Good news, AK fans! A Press Tent report indicates that Anthony Kim is back on the golf course, hitting balls a few weeks after surgery on his left thumb and hoping for a return to the PGA Tour in late July.

Kim’s injury was a gut punch to his hopes for a breakout 2010. He’d already won the Shell Houston and played well at the 2010 Masters, but the torn ligament was too much to bear. Then again, there’s no guarantee that his game could have handled the winds and wacky pin placements at Pebble Beach two weeks ago.

Kim was supposed to be out roughly three months, and as Press Tent notes, the RBC Canadian Open would be 10 weeks after the surgery. Kim’s agent has said that AK is pleased to still be running well in Ryder Cup points — he’s still ranked third, behind Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk — and remains in position for a berth at the 2010 Ryder.

Considering how well he played in 2008, with all the enthusiasm and skill, he’s a must-in for the American team. Shame that he’ll have to miss two majors, both the U.S. and British Opens, but if it’s for the long-term health of his career, it’s for the best. 

Scary moment for Lee Westwood, as he had to head to a hospital in France early Wednesday over fears that he could have been suffering from a blood clot. As it turns out, all is well.

Westwood, the world’s ugliest perpetual bridesmaid, was suffering from a swollen calf muscle and was forced to pull out of the pro-am scheduled for the day before this weekend’s French Open. Obviously, a blood clot could be potentially devastating; NASCAR driver Brian Vickers has been sidelined for the rest of the year by them. But it appears that Westwood was simply suffering from the heat now blanketing France, and he could well be able to play in the tournament after all.

But hey, "potential blood clot" is certainly a valid reason for skipping the pro-am. Ian Poulter bailed out on the pro-am because of a freakin’ insect bite. Here’s his explanation: 

I was practising at Woburn on Monday and got bitten by a horsefly
or something. It was swollen yesterday and when I put my hand in my
pocket I felt a big lump on my groin and knew it wasn’t right. I went
to the doctors, was given antibiotics and decided I was well enough to
fly this morning, but that’s probably not done it any good.

Ow. Ow. Ow. You never want "bite" and "lump" and "groin" that close to each other in a paragraph. But hey, it’ll give Poulter more time to shop for some fancy new pants.

We might remember 2010 as the year all of Tiger Woods‘ relationships hit the skids. The first one is obvious, with the pending divorce between himself and wife Elin Nordegren almost inevitable, and then there was the split between Tiger and swing coach Hank Haney. Now it seems to be happening between Tiger and a familiar face behind the superstar.

Tiger and Steve Williams, his caddie since 1999, have had some recent rifts, including some interesting comments Woods made after the final round of the U.S. Open, where Woods finished tied for fourth.

Tiger pointed out a few mistakes, including one where Williams told Tiger to aim right at the flag, something Woods said later he didn’t feel comfortable doing. He went on to tell NBC’s Mark Rolfing that he told Steve, "we made three mistakes today and the only thing it costs us is the U.S. Open."

Now, this isn’t the first time Tiger’s been critical to the media about Williams. Years back, Tiger took to the media microphone after he said Steve pushed him to hit a driver on the third hole at Augusta National in the final round of the Masters, only to find himself in the woods and without a much-needed birdie. But, with all the problems it seems Tiger is having, a split from someone so close to his actual golf game could be imminent.

Tiger quieted some of the rumors at his Tuesday press conference, but it still seems that these two could be done before year’s end.

"There’s no tension there, not at all. You guys are reading way too much into it. I was asked what happened out there, and I made three mental mistakes out there, three mistakes I don’t normally make. Do Stevie and I make mistakes on the golf course? Of course we do. We’re not perfect. We made mistakes at the wrong time. It happens. It is what it is. We’re great competitors and we both want to win. I just made a couple mistakes, and hopefully that won’t happen this week and we can win an event."

As we’ve been told for years, actions speak louder than words, and a quick reaction after a tough final round of a major championship seems way more honest than having time to sit back and think about exactly what you want to say.

Also, if Williams is finally let go, this photo will live in foreshadowing infamy for years.

Each week, we break down the coming week’s tournament, giving you the big dogs, the sleepers, and the storylines to watch. This week, it’s the AT&T National, and there are some rather well-known names in the hunt. To begin:

Tiger Woods. Take a look at the two logos there at right. The one on the left is from last year. The one on the right is from this year. Notice anything different? Yes, they’re in different locations, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Yes, the font is in different colors, and the AT&T logo is different, but that’s not what I’m talking about either. Yes, there’s a random flung iron on the left one, but that too is not what I’m talking about. Boy, this is a stumper, huh? Anyway, Tiger Woods — hey, there’s a segue — is back, and we’ll get the chance to see just what shape his game is in. Is he about to break back through for a win, or is he on the downslope? (I lean toward the former.)

