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Tiger Woods’ one-vehicle accident four months ago has resulted in the longest-running stretch of car-crash rubbernecking in the history of golf. Even Hogan’s crash seems miniscule by comparison, and it almost killed him. Every time it seems as though the end of the sordid Woods sex scenario is near, more toxic sludge oozes through the floorboards. Amid all this, the world of golf continues to be overshadowed, which is why CBSSports.com senior writer Steve Elling is vainly trying to keep us abreast of developments beyond the pale of the world No. 1. Good luck, brother.

Up

Timing is everything Unlike most of America, working golf scribes had a two-hour head’s up that Tiger Woods had completed a pair of taped, five-minute interviews Sunday, to be aired later that night. The drive-by journalism came with non-negotiable stipulations on the interview length and was embargoed for broadcast until 7:30 p.m. Thus, I never saw Jim Furyk survive the cold-shank iron shot he hit out of the rough on the last hole of the Transitions Championship, while narrowly and nervously winning for the first time in 2½ years. He finished the 72nd hole just as the Woods’ comments were being aired. Furyk, one of the classiest players in the game, took the high road when asked whether Woods had stolen his moment. He even made a joke about it. For the second time in a month, Woods had selfishly deprived a tournament of its just desserts because of asinine planning. He had four months to talk. The winner and the sponsor in Tampa didn’t deserve to be blind-sided. Woods ought to play in the Tampa tournament in 2011 to “make amends,” to use his rehab terminology. But don’t hold your breath.

Spirit of full disclosure Boy, is the Internet a wondrous thing, or what? Thanks to the dilution of journalism standards and the ceaseless desire for information relating to Woods, we have begun to learn just how deep the guy’s depravities ran. Last week, one of the porn stars linked to Woods posted a series of astounding text messages purportedly sent to her from Woods over the course of their steamy relationship. Newspapers that posted the texts cleaned them up, but there was little left to the imagination. For instance, we know that Woods enjoys seeing his playing partners choke outside the ropes, too. We also know that the TV series has a future segment at the ready on the hotel maids employed at the Hyatt Lodge in Oak Brook, Ill., site of one of his wild liaisons. Because if they cleaned his room with anything other than a flamethrower or sulfuric acid, the maids had better have been wearing a Hazmat suit. I laughed out loud last week when, on the day the text messages to the porn princess were posted, John (better known as J.B.) Holmes was among the Tampa leaders. That’s where Woods has dragged the game, folks.

Large and in charge Carl Pettersson was described during the NBC Sports broadcast over the weekend as “jolly.” Which, as we all know, is a code word for “chubby.” No worries, the Swedish Bubba has no issues with that characterization whatsoever, especially after losing 30 pounds last year turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. The affable veteran dropped the weight, mostly by eating sensibly, somehow lost his game and skidded to No. 136 on the money list. The three-time tour winner realized he had probably lost his equilibrium by dumping the weight so quickly that his swing felt odd. So, in what must have been a thoroughly enjoyable period, he gained all the weight back and reclaimed his game in the process. He finished eighth on Sunday in Tampa, his second top 10 finish of the year. “Well, I was exercising and eating right,” said Pettersson, who was born in Sweden but lives in Raleigh, N.C. “I I guess what I did, I lost it too quickly and I wasn’t playing a lot of golf at the time. Who knows if that was it, but that’s what I think it was.”

Can’t spell Geoff without letters O-F-F Aussie star Geoff Ogilvy certainly underscored why he’s one of the most respected players on the U.S. tour over the weekend in Tampa, when he flew to the ends of the earth to make his Saturday tee time. True that, technically, Phoenix isn’t the end of the earth, but you can see it from there. Ogilvy believed he had missed the Friday cut and boarded a late plane bound for his desert home, then learned he’d made the weekend just before the plane went wheels up. Trouble was, he could not get his checked bags and clubs off the plane. So he flew home, reclaimed his sticks, then took the re ensuring he wasn’t caught up in the secondary cut as the field was trimmed from 86 to 71 players. On Sunday, he proved that jet he shot 74 and finished T28. “It was worth coming back,” he said Saturday, bleary-eyed and grinning. Indeed, in addition to kudos for the lengths he traveled in order to do the responsible thing, he was deprived of some sleep but not from a decent payday. He made $30,946.

Second-time lucky In a largely overlooked bit of news that somewhat offset the predictably bad sponsorship development (see below) in Miami, one of the top regular tour events has cemented a sponsor for Torrey Pines in Farmers Insurance, which bailed out the event at the 11th hour earlier this year. Funny story: After riding in on a white horse to bail out the sponsor-less event with only days remaining before the tournament began, the company tried to line up a blimp (MetLife, obviously, was not an option) for aerial shots. They fou then had to festoon the Farmers logo on the side of the blank blimp canvas. The dirigible was so big, the letters were 17 feet tall. They had finished one side of the blimp when the call came from San Diego, demanding that the blimp head south immediately. So for much of the week, thanks to the traditional onshore breeze, the blimp flew above Torrey Pines, its blank side facing toward the fans below. But rest assured, if Woods and Phil Mickelson continue to make Torrey their annual seasonal launch point, Farmers will get their money’s worth over the longer haul.

