Homa completes remarkable ascent with 1st win

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Tiger Woods said his potential appearance at next week’s The Honda Classic will depend on how his body responds to a week’s worth of competition at the Genesis Open. Woods’ immediate playing schedule beyond this week remains up in the air, but he’s hoping to add the first tournament of the Florida Swing. PGA National is about 30 minutes from Woods’ home in Jupiter, Florida. Asked Tuesday what he will need this week before making a decision, Woods replied: “Just not to feel sore, to feel like I can play all-out again within, what, three days off? … To be able to go at it full bore again. “That’s something I’ve been trying to do at home and trying to simulate rounds where I go full bore at it, but it’s never the same as in a tournament. I try to get myself as fired up as possible to try and hit shots as hard as I would in a tournament, or shape shots and do all the weird things I like to do, but it’s just not the same.â€� After his last start at the Farmers Insurance Open, Woods said the only thing sore was his feet. “I’m not used to walking,â€� he joked. “I’m used to being in a cart playing 36 holes.â€� Woods has played The Honda Classic four times, three as a pro. He tied for second in 2012; in his last appearance in 2014, he withdrew after three rounds. While knowing he was dancing around the issue, Woods said it would not necessarily be a bad sign if he doesn’t feel like he can play next week. “I think it would be a great sign if I do play,â€� he said. “I think it would be a smart sign if I didn’t play. How about that?â€�

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FORT WORTH, Texas – Jordan Spieth was walking down the 11th fairway Saturday when his caddie Michael Greller broke the news: The stifling heat had made it impossible for him to finish out the third round at the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. “This is my last hole,â€� Greller said. So after completing the 11th, Greller left the course to receive medical treatment while Spieth’s trainer Damon Goddard took up the bag. Spieth eventually finished with a 2-under 68 that leaves him at 4 under for the tournament and tied for eighth. He’ll start Sunday’s final round five shots behind leader Webb Simpson, and he said Greller will be back on the bag for the slightly cooler (mid-80s) day. “Mike said he’ll be plenty fine by tomorrow,â€� Spieth said. “[He] just needed to pack it in, otherwise something really bad could have happened. It was a no-brainer situation.â€� Temperatures climbed to 96 degrees – with a heat index of 108 – Saturday on the hottest day of the PGA TOUR season. “Everybody is talking about it,â€� said Stewart Cink, who had the second best round of the day, a 4-under 66 (Emiliano Grillo shot a 65). “It’s like Topic No. 1 in the locker room and on the range. It’s hot. I think the main thing is it’s really the first heat of the year we’ve experienced.â€� Added Simpson: “It’s 100 degrees out there. Knowing that caddies are going down, we were just trying to stay upright.â€� Greller, already feeling ill, knew before Saturday’s round that he might not last, so he confidentially told Goddard – who was already planning to be at the course — to be prepared to take over. Once the round started, Greller made several restroom trips; Spieth thinks it was to find shade and pour water over his head. At one point, Greller said he had stopped sweating, and realized that was a problem that needed to be solved. But not until the 11th fairway did Spieth realize the full extent of the problem. “I was kind of surprised,â€� Spieth said. “I guess he had told Kelly (Kraft, Spieth’s playing partner) at some point during the round. Kelly asked if he was OK. I thought he was acting a little strange, a little quiet. I guess it just got him early on today.â€� Said Goddard: “I saw [Greller} fading a little bit earlier, even in warmups. He’s a trooper. On 12, I got tapped in and we said let’s go.â€� It’s not the first time Goddard has carried Spieth’s bag in an emergency situation. At the 2014 Shell Houston Open, Greller became ill, and Goddard filled in for the first round – with Spieth shooting a bogey-free 2 under. The streak didn’t continue Saturday, as Spieth three-putted the 14th for a bogey. But he bounced back with two birdies on his last three holes. “We actually had a blast towards the end there,â€� Spieth said. “Both of us kind of got a little off for the first few holes in the middle of the back nine there, and then we were able to grind it out and finish strong. “Yeah, it’s a little awkward, but I ended up setting off stuff and doing everything, so kind of slows the pace down a little bit.â€� Besides training Spieth, Goddard trains Kraft, who also lives in Dallas. That gave Goddard a chance to see both players up close in the same pairing. “It was actually good timing for Greller to go down,â€� Goddard. “Now I can see them in game-time scenarios. It was good. It was fun.â€� And it was hot.  

