TMZ.com has this photo of Tiger Woods’ private plane today at Mesa Gateway Airport in Phoenix:
The plane is parked, and TMZ reports it arrived on Sunday. It is indeed a cloudy, wet day in Mesa and the tail number is that of Woods’ plane. Radar reported Woods left Orlando Airport on Saturday night with his family en route to Phoenix - with an accompanying shot of the Woods plane in a hangar.
Phoenix is home to a celebrity rehab facility, and also happens to be hosting the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Open this weekend. So it’s natural to speculate that Woods may be there to continue his rehab before rolling out to the links.
But Woods missed the deadline to enter the tournament Friday.
The deadline for entry for the tournament was 5pm last Friday. Woods didn’t register to play in the tournament - and there aren’t provisions in the rules of the tournament that allow for late entry.
We now know Woods recently exited a 45-day rehab program and is likely to continue to seek therapy. It’s doubtful that Woods practiced his golf game during that period, meaning he’d have little to no time to get ready for this weekend. It’s also well-known that the Phoenix Open features by far the most raucous crowds on the PGA Tour.
With a story like this, you can never rule anything out, but for Woods to play this weekend would be beyond a surprise. And if he did, the tournament would have to grant him a special exemption.
Friday Woods gave the appearance that repairing his marriage was his first priority.
Returning to competitive golf in less than a week would fly in the face of everything he contended.
UPDATE: Below is a list of the complete 144-player field, per Ryan Ballengee at WaggleRoom.com:
02/19/2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open 17:46:19:
Blake Adams
Michael Allen
Robert Allenby
Stuart Appleby
Woody Austin
Aaron Baddeley
Briny Baird
Ricky Barnes
Cameron Beckman
Rich Beem
Matt Bettencourt
Jason Bohn
Justin Bolli
Jonathan Byrd
Mark Calcavecchia
Chad Campbell
Alex Cejka
Greg Chalmers
Daniel Chopra
Chad Collins
Chris Couch
Fred Couples
Ben Crane
Ben Curtis
Brian Davis
Jason Day
Brendon de Jonge
Graham DeLaet
Chris DiMarco +
James Driscoll
Matt Every
Steve Flesch
Martin Flores
Rickie Fowler +
Harrison Frazar
Brian Gay
Tom Gillis
Lucas Glover
Mathew Goggin
Paul Goydos
Nathan Green
J.P. Hayes
J.J. Henry
Charley Hoffman
J.B. Holmes
Billy Horschel
Charles Howell III
Ryuji Imada
Trevor Immelman
Fredrik Jacobson
Lee Janzen
Zach Johnson
Matt Jones
Jonathan Kaye +
Martin Kaymer @
Anthony Kim
Matt Kuchar
Martin Laird
Derek Lamely
Tom Lehman
Marc Leishman
Justin Leonard
Michael Letzig
Davis Love III
Steve Lowery
Bill Lunde
David Lutterus
Jeff Maggert
Hunter Mahan
John Mallinger
Steve Marino
Troy Matteson
Billy Mayfair +
Scott McCarron
Parker McLachlin
George McNeill
Rocco Mediate +
John Merrick
Troy Merritt
Phil Mickelson
Bryce Molder
Patrick Moore
Ryan Moore
Kevin Na
James Nitties
Sean O’Hair
Nick O’Hern
Joe Ogilvie +
Geoff Ogilvy
Jeff Overton
Greg Owen
Ryan Palmer
Cameron Percy
Pat Perez
Kenny Perry
Tim Petrovic
Carl Pettersson
Scott Piercy
D.A. Points
Ian Poulter
Ted Purdy
Brett Quigley
Jeff Quinney
Alvaro Quiros +
Chez Reavie
John Rollins
Andres Romero
Justin Rose
Rory Sabbatini
Sam Saunders +
Michael Sim
Webb Simpson
Jeev Milkha Singh
Heath Slocum
Brandt Snedeker
Kevin Stadler
Kevin Streelman
Chris Stroud
Kevin Sutherland
Roger Tambellini
Vaughn Taylor
Josh Teater
Roland Thatcher
Nicholas Thompson
Chris Tidland
David Toms
D.J. Trahan
Marc Turnesa
Bo Van Pelt
Scott Verplank
Camilo Villegas
Dean Vomacka #
Johnson Wagner
Jimmy Walker
Nick Watney
Bubba Watson
Boo Weekley
Charlie Wi
Mark Wilson
Y.E. Yang
4 Open Qualifiers
144 Players in the Field
+ - Sponsor Exemptions
# - Section Members/Champions
@ - Foreign Exemptions
Alternates:
Jay Williamson
Chris Wilson
Kevin Johnson
Kris Blanks
Garth Mulroy
Brenden Pappas
Jerod Turner
Alex Prugh
Omar Uresti
Jeff Gove
8:38 pm on February 22nd, 2010
There is no way Tiger Woods plays this week in Phoenix. When I saw this story earlier on TMZ as well it did cross my mind. But there is no way in hell they keep this quiet until Thursday. Maybe he entered under the assumed name “Ernie Els.”