Down

Swoosh, there it is Considering that he conducted interviews for all of 11 minutes, combined, on two sports networks on Sunday, it’s amazing how much conversation Woods generated. It was like the Monday-morning breakdown of the best Super Bowl ads around the office water cooler. Did he help himself, did he hurt himself? Stray thoughts were being fired around cyberspace about Woods’ latest attempts to pull the strings on an unmanageable story. Mostly, it was greeted as yet another micro-managed P.R. move. For instance, it was a transparent stunt for him to show up in a Nike sweater and TW cap, because this was not a post-round interview. He’s clearly attempting to prove he’s still solvent as a commercial pitchman, although after last week’s text messages, he might be more unsalable than ever. Many took his born-again Buddhism (insert reincarnation joke here) as a transparent attempt to endear himself to the forgive-and-forget, Bible-belt types. He told the Golf Channel that the string bracelet he had placed on his wrist, which he hasn’t worn publicly in a decade, was for “protection.” Uh, based on what his harem of women have said, that might be the only protection this guy has used through the whole sordid scenario.

Your-Name-Here Championship (price negotiable) As a rule, when a title sponsor says that an announcement will be made after a contract expires regarding whether an extension is forthcoming, it’s not a good sign. Such was the case with CA, the company that has forked over roughly $10 million annually to sponsor the World Golf Championships event at Doral outside Miami. The contract expired after the tournament and the scribbling on the wall clearly read “sayonara.” Two days after the final round, CA pulled the plug. Did the tour know already and fudge on a few P.R. facts to put on a happy face in Miami? You decide. reported that the tour secretly tried to lure sponsors tied to two existing PGA Tour stops to take over the WGC event at Doral, which hasn’t exactly been a show-stopper lately. Cannibalism is never a good sign. Poor weather played a role, but the early crowds at Doral were disappointing, to say the least. As a guess, the combined crowds on Thursday and Friday could not have topped 10,000. To some, Doral seemed more interesting when it was a full-field event, plain and simple.

Tiger Tour 2010 As the PGA Tour begins to trumpet Woods’ participation in the forthcoming Players Championship in commercial spots that aired on NBC over the weekend, Woods is making no guarantees about his future plans. “I don’t know what I’m going to do [about playing in events after the Masters],” he said. “That, to me, is a little bit bothersome.” Really? So is the fact that he claimed he was taking time off from golf to fix his family and do justice to his rehab, then started working on his golf game a week later. Again, his decision to deflect questions about his schedule can be viewed quite cynically. If Woods says he is going to play his traditional post-Masters schedule in locales like Charlotte, the Players and Memorial, he’s going to draw heavy fire for paying little more than lip service to addressing his family needs. Why the mystery? He doesn’t know whether he will play four times or 15 times over the rest of the year? That’s seems very, very hard to swallow, and smacks of yet another T regaining favor with the fawning ge when he leaves Almost decade ago, a writer at the called the mayor and talked about throwing a parade for Woods, who had completed the wraparound Grand Slam a few days earlier in winning the 2001 Masters. The mayor was all for it. Yet Woods couldn’t be bothered. Well, after years of living in the Central Florida town, it doesn’t appear that anybody is shedding tears over the possibility of his departure later this year, when he is expected to relocate to his new manse at Jupiter Island. Mike Bianchi of the torched Woods over the weekend for being little more than a tax-dodging carpet-bagger who has done virtually nothing for the city during his 13 years as a resident except attract recent unwanted attention. “As a fellow Orlandoan, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tiger Woods,” Bianchi seethed. “Thanks, Tiger. For nothing.”

Now, time out for a personal rant For four months, stories on sports websites around the world relating to Woods’ travails have been met with barbs, accusations and name-calling. Fine. There’s plenty of room for considered opinion on how the story has been handled, both by Woods and the media. But the increasingly crude tidal wave of sentiment that claims he owes us no explanation, that all he we should expect is for him to show up and win tournaments, is symptomatic of a bigger problem. The lack of accountability in this country has reached epic proportions. People intentionally defaulting on student loans or mortgage payments, companies greedily awaiting government bailouts, CEOs getting millions for bankrupting firms … where’s the personal accountability? Woods turned and he doesn’t owe anybody an explanation beyond five minutes? Sports isn’t a video game, wherein you repeatedly hit the reset button, then turn it off and then eat a bag of Doritos afterward. There are repercussions. Especially when you have made $1 billion by selling a contrived bill of goods to the world. In that regard, he owes us a lot more than convenient apologies in five-minute snippets. He sullied the image of golf. He could have killed someone with his reckless driving. So until he stops hiding and obfuscating, he’s getting nothing but fastballs.

