ORLANDO, Fla. -- PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in a Monday teleconference that he does not know when Tiger Woods will return to the game of golf.

"We have the general information that Tiger's preparing to play and there's been a lot of speculation about when he might come back out," Finchem said. "Tiger's indicated to us that he'll give us reasonable notice, because we know we have some preparation to do. But I don't have the specific date when he's going to come back, and I can only assume that all the speculation about late March and early April -- if he's going to start then -- we will know soon."

A "media alert" about the teleconference was e-mailed by the PGA Tour Sunday night, prompting speculation that a timetable for Woods' return may have been discussed.

"I'm as excited as everybody else to see him back this spring, but my sense is we'll know pretty soon," Finchem said in Miami over the weekend.

A story on the British Web site Times Online was headlined "US PGA 'to announce' Tiger Woods's return."

A report last week in the New York Post stated that Woods would return to the PGA Tour at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando later this month. A day later, The Associated Press, citing sources, said Woods would not return before The Masters, which will take place in early April.

The PGA said the tour is not worried about losing spectators if Woods stays out of the game.

"Tiger is obviously a big force on the tour, but really, we look at it with a lot of upcoming players, it is never going to be one player that is going to make or break something, so that did not necessarily go into our discussion," Finchem said.

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