3 new signs Tiger Woods’ comeback is going well

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Peter Uihlein hasn’t been playing that poorly, even though he came into this week’s Honda Classic having missed five consecutive cuts. With the PGA TOUR shifting to the East Coast, he knows it’s time to start making hay, and on Thursday at PGA National, Uihlein started nicely, opening with a 3-under 67. A shot behind him on the board was Brooks Koepka, who played solidly if not spectacularly at PGA National’s penalizing Champion Course. Koepka opened with 68, four shots off the low score (Kurt Katayama) from the morning wave. Uihlein was first off on the 10th tee at 6:50 a.m., the sun just awaking, and Koepka played about an hour behind him. It was sort of old times for the two, who used to room together just down the road from PGA National in a residential community when they were fresh out of college, taking a breather from the European Challenge Tour, and both dreaming big. “It’s cool. When we were playing overseas and we would be in town for Honda week, just based on the schedule, we would be around and hang out with some guys,” Uihlein said. “Obviously, BK has had a tremendous career and it’s still only going to get better. It’s been awesome to see.” Uihlein, 32, who won the 2010 U.S. Amateur on his 21st birthday, earned his way back onto the PGA TOUR through playing the Korn Ferry Tour a year ago, winning once (MGM Resort Championship at Paiute) and finishing runner-up twice. Koepka, 31, doesn’t have to worry quite as much about his playing opportunities. As a four-time major champion ranked 15th in the Official World Golf Ranking, he plays when and where he wants. He, like Uihlein, seemed to enjoy the challenge as the winds kicked up around the demanding PGA National layout, where trouble lurks just about everywhere. “The wind got up there probably a little bit earlier than I thought it would,” Koepka said. “I just kind of ho-hummed it around. … Didn’t deserve anything worse, didn’t deserve anything better.” Koepka is a four-time major winner. Meanwhile Uihlein, once the world’s top-ranked amateur, has played five years on the European Tour, and is in his fifth season on the PGA TOUR, with a year on the Korn Ferry mixed in. He got a chuckle on Thursday when a reporter asked if he considered himself to be a journeyman. “Golf’s hard. Everybody is good,” Uihlein said. He currently is ranked 306th in the world, but four years ago was inside the top 50. “I saw somebody posted a statistic showing the guy who finished 130th and the guy who finished 10th on the FedExCup … (the differences are) minute. Very, very small.” There has been a silver lining to having a few extra weekends off during the West Coast Swing for Uihlein. Five weeks ago, Uihlein’s wife, Chelsea, gave birth to a boy named Tucker, the Uihleins’ first child. They took young Tucker for a trial run to Bradenton last week for the Korn Ferry’s LECOM Suncoast Classic; when his newborn showed up, Peter birdied his last two holes to make the cut. When Tucker made an appearance on Thursday at PGA National, his pops came through with a nice par at the sixth hole (his 15th) followed by chip-in birdies at Nos. 7 and 8. “So far, he’s been good luck,” Uihlein said. “He’s been fun. It’s different. In Europe, you’d play and maybe go downtown and eat, do whatever. Now it’s like play, practice, go home. I bottle-fed him when I got home last night. So you do things like that. Life is different than what it was.” He and Koepka have fun memories of their time living under the same roof in Jupiter. Koepka followed Uihlein’s post-college path by turning pro, getting his passport, and heading to Europe, first learning to win on the Challenge Tour before eventually graduating to winning on what is now the DP World Tour. A South Florida native who was familiar with Palm Beach County, Koepka was looking for his own place to settle into when he wasn’t traveling in Europe. Uihlein, who traveled with Koepka some overseas, decided to move from Orlando to the east coast of Florida, and he and Koepka and Matt Broome (now Uihlein’s manager) moved in together into a community called Evergreen. When Uihlein bought a house in Jupiter a short time later, they moved in there, too. “Four or five years, maybe?” Uihlein said, recounting the rooming arrangement. “We just played golf and hung out every day and had a good time.” Added Koepka, “It’s nice to see him play well, and hopefully he plays well the next three days.”

