A closer look at Tiger and Phil before Sunday’s charity match

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Zach Johnson had to delay his arrival to Hawaii due to the flu and with things being so uncomfortable he spent six days straight over the new year unable to leave his house. A planned trip to the Big Island for his family was canceled with the 12-time PGA TOUR winner instead coming straight to Oahu, later than expected. Even then he really wasn’t ready. So his opening round 7-under 63 in the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club to share the top spot after Round 1 came somewhat as a surprise. “I was not right getting on the plane to come here. I am one that likes to prepare,â€� Johnson said. “I got here Friday, and I touched a golf club Saturday through Wednesday. Saturday was awful. It was about a three-hour session. It was at least two hours too many because I was not right. “My legs were shot and my back hurt.â€� Things progressed for Johnson with some normality returning on Wednesday but he still tempered his expectations in a course he’s had great success. Johnson won the Sony Open in 2009 and has been inside the top 10 three of the last four years at Waialae. “Probably (unexpected) more than expected,â€� he said of his start. “But I’ve had many weeks where I’m rested from a mental standpoint, certainly a physical standpoint, where I play great. “I remember a couple of times I’ve had a couple ski trips and I come back the next week, didn’t even touch a club, and I start preparing on the golf course, and I play great. I don’t necessarily win, but I play great. I know it can happen.â€� Johnson’s last win was the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews but his fall showed a 13th win might not be far off. In three starts he finished no lower that 23rd leaving him currently 45th in the FedExCup. CALL OF THE DAY OBSERVATIONS KIRK EYES PUTTING REDEMPTION: Four-time PGA TOUR winner Chris Kirk has rid himself of some lazy behavior as he eyes a return to his best golf. And it might be working as he opened the Sony Open with a 7-under 63 to share the lead. Kirk has pinpointed his putting as the biggest key if he is to return to his winning ways with the last of his four wins coming at the 2015 DEAN & DELUCA at Colonial. His T4 finish at Sea Island last November was his first top five PGA TOUR finish since being runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October 2016. Last season Kirk played well in the fall, with three top 10s, before failing to do so again. It added up to a 92nd-place finish in the FedExCup. “The real reason I didn’t play well last year is I’ve had my worst putting year I had since I’ve been on TOUR,â€� he said bluntly after being ranked 125th in Strokes Gained: Putting. “I actually hit it fine, but I’m not somebody that’s going to overpower a golf course ever. My game is hit fairways, hit irons close, and make some putts. To have a year like that where I really struggled putting made it very difficult mentally and difficult in every possible way that it could.â€� As such Kirk has reverted to using the putting drills that helped him at his best a few years ago, forcing himself to do them post round regardless of his scores. He ranked 17th in the field in the opening round. “I had a great day today, and I’m about to go do it. It takes about 5 or 10 minutes. It’s laziness, I guess, not doing it consistently over the last couple of years,â€� he said. “I’m hoping that will stay consistent this year, and if I putt consistently well, then I think I’ll have a good year.â€� HARMAN ALONG: Brian Harman kept his Hawaii vibes going after putting himself in contention again this week. A week after finishing runner-up behind Dustin Johnson’s exploits at the Sentry Tournament of Champions Harman notched an opening round 6-under 64 to share third place just one shot off the lead at Waialae. “I don’t feel like I’m doing anything heroic or special,â€� Harman said. “I’ve been working pretty hard. My tee shots, I feel like I’ve kind of tightened up just a little bit. I think I only missed three, four greens maybe, which is pretty tough to do around here.â€� KISNER PAYS OFF DEBT: Kevin Kisner cannot be accused of failing to deliver on his bets after the Georgia alum adorned an Alabama jersey on the 17th hole at Waialae Thursday. Kisner, a very proud Bulldog, lost his bet with Justin Thomas, a Crimson Tide alum, over the result of the National Championship football game this week. As such Kisner threw on the jersey as they walked from tee to green on the par-3, a hole he bogeyed. “I’m blaming that bogey on him. I would have never hit that bad of a shot if I wasn’t thinking about that ‘Bama jersey,â€� Kisner laughed. “No, it’s all in good fun. We’re going to do a lot of good with that and raise a bunch of money. We’re going to raffle it off through my foundation, sell a bunch of raffle tickets, pick out a winner, and then give that money back to the children in our community. Justin is good enough to let me do it, and I’ll get him back in the future.