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O'Meara: Woods Close To Return

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The Associated Press

Published: February 16, 2009

BOCA RATON - Mark O'Meara said Sunday that Tiger Woods looks better than ever and is ready to return to the PGA Tour, but he stopped short of saying the world's No. 1 player would be at the Accenture Match Play Championship that starts Feb. 25.

Speculation has increased during the past week that Woods would make his debut in Tucson, Ariz., because his wife gave birth to their second child - a boy named Charlie Axel - on Feb. 8.

Woods has not played since reconstructive surgery on his left knee a week after winning the U.S. Open in June.

Tom Jenkins, playing in the Allianz Championship on the Champions Tour, had said Saturday that O'Meara told him Woods had planned to return at Match Play, and if not then, play Doral and Bay Hill in Florida.

O'Meara has been close friends with Woods since he joined the PGA Tour in 1996 at age 20.

"He hasn't told me personally when he's going to start back, but I know he's pretty much almost ready to start back, so I wouldn't be surprised," O'Meara said. "But I don't make his schedule, and I know that everybody always wants me to tell everybody when he's going to play, but I don't know what he's going to play."

Woods is the defending champion at Match Play and has an endorsement deal with Accenture. He is expected to be in Arizona next week for a corporate obligation, although that doesn't mean he will play. Woods has until Friday to decide.

O'Meara said he saw Woods on Wednesday to congratulate him on the birth of his son, and in a recent round of golf with Woods, "He's hitting them really well."

"I would say he's better than ever," O'Meara said. "His legs bothered him for about three years and it had been pretty bad. I think the break was probably the best thing that ever happened to him. Eight months away from the game, it gave him a chance to connect with his daughter, see the birth of his son.

"I think he's going to be come back better than ever," he said. "That's just my opinion, and I can be wrong. But most of the time with Tiger, I've been right."

Pebble Beach Pushed Back

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Raging wind that toppled a 40-foot pine, and rain that formed puddles on the green forced the PGA Tour to postpone the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, giving it a Monday finish for the first time since 2000.

Tee times were pushed back six hours Sunday until another band of rain arrived on the Monterey Peninsula.

No one teed off, and there is no guarantee that the final round will be played today, when the forecast is for more rain and wind.

CHAMPIONS: Mike Goodes, who turned pro two years ago, shot a 66 to win his first career Champions Tour title at the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton.

The 52-year-old Goodes finished in 15-under 201 at the Old Course at Broken Sound, beating practice partner Fulton Allem by one stroke to pocket $255,000 in his 32nd career event.

Bernhard Langer, the 2008 Champions Tour leader and Rookie of the Year, struggled with his putting throughout to finish third with a 12-under 204.

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