In case you were too busy practicing your standing ovations in anticipation of President Obama’s first real address, Tiger Woods is returning to the links this week for the first time since his U.S. Open victory last June.

FSB.com asked each of the three 2008 Fantasy Sports Writers Association finalists for golf writer of the year how Woods’ status affects their job. Here’s what they had to say.

John McNamara, RotoWire (FSWA winner): I am lucky because I base my weekly article on trying to pinpoint players who are playing really well on tour and guys who seem to be struggling over the recent weeks. This allows me to find guys who fly under the radar and give their recent success and hopefully provide enough information that you can catch a flier lie with one of my picks.

Tiger could continually stay in my “Upgrade” section every week, but that would get boring and it would be too obvious. We all know the guys who we would play every time if they were on our team, but we all struggle with who the right player is after you go past the top 30 in the world.

So, Tiger being in the field or out of the field does not effect my article too much. I am always looking for the diamond in the rough every week who sets up great for a particular course and has been playing great over the recent weeks. Not having Tiger in the field just adds pressure for me to be right more than I am wrong, because people are more likely to pay closer attention when Tiger is not in the field and a certain pick is not so obvious.

Ross Devonport, CBS Sports: My job really hasn’t been that different with Tiger being out, because I always assume 99.9 percent of people are going to pick him when he’s in a field anyway. You almost just have to have him in your lineup because so many other people will jump over you in the standings if he brings home the title, and there’s just too good a chance of that happening for you to risk leaving him out. In my columns, I usually don’t even suggest picking Woods because anyone could write a column advising you to do that.

Greg Vara, RotoWire: My job gets more difficult in some ways and easier in others. I produce a top-five list each week and with the return of Tiger, the list becomes a top-four when Tiger is in the field.

With that said, when you select the same player each week it’s difficult to come up with fresh ways to describe why you are selecting him.

If Tom Brady’s absence alters the course of fantasy football season, then what does it mean when a game much further out on the fantasy fringe goes without the most dominant individual in all of sports?

Actually, it might not mean all that much.

Obviously, Tiger Woods — who returns this week for his first action in a little more than eight months — is the face and the meal ticket of golf. He’s so ubiquitous within his sport, however, that it likely ends up limiting his impact in most fantasy setups.

“You almost just have to have him in your lineup because so many other people will jump over you in the standings if he brings home the title, and there’s just too good a chance of that happening for you to risk leaving him out,” says CBS Sports’ Ross Devonport, the 2007 Fantasy Sports Writers Association golf writer of the year. “In my columns, I usually don’t even suggest picking Woods because anyone could write a column advising you to do that.”

Whereas fantasy football, baseball, basketball and hockey tend to lean more heavily on drafting to fill teams — meaning an athlete will only show up on one team in a given league — golf trends more toward the salary-cap style. Whether there’s an actual cap or not, competitors generally select from the same player pool.

So, although it probably doesn’t satisfy your thirst for a challenge to start a fantasy squad with the world’s best-known golfer, not doing so could put you at an immediate disadvantage. After all, we’re talking about a guy who missed just three cuts over the past four years and won more than a third of the tournaments in which he played.

“Tiger has a huge impact on fantasy golf, but not nearly as much as he does on the actual game,” says RotoWire’s Greg Vara, a 2008 finalist for the FSWA’s top golf writer award. “While his return to the real game is THE story this week, his return to the fantasy game will just be another plot line.”

Just because his actual fantasy impact doesn’t mirror his real value, though, doesn’t mean it’s not a big story. Even if his presence isn’t felt so much in the standings, it can only help the games themselves.

“Tiger being back on tour and part of the mix brings the fantasy baseball and football player into the fold who have not played fantasy golf before,” says RotoWire’s John McNamara, the 2008 FSWA golf writer of the year. “The average golfer who is not attracted to fantasy sports is made aware of his presence and will quite possibly be more inclined to join a league.”

How true that really is likely depends on the game, though. John Hohlen, co-founder of Pro Tour Fantasy Golf, says that Pro Tour’s format lessened the impact of Woods’ absence late last season when he didn’t play after the middle of June.

“Last year, some folks were saving Tiger for later in the season so they were disappointed when Tiger declared his season over after his dramatic U.S. Open win,” Hohlen said. “However, Tiger also had that consecutive tournament winning streak going in early 2008, so the majority of the people had already used him at least once or twice in many of our leagues.”

Do you run a fantasy golf game or play in a league? How has Tiger impacted your experience or your audience? Let us know either in the comments section or at FantasySportsBusiness@gmail.com.

Don’t look now but the third tournament of the PGA’s 2009 season just opened today.

If you haven’t gotten your fantasy golf league going and still want to, though, that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck until 2010. There’s plenty more professional golf to be played in this still-new year — 44 more tournaments, in fact, according to the schedule on the PGA Tour’s website. That doesn’t even include the Champions (re: Old Guys) Tour, the Nationwide (re: Young or Not-Quite-As-Good Guys) Tour or the LPGA.

Some fantasy golf contests haven’t even officially teed off yet. So if you and your buddies are longing for the links but can’t play for real until all the snow melts, you’ve come to the right place.

What follows is a list of all the online outlets I was able to find at which you can participate in fantasy leagues or contests. All links point to live games (at least as far as I can tell without actually joining) that have moved into the 2009 season. Some follow salary-cap guidelines and some involve drafting, but FSB.com has grouped them by whether you can gather friends/co-workers for a league or only join as an individual and take on the world. You can also find out which competitions are free to enter and which require a fee.

If your site or the site at which you play isn’t listed, let us know.

Start a league (or play solo)

Fantasy Golf Challenge on CBSSports.com — free

Fantasy Golf League — pay

Fore Leagues — pay

Pro Tour Fantasy Golf — pay

Salary Cap Cup on PGATour.com — pay

Yahoo! Golf ‘09 — free (also officially aligned with the PGA)

Just bring yourself

Clickitgolf - Pick-A-Player — free

Fairway Frenzy on Sandbox — pay

Fanball — five different games — pay

Fantasy Golf Challenge: Season 1 on SportingNews.com — pay (for prize eligibility) or free

SportsDrafts.com — pay

In its three years of existence, the FSWA’s award for best fantasy golf writer has gone to three different people. Just one of them has a chance to add to his trophy room this month.

Ross Devonport of CBS Sports took home the 2007 award and is among the three finalists again this year. He is joined by a pair of writers from RotoWire: John McNamara and Greg Vara.

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association will give out its awards on the first day of the FSTA winter business conference, next Tuesday.