Those of us who love the game know that it is not as elitist, classist, racist or sexist as many seem to think -- but this particular tournament played at this particular club most certainly is.

“A tradition unlike any other” goes the tiresome CBS tag line for the club’s annual invitational. But it is a tradition of privilege and exclusion.

The vaunted prestige of the Masters began with Robert Tyre Jones Jr., one of the club’s founders. After Babe Ruth, Bobby Jones was the brightest light in the Golden Age of American Sports. Handsome, humble and invariably good-humored, he has always stood as a kind of secular saint in the popular imagination. When the British golf writer Bernard Darwin (grandson of the naturalist) said that “humanly speaking” Jones’ poetic golf swing left “no room for improvement,” he was speaking both literally and figuratively. The grace of the swing revealed the graciousness of the man.

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Olympic and World Cup champion ski racer Vonn says in a posting on her Facebook page Monday that their "relationship evolved from a friendship into something more over these past few months and it has made me very happy."

Lewis Kay, a spokesman for Vonn, confirmed the validity of the post to The Associated Press.

Vonn is recovering from right knee surgery after a Feb. 5 crash that ended her season. Her divorce from Thomas Vonn after more than four years of marriage became official in January. They separated in 2011.

Elin Nordegren divorced Woods in 2010 after learning he had a string of affairs during their five-year marriage. They share custody of their two children.

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During this President's Day weekend, Obama joined the famed golfer and philanderer for a round in Florida. As the AP noted, "The White House, which has promised to be the most open and transparent in history, has prohibited any media coverage of Obama's golf outing."

Ed Henry, the Fox News correspondent and president of the White House Correspondents Association, released a statement Sunday expressing anger at the lack of access:

Speaking on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association, I can say a broad cross section of our members from print, radio, online and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the President of the United States this entire weekend... There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency.

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But Condi Rice has someplace new to golf now. BEHOLD OUR TRIUMPH.

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2. In memoriam of the day: Sky the kitty, whose 77-year-old owner Luciana Matalon took out a full-page ad in a national Italian paper after the death of her feline friend.

3. Rebound of the day: Tiger Woods' ex-wife Elin Nordegren is dating investor and son of a billionaire Jamie Dingman. You'd think she'd have learned that rich and powerful men don't always make the best husbands ...

4. Obligatory "Harry Potter" quote of the day: Matthew Lewis (who played Neville Longbottom in the films) thinks "girls in general are scarier than Voldemort."

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 Tiger then went on to talk about his terrible golf game, and then his better golf video game "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters." Oh, so that's why he left the house.

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The incident occurred Sunday on the 12th green, after the No. 3-ranked player missed a par putt on his way to a 3-over 75.

"The tournament director, Mike Stewart, has reviewed the incident and feels there has been a breach of the tour code of conduct and consequently Tiger Woods will be fined," the European Tour said in a statement.

The tour said it would not disclose the amount of the fine.

The tour's code of conduct states that when a player becomes a member, he "voluntarily submits himself to standards of behavior and ethical conduct beyond those required of ordinary golfers and members of the public."

Woods began the final day one shot off the lead but never recovered after making two bogeys in his first three holes.

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"It's what you do next that counts," the Accenture ad said.

For six years, those ads featuring Woods could be found in every corner of the world. There he was in the weeds, on the green, celebrating with a fist pump.

Every billboard oozed power and success:

"We know what it takes to be a Tiger."

"Go on, be a Tiger."

But when Woods ran his SUV over a fire hydrant last Nov. 27, unleashing a torrent of tawdry and shocking details about his infidelities, those clever catch phrases quickly became punchlines. Within weeks, Accenture and other sponsors distanced themselves from the golfer who had built a billion-dollar industry on his spectacular success on the course and impeccable image off it. It was part of the fallout from a scandal that eventually cost him his marriage and his No. 1 world ranking.

A year has passed since the infamous crash that started it all, and Woods appears ready to re-enter the marketing game. A survey within the last month to test Woods' appeal produced "very powerful, positive, positive results," his longtime agent, Mark Steinberg, said, adding that he's already engaged in "several constructive conversations."

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The "Cigar Guy" has quickly become the new Chuck Norris, inspiring amateur Photoshop junkies everywhere. The Daily Mail says he dressed in tribute to Spanish golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez, but who knew Cigar Guy also appeared in Donnie Darko? Or knocked out Sonny Liston? Or watched Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald? Got an idea of your own? The website knowyourmeme.com posted a Cigar Guy template.

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The lawyers for Woods and Elin Nordegren say in a statement that the divorce became official Monday in Bay County Circuit Court.

