Bill Bridge: More time yet needed for Woods to prepare himself for comeback

Their deliberations will not have been helped by the two key elements missing from Friday's confessional in Jacksonville; the first being the whereabouts and intentions of Mrs Woods, the second being a date for the serial philanderer to return to the world he dominates, that of golf.

The staging of Woods's statement in the offices of the US Professional Golfers' Association signalled that Tim Finchem, the commissioner, is deeply concerned at the debilitating effect his great star's absence is having on the game in terms of TV audiences, exposure in newspapers and magazines and, most important of all, the attraction of sponsors at a time when the country's economy is stagnant.

The PGA would love nothing more than to have Tiger teeing up in the next couple of weeks in their tournaments in Florida then going on, regal once again, to Augusta for the Masters in April. That, we now know, is not going to happen so the money is not beginning to flow just yet.

But Finchem has more to worry about than the timing of his saviour's return. He fears that the suits in the penthouses of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles may turn their backs on golf altogether, find some other sport to use as their selling point – although possible alternatives like gridiron, ice hockey, baseball and athletics are hardly beacons of clean living.

Then there is the spectre of Elin. Until the world knows what she is planning the whole Woods question remains short of an answer. She could yet go public and dump her husband in an even deeper, smellier quagmire than the one from which he is trying so painfully to extricate himself at the moment.

Or she could do a Mrs Terry, take him by the hand and do the photo-shoots which would tell the world that all was well, his transgressions were consigned to the past.

What became apparent the longer Tiger tore at himself just a few yards from his tearful mother was that the self-inflicted torture is nowhere near over. That for all the pleading of people like Sir Nick Faldo (a man well qualified to speak on the values of marriage, having tried it and failed more than once himself) Woods is far from ready to come back to the fairways for fear of straying once again into the rough. He requires more time in therapy rather than on the practice ground.

American golf needs him, corporate America may or may not need him but for the foreseeable future we will all have to continue life without him. We will probably survive.

THOSE who run English football are rarely congratulated by those of us not enamoured by their constant pursuit of the next sponsorship deal, marketing wheeze or TV contract but we should give credit when and where it is due.

The Premier League, in the shape of chairman Sir Dave Richards, chief executive Richard Scudamore and general secretary Mike Foster, had the good sense to draw back from a move which could have set a terrible precedent for the English game.

FIFA, the world governing body, had given approval for Portsmouth to conduct a fire-sale of their players to allow them a chance of escaping for the financial morass which envelops them. FIFA did, though, insist that the Premier League would have to give the nod to the scheme before it could get off the ground.

Thankfully, Sir Dave and his mates took notice of intensive lobbying, not least from Burnley's new manager Brian Laws, and thought the process through before giving the proposal their approval.

For Portsmouth to be allowed to play to different rules in order to bring in a few million to get the taxman and various other creditors off their backs, in the process avoid going into administration and being given the points penalty which automatically follows, would have put at risk the integrity of the Premier League.

Every other club involved in the relegation issue would have rightly complained of injustice, to have demanded the right to trade in players outside the normal summer and winter windows in order to strengthen their squads and maybe avoid the drop. Who would dare to deny them that right? It would have made the Carlos Tevez squabble seem like a stroll in the park.

West Ham's co-owner David Gold put the case for the opposition: "I don't have sympathy for a badly-run club that faces administration," he said.

Laws agreed: "While we have every sympathy with a club that has difficulties, the only ones they should be looking at are themselves. They should be looking in the mirror to find the answer."

The face in the mirror for the moment is that of Avram Grant. He is the man to whom the players and supporters will be looking to pull off an unlikely rescue. The men who have put the club in its present predicament are gone, never, in all probability, to be taken to task for their mismanagement. So much for "fit and proper persons".

It would be marvellous for the old club if they can save themselves but if they can't they must face the consequences; the Premier League were exactly right in making that clear.

and another thing...

CRICKET, like most other sports, has its own ways of letting us know what officialdom is thinking without anyone coming out in the open and saying it.

Leaks are the most usual method, whereby journalists quote unnamed "sources" and it is then an authoritative "story".

So it was at the end of England's tour of South Africa that we were told Yorkshire's leg-spinning all-rounder Adil Rashid was "a slow learner".

He was packed off with the second XI to the Twenty20 tournament in Dubai and there, in a surprise victory over the senior side, Rashid claimed three wickets and demonstrated once again that he is a talent.

Ask any top bowler the secret of their success and they will say "practice". They do not mean hour after hour in the nets, or drinks duty as 12th man – they mean bowling in matches.

If England want Rashid to progress they ought to encourage him to play. If that means he can enjoy a full season with Yorkshire, all well and good.