â€� NOTABLES Justin Thomas – The defending champion and FedExCup winner shot a respectable 3-under 67 to be tied 20th, eight shots worse than his opening 59 a year ago. Jordan Spieth – The former FedExCup champion and world No. 2 torpedoed a great round with a quadruple-bogey 8 on his penultimate hole. He settled for a 1-under 69 to share 65th. Charles Howell III – Posted a 3-under 67, his 16th consecutive round in the 60s at the Sony Open in Hawaii and 24th out of the last 25. He owns nine top-10 finishes in 16 starts at the Sony Open in Hawaii (T8-2017, T8-2014, T3-2013, T2-2012, T5-2010, 4-2009, T2-2007, T3-2005, T4-2002). J.J. Henry – In his 500th start on the PGA TOUR Henry shot a 3-over 73. Jimmy Walker – The two-time Sony Open winner – who continues his climb back from Lyme disease – struggled to a 4-over 74. QUOTABLES I had a double from a fairway bunker, and I was in it and thought about it, and it was the first fairway bunker shot I’ve had in like two months.It’s Hawaii. How could I not be enjoying a beautiful walk with my incredible caddie and family and friends out here.It helps when you make a bunker shot and make a couple long ones.I didn’t play or practice a ton when I was at home, and when I did, you’re usually wearing a jacket or a sweater. So how your swing feels in 50 degrees or 45 degrees versus how it’s going to feel in 80-some degrees here, is very different.It’s definitely the best ‘Kis’ has ever looked in a jersey. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 7-under 63 – Chris Kirk and Zach Johnson each had seven birdies without any bogeys. Longest drive: 382-yards – Harold Varner III drilled his tee shot on the par-4 first hole. He was unable to find the green on approach though and settled for a par. Longest putt: 51 feet, three inches – Nicholas Lindheim made birdie on the par-4 10th, his opening hole. He made 148 feet, nine inches worth in his round. Easiest hole: The par-5 18th played at almost a shot under par at 4.236 with eight eagles, 94 birdies and nothing over par. Hardest hole: The par-3 11th played at 3.292 with just six birdies and 48 bogeys.

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The Genesis Scottish Open celebrates its 50th anniversary with a new chapter in the tournament’s history. The national open for the birthplace of the royal and ancient game is making its debut as a co-sanctioned event on both the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour. Fourteen of the top 15 players in the world are scheduled to compete at The Renaissance Club in one of the strongest fields of the year. To prepare you for this historic week, here are 5 Things to Know about the venue for the Genesis Scottish Open, The Renaissance Club in North Berwick. It was designed by an American but fits in among its historic neighbors in the golf-rich East Lothian region of Scotland. 1. MODERN LOOK, HISTORIC SETTING It was in 1744 that the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers established 13 rules for the game of golf. That was three decades before the United States declared independence from Great Britain. The Honourable Company found a permanent home at Muirfield in 1891. Muirfield, which remains part of The Open rota, borders The Renaissance Club, which is a modern venue in this historic setting. It was not a group of 18th-century Scotsmen who founded The Renaissance Club, but instead a group of Americans in the 20th century. The Sarvadi family was in Pinehurst, North Carolina, two decades ago when an associate asked if they’d be interested in building a course in Scotland. That associate was Don Lewis, whose father-in-law, Pandel Savic, was one of the co-founders of Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village (a course that Nicklaus named after Scotland’s Muirfield, the setting of his first triumph in The Open). Jerry Sarvadi, who made his fortune in aviation fuel, took the lead among the nine siblings. He was invited to play Muirfield shortly before the 2002 Open Championship and loved what he saw in the neighboring property. He met with trustees from the proposed site of the new course, which was owned by the Duke of Hamilton, and after multiple trips to Scotland, signed a 99-year lease in 2005. The Sarvadis added another American to the fold, hiring Tom Doak to design the course. Doak hails from Michigan but has plenty of experience working with the firm seaside turf that’s best suited for links courses, most notably at Oregon’s Bandon Dunes Resort, where he built Pacific Dunes. That course, ranked 18th in Golf Digest’s list of top courses in the United States, opened in 2001. Doak, one of today’s most prominent architects, is known for using short grass, dramatic slopes and firm conditions to create a challenge, much like Augusta National’s architect, Alister Mackenzie, about whom Doak wrote a book. Doak’s other top 100 designs include Sebonack Golf Club in New York, Colorado’s Ballyneal, the Old Macdonald course at Bandon Dunes and Montana’s Rock Creek Cattle Company. “Our intent was always to create a course that feels like it belongs on that site and on the coast of East Lothian,” said Doak, a scholar of global golf architecture who spent his first year out of college caddying at St. Andrews and studying the great courses of the U.K., just as his mentor, Pete Dye, had done. The result at The Renaissance Club is not an American-influenced course in Scotland, but a tribute to Scottish golf that was created by Americans. 