Roger Federer and Svetlana Kuznetsova are the top seeds for the Sony Ericsson Open.

The 13-day tournament begins Tuesday with unseeded women in action. Seeded players have a first-round bye, and Federer plays his opening match Saturday night.

The draw was held Monday, and No. 2-seeded Novak Djokovic and No. 4 Rafael Nadal landed in the half opposite Federer.

Five-time champion Serena Williams will miss the tournament with a left knee injury. Caroline Wozniacki is seeded second.

Defending champion Victoria Azarenka could meet reigning U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters in the fourth round. Justine Henin, making a comeback this year, received a wild card and could face No. 5-seeded Elena Dementieva in the second round.

Jim Furyk finally won after 32 months and 58 tournaments, and it became a footnote Sunday.

When he finally reached the 18th green after a wild detour through the trees at Innisbrook, two television networks broadcast the first interview with the Tiger Woods since revelations he had been cheating on his wife.

Jim Furyk has to fight his way out of the trees on 18 before he can secure his first win since ‘07. (AP) Furyk wasn’t aware of this until after he won the Transitions Championship. One of Woods’ closest friends on the PGA Tour, he walked into the interview room holding a three-page transcript of Woods’ interviews with ESPN and the Golf Channel.

“You know what? Tomorrow, the paper is going to read that I won the golf tournament, and I don’t really care if it’s a three-page spread or a little blurb in the corner of the paper because the article is about him.

“I won the damn thing, and it really doesn’t matter to me.”

All he cared about was winning for the first time since the 2007 Canadian Open, his longest stretch without a victory since he first joined the PGA Tour. He almost cared too much.

Furyk closed with a 2-under 69 for a one-shot victory over K.J. Choi, and he made it way too hard on himself.

He missed the last three greens in regulation, making a remarkable par save from a bunker washed out by earlier rains, then hitting what he called a half-shank from the trees, a shot that nearly took out NBC Sports reporter Roger Maltbie.

“It all worked out in the end,” Furyk said.

The road getting the the birdie on No. 10 to build a three-shot lead, failing to make birdie on the par-5 11th, a 35-foot birdie on the 12th, a pair of three-putt bogeys on par 3s sandwiched around a knockdown 8-iron into 3 feet for birdie on the 14th.

“I have a habit of making it tough on myself,” Furyk said. “Just nerves got me, to be honest with you.”

Furyk finished at 13-under 271 and won for the 14th time in his career, moving to No. 6 in the world.

Choi, who started three shots out of the lead, was tied with Furyk through seven holes until a two-shot swing on the par-3 eighth. Choi never got any closer until the final hole. He closed with a 4-under 67, but his runner-up finish should be enough to move him to No. 47 in the world and give him a good chance to get into the Masters.

Choi raised both arms in a strongman pose when he heard about the world ranking, a good consolation prize provided he stays in the top 50 after Bay Hill next week.

“It’s actually better than what I thought I would be at this point,” Choi said. “So definitely I’ve exceeded my expectations. All I can say is I will try my best next week to maintain or better that position.”

Bubba Watson, who has never won on the PGA Tour or Nationwide Tour, also gave Furyk a good run and was within two shots throughout the back nine during a final round that had nearly six hours of weather delays.

Watson played without a bogey until the par-3 15th, when he came up short of the green, chipped over the green and dropped a crucial shot. He made pars the rest of the way for a 68, finishing alone in third.

Nick Watney had a 67 and was fourth, while defending champion Retief Goosen was another shot back after a 71.

Furyk did capture the Chevron World Challenge in December at Sherwood against a world-class field of 18 players, which counted toward the world ranking. Even so, going so long without winning on the PGA Tour was starting to grate on him.

He finally has an answer.

As he walked into a ballroom for the trophy presentation and someone mentioned how long it had been since he won, Furyk was quick to correct him. It had not been more than 2½ years, rather 20 minutes since his tap-in for par, even as Woods was answering questions.

“I think it’s good for him to get his face out there and have people see him,” Furyk said. “They are going to make their judgments, but I think it allows him to kind of move on and get focused for the next thing.”

The starting times Sunday were moved up avoid an afternoon forecast of thunderstorms, which arrived earlier than expected. After a delay of just over an hour, Furyk was on the first tee waiting for the fairway to clear when the siren sounded to suspend play, and the rumble of thunder soon followed.

When players returned to the course nearly four hours later, Furyk opened strong with two birdies in three holes, with his biggest challenge coming from Choi.

A two-time winner at Innisbrook, Choi had four birdies in six holes, including a 60-foot putt across the green at No. 3 and a 10-footer at No. 6 for a share of the lead. Furyk restored his cushion with a two-shot swing on the par-3 eighth by making a 25-foot birdie putt as Choi missed the green and failed to save par.