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tiger Woods has engaged the help of Matt Killen to work on his putting after an unhappy start to the season on the greens.  Woods also declared himself fully fit to take his place this week at THE PLAYERS Championship after withdrawing from last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard with a neck injury. Killen — who is known as part of fellow former FedExCup champion Justin Thomas’ team — is helping the 80-time PGA TOUR winner with his putting stroke. It comes after Woods produced six three-putts in each of his last two tournaments, the Genesis Open and the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, to quell any real challenge.  “I’ve seen Matt out here in the past year because he works with JT a lot, and I’ve played a lot of rounds with JT, either practice rounds here or at home, and Matt has seen my stroke enough,â€� Woods explained. “I had been feeling that my stroke has been off, but a lot of it is physically. I’m having a hard time getting into the different postures. As my body’s felt better, my stroke has come back a little bit, but also I wanted to see where was I off, what did he see. “I wanted him to take a look at it and see what he thought of where my setup looked like now versus all the times that I’ve putted well, and I’ve putted well with different postures throughout my career. … I’ve done different things … but I wanted him to take a look at it, and then he mentioned a few things.â€� Woods said the neck tightness, which started during the Genesis Open and flared up further in Mexico, certainly contributed to his putting woes. But with that concern in his rear-view mirror for now, and with the help of Killen, he believes his putting stroke has “freed upâ€�. “The longer you play we’re all going to have patches where we just don’t putt well and patches where we make everything,â€� Woods said. “For me personally, if I can see the line and I feel like I’m releasing this thing and that toe’s flying over, I feel good. That’s a good feeling for me.  “Other guys don’t putt that way, don’t feel that way, but I grew up in more of a feeling like Bobby Locke and Crenshaw and those guys of letting the putter go, and if I do that, I feel great.â€� Former rival and fellow PLAYERS Championship winner David Duval, who is now an analyst for the Golf Channel, believes there’s no reason to sound the alarm bells.  Despite history showing that putting generally declines with age, Duval believes the 43-year-old is just tuning himself up.  “There’s not a whole lot of scar tissue involving Tiger Woods’ putting over the years,â€� Duval said on the Golf Channel. “If anything I would imagine that he’s asking for help, more restorative work. Trying to get back to the setup he had. The flow of the stroke he had. The position of his hands at address. The position of the golf ball in his stance at address. Those are the little things that you need to pay attention to.  “I don’t see any problems with Tiger Woods’ putting, other than that you might go simply to the age factor that certainly does play into it. It’s just [another] set of eyes to get some comfort and get some stability in what he’s doing.â€� As for his neck issue, Woods said it’s not an issue this week, but it is something he must keep an eye on. He also intimated he would contend the World Golf Championships–Dell Technologies Match Play in two weeks for the first time since 2013 should he get through TPC Sawgrass unscathed. His withdrawal last week was more precautionary as he looks to continue to manage his body after four back surgeries.  “It’s not painful now. It was getting to the point where it was affecting my setup, my backswing, my through swing,â€� Woods said. “It was just gradually getting worse. That’s just because my lower back is fused, and so the stress has to go somewhere if I don’t have movement, and so it’s very important for me going forward since the surgery to keep pliable or else the stress is going to go somewhere else. “I’m 43 with four back surgeries, so just manage what I have and understand that I’m going to have good weeks and bad weeks and try and manage as best I possibly can and not push it. There are times when over the years I pushed it, pushed it through a few things, and I’ve won a few tournaments doing it that way, but also I’ve cost myself a few years here and there because of it.â€�

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