Tiger's game is `close,' says Arjun Atwal

       The golfer who sees Tiger Woods play most and from closest range, former Long Islander Arjun Atwal, agrees with Woods that the four-time Masters champion's game is coming around.

       "He’s really close. Like he said, if he can just bring it out…I think he’s going to do just fine around here because it’s like his home golf course,"
Atwal said after nine holes with Woods and Mark O'Meara here at Augusta National Golf Club. Atwal lives in the Isleworth community around Orlando near Woods and has become a good friend and regular practice partner (as O'Meara used to be before he moved from Florida and started playing the Champions Tour).

        "It’s just a matter of him bringing it from the range to the tee because at home, it’s just really, really good," Atwal said, adding that he learned a good deal about Augusta from Woods and from O'Meara, another former Masters winner.

       Even Woods' putting, which has been a sore spot for the former world No. 1, is improving, according to Atwal. "He is loving that new putter of his. We’ll see what happens with that," he said..