2. THE MUIRFIELD TRADE While trees are mostly absent from Scottish courses, The Renaissance Club was built on a site that featured 300 acres of pine trees and needed 8,500 tons of wood cleared. According to Sarvadi, the property’s unusual treeline was the result of Britain’s Forestry Commission planting large stands of pine and sycamore after World War II. When the team from The Renaissance Club pulled out tree stumps, they found pure sand beneath the trees. Upon opening, Sarvadi and Doak kept a chunk of trees on the property. These well-placed pines exert their influence on some tee shots and approach shots. Many of them were still present when the Scottish Open arrived in 2019, but a batch of trees were stripped from the land before the 2020 event, altering the aesthetics of the track. The trees actually proved to be an important trade asset for The Renaissance Club, as they also served to shroud neighboring Muirfield. “Muirfield owned all the dunes to the north of the course,” Doak recalls. “But The Renaissance Club owned the woods right up to the wall at the eighth green of Muirfield, so to protect that boundary … the (Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers) offered to trade a bit of their land in the dunes, which we happily accepted.” Doak told The Fried Egg podcast last year that “for all Muirfield knew, we’d knock down all the trees and build a hole right there and wave at the members of Muirfield.” Doak says Sarvadi and the team never planned on doing this, but nonetheless, the leverage was useful. Along with establishing a defined buffer, Muirfield used some of its acquired land to move around the ninth tee box during the 2013 Open Championship. Meanwhile, The Renaissance Club applied to extend its course into the newly-acquired dunes, a process that took approximately five years. When given the green light, Doak was brought back in to make three new holes directly on the coast. Those holes are Nos. 9, 10 and 11 on a normal day and Nos. 12, 13 and 14 for the Scottish Open. 3. PATH TO THE COAST Starting with the 10th hole, a short par-5 that is the seventh hole for everyday play, viewers this week will watch as the course marches out toward the Firth of Forth. The next hole is a long par-4 that can be stretched to 510 yards and sometimes plays into the wind. Then comes The Renaissance Club’s signature stretch along the dunes. “The prettiest view on the course is when you walk up onto the 12th and the lighthouse on Fidra (an uninhabited island in the Firth of Forth) comes into view after you couldn’t quite see it from the tee,” Doak said. “Then the next hole plays right along cliffs with a secluded beach to the left. And then at the 14th, you turn around and play back toward Arthur’s Seat (an ancient volcano) in Edinburgh around the curve of the shoreline.” Nos. 12 and 14 for the Genesis Scottish Open are par 3s, while No. 13 is par 4. It’s a beautiful stretch for players making the turn on a normal day, but the routing is altered for the Genesis Scottish Open to avoid shuttling players to the far side of the course for a 10th-tee start. The tournament uses the regular routing’s first six holes before closing out the front nine with what the members play as Nos. 16, 14 and 15. The tournament’s back nine starts on the members’ seventh hole. Nos. 7-13 are the opening of the back nine for the Genesis Scottish Open before the layout concludes with the same two holes that the members finish on. This routing may lead to some longer walks between holes, but it does keep half the field from starting with the treacherous tee shot along the cliffs on No. 13 (No. 10 on the normal layout). 4. HARRINGTON’S HELP While The Renaissance Club has a uniquely American history for a Scottish course, it recently enlisted a links legend to improve it for tournament play. Padraig Harrington, who’s twice hoisted the Claret Jug, was brought on as a player consultant shortly before last year’s Genesis Scottish Open. “From the beginning, the goal for The Renaissance Club was to host big events, but that was back in 2005, and the best players just keep getting better,” Doak said at the time. Harrington, who also served as the European captain in last year’s Ryder Cup, noted that his job would be to both pass along his own ideas to Doak while also gathering feedback from the top professionals in the world. “Padraig has been great, both as a sounding board for my ideas on changes and as a source of ideas himself,” Doak says. “I was always taught not to take the driver out of players’ hands, but it’s a new era, and he has underscored that we needed to tighten the landing areas of the longer holes or the game is too easy for these guys. Sometimes it’s an added bunker (to the right of the first) and sometimes just some added contour so they’ll have to hit from an awkward lie if they bail away to the safe side of the fairway. Most of all, though, Padraig has been steady in saying the course is a good test and we don’t want to overreact to the low scores just as players are starting to come around to it.” The winning score in the three Genesis Scottish Opens at The Renaissance Club has been 22, 11 and 18 under par. Soft and calm conditions are a big reason for that. “In particular, we are looking to strengthen the par-5 holes, where a lot of the red numbers come from,” Doak said. “But we have been going slowly with changes because the truth is that over 12 rounds, the pros have yet to see the course with firm conditions and the normally strong winds from the west. You have to design a links course to be playable in strong winds, but if it rains just before the tournament every year, they’re going to keep shooting low scores.” Harrington, who also has twice won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews, arrives at this year’s Genesis Scottish Open on the heels of his win at the U.S. Senior Open. He’ll also be in the field at St. Andrews as a past Open champion. 