Win probabilities: Farmers Insurance Open

A month after fusion surgery on his back, Tiger Woods stated Wednesday that he experienced “instant nerve relief� and added, “I haven’t felt this good in years.� Woods provided the update on his health in a blog post on his website. On April 20, Woods announced that his latest back surgery – his fourth since 2014 – would require a recovery time of potentially six months, thus knocking him out of the rest of the 2016-17 PGA TOUR season. On Wednesday, he put to rest any rumors that he’s contemplating retirement. “I want to say unequivocally, I want to play professional golf again,� he wrote. He noted that the long-term prognosis “is positive. My surgeon and physiotherapist say the operation was successful. It’s just a matter of not screwing up and letting it fuse.� Woods added that he remains focused on his rehabilitation, which includes walking and specified exercises. “Presently, I’m not looking ahead,� Woods wrote. “I can’t twist for another two and a half to three months. Right now, my sole focus is rehab and doing what the doctors tell me. I am concentrating on short-term goals.� Woods acknowledged that his rehab has “a long way to go� but that he’s glad to be pain-free. “You mention the word ‘fusion,’ and it’s scary,� Woods wrote. “Other guys who have had fusions or disc replacements like Davis Love III, Retief Goosen, Lee Trevino, Lanny Wadkins and Dudley Hart … they have all come back and played. “But more than anything, it made their lives better. That’s the most important thing … that I can have a life again with my kids.�

Click here to read the full article…

NORTON, Mass. - For 66 holes you could have been forgiven for paying very little attention to Robby Shelton at THE NORTHERN TRUST. He was a modest 7-under par and in a different time zone from the leader, Dustin Johnson. Then, "a switch went off" and the inexplicable side of golf poured forth in all its glory. To brush it aside by saying he played his final six holes at TPC Boston in 6-under doesn't quite do it justice. Not when it came so shockingly and so unexpectedly and created a most favorable change in Shelton's schedule. As birthday gifts go (the onetime University of Alabama star will turn 25 Tuesday), the one he gave himself is a trip to Olympia Fields for next week's BMW Championship. RELATED: Final leaderboard | FedExCup Playoffs: Projected standings "You know, that's been my goal the whole year, to make it to the BMW," said Shelton, whose blistering 63 - 271 finish got him into a share of 13th in his first-ever FedExCup Playoff. More importantly, it enabled Shelton, who started the week 81st in the FedExCup standings, to break into the Top 70 (he's No. 62) and get a spot in next week's field. He likely will never forget the sequence of shots that got him there. Par-4 13: His ball sitting on the fringe with a piece of mud on it, Shelton could only strike the 44-foot putt and hope. "Just got kind of lucky," he said. "The ball found the center of the cup." Par-4 14: Shelton hit two brilliant shots into the 516-yard best, then drained a 13-foot putt. It was one of two birdies at the hole in Round 3. Par-4 15: It officially got glorious when his 132-yard approach hit 5 feet beyond the hole and spun back into the cup for an eagle. "I mean, it was dead center in the cup. So, pretty cool." Par-3 16: Missing the green right, Shelton wedged it to 7 ½ feet and made the clutch save. Par-4 17: From 14 feet, he made yet another crucial putt, this one for birdie. "First three days, nothing went in," he said, shaking his head. "It was just very slow. Finally, it happened." Par-5 18: His second shot from 238 yards found the green and Shelton deftly two-putted from 28 feet for his seventh birdie of the round, one that he would come to treasure for it earned him a visit to a place that is special to him. Olympia Fields is where Shelton, in 2013, won his first collegiate tournament, the Olympia Fields / Fighting Illini Invitational. The emotions piled up and while in the aftermath of his finish he sat a whopping nine strokes being Dustin Johnson, who had not yet teed off, "It kind of felt like I was winning the golf tournament for a minute there," he said. He didn't, of course, but he did win that tournament within a tournament that players challenge themselves with. "My caddie and I knew we had to get to probably Top 20, at least, to have a chance," said Shelton, who got the update after signing his card and offered a massive exhale. "I can breathe," he laughed. Coming from way back: No one came from a deeper hole to fight his way into the BMW Championship than Russell Henley, who went from No. 101 to 61. When play resumed after the three-month break, was 127th in the FedExCup standings and promptly fell even lower when he missed the cut at the RBC Heritage and went for a T-32 at the Travelers Championship. He fought into the playoffs with a T-7 at the Workday Charity Open and T-9 last week at the Wyndham Championship, the grinded even more furiously at TPC Boston. "Like I've said so many times," said Henley, "it's good golf out here; you are working hard to shave off a stroke or half-a-stroke every day. It's such a grind." Closing 68 - 269 for his third top 10 since the return to golf, Henley concedes he felt like "walking in" when he doubled the par-5 second and bogeyed the par-4 fourth. That's how much volatility is in play. But he calmed down, played the next 14 holes in a bogey-free 6-under, and punched his ticket to the next round. After the lights went out: Five players who were outside the Top 70 earned their way into next week's BMW Championship, but no one did it more dramatically than Louis Oosthuizen. When torrential rain fell, the South African was in the fairway at 18, knowing he needed birdie to get the 70th and final spot. At 7:15 p.m., he returned, waited a few minutes for Daniel Berger and Harry Higgs to finish on the green, then rifled a 3-iron 235 yards and found the green. How did he do that in the dark? "The way I was playing today, it was the best way to play," he laughed. Four-over on his round through 13 holes, Oosthuizen figured his season was done. But he birdied the par-3 16th, saw during the 1 hour 15 minute rain delay that he would make it with birdie, so he asked for the chance to hit a few balls on the range. His putt from 33 feet left him a 4-footer to seal his trip to the BMW as the 70th seed and Oosthuizen converted. Others who moved in: The other four players who started outside the Top 70 but moved in were Shelton; Alex Noren (68 -269, T8), acquitted himself nicely to move from 78th to 47th; Harry Higgs (71 - 270, T-11), who went from 72nd to 48th; and No. 66 Jason Kokrak (65 - 271, T13), who quietly earned his way into the BMW for a third straight year. The were in, now they're out: With five guys moving in, these five started inside the Top 70, but fell out - Doc Redman, Denny McCarthy, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Norlander, and Xinjun Zhang. Notables on the outside looking in: They made the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST, so there was still hope. But, first, they needed explosive weekends. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for Ian Poulter (73-69), Rickie Fowler (71-69), Tommy Fleetwood (71-70) as they combined to shoot just 3 under when everyone around them was piling up birdies. For Fowler, the disjointed season was his worst in his 11-year career. He'll miss the BMW Championship for the first time and whereas he'd never been worse than 43rd in final FEC standings, presently he's 94th.

