On the national stage, Golfers did well in 2006, with the AP naming Lorena Ochoa and Tiger Woods as their athletes of the year. Lorena ran away with the award while Tiger, in winning his fourth, squeaked past San Diego Charger running back Ladanian Tomlinson. Tiger’s own personal choice for the accolade, Tennis mega-player Roger Federer, finished a distant third. And how did the newly minted male athlete of the year respond? Why, by choosing not to appear at the season opening event in Hawaii -- and his reason you ask?  As the result of an extended skiing vacation in Colorado he is unable to get his game in shape for tournament play. Now he has skipped the opener in the past, once while recovering from knee surgery and a second time to be with his ailing father – both understandable, but because of too much time spent on the slopes? Puleez! As we’ve said ad nauseum, not only does the tour need Tiger out there for ratings, attendance and charity, but also to maintain interest in finding a player to rekindle the magic of classic rivalries like Palmer and Nicklaus or Hogan and Snead. And, if you don’t believe me, why is the tour continuing to ballyhoo that bogus winning streak, now defined as consecutive PGA Tour events?  By the time Tim’s Troopers get done with manipulating it, the streak may end up being “PGA Tour wins with a shirt other than red on Sunday afternoons …” This lack of awareness of the tour’s needs and disdain for the reason you won the award, earns you the first unplayable lie of 2007, so, Tiger take a penalty stroke and play on!