Tiger Woods takes break from practicing to watch Lindsey Vonn ski in Colorado

Tiger Woods, who bolted from Scottsdale after the worst round of his professional career to get back home to figure out what ails his short game before this week’s Farmers Insurance Open, popped up Tuesday in snow country with Lindsey Vonn:

The last time the former world No. 1 watched his ski champion girlfriend win a race he lost a tooth in Italy and then found last place at the Phoenix Open. While Woods showed up last week with a full set of pearly whites, he and the rest of the golf world are still searching for a semblance of a short game; his cut-missing 11-over 82 was so disastrous that Tiger decided to skip Sunday’s Super Bowl in favor of locating the “bottom” of his chipping motion.

“Practice each and every day. Just work on it,” Woods said before winging his way back to Florida ahead of Thursday’s start at Torrey Pines to try to save his yips-threatened career. “I’m going home right now”:

Woods used to be a range rat who never tired of digging balls out of the dirt. But everyone -- even the formerly best in the world with the worst chipping and pitching game on Tour -- needs a break from the drudgery of chunking and skulling ball after ball across a green. And with so much made of the lovely ladies who trudge the fairways with their PGA Tour significant others, kudos to Tiger for supporting Vonn in her endeavors.

Of note: no skeleton mask on Tuesday for Tiger, who, no doubt, will keep his distance from all those camera-wielding thugs at the finish line.