Tiger: Caddie Flap Over; Recovery Ahead of Schedule

Tiger Woods held a press conference Wednesday ahead of the start of his Chevron World Challenge tournament. And the two main pieces of news to emerge are:

1. He won't fire caddie Steve Williams over Williams' disparaging and crass remarks directed at Phil Mickelson.
2. He is ahead of schedule in his recovery from reconstructive knee surgery.

As to the first one: Woods said that he has expressed his disappointment to Williams and that he has spoken about the incident with Mickelson. "I communicated with Phil, and we discussed it. I talked to Stevie about it. He feels bad about what happened. It's over and done with, and we put it to bed."

And about the second: Woods said he has been hitting full shots "the last couple of weeks," but that those shots are "not going very far." He now knows how the rest of us feel, he said.

Woods had originally expected to be able to hit full shots starting in January, so he is ahead of schedule in his recovery. Woods said he is on schedule to be able to play The Masters, but won't return until he is sure he is back at full strength and fully competitive.