8:42 pm on February 22nd, 2010
Other tournaments Tiger has not registered for: the PBA Reno Open, Miss Nude Alabama and Wimbledon.
10:00 pm on February 22nd, 2010
no big deal…..just a booty call
10:54 pm on February 22nd, 2010
Wickenberg az has a rehab place called The Meadows.
11:03 pm on February 22nd, 2010
Has anyone noticed that none of the posts on this site have any real sports value? It seems like all the posts are geared toward embarrassing or demeaning the subject. Is this TMZSports? It seems this way. I think the owner of this site used to have a soul, but I guess everything has a dollar value. Brooks if you are there, you make me sad. You seem bitter and this site seems geared toward score settling or even worse you long to be the news not report it. Am I sad to even make this effort in the first place yes, yes I am but I’m bitter because I’ve spent a year enjoying this site to only find I picked the wrong girl.
11:41 pm on February 22nd, 2010
He’s obviously going to Sierra Tucson…
http://www.sierratucson.com/
11:57 pm on February 22nd, 2010
So if Tiger Woods had sex with Tomlinson, would his getting waived get any coverage on SbB?
5:54 am on February 23rd, 2010
El Tigre is likely not in Tucson. No reason to fly to Mesa and then drive 100 miles to Sierra Tucson. We have an airport and indoor plumbing in Tucson. The Phoenix Open is a frat rat drunk fest so he would face some withering heat from a rowdy though possibly friendly crowd. He played the famous spectator’s help move a rock hole in Phoenix years ago. Wickenburg is nearby, but the Scottsdale Air Park is closer and a G5 wouldn’t stick out so much there. Why would he fly his kids with him to rehab? Gee Dad, where are we going? I’d guess someone in his golf design biz is in town for just that. Though word has it that two things are mega hawt in Phoenix. The weather and the ASU co-ed’s. Can a tiger change it’s stripes?
9:24 am on February 23rd, 2010
who cares! When he comes back he comes back and other than that I could care less. Sure he’s s clutch golfer but what’s that make you in the real world? society needs to wake up and realize what this guy is a Geek, skank chasing dude who hit’s a golf ball well. In the real world he has no balls only on sunday when he’s playing with his rich spoiled sackless buddies!
9:30 am on February 23rd, 2010
What kind of plane does he use for his mistresses? I’m thinking it’s like a C5-A or sumthin’ ?
11:00 am on February 23rd, 2010
does this mean he’s upgrading his buddism by correspondence course?
11:07 am on February 23rd, 2010
Nate, you are either an idiot or you are actually Tiger Woods .,,, or both.
Tiger thinks that time heels all wounds. Bullsh*t! I say keep the stoory alive and fresh. Those 14 pigs he did will always be 14 pigs. No Tiger, no forgive and forget. You’ll hear me at Sherwood,,, during your back-swing,,, haha.
12:40 pm on February 23rd, 2010
That is not actually Tiger Woods plane. The two last letters are QS which belong to NetJets, a fractional ownership company. They stand for “Quarter Share”. Unless someone actually saw Woods board that particular aircraft in Orlando there is no way to know he was on it. NetJets owns about 25 Gulfstream GV’s, with that particular paint scheme and with the last two indentifers ending in QS. Any of the top earners on the PGA could have flown the one show here.
1:11 pm on February 23rd, 2010
byl046,
Tiger Woods company is registed to that tail number. Very well known in the media. It’s his plane.
4:55 pm on February 23rd, 2010
I will try this again. First time didn’t post. I think Tiger and elin are at the “family therapy” at the meadows. It is a 5 day program He would park the plan away from his destination to throw off the photogs. If Ellin shows up Wed, thursday etc then we all know the session didn’t go well.