Aaron Wise takes three-shot lead at The Honda Classic

MAMARONECK, N.Y. - The memories are not great. Tiger Woods shot 76-76 and missed the cut by three at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, but his head wasn't really in it. "I think it was just - I was not prepared to play and still dealing with the death of my dad," he said Tuesday. At the 120th U.S. Open at Winged Foot this week the questions will be about Woods' body, not his mind. In '06, he was just six weeks removed from the death of his father Earl. RELATED: Tee times for Rds. 1 & 2 | Nine things to know about Winged Foot | Looking back at wild finish in 2006 "Yeah, when I didn’t win the Masters that year, that was really tough to take because that was the last event my dad was ever going to watch me play," Woods said. "He passed not too long after that, and quite frankly, when I got ready for this event, I didn’t really put in the time. I didn’t really put in the practice, and consequently missed the cut pretty easily." Woods went on to win the Open Championship later that summer, sobbing on the shoulder of his caddie, Steve Williams, on the 18th green. But at Winged Foot? A month earlier? No. It wasn't happening. He made six bogeys and a double in the first round, three bogeys and two doubles in the second. He was there but not there. Not really. A lot has changed since, starting with the fact that Woods, 44, made just seven official starts last season due to mobility issues with his surgically fused back. One of those, the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP last October, turned into his 82nd PGA TOUR victory, but there was precious little else for the highlight reel. Woods had only one other top-10 finish last season, a T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open. He did not feel well enough to play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, which like Torrey Pines is one of his favorite courses on TOUR. He also missed The Honda Classic, his hometown tournament, and elected to sit out THE PLAYERS Championship (cancelled after one round anyway because of the pandemic). And when he came back along with everyone else in June? Meh. He finished T37 at the PGA Championship, T58 at THE NORTHERN TRUST, and T51 at the BMW Championship. "This year I really haven’t putted as well as I wanted to," Woods said, "and the times I did make a few swing mistakes, I missed it in the wrong spots. Consequently, I just didn’t have the right looks at it. I’ve compounded mistakes here and there that ended up not making me able to make pars or a birdie run, and consequently I haven’t put myself in contention to win events." Now he comes to Winged Foot, a course he also played at the 1997 PGA Championship, making history, of sorts. Woods and Phil Mickelson were paired together for the first time as professionals in the final round. Each shot 75 in the rain, each finished T29. (Davis Love III won.) In terms of difficulty, Woods ranks Winged Foot alongside Oakmont in Pennsylvania and notoriously nasty Open Championship venue Carnoustie. "The winning scores here have never traditionally been very low," Woods said. (Hale Irwin won the 1974 U.S. Open at Winged Foot at 7 over par; Geoff Ogilvy was 5 over in 2006.) "I don’t see that changing this week." The Memorial Tournament and BMW Championship brought especially hard conditions, but the rough at Winged Foot is something else entirely. Most players have said it will be impossible to advance the ball from the long stuff. Gary Woodland said he was practicing his chipping, his caddie tossing him balls, when they lost one and couldn't find it for five minutes. Marshalls, Woodland added, are going to be invaluable. Tuesday brought chilly temperatures, with Patrick Cantlay donning a ski hat and Woods wearing rain paints for warmth. He played nine holes with Presidents Cup partner Justin Thomas (they're also together for the first two rounds, along with PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa) and 2019 U.S. Amateur runner-up John Augenstein of Kentucky. The weekend forecast is for even cooler weather. "The golf course is going to be hard," said Woods. "It depends on how difficult they want to set up these pins, give us a chance at it. But with the forecast, it’s going to be difficult no matter what."

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Last month, Justin Lower was emotional on the 18th green at Sedgefield Country Club after a final-round, 1-under 69 – including a three-putt bogey on the 72nd hole – saw him finish T36 at the Wyndham Championship. As a result, Lower, 33, was outside the top 125 on the FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List and headed back to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals for an opportunity to improve his PGA TOUR status for the 2022-23 season. Friday afternoon, however, Lower and