Tiger Woods still has no timetable for a return to tournament golf, saying he still has "good days and bad days" with his surgically repaired back. Speaking Tuesday at the unveiling of his design for a new course in Missouri, Woods sounded resigned to the uncertainty. "The back is progressing. I have good days and bad days," the 14-time major champion said. "I've had three back operations and that's just kind of the nature of the business, unfortunately. That's all I can say." Woods, who hasn't played since withdrawing from the Dubai Desert Classic on Feb. 3 with ongoing back spasms, hit a couple of shots in public for the first time in months. His first found the water. "The second shot I stiffed it, so ..." said Woods, who briefly returned to competition in December after missing all of the 2015-16 season in the wake of back surgery. At his first PGA Tour event after a 17-month absence, at Torrey Pines in January, he missed the cut. He then withdrew in Dubai after a first-round 77. The project announced Tuesday in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri will include the first public access golf courses designed by Woods's TGR Design. The course is slated to open in 2019 and will be named "Payne's Valley" in honor of the late golfer Payne Stewart, who was born in Springfield, Missouri. Caddie tees off at Ko camp after joining discard pile South African caddie Gary Matthews has criticized women's world No. 1 Lydia Ko after being fired by the New Zealander's camp after only nine events. The ninth caddie in Ko's short playing career, Matthews parted ways with the 19-year-old after the Lotte Championship in Hawaii over the weekend where she finished joint runner-up behind winner Christie Kerr. "I wish her the best, but she's gone through so many caddies, she needs to wake up on caddie-player relationships," Matthews, a former bag-man to US Masters champion Sergio Garcia, told golf Digest. "Otherwise she'll just keep doing it." Ko, who worked with seven caddies as an amateur and rookie on the professional tour, sacked her previous bag-man Jason Hamilton in October when in the midst of a form trough, ending a nearly-two year association that yielded 10 wins and two major trophies. Although hired on a trial basis, Matthews said he was surprised and puzzled by his dismissal, having thought he had earned the role full-time earlier in the season. "I was like, ‘This is a bit strange; I didn't think I did that bad of a job'," he said. "In all honesty, there is no communication in the whole camp. You never know anything or are told anything." — Agencies