5. WAITING FOR WIND A lack of wind is one reason for the low scores thus far at The Renaissance Club. Courses built along the Scottish coast have to be designed with the wind in mind, but Scottish Open competitors have yet to see the course in the most difficult conditions. “It’s designed around windy conditions and so far, the Scottish Open weeks have been unusually calm, apart from one very nasty round in 2020,” Doak said. It’s also worth noting that the 2020 Genesis Scottish Open was played in October because of the COVID-19 pandemic. If the expected wind hits this week, The Renaissance Club should play to its full challenging potential. “The windier and firmer it is, the more ball-striking plays a premium,” Doak says. “If it’s soft, it becomes more of a putting contest, and that’s not what the best players want to see. There are a few greens with some really tricky short-game shots – the back pin on the 18th is one, but more of them are on the front nine, as well as the shots around the 10th and 11th greens.”

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SAN DIEGO –  This year, the Rules of Golf, not his surgically-repaired back, are the biggest source of uncertainty for Tiger Woods. That shows how far he’s come in the past 12 months. When he arrived at last year’s Farmers Insurance Open, he didn’t know if he’d make it to the Florida Swing. He wasn’t accustomed to hitting out of the thick rough found at PGA TOUR tournaments. Woods isn’t one for moral victories, but he was proud of his 23rd-place finish here last year. Yes, it was four months ago, but Woods is coming off a win in his previous official start. “I know what I can do, I know what I’m feeling, so now it’s about finishing a little bit better and winning some events this year,â€� he said. Woods described the new knee-high drops as “really weird.â€� He hopes, of course, that he won’t have to make many of them. And, like most players, he will leave the flagstick in the hole in select situations. “It might be more advantageous when we get on faster greens, a little bit more slope, i.e., Augusta, (to) have that sense of security on a 3-, 4-footer down the hill. You can just take a cut at it,â€� Woods said. “But here the greens are going to be a little bit bouncy, a little bit bumpy, so who knows.â€� Not that he’s had any problem with the poa annua greens on the California coast. Torrey Pines has played an outsized role in his career. Ten percent of his 80 PGA TOUR wins have come at the course. He was undefeated here over a four-year span from 2005-08, winning this tournament four times, as well as the U.S. Open. He’s 170 under par in 17 starts at the Farmers Insurance Open. He’s won trophies at Torrey Pines since his junior days and attended his first PGA TOUR event here. Woods will tackle the South Course first, teeing off at 10:40 a.m. off No. 1. He’s paired with FedExCup leader Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau. It’s the first time Woods has played with either player. They know what to expect, though. “It’s going to be a little bit bigger of a zoo than I’m used to, but I … just sort of block it all out,â€� Schauffele said. “I’ve already prepped with my caddie when Tiger taps in, people will be running around just to get as close to him on the next tee shot.â€� A win here would pull Woods within one of Sam Snead on the all-time wins list. “It’s cool to see him back,â€� said defending champion Jason Day. “It’s just interesting to see how he’ll go this year because obviously last year you’re just trying to build and build and build. … Is he going to come back out and start saying that he’s competing and playing and, ‘I’m going to win every week,’ because that’s kind of the old Tiger that I knew.â€� As expected, Woods used the offseason to get stronger. He was worn out at the end of last season, after his success caused his schedule to quickly fill up with big events. “My legs are where they need to be, which they weren’t at the end of the season,â€� he said. He also reflected on his win at the TOUR Championship. He said the replay “gives me chills almost every time I see it.â€� Because it came at the end of the season, Woods was able to reflect on this victory more than any other in his professional career. “I got a chance to be around my friends and my family, to hear some of the stories of how nervous they were and how emotional they were,â€� he said. “That was touching to me because I didn’t really expect that because I’m inside the ropes. I know what it took for me, but I didn’t know it would have affected anyone else like that.â€� His pursuit of another PGA TOUR title resumes this week on familiar territory.

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