Follow live: Tiger faces uphill climb at Bay Hill

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Chesson Hadley experienced the lowest low and the highest high in his first two cracks at the driveable, par-4 17th hole at this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. Now he gets to crow about it on Twitter. His saga at 17 began when he drove the green Thursday, which was good, only to knock his 105-foot eagle putt across the green and into the water hazard left of the green, which was not. He took a drop, chipped onto the green, and hit two more putts for an ugly double-bogey 6. He heard about it on social media. “I hit a bad putt and I misread it,� he said. “I didn’t think it was going to go in the water, but it just kept going. I guess it’s better than five-putting. I would rather putt it in the water than five-putt.� Still, it’s not every day that you miss a putt and wind up at the bottom of a pond, and fans had a good time ribbing Hadley. “Twitter is a real positive environment,� he said, tongue firmly in cheek, “so there was a lot of uplifting, nice things said to me yesterday.� He shrugged. “But I putted it in the water. I probably earned it.� Friday was a new day. Determined to atone for his goof, Hadley again drove the green, this time leaving himself 80 feet, 9 inches for eagle 2. He not only avoided the water, he holed the putt. “That was literally all I was thinking about: I am going to do everything I can to make this putt,� he said. “And it went in dead-center, perfect speed. It was awesome. It was well-deserved. Maybe. “I’m going to light ’em up here on Twitter here in about five minutes,� he added. “I’m going to say to all my Twitter friends who really built me up yesterday: ‘This one’s for you.’�

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Let me preface my remarks by reinforcing that the health and safety of our players, employees, partners, volunteers, fans and everybody associated with the PGA TOUR is our top priority.  I’ve spoken to President Trump this morning, and I spoke to Governor Ron DeSantis a few hours ago as well. Our team is in constant communication with local health authorities in each market in which our tournaments are played, and we are tracking and monitoring the health information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization in addition to the travel advisories provided by the U.S. State Department. Both the White House and the Governor’s office have been and are supportive of the precautionary measures we have taken to this point. It goes without saying that this is an incredibly fluid and dynamic situation. We have been and are committed to being responsible, thoughtful and transparent with our decision process. With that as pretext, at this point in time, PGA TOUR events – across all Tours – will currently proceed as scheduled, but will do so without fans. This policy starts at THE PLAYERS Championship tomorrow (Friday) and continues through the Valero Texas Open. It’s important to note, that could change, but for the time being, this decision allows the PGA TOUR, our fans and constituents to plan, prepare and respond as events develop. Further, the recently announced travel advisories and potential logistical issues associated with players and staff traveling internationally limit our ability to successfully stage the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. Therefore, we are going to postpone that event and will provide details in the coming weeks on a reschedule as this situation develops.  We will continue THE PLAYERS with essential personnel only, and we will be in direct conversations with those groups (vendors, broadcasters, media, player support groups, essential volunteers) to provide instructions. This is a difficult situation, one with consequences that impact our players, fans and the communities in which we play. As I said earlier this week, we’ve had a team in place that has been carefully monitoring and assessing the situation and its implications for several weeks. We’ve weighed all the options, and I appreciate the input and collaboration across the TOUR, our industry, our partners and our members that got us to this point. We’ll continue with that collaboration, and I want to thank our fans for supporting the PGA TOUR.

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