The divorce comes nine months after Woods crashed his SUV outside their home near Orlando, setting off explosive revelations that the world's No. 1 golfer had been cheating on his wife. It led to Woods losing millions of dollars in endorsements and taking five months away from the game.

Terms of the divorce were not disclosed, except that they will share parenting of their two children, ages 3 and 1.

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Woods and Hank Haney split up the day after The Players Championship, where Woods withdrew with a sore neck. He says he will rely mainly on video to make sure his swing is in the right place.

The world's No. 1 player says his neck is better and he is able to practice. He is the defending champion at the Memorial, with the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach two weeks away.

Woods says this is an important week to get his game ready for the next major, and he hopes he can play four rounds. He missed the cut at Quail Hollow, then pulled out of The Players Championship during the final round.

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I'll let Ethan Sherwood Strauss run down all the silly prose linking Mickelson's victory over Cheatin' Tiger Woods to his standing by his wife, Amy, in her battle with breast cancer. Rick Reilly actually calls it "a lipstick sized victory" for women (note to Reilly: lipsticks are kind of small). Personally, I found the Mickelsons' hug after the Masters win very moving, especially given what they've been through together. But I wasn't aware that men standing by their wives with breast cancer was a rare occurrence (my own father did it 40 years ago, back before there were sensitive new age guys). And I likewise didn't know nice guys actually finish first. If Woods had won, would that be a victory for nailing every cocktail waitress in sight?

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Phil Mickelson may have deserved to win the Masters on talent and guile. But his lack of cursing, his dogged determination to only screw his wife (unlike a certain fourth-place finisher) -- these are qualities that allowed Lefty to don green. Don't forget his wife's breast cancer, either. That story has been seriously underplayed.

Sportswriters flock to morality narratives -- they don't want to write that outcomes result from a combination of physical prowess and sheer luck. Hero X "wanted it more," or at least had better character. What else could explain a man's staggering ability to best put a ball in a hole? Steroids? It's got to be the virtue, and in this case, it's got to be the nuptials.

I declare the Masters fallout a first for America: This marks the day sports media celebrated an athlete's matrimonial success at the expense of his rival's. Call it ecstatic putt-putt tut-tut. Here's a reaction rundown:

• The Boston Herald's Ron Borges wants you to know about Phil's "reward": "The guy in the black cap and the white hat won the 74th Masters yesterday not by being spectacular but by being steadfast."

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Woods didn't look at it that way.

He came back to the Masters to win, not just contend. To him, there was no joy and no relief in tying for fourth in his first tournament in five months, only disappointment and frustration.

"That's not what I wanted," Woods said Sunday after finishing five strokes behind Phil Mickelson. "I wanted to win this tournament. As the week wore on, I kept hitting the ball worse."

He had vowed to tone down his emotions, try to smile a little more, acknowledge the fans every now and then. But that even temperament quickly faded as the poor shots piled up. He yelled at himself several times, loud enough for the gallery to hear and the television microphones to pick up. He flipped clubs away in anger.

Afterward, Woods got a bit testy when asked if the new Tiger was still a work in progress.

"I think people are making way too much of a big deal about this thing," he said. "I'm not going to be walking there with a lot of pep in my step because I hadn't hit a good shot yet."

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The 30-second black-and-white ad features a long shot of Tiger while we hear the voice of his late father, Earl: "Did you learn anything," he asks. So Nike wants Earl to posthumously grant Tiger humanity. How can I be offended when every other beer commercial wants me to choose alcoholism over committed relationships? How can I be angry when Tiger's former sponsor implied that shaving cream would be the genesis of my personal harem? Cynical as this campaign might be, there are worse messages than, "Your hero athlete is human."

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Fourteen years, 14 major victories and one colossal sex scandal later, it's obvious that he did -- and that he didn't. This week, as Woods returns to golf, Nike is taking the opportunity to reintroduce himself to the world. The ad is different this time. The 30-second spot released today features no ethereal voices singing in the background as if for a god. It makes no bold claims. Woods doesn't swing or speak. He blinks seven times, and that's about it.

He looks vulnerable. He looks tired. He doesn't look humble -- he never does -- but he looks like, well, a man. Just a man.

In the blurry background is Isleworth Country Club, a reminder that for the first time in five months, Tiger Woods is going to play golf and we are going to watch. There, perhaps, we will get more insight into who this man has become and how he has changed than from any number of tabloid covers and rehearsed press conferences. It's almost moving.

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Here is a small sampling of notable comebacks in history, in the sports world and beyond.

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