Watson was lurking all along, but Furyk didn’t budge from his spot atop the leaderboard.

Watson finally cracked on the par-5 14th, when he chipped too strong and ran through the green, having to settle for par. On the next hole, Watson hit short of the 15th green, chipped over the back and took his lone bogey of the day.

Ivan Ljubicic had been in big finals before and always lost. Then getting beat in the first round in five consecutive tournaments last year had him thinking about doing something else.

“I had my problems, like everybody else,” he said.

All that was forgotten Sunday when the Croatian outlasted Andy Roddick 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) in a battle of big servers to win the BNP Paribas Open, earning his first ATP Masters 1000 title after three runner-up finishes.

Ljubicic set up his fourth match point with the last of his 20 aces, then won with a serve that Roddick couldn’t return. At 31, Ljubicic is the second-oldest winner at Indian Wells behind Jimmy Connors, who was five months older as the 1984 champion.

“It was really a mind game,” he said. “When you have two big serves, not a lot of rallies happening, it’s a very mental match. I was fortunate enough to be more relaxed by the end of the match.”

Roddick was trying to become the first American man to win at Indian Wells since 2001, but he trailed in both tiebreakers. He had beaten Ljubicic seven times in 10 meetings, winning their last match at Indian Wells in two tiebreakers in 2007.

“I felt like I was winning my fair share of the rallies once we got into them,” he said. “I just ran into a guy who served great on the big points. Unfortunately that’s probably the one thing that I don’t have control over out there.”

Jelena Jankovic had a much easier time in the women’s final, defeating Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4 for her first title in seven months.

Ranked 26th in the world, Ljubicic will rise to around 13th in Monday’s ATP Tour rankings, returning to the top 20 for the first time in more than two years.

He broke through in an ATP Masters 1000 final for the first time after losing in 2006 to Roger Federer at Miami, and in 2005 to Tomas Berdych at Paris and Rafael Nadal at Madrid. Ljubicic is the first player outside the top 20 to win a Masters 1000 title since No. 21 David Nalbandian in 2007.

“Looking at my career, I did feel like I was missing it,” he said. “It’s really a fantastic feeling to finally have it. It gives something special to your career.”

There were no service breaks in the 2-hour final. Roddick served three love games in the second set, but had nothing to show for his effort.

Ljubicic won the first three points of the first-set tiebreaker. Roddick’s forehand error left him trailing 6-3. Ljubicic set up his winning forehand with a drop shot - a tactic that repeatedly worked against Roddick.

Ljubicic raced to a 6-2 lead in the second-set tiebreaker, but he double-faulted on his first match point. He challenged the call on Roddick’s service return, but the ball was on the line, leaving the American trailing 6-4. Roddick got to 6-5 with an ace before Ljubicic closed it out.

“He served great. The last two days were an exhibition on how to serve big points,” Roddick said. “I felt like I was getting aced or he was hitting a service winner every time I’d worked my way into a game.”

Jankovic, the former top-ranked player from Serbia, dictated from the baseline throughout her 1 1/2-hour match, hitting the lines and keeping Wozniacki on the run.

Jankovic broke Wozniacki three times in the first set and again in the first game of the second set.

“I wanted to be really aggressive, but at the same time patient, and not really go for too much or go over the limit with some balls,” Jankovic said. “I waited for my opportunities, and when I had them, I took them.”

Wozniacki brought her coach, who is her father, on court once in each set, but it didn’t help. She never found a solution to Jankovic’s pinpoint power.

“I tried to change it when I saw it was not going my way, but I just made a few too many errors at the important points,” Wozniacki said.

She held to trail 5-4 in the second set, prompting Jankovic to summon her coach. Jankovic then served out the match, setting up match point with a backhand down the line. Wozniacki’s forehand return sailed long on the final point.

“I was making a few too many errors and I didn’t have too many first serves in,” said Wozniacki, who won 19 of 30 first-serve points. “Normally, the other matches I set the points up with my service well. That didn’t happen today. Then I was on the back foot and she was deciding.”

Jankovic kissed her racket and later did the same to the crystal trophy, which was so heavy she couldn’t lift it in triumph.

“I haven’t been working out in the gym lately,” she said. “Caroline could have done a better job. She should have helped.”

Two years removed from being the world’s No. 1 player, Jankovic is projected to rise to No. 8 when the WTA Tour rankings are released Monday. She hadn’t won a title since August at Cincinnati; Indian Wells is her 12th career title.

“I’m looking forward to playing some good tennis and really doing the right things out there,” she said, “and if I’m doing that, I’ll be winning big titles and the ranking will come on its own. I’m looking to do well in the big events.

Wozniacki, last year’s U.S. Open finalist, has yet to beat Jankovic in four meetings. The 19-year-old Dane will reach a career-high No. 2.

She had her best year yet in 2009, reaching eight finals and winning three. She lost to Kim Clijsters in her first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open.

