10.21.08 TIGER WOODS, PART-TIME CADDY

Tiger Woods returned to Torrey Pines for the first time since he had surgery to fix the torn knee ligament he played on during his dramatic U.S. Open victory there in June.  But he wasn’t there to swing the clubs; he was there to — [dramatic pause] — serve as a lowly caddy!

Woods caddied the back nine of Torrey Pines for John Abel, a 59-year-old New Jersey man who won an online contest.

Woods was in character from the minute he drove up to the 10th tee, on cue from a video crew that recorded every one of Abel’s shots…

Woods drove the cart. He handed clubs to Abel, then wiped them off with a towel and put them back in the bag. He squatted to line up putts and tended the pin. He warned how fast the greens were, then chuckled as Abel five-putted the 10th for a quadruple-bogey 8. [WaPo]

I’d like to take a break from the space usually reserved for punchlines to point out a troubling hiccup in the world of sports journalism style guides: the Washington Post and San Diego Union-Tribune spell the word “caddie,” while the Chicago Tribune spells it “caddy.”  And I think I speak for everyone when I say, “Get bent, Post and Union-Tribune.”  Because I don’t want to live in a world where Caddyshack is spelled wrong.