Charlotte, it shouldn’t be very long before the “no vacancy” signs in your hotels will be turning on.

Covering golf, we're always reminded, ‘Don't root for the player, root for the story.’

Sunday, we got both in Ernie Els, who in my 15 years at Golf Channel has been consistently cooperative and cordial and rarely confrontational.

Given that he's probably tossed away as many majors as he's won, and given the number of Tiger questions he's been asked over the years, you could expect the ‘Big Easy’ to become a big pain in the you-know-what. But he hasn't.

As for his game, a few years ago he offered up a three-year plan to catch Tiger. Never happened. And going into 2010, a plan of any kind to catch even Steve Stricker was probably a big reach.

Is Els back? I hope so, because Els at his best is compelling. Els at his best – and you can't say this about very many – is good for the game.

So for me, I really hope the CA victory leads to more big tournament leaderboards where we ... c-him!

One of the highlights of spring, somewhere just south of Spring Training and St. Patrick’s Day, arrived in our mailbox this week. The 2010 Masters media guide covers some 406 pages, but the good stuff starts early on page 24 under the heading “significant hole changes.”

It often seems that each year the powers that be at Augusta National tinker with some of the masterpiece, although some years are more active than others. This year appears to be one of the more quiet off-seasons on record.

There are five “significant” changes listed, with the most compelling tinker coming at the second hole (where the front of the green was widened by 8 feet) and new real-estate at the front of the fifth and 13th tee boxes. The overall impact of the latter – along with an additional 10 yards added to the front of the seventh tee in 2009, a wonderfully short 330-yard par 4 from the member’s tee that has been stretched to 450 yards for the tournament – could be a shorter Augusta National.

Some traditions, however, never change. The drive down Magnolia Lane (about 330 yards) is still the shortest on property.