Bogey from the lodge owner

Divots

Last week Tiger Woods was upset, as he is often been this season. This time not because he missed a putt, or did not win a Major or not even because Vijay Singh beat him to Money List title.

But because a game lodge owner in South Africa had invaded his privacy. Woods and his friends spent four days at the exclusive Shamwari Game Reserve in Eastern Cape, where the world's best golfer proposed and got engaged to his Swedish girlfriend, Elin Nordegren.

On his website, Woods wrote, "In a word, I'm disgusted about the way he (the game lodge owner) handled things...It was such a great moment in our lives, and he cheapened the experience because he was so self-serving."

How that is going to affect Shamwari's popularity remains to be seen. Maybe, it will be more sought after, simply because Tiger got engaged there.

Nicklaus and marriage

Now that brings us to the next question. How will marriage affect his golf?

Jack Nicklaus, whose record of 18 Majors is what Tiger is gunning for, was recently quoted as saying, he may probably have done even better if he had not got married so early.

Nicklaus married when he was 20 and had three children by 27, which is how old Tiger is right now. He was quoted as saying, "(Golf) wasn't the only thing in my life. And I don't think it will be the only thing in Tiger's life either."

Channelising energies

Remember Deborah Graham, the golf psychologist, whom Harmeet Kahlon eulogised about, when he won the Hero Honda Masters last year in 2002.

The San Antonio-based golf psychologist was quoted as saying, when a player gets married, he often starts to channel his energy into making the relationship work.

But, she also added, "Tiger has always seemed to be balanced. When he's practising, he's practising, and when he's off, he's off. But he needs to find a way to fit this relationship into it."

- Bogeyman