Click here to read the full article…

Yes. You are seeing double. The keen observer will notice something interesting at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP this week – each hole has two greens. Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club is much like many Japanese golf courses in this way, a design method left over from the days before technology allowed hybrid grasses to be able to withstand a wide array of weather conditions. Because summers could tend to be hot and humid and winters short and cold in Japan, it was once very challenging to maintain great greens year round. So courses would prepare two greens, one for summer and one for winter. You would typically see summer greens with Bermuda or zyosia grass and winter greens with bentgrass. But during the last decade, the development of hybrid grasses has meant superintendents can now use a uniform turf – which is the case at Accordia now with bentgrass. Some courses have since moved to a single green system while others continue to maintain two. In a first for the PGA TOUR, this tournament will actually utilize both greens on the long par-4 fourth. From the tee players face a lake down the left side. The left “Aâ€� green adds an additional 20 yards to the hole and has out-of-bounds long. The right “Bâ€� green is heavily guarded by water and two bunkers. The greens will never be simultaneously in play but will be used in alternating rounds. “I’ve never seen that. It still freaks me out because I see the hole one way and the green might be somewhere else,â€� young star Collin Morikawa said. “It’s going to be interesting how guys play, but I think it will be really fun. It’s something different, something you don’t see every day, especially in the United States. I don’t know a place that has two greens unless you’re playing soccer golf.â€� Local favorite Hideki Matsuyama spoke of the importance of finding the fairway. He saw it up close in the MGM Resorts The Challenge: Japan Skins earlier this week, and how tough it plays after finding the water from the tee. On that afternoon he had a choice of green to go for but couldn’t get there until his fourth shot. He won’t get the luxury of choice during the tournament. “If you don’t hit the fairway it is a very long hole,â€� Matsuyama said. “It will be a challenge for the players and one that will have a bearing on the result for sure.â€� In the skins game, only Rory McIlroy reached a green in regulation with Jason Day coming up short despite being in the fairway. Tiger Woods found the grass between the two greens on his approach. McIlroy and Woods walked away with pars but Day would have dropped a shot had it been stroke play. Matsuyama would have been seeing double in more ways than one.

Click here to read the full article…