Vijay Singh. We’ve tried to bury Vijay before, and like a Fijian zombie, he’s risen from the dead. He’s starting to round his game back into — well, not into form, but at least it’s not the embarrassing atrocity it was back in the earlier part of 2010. Perhaps nearly missing the U.S. Open threw a little scare into the big guy.

Jim Furyk. He’s got a nice little run of top 10s at the AT&T, so while he had an eminently forgettable Masters and an unspectacular U.S. Open, you can’t write him off. He was also born just a few miles from the course, which is a pleasantly prepackaged story. Could Furyk rack up his third win of the year? He could indeed.

Sean O’Hair. He’s a local boy — he’ll stay at his own house for this tournament — but he hasn’t been playing particularly well this year, or at least not up to his potential. He’s only got one top 10 all year, and that one came in the season’s very first event. Still, he’ll have friends on hand — though probably not his dad — and that could make for a fun weekend for O’Hair. 

Robert Garrigus, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose. What do these three guys have in common? Three weekends, three collapses. If the golf gods are kind, one of these cats will get a win this weekend — and hopefully not because the other two fall apart down the stretch. 

All right, you’re up. Who are your picks for this weekend? Go!

File this one under the ever-growing "Whatever you say, Sergio" file: Sergio Garcia, everybody’s favorite Spittin’ Spaniard, is hinting that he will decline a Ryder Cup invitation.

That is, of course, assuming that there’s a Ryder Cup invitation en route. Don’t go sitting by the mailbox, Sergio.

Garcia hasn’t won on either the PGA or European tours since 2008, and his world ranking has toppled off a cliff, falling from second all the way down to 36th. He’s played in five Ryder Cups dating to 1999, when he was a precocious 19-year-old with the hopes of an entire golf world on his shoulders. But barring a miracle, it looks like that’s all over now.

"He isn’t enjoying his golf at all," Garcia’s manager, Carolos Rodrigues, told the London Daily Mail. "He has even said that if Colin Montgomerie were willing to offer him a wild card, he’s not sure he would be of any help to the European team."

He may not be sure of the answer, but plenty of other people are.

We’ve gone to bat for Sergio plenty of times lately in this space — here and here and here and here, for instance — and every single time, he’s come up short. So at this point, Serge, you’ve got to show us something. Anything. Forget the Ryder Cup; concentrate on making some cuts. 

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So as you may have heard, Dustin Johnson had a few problems on Sunday at the U.S. Open, surrendering a three-stroke lead within what seemed like instants. By the time that photo above was taken on No. 7, Johnson was in full free-fall mode, and when he spanged his tee shot off the hull of that trawler above, it was all over.*

Johnson faced the media at the AT&T National for the first time since Pebble on Tuesday, and with strong voice and a healthy dose of we’ll-get-’em-next-time clichés, insisted that oh yes, his rough afternoon was just that, a rough afternoon, and he’d be right as rain and give 110 percent and the sun will come up tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar and all that.

"It was gone when I left California," Johnson said of the collapse. "It was a tough day, but golfers have tough days, and it’s how quick you can get over them is the best part." Johnson further said that he played a few holes on his off week last week, hanging with friends who — if they were anything like my friends — had to do everything they could to keep from demonstrating how you’re supposed to chip a golf ball.

"I got a call from Greg Norman, I got a call from some of my friends, and all of them told me that they learned more from cases they’d lose or from times that they’d lose than they did from when they’d win," he said. "Golf is a learning process nonstop."

(Aside: Greg Norman? Isn’t that like greasy-handed English soccer goalie Robert Green receiving a call from Bill Buckner? What could he possibly say? "Welcome to the club!")

In a bit of coincidental timing, Robert Garrigus, who melted down at Memphis just before the Open, also spoke to the media, echoing Johnson’s words. "People who play golf know how hard it is to win," he said. "Look at Dustin Johnson in the Open, look at Justin Rose last week. It’s so hard. Golf is one of the hardest sports in the world, and to do what I did in Memphis, you know, it sucks, it really does. But there’s nothing you can — nothing I can do about it now."

"I look at it as just a bad day," Johnson said. "It was just a bad day for me."

Fair enough. So he’ll be able to ease back into the game, since he’s playing the first two rounds with … Tiger Woods. Oh. Well, good luck with all that, Dustin.

* — No, he didn’t. But it’s not outside the realm of possiblity.