Hang on … how does this shot from Tiger Woods not go in?

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – It’s been a while. The last time Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were in the same group at THE PLAYERS Championship was the third round in 2001, when Woods made his “better-than-mostâ€� putt at No. 17 on the way to victory. He would win his first of two PLAYERS trophies the next day, and the Masters two weeks later to hold all four professional major championship titles at once. “It was the most remarkable golf in the history of the game,â€� Mickelson said Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass, where he will play with Woods and Rickie Fowler on Thursday and Friday. This week’s PLAYERS features 50 of the top 50 players in the FedExCup, and the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. There are 10 past champions in the field, and 20 first-time participants, and the winner could come from any of the 48 threesomes and 144 total players. Still, all eyes will be on past champions Fowler (2015), Mickelson (2007), and Woods (2001, 2013), who will tee off the first hole at 1:52 p.m. ET Thursday, and the 10th at 8:27 a.m. Friday. “This is just a dream pairing,â€� the Golf Channel’s Frank Nobilo said. Woods and Mickelson, together again. “Phil and I have a great banter,â€� Woods said Tuesday. “We give each other needle. We always have. But I think our relationship has certainly gotten a lot closer with me being a [Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup] vice-captain the last couple teams, and sitting there and having very lengthy conversations with him about things. Not just the pairings, but just about things in general.â€� According to ShotLink, Woods and Mickelson have gone head-to-head 35 times, with Woods carding the better score 16 times, Mickelson prevailing 15 times, and the two battling to a tie four times. They have 122 TOUR wins between them. For years, as Nos. 1 and 2 in the world they played on opposite sides of the draw for the first two rounds, seeing each other only on the weekends. Not this week. “I don’t know how it’s going to play out,â€� Mickelson said, “but I just know that we seem to be bringing out the best in each other.â€� Added Woods: “He’s one hell of a competitor, and it’s always going to be a challenge to try and beat him.â€� We’ve seen this show before, and it never gets old. Has Fowler heard the stories? Absolutely, and so have Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, who also hadn’t started high school or even middle school during the peak Tiger era. “I haven’t even had to ask,â€� Spieth said. “People, in conversation with other people, players with other players, it’s come out dozens of times how dominant he was, how good he was.â€� You can hear that kind of talk in any sports bar about any legend, but golf and this PLAYERS offers a twist. Yes, Woods was good. He also IS good. At 42, he’s playing a full schedule for the first time in years after successful back fusion surgery. His high point was a runner-up finish at the Valspar Championship earlier this season, and he’s 54th in the FedExCup. “I didn’t know what to expect this year,â€� he said. “I’m just so thankful to be able to have this opportunity again, because I didn’t know if I’d be able to have it.â€� Mickelson, 47, won the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship in March, ending a nearly five-year drought. He comes here on the heels of a T5 at the Wells Fargo Championship, his sixth top-10 this season, one more than all of last year, and is third in the FedExCup. “I love that we’re paired together,â€� Mickelson said. “… It gets me thinking, why don’t we just bypass all the ancillary stuff of a tournament and just go head-to-head and just have kind of a high-stakes, winner-take-all match? “Now,â€� Mickelson continued, “I don’t know if he wants a piece of me (laughter), but I just think it would be something that would be really fun for us to do, and I think there would be a lot of interest in it if we just went straight to the final round.â€� Told of Mickelson’s early trash talk, Woods smiled and shook his head and urged people to remember the big picture, as in which player has 79 TOUR wins and 14 majors. The fact remains, though: Woods-Mickelson is still appointment viewing. “Oh, yeah,â€� Justin Thomas said. “Yeah, I’ll definitely—I play early Thursday, so I’ll probably be in the couch in my hotel room, watching that one in the afternoon.â€�   Fowler said “I’ve got the best seat in the houseâ€� for Woods-Mickelson. Just how good was Woods? For those who weren’t there, Mickelson said, it’s hard to explain. Woods won 14 times in 2000 and 2001. Mickelson, who racked up six victories in that stretch, said the low point, or high point, was the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where Woods shot 12 under and prevailed by a major championship record 15 shots. A month later he won the Open Championship by eight, becoming the youngest to complete the career Grand Slam at 24. “It sucked to have to play against him,â€� Mickelson said. “It really did. You look at it, and you say, how are you going — how am I going to beat this? You know, there was a stretch there of a number of years that it was so impressive that it was hard to imagine that it was actually happening, that he was hitting some of the shots that he was hitting and playing that well.â€� Woods sometimes allows his thoughts to drift to that golden era. “I had all four major championships,â€� he said. “I had THE PLAYERS, I had two World Golf Championships, and all the biggest events I had won at the same time. To hold all those events concurrently was special. I mean, I played well, I thought well, I putted well.â€� Not surprisingly, his legend follows him even today. That he will be with Mickelson at THE PLAYERS will only add to the excitement. Fowler says he’ll try and putt out first, when he can, to avoid potential distractions. As for the level of excellence Woods reached when he set or tied 27 TOUR records in 2000, and when he owned nearly every important title in golf in 2001, Fowler can only listen to the stories and shake his head. The same goes for Spieth and Thomas. “The guys today look back, and they say, come on, how much better could he have been and so forth,â€� Mickelson said, “and it just goes to show you that they weren’t there to witness it.â€� When Woods and Mickelson go head-to-head this week, with Fowler rounding out the super-group, we’ll all be a witness. As threesomes go, you’d have to say it’s better than most.  