Two straight birdies allowed Jim Furyk to pull away from the pack. Eighteen holes is what stands in the way of ending his longest stretch without a victory since he was a rookie.

Furyk played bogey-free Saturday with a round almost as flawless as Florida weather, finishing off a 4-under 67 to build a three-shot lead at the Transitions Championship as he tries to win for the first time since the 2007 Canadian Open.

“I’m in a great position in the tournament,” Furyk said. “I’ve got a three-shot lead. You kind of dictate what the other guys have to do.”

Furyk was at 11-under 202, with a strong group of contenders behind him.

Defending champion Retief Goosen birdied the last hole of a roller-coaster round that gave him a 1-under 70, part of four-way tie for second. The others at K.J. Choi and Bubba Watson, who has never won on tour. He scrambled for a 70.

Padraig Harrington, a three-time major champion who hasn’t won since the 2008 PGA Championship, went 14 holes without a birdie to fall out of the lead, then dropped another shot on the 18th hole for a 72 that left him four shots behind.

Furyk is 0 for 58 on the PGA Tour since his last victory. This is his first 54-hole lead since the Colonial nearly three years ago, when he lost in a playoff to Rory Sabbatini.

There have been times when he let tournaments get away down the stretch, and times when he was beaten, such as the Memorial last year when he was three shots who won by a shot.

Sunday might be his best chance.

The few times when Furyk made a mistake, such as missing the green on the par-3 fourth, he made up for it with his putting. Later in the warm afternoon, when he was giving himself so many birdie chances, he had to settle for par.

The turning point came early on the back nine.

Four players had at least a share of the lead at some point, and eight players were within range until Furyk hit a 3-wood just left of the green on the par-5 11th and chipped to 4 feet for birdie. On the next hole, he hit 7-iron to some 35 feet behind the flag, and poured in a long, slippery put that broke sharply to the cup.

Suddenly, he was three shots clear and his prospects were looking up.

Not so for Pettersson, who closed out the front nine with consecutive bogeys, or Steve Stricker, who was tied for the lead until hitting his tee shot in the water on the par-3 13th and scrambling for bogey. Stricker dropped another shot on a par 3 coming in for a 71, and wound up five shots behind.

Choi is a two-time winner in Tampa and feels as comfortable on the Copperhead course as any.

“I look at the tops of the trees to see the wind,” Choi said. “You have to know, and it can get frustrating. You can lose it out here. This course will do that. That’s why you see so many players who have won here before, because they know that.”

Goosen also is a two-time winner, and while he didn’t like up the course, playing bogey-free on the back nine didn’t hurt.

The wild card is Watson, the big hitter who was a little too crooked but scrambled well to stay in the game. Watson hit one tee shot that didn’t get beyond the forward tees on the par-3 eighth because it hit a tree. On the par-5 14th, his 3-wood into the wind wound up so far right of the green that players on the 15th tee had to back off the shot.

Sunday features an early start because of storms in the forecast for the afternoon.

Geoff Ogilvy is probably too far back to contend - he was seven shots behind - but the fact he is still playing is a story in itself. Thinking he was sure to miss the cut, Ogilvy boarded a plane for Arizona when he realized he might have a chance, but because the flight was about to depart, the former U.S. Open champion had to fly to Phoenix, then turn around and take a jet back to Tampa.

Playing on about one hour of sleep, he shot a 65 and was tied for 18th.

“It was worth coming back,” he said.

Andy Roddick took his beat-up body back home after losing in San Jose and Memphis last month. A couple weeks of workouts, practice, massage and chiropractic treatments later, he got his groove back.

Roddick outlasted Robin Soderling 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday to make the BNP Paribas Open final for the first time after failing to get past the semis in his three previous trips to the desert.

“I think I needed it,” Roddick said. “It was good timing, and I’d love to see it one further.”

The American will play for the title Sunday against Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, who rode his big serve to a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1&# the first time in 26 years that both men’s semifinals went three sets.

Nadal teamed with fellow Spaniard Marc Lopez to win the men’s doubles, 7-6 (8), 6-3 over top-seeded Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.

“After losing important singles, the victory in doubles makes me happy,” Nadal said. “It’s always nice to end the tournament winning.”

Jelena Jankovic and U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki will play for the women’s title Sunday.

Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia won the women’s doubles 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 over third-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia and Samantha Stosur of Australia.

All three of Roddick’s semifinal losses were against top-10 players, including Nadal last year. No American man has won the singles at Indian Wells since Andre Agassi in 2001.

“This is probably the only real big tournament in North America that I haven’t won,” he said. “I feel like the crowd was on my side and I would hope they’re there tomorrow. They certainly have an effect on a match.”

Roddick and Soderling took turns throwing their rackets in frustration as the momentum swung back and forth. Roddick gained control when he held for 3-all in the third, then broke Soderling en route to winning three of the final four games.