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Johnson Wagner … Even headliners like Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson and defending champion Jason Day won’t feel as comfortable as Wagner, who is a perennial Sleeper given he’s a member of Quail Hollow Club. He’s a three-time PGA TOUR winner, but this isn’t his club championship, so he’s absolved from the criticism that last year’s T13 was his first top 25 in 11 tries since he splashed onto the circuit in 2007. The course fits his eye in part because he’s a tee-to-green tactician, a skill set rewarded here. However, he’s also averaging over one stroke gained per tournament with his putter this season. His local knowledge mattered last year as he ranked third in strokes gained: putting and led the field in conversion percentage inside 10 feet. Luke List … The last time the long hitter landed in this space, he delivered with a T10 at Bay Hill. He’s cooled since, but inconsistency aligns with his reputation. Quail Hollow aligns with his profile, and it’s paid dividends. He finished T16 as a rookie in 2013 and a T9 last year when he slotted third in strokes gained: tee-to-green. Sits 14th on TOUR in the stat right now as well as ninth in par-5 scoring. Joel Dahmen … After making hay easier tracks last season, he’s replicating the process on stiffer tests in 2018-19. Already with a T9 at Torrey Pines, a T12 at TPC Sawgrass and a T16 at Harbour Town on the board, he’s projecting toward another top 20 at Quail Hollow. In fact, it wouldn’t be his first on the course as he placed T16 in his debut a year ago. The 31-year-old feeds off keeping his ball in play off the tee, and despite his evolving profile, he still doesn’t mind dipping into the red numbers. Currently T3 on TOUR with 39 of them this season. Matt Jones … Currently 110th in the FedExCup, but it wasn’t until a T13 at Torrey Pines three months ago that his rally was sparked. He’s 8-for-8 since with three top 20s in individual competition, including another T13 at Copperhead. The Aussie also is no stranger at Quail Hollow where he’s logged 21 rounds and recorded a pair of top 25, albeit not since a T21 in 2011, but that experience in conjunction with his recent consistency warrants this focus. Currently 50th on TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green, 34th in scrambling and T33 in par-5 scoring. Wyndham Clark … While the former Pac-12 Conference individual champ (2017) at the University of Oregon arguably is best known as a long hitter, he ain’t no one-trick pony. Now 25 years of age and in his rookie season on the PGA TOUR, he’s 12th in strokes gained: putting, second in putts per greens in regulation and fifth in putting: birdies-or-better. He also leads the circuit in conversion percentage inside 10 feet. His muscle off the tee means that he won’t be overwhelmed by the biggest of ballparks, but tough ones also are within his mastery. His last two top 20s occurred at PGA National (T7) and TPC San Antonio (T20). With four top 20s on the season, he’s sitting comfortably at 91st in the FedExCup standings as he debuts at Quail Hollow. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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HAIKOU, CHINA—Sweden’s Oskar Arvidsson carded a third-round, 2-over 74 to stay on course for a wire-to-wire win at the PGA TOUR Series-China International Qualifying Tournament No. 1, the first of two successive 72-hole qualifiers at Mission Hills Haikou. With difficult pin positions adding to the challenge on another cold day, Arvidsson finished 8-under, one ahead of playing partners Lucas Herbert (73) of Australia and American Jeffrey Kang (72), who will all play together again in Sunday’s final round. American Kurt Kitayama, a Web.com Tour player in 2016 and 2017, shot 69 to move to 5-under and tie for fourth with Australia’s Kevin Yuan (68) and Canada’s Richard Jung (71). Luke Toomey, formerly New Zealand’s top amateur, made a strong move as a 68 moved him into a tie for 15th, at even-par. The top-15 finishers will earn full cards and the next 25 will be conditionally exempt for this year’s PGA TOUR Series-China, which will reward the top-five money winners with places on the Web.com Tour, the path to the PGA TOUR. Arvidsson, 26, will start in pole position despite a difficult Saturday in which he dropped his first shots of the tournament after opening with two bogey-free 67s. The Bangkok-based Swede bogeyed No. 2 but bounced back with three straight birdies before dropping shots at Nos. 8, 9, 11 and 18. “It was quite tough out there today. The pins were a little difficult, it was windy, so I think we all played pretty good, but it was hard to get it going. I’m still aiming to win, and I’m looking forward to playing some great courses on this Tour,â€� said Arvidsson, who had even considered withdrawing after suffering stomach pains on Friday morning. Herbert, 22, cut a slightly frustrated figure after mixing four birdies with five bogeys, including on the par-5 18th but still heads a strong Australian contingent that also includes Yuan, DJ Loypur (4-under) and Andrew Schonewille (3-under) in the top-10. As high as third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning pro in 2015, Herbert is on an impressive run of form that has steered him to eighth on the 2017 PGA TOUR of Australasia Order of Merit and a place at The 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie through a tie for eighth at last month’s SMBC Singapore Open, won by Sergio Garcia. “I try to win, anyway. I think it’s one of those events that if you keep the mentality, if you want to win, then you don’t settle for laying up. Your vision tends to broaden a bit more if you just aim for the top 15, so I’m going to try and win and just prove to myself that my game’s still got it,â€� said Herbert, who at World No. 228 is the highest-ranked of the final group. “Eventually, it would be great to play on the Web.com Tour. I have a card on (PGA Tour of) Australasia so I’m looking for Tours to play for the rest of the year, so I’ll also look to play (PGA TOUR) Canada Q-School. If I can get a card here, that would give me some security and I won’t be too stressed out going to Canada Q-School.â€� Kang, 26, also admitted that victory, not a top-15 finish, would be his focus Sunday. The Los Angeles resident, who graduated from the University of Southern California in 2014, recorded his fourth birdie of the day on the 18th to tie Herbert and offset two bogeys and the double bogey he posted on No. 13. “Any tournament you play, you want to win it. I think that’s the mentality you start the tournament with, and why change it going into the last day?â€� asked Kang, who played on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada in 2016 and around Asia last year. “I’ll try to do what I did today, although the back nine was really hard today. I’ll just try to minimize the mistakes and see how it goes.â€� This week’s 120-player entry list features players from 16 countries and territories across Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America, with the largest contingents from the U.S. (34) and South Korea (29). After a one-year hiatus, PGA TOUR Series-China resumes in March with a 14-tournament schedule, with each tournament offering RMB 1.5 million, a 25-percent increase over purse levels from 2016. The Mainland China Qualifying Tournament for China passport holders will be held at Wolong Lake Golf Club in Liuzhou City in Guangxi from February 27-March 2 (Tuesday-Friday). The PGA TOUR established PGA TOUR Series-China in 2014 as its third international developmental tour, following in the footsteps of PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada. Since its inception, PGA TOUR Series-China players have received Official World Golf Ranking points for top finishes at official tournaments. Previous International Qualifying Tournament Winners

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