12-year-old golf phenom signs with Cobra Puma

Imagine you are 41. Or 71. Or 101. Now imagine life has lately felt like a 1,000-piece puzzle of white space. It’s not supposed to be white space; it’s supposed to be a vivid picture, bursting with color and texture. You’ve just got to see it in your mind’s eye, and so you keep working, piece by agonizing piece, because it’s there, somewhere, and you’ve still got something left to give. Much ink has been spilled on the appeal of Tiger Woods, who this week at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas makes his first competitive start in 10 months. But the appeal of late-career Woods boils down to this: He thinks he still has something left to give, and who among us can’t relate? Regardless of age and circumstances, we ALL think we have something left to give. “I think Tiger will definitely win another tournament,� Hank Haney, one of his former coaches, said on his SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio show on Monday. “I think he’s got a good shot at winning a major. If he practices part-time and he is healthy enough to play 15 to 18 tournaments and is not on pain-killer medication and is able to move freely like he is now, I think he can win golf tournaments.� Woods has 79 TOUR victories, including 14 majors, and we all know these numbers by heart because they have been frozen in time. But could there be more? Tom Brady and Peyton Manning won Super Bowls at 39, Manning after having undergone cervical neck fusion. Jack Nicklaus won the Masters and Johnny Miller the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at 46, Miller after being chased into semi-retirement by the yips. “Handsome� Harry Gant was NASCAR’s oldest to take the checkered flag at 52, his left-turn signal no doubt blinking the whole way at the 1992 Champion Spark Plug 400. You think Woods has no chance? Consider: When he came back at least year’s Hero, his surgically repaired back still not quite surgically repaired (as we now know), he paced the field with 24 birdies. On Monday, news began trickling out of the Bahamas regarding his latest Hero-ics: Woods was outdriving his practice-round playing partner, Patrick Reed, by anywhere from 10-20 yards. Haney went on the air with praise for Woods’ latest swing, and Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee took to Twitter with similarly positive reviews. The pessimist in us says to give it up, seeing as how Woods has made just one PGA TOUR start in the last two years, and he hasn’t won since 2013. The optimist reminds that he won five times that year. And the heart says that it’s better to dream. Always. That might sound preposterous, but then so did the idea that Nolan Ryan would pitch his sixth ho-hitter at age 43, and Sam Snead would win the Greater Greensboro Open at Sedgefield Country Club for the eighth time at 52, and, well, you get the idea. Doug Ferguson of Sports Betting News points out that this marks the 10th time Woods has returned from layoffs of 10 weeks or longer. All but two of those layoffs have been injury-related—balky knee; ruptured Achilles; bad back—and not all of the comebacks have gone well. Last year, despite making all those birdies at the Hero, and shooting a second-round 65, Woods finished 22 shots behind the winner, Hideki Matsuyama. Of the 17 players who finished (Justin Rose withdrew), Woods beat only Russell Knox and Emiliano Grillo. Still, Woods had big plans for 2017. Then he missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open, shot an opening 77 and withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic a week later, pulled out of his next two scheduled starts, and had surgery in April. So here he comes again, and what are we to think? Should we decry our own stupidity for falling for this old ruse again? Nah. Today is a day to appeal to our better selves and remember that Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run at age 40, and Pablo Picasso painted “Guernica� at 55. To accept that Father Time is undefeated, yes, but to accept, too, that we all have something left to give, and the essence of life itself is finding out exactly what that is.

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LOS ANGELES - Sam Burns put on a show worthy of Hollywood, but reigning FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson sits poised in a log jam for second place heading to what promises to be a hard and fast weekend at The Genesis Invitational. Burns backed up his opening 64 with a 5-under 66 to set a tournament record 36-hole mark of 12 under at Riviera Country Club. It gave the 24-year-old former college standout a five-shot cushion over his four nearest competitors. Burns is rightfully confident his game can match it with anyone but if there is a player to fear at Riviera world No. 1 Johnson is likely the man. DJ is coming off a European Tour win a few weeks ago, but perhaps more threateningly has an incredible record at Riviera. Johnson won the tournament in 2017 and has nine top-10 finishes from his 13 appearances. And he has proven he can go low at the iconic course which stands to get tougher over the final two rounds. Johnson has more rounds of 66 or better than any player at this event over the last 14 years with 12 - a whopping seven more than the nearest competitors. He now has 211 birdies since 2008 at Riviera and is cumulatively 90-under. It's why DraftKings has Johnson at +250 to win the tournament, only slightly behind Burns at +225, despite the five-shot buffer. "I like my position. I’m five back, but on this golf course there’s only one guy in front of me," Johnson said. "I like where I’m at and I do like this golf course, and hopefully I can drive it a little bit better on the weekend and give myself a few more chances." Johnson leads the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (+7.267) despite being somewhat uncharacteristically wayward off the tee. He has hit just 10 of 28 fairways to rank 102nd in a 120-man field in driving accuracy. But a text from his coach Claude Harmon pointing out a slight adjustment needed on his takeaway has Johnson even more confident he can surge ahead on moving day. Johnson's biggest bugbear came in the form of par-5 scoring. He has made just one birdie on the three par 5s over the opening two rounds despite the three holes playing as the easiest on the property. It leaves him ranked T94 on those holes. Burns is 5-under on the same holes. "One under is not going to get the job done over the weekend (on those holes). Definitely need to take advantage of the par 5s the next couple days," Johnson said. "But other than that I feel like I’m swinging my irons really well, I’m rolling the putter nicely, so looking forward to the weekend." While Johnson will fight it out for the title, fellow big hitters Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas won't be around for the weekend after a tournament to forget. DeChambeau rebounded from his opening 75 with a 2-under 69 but was still two shots shy of further play while McIlroy (73-76) and Thomas (77-73) were well off the pace.

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