“I knew I was returning real well, so I thought this might be the rare occasion where that would be the thing that won it for me,” Roddick said. “Ultimately, the fact that I put a lot of pressure on his service games ended up helping.”

Roddick, the highest-ranked American on the ATP Tour, already has won a title in Brisbane this year. He lost in the San Jose final last month and was a quarterfinalist in Memphis and overcame 51 unforced errors in ending a five-match losing streak against the world’s third-ranked player.

Ljubicic upset second-ranked Novak Djokovic in the round of 16 and is in position to win an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time after three runner-up showings, the last in 2006 at Miami.

“I hope this one is going to finally be the victory,” he said.

Nadal was trying to end an 11-tournament title drought. He hasn’t won since last May in Rome after being hampered by knee injuries last summer and at the Australian Open.

“I am happy how I did after being at home a few weeks. It’s not easy coming back and playing with this level,” Nadal said. “I was feeling I was playing better than probably closer to ever on this court.”

Nadal appeared unbeatable in the opening set, powering forehands out of Ljubicic’s reach. But the lefty’s best stroke deserted him at times in the second set, when Ljubicic broke for a 5-4 lead on Nadal’s double-fault. The Croatian served out the set and then broke again to open the third.

“He was missing more when it was important. He overhit a couple of balls,” Ljubicic said. “I didn’t feel he was in control of the points. I felt if I can find the rhythm of the returns, I can have a match.”

Nadal broke back in the next game, but he later blew a break point to go up 5-3. Ljubicic held with an ace to tie it 4-all. Both players stayed on serve to force the tiebreak, where Nadal committed four errors to fall behind 6-1.

“I played unbelievable terrible game the first game of the third set. I had more mistakes with my forehand in that game than all week,” Nadal said. “After that, I fought it all the time. I played bad.”

Ljubicic won on his first match point, sending a forehand down the line. He jumped in the air and thrust his right fist in celebration a day after his 31st birthday.

“It’s probably the best tiebreaker I ever played in my career,” he said. “Absolutely perfect.”

He could become the first 30-or-over player to win at Indian Wells since Agassi in 2001.

The hyperventilating has subsided, at least a little, and at least for now.

Now that we can all exhale, warm and secure in the knowledge that Tiger Woods is going to play golf in the future and not shave his head and move to a Trappist monastery, perhaps it’s a good time to eyeball the other 2010 development that has affected every PGA Tour pla the biggest rules change in the past 75 years of the professional sport.

It’s not nearly as sexy or salacious as the Tiger affair, and it doesn’t make for juicy dinner-table gossip. Nobody is sext-messaging about it and potty-mouthed cartoon characters like Eric Cartman aren’t lampooning it.

David Fay of the USGA says it will probably be October before conclusions can be drawn. (Getty Images) Unlike with the daily disclosures of the Woods scandal, this is the golf development where seemingly nothing has happened. To date, as the tour plays the Transitions Championship outside Tampa, the Great Grooves Gambit hasn’t made much of a mark in the trumpeted statistical areas.

As a means of measuring the rule’s early impact, CBSSports.com received ShotLink data from the first 10 PGA Tour ev the bi has had a demonstrable impact. The answer might even send technically savvy fans back to the tabloids for more Tiger news.

Granted, comparing data from different seasons can never truly represent an apples-to-apples, before-and-after glimpse. Weather varies at events from season to season, and the Bob Hope Classic added a new course this year. There’s even a slightly different cast of players than in 2009.

But enough of the caveats and qualifiers. As they say on , let’s proceed with the discovery portion of the investigation.

When the grooves rule was green-lighted and set to begin Jan. 1, the U.S. Golf Association boldly predicted that it not only would change the way the ball spins, flies and behaves on the green when it lands, it would prompt players to place a renewed premium on driving accuracy. Part of the rule’s specified intent was to bring shotmaking and course management back into a game where raw strength had become a disproportional part of the equation.

So far, in a term the tour commissioner likes to trot out to impress people with his vocabulary, the results on both front have hardly been “impactful.”

Let’s begin with the intended philosophical realignment, which can’t be quantified with a PGA Tour computer. Some players have switched to slightly softer balls to help offset the spin they lost with the grooves revisions. But the bomb-and-gouge mindset off the tee still seems deeply ingrained.

In an admittedly non-scientific, casual poll of a dozen players or so, none said they for the moment, anyway. Several pointed out that the philosophy could change as the tour plays drier courses in the spring and summer.

“I’ve just been playing my game, and obviously trying to hit more fairways, but I haven’t really changed too much,” said the winner in Phoenix, Hunter Mahan, offering a sentiment echoed by several other top players.

< unless you consider a tour-wide improvement in nearly every statistical category to be good news for the rule and the USGA. Talk about unintended consequences.

