Haven't We Been Here Before?

   Haven't we been here before?

   Haven't we waited and wondered about what we'll see from Tiger Woods when he returns from another long absence?

   As the t-shirt says, been there, done that.

   Still, when Woods and Darren Clarke tee off together at 1:40 p.m. Thursday, they'll have golf's attention -- and the attention of plenty of others. It's because he's Tiger and things change when he plays.

    Even if you don't like Tiger, aren't you a little curious about how he plays? About how his swing looks? About whether he holes any putts?

   I am.

    There's already been a veritable tabloid frenzy about whether he put his trusty Scotty Cameron putter back in play -- he did. Other guys change putters and they have to tell somebody for anyone other than their caddie to notice. Not Tiger.

   He's breaking out some new Nike shoes this week and an email came screaming across cyberspace explaining what the new shoes are all about. Because Tiger's wearing them. Stewart Cink could have them on and nobody would notice.

   For more than a decade, golf was Tiger's world. Now it's Rory's and Phil's and Darren's and, at least some of it still belongs to Tiger.

    We can find out now how much of it he can reclaim.