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HONOLULU – Nearly four years removed from storming home to win a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games, Matt Kuchar still carries the spoils around everywhere he goes. In a sock. Kuchar, who defends his Sony Open in Hawaii title this week, revealed the bronze medal he won on the back of a final round 63 in Rio is with him, in his backpack, wherever he travels. To stop scratches he keeps it in an old sock. RELATED: Why Todd might be the prohibitive favorite at Waialae | TOUR players rally to Australian bushfire relief cause | Power Rankings But it comes out of its cocoon often, particularly through the many airport security screenings the nine-time PGA TOUR winner frequents. “It hadn’t found a home anywhere other than my backpack. It’s easy to travel with … and just been fun to show off,â€� Kuchar said. “In airport screenings I always take it out. They see this big metal blob and always take it out so I always bring it out and it’s in a sock and even though I’ve put the sock out open in a bin, the screener always grabs a hold of it, pulls it out, and (their) eyes kind of bug out. “It’s a similar reaction over and over again. Just kind of bug out. Is this real? What’s it for? They start showing it off to their friends. (And I’m like) Hey, I got to catch a flight now,â€� he laughed. With 2020 being an Olympic year Kuchar would love to return and represent the USA once more. But each nation gets just two slots for the golf competition, with the exception of players inside the top 15 in the world. A country can have up to four if all of those players are inside the top 15. The U.S. is the only nation who currently has four players inside the top 15. Kuchar is currently 24th in the world with 12 other Americans ahead of him on the list. The qualification period for Japan ends on June 22. If things ended now the U.S. representatives would be Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Cantlay. Next up ahead of Kuchar would be Tiger Woods, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Gary Woodland, Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau and Rickie Fowler. But the difficulty won’t stop Kuchar chasing a place in the team. “I’m hugely proud to have been part of an Olympics, to be able to call myself an Olympian,â€� Kuchar said. “And I’m hugely proud to be a medalist at an Olympics. It’s definitely a goal of mine to be part of the Olympics in 2020 in Japan. I’m still amazed at the scale, the scope of just what the Olympics means to people, how big the Olympics is. “It’s a tough one to be a part of Team USA. You think of the chance of qualifying. It’s a hard team to be a part of. (But) It’s a big goal of mine. I would be disappointed if I didn’t make it, but I understand how challenging it is at the same time.â€� In 2016, Kuchar started the final round four shots out of third place in Rio. While he was unable to reel in eventual gold medalist Justin Rose or silver medal winner Henrik Stenson, Kuchar still felt like a winner given his achievement. “That was an incredible run. It felt Olympian. Looking back it ranks hugely high just to be able to finish so strong,â€� he added. “To be able to go ahead and know exactly the situation and come through and have a great round was amazing. To think there is that big cut off between third and fourth. It’s either you medal or you don’t. Medaling is winning in essence, and that was certainly one of my great final rounds.â€� Kuchar also spoke glowingly of the experience away from competition. While he didn’t stay in the athletes village due to the fact he brought his wife with him, they did get to other events as spectators. And did he connect with any other athletes? “I did become friends with Jack Sock actually. He’s the tennis player. We saw their bronze medal match. He played with Steve Johnson, and Daniel Berger’s dad was the coach,â€� Kuchar said. “We sat in the players box with Jay Berger and they won bronze. They came over just in huge celebratory fashion and Jack and I traded shirts. I got an Olympic tennis shirt for one of my Olympic golf shirts.â€� Jack. Sock. Naturally.

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After carding a 4-under 68 to open the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Tiger Woods will try to make a move up the leaderboard on Friday.

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