In the events staged through the Honda Classic, players are actually knocking the ball closer to the hole out of the rough than they were last year, when they were armed with far toothier grooves in their irons. In 2010, they are getting up and down around the greens more frequently. Even the scoring average has dropped compared to 2009 averages.

Ahem.

USGA executive director David Fay said the organization likely won’t scrutinize the data for a few more months. A 10-tournament section might represent 22 percent of the tour season, and for political polling might constitute a healthy sample size in an election, but in golf, there are too many variables to draw concrete conclusions at this point.

“We sort of promised ourselves that we would wait, perhaps until October or so,” Fay said.

That will save them some gray hair, to be sure. A scattershot sampling of laser-generated Shotlink data so far indicates that compared to the first 10 events of 2009:

• Tour players are hitting more fairways (up .7 percent) and more greens (up 1.8 percent) than before. • The tour tracks proximity to the hole in 25-yard increments. In every measured yardage category inside 225 yards, both from the rough and fairway, players are knocking the ball closer to the hole by an overall average of nearly a foot.

• More specifically, and this is perhaps the most surprising bit of early news to be gleaned, players in the rough are enjoying more shotmaking success now than with the emery-board clubfaces of 2009. From 175 to 200 yards, players are knocking approach shots a full three feet closer from the rough. In all, players have knocked the ball an average of 14 inches closer to the hole out of the rough than last year.

• Players are making more birdies and the tour-wide scoring average in all four rounds has dropped vs. 2009 levels.

None of this is to suggest players aren’t having some difficulties.

“The new V-groove rule, I played that set of R7s for five years, the same set, I had not changed,” said Kenny Perry, 49. “I just loved them. I knew the distances they were going. I just knew my characteristics with the clubs. I knew what my misses were going to do with them and what they were going to do on high grass. “I’ve been catching fliers this year, been kind of rocketing a few over greens and into the back bunker, something I don’t do. With the [old banned] square grooves, I could hardly move it out of the rough. So I always came up short of the green. You can always pitch from short [of the green].”

Now he’s hitting scorching missiles into the hay behind. But in the tour’s crucial scrambling stat, used to measure success in saving par around the green, players are converting at a better overall percentage than in 2009, too. The overall salvage ratio has increased by .5 percent.

Again, the sample size offers but a taste of the fare to date, and there was a huge contributing factor in the imp rain.

“I can’t think of a single tournament where we have rain,” PGA Tour rules official Jon Brendle said.

Pure and simple, that created softer fairways and greens, which would partly explain why driving accuracy and greens found in regulation increased vs. 2009 levels. Balls often don’t roll into the rough when the fairways and greens are sopping wet, and approaches and pitch shots tend to stop in their tracks.

“Being on the West Coast, it’s been pretty soft, so I don’t think guys have paid attention to it,” Mahan said of any philosophical overhaul off the tee. “Maybe in the summer, you may see guys adjust their games, maybe try to hit more fairways, because you definitely cannot spin out of rough.”

That’s a quantifiable fact. The new grooves don’t allow it. But players and equipment companies are quite expert at adjusting and working around such constraints. This month, a major manufacturer trotted out a new metal shaft build specifically for wedges, designed to increase spin. It has an hourglass-style series of step-down indentations just below the grip. Mahan was already giving it a try at Doral.

As the courses get firm and fast heading into summer, the numbers are expected to gradually begin turning around, especially in pitch shots hit around the green. And even if they don’t, the USGA can already claim a victory wherein grass gets between the clubface and ball, spin imparted by the club i has been reintroduced to the professional game thanks to the abolition of the old square grooves.

Without prompting, Fay mentioned veteran Robert Allenby, who has hit two final-round fliers over the backs of greens, costing him at crucial times at the Sony Open and Torrey Pines. Allenby bluntly said fliers cost him two wins, in fact.

So, interpret the early data for what it’s worth and make conclusions carefully, but Allenby can attest that failing to drive the ball in the fairway these days comes with heightened risk.

“If we can put that seed of doubt in their mind,” Fay said, “if we can put that pebble in their shoe about the flier lie, then that’s something.”

Add 12-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro to the list of top players pulling out of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Williams, a five-time winner of the hard-court event, is out because of the left knee injury that has sidelined the American since her Australian Open title.

Del Potro has a right wrist injury that has bothered him since the start of the season.

The tournament announced their withdrawals Friday, two days after saying Maria Sharapova wouldn’t participate because of a bone bruise in her right elbow. Second-ranked Dinara Safina and 2008 champion Nikolay Davydenko also withdrew.

The 13-day tournament begins Tuesday. The field still includes Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Venus Williams.

Carlo Ancelotti faces the sack after only his first season in charge of Chelsea if he fails to deliver the Premier League title.

Roman Abramovich was angered at Chelseas failure to perform as they exited the Champions League to Jose Mourinhos Inter Milan this week, and Ancelotti admitted in the aftermath that his job was under scrutiny.

