Jeff Shain

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Brad Faxon is taking the crash course this week on Broken Sound Club's Old Course, as he will at most Champions Tour venues this season.

"I'm a true rookie, obviously," the popular veteran said Wednesday.

Well, maybe not so obviously. Champions Tour rules define a rookie as someone with six or fewer starts on the circuit. Faxon, who turned 50 last August, played seven in 2011.

It was 15 years ago this week that Tiger Woods made his professional debut in Milwaukee, stepping to the podium with the words "Hello, World" and winning twice in his first seven starts.

That was only the start of a dizzying ride -- one that includes 69 other PGA Tour wins, 14 majors, a wraparound Grand Slam, bouts with injuries and the sex scandal that brought so much crashing down 21 months ago.

Asked on Golf Channel's "Morning Drive" what advice he might have told his younger self that day in Milwaukee, Woods was direct: "Life is very difficult."

ORLANDO, Fla. -- After biting his tongue for one day, Tiger Woods' ex-caddie didn't hold back his unhappiness at his dismissal during a TV interview in his native New Zealand.

"You could say I've wasted the last two years of my life," Steve Williams told Television New Zealand. "I've stuck with Tiger and been incredibly loyal. I'm not disappointed I've been fired -- that's part of the job -- but the timing is extraordinary."

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Scratch the British Open off Tiger Woods' entry list, too.

Woods officially took his name out of next week's Open on Tuesday, saying doctors still haven't given him the thumbs-up to return from knee and Achilles tendon injuries that first cropped up at the Masters.

"Unfortunately, I've been advised that I should not play in the British Open," Woods said on his website. "As I stated at the AT&T National, I am only going to come back when I'm 100 percent ready. I do not want to risk further injury. That's different for me, but I'm being smarter this time."

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The last time Tiger Woods stepped onto the fairways, he sent Augusta National into a frenzy.

DORAL, Fla. -- Tiger Woods often says he needs more work, getting additional reps with a golf swing he's changing from driver to putter. And yet his schedule hasn't added one new stop since his return from a scandal-induced hiatus 11 months ago.

The reason: Family time. Or at least a single father's time with the kids.

"I have a family," Woods said tersely when the topic was broached after Wednesday's morning's practice round at the TPC Blue Monster. "I'm divorced. If you've been divorced with kids, then you would understand."

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A street sign with the words "Arnie's Drive" is propped up on a shelf above the main workbench, which may be all anyone needs to identify the place's proprietor.