Tiger tales spark race to print

Tiger Woods' upcoming return to the golf course will be good news for authors Steve Helling and Robert Lusetich, who have been racing neck and neck to have their tales of the world number one's fall from grace hit the book shops.

So far, it seems that Helling, a Florida-based writer for People Magazine, might get to tee off first, although only by a matter of days.

Helling's Tiger: The Real Story (Da Capo Press) reckons to provide "a never-before-seen portrait" of the troubled star, drawn from interviews with "intimate sources, many speaking out for the first time".

Lusetich, a senior columnist for FoxSports.com who reported on Woods throughout 2009, describes how the player "built a public persona at odds with his private life" in his account,Unplayable: An Inside Account of Tiger's Most Tumultuous Season (Simon and Schuster).

The Helling version is due out on May 20th, a week ahead of Lusetich's. Click on the links to pre-order.

Woods is due to make his comeback at the Masters in Augusta on April 8th.