Ive worked for a long time in this environment and I know exactly what the expectations are, he said. Its normal that a manager is going to come under pressure if he loses a few matches.

Soccernet sources close to Abramovich have confirmed that the Chelsea owner called a team meeting to express his frustration with the players after the defeat and that Ancelotti will have to win the league to survive the axe.

Roman was upset with the players, for sure, the source said. He called the players to a team talk.

Ancelotti-s-future now depends on the league. He will need to win the league to survive.

Yet, should Ancelotti leave, Abramovich is running out of options for a replacement, with Guus Hiddink already having accepted the Turkey job.

Frank Rijkaard, currently with Galatasaray after spells with Netherlands, Sparta Rotterdam and Barcelona, could come into contention for the role once more, according to the source.

Roman wouldnt have Mourinho back, thats for sure, he said. Rijkaard was a candidate before, but he decided he didnt want to take the job.

It has been widely suggested that Abramovich could now be willing to fund an overhaul of the squad this summer, but he is unwilling to join Real Madrid and Manchester City in paying hugely inflated fees.

Fernando Torres has been strongly linked and the Spain striker will be the top target if Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League, but the source believes Chelsea will be priced out of the bidding.

Jeff Maggert’s gardener in Houston had another appointment Wednesday and couldn’t handle the last-minute heavy lifting the PGA Tour veteran had in mind.

Jeff Maggert earned his card in Q-school but didn’t finish well enough to be guaranteed entry into every tournament. (Getty Images) Then again, we’re not sure that a backhoe, bulldozer or blasting caps would have provided enough backup, given what Maggert had planned.

So in lieu of hi and he’s lucky he doesn’t have blisters to show for it.

“To be honest,” Maggert said Thursday, “I’m a little bit sore today.”

Maybe those guys spending hours in the gym have it all wrong.

A day after he spent the entire day in his Texas yard felling dead trees because he couldn’t get anyone to do it for him, the last man into the field at the Transitions Championship shot a 4-under 67 on Thursday and is within two shots of the lead.

Interesting storyline, given that for most of the week, Maggert’s position on the list of players seeking a spot in the Tampa field was like those decorative palms themselves.

Dead and buried.

Seventh on the alternate’s list on Monday night, Maggert began moving up as players withdrew for various reasons. By Wednesday night, after having spent the day in the yard with a shovel in hand, Maggert elected to hop on a plane for Tampa just in case.

He arrived at his hotel around midnight, still very much doubtful he had a crack at making the pairing sheet, though he had moved up to first alternate by then and felt it was the responsible thing to do.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect to get in, I just came because I was first alternate and I figured I needed to be here,” the 46-year-old said. “Normally, when you get that many withdrawals earlier in the week, you feel like you have lost your chance.

“So I was going to hang around here and hit some balls and practice, and if I got in, great. If not, I was going to fly home this afternoon.”

He didn’t get much chance to do any of the above. Knowing that a player could pull out at any point in the day, he arrived at the Innisbrook Resort at 7:15 a.m. Thursday. Within 15 minutes, a PGA Tour official informed him that veteran Vijay Singh was experiencing back issues.

Maggert bolted to the range and began to get loose. But Singh did not formally WD until 20 minutes before his 8:27 a.m. tee time, so Maggert had been in complete limbo.

“Kinda on standby, yeah,” he said.

It was somewhat unusual that he got his foot in the door to begin with. The PGA Tour event in Puerto Rico last weekend ran long into Monday because of bad weather, and five players in the field gained access to the Transitions field because they finished in the top 10, an automatic provision for the following if they elect to use it. As a result, as of Monday night, Maggert was a distant seventh on the alternate’s list.

Which is why Maggert elected to go ahead and grab a shovel.

“We finally had some good weather in Houston,” he said. “It’s been kind of a rough winter, and with all the hard freezes, we had lost some palm trees, so my wife said, ‘Your job today is to go work in the yard.’ So that’s what I did.”

Maggert could not recall being in similar straits, awaiting word as to whether he was going to play. At least not lately.

“Not in about 25 years,” he laughed this is his 20th year. But like his yard work, he had some digging to do in the offseason after finishing outside the top 125 in earnings the past two years.

Maggert put his head down in the offseason, swallowed his pride and went back to Qualifying School, where he finished T23 to get his card back, although finishing that far back at finals hardly guarantees a spot in every tournament.

A steady player not particularly prone to huge pyrotechnics, Maggert didn’t real he’s played the Tampa event seven previous times. But his performance underscores his recent troubles in that he has missed four of his last five cuts at Innisbrook.

“This golf course really suits my game,” he said. “I have enjoyed coming here in the past and I wanted to get in this week, but I was kind of far out on the alternate’s list. I am just thankful for the opportunity.

“It just worked out.”

He worked out Wednesday, too.

“Those palm trees were dead,” he said, “but they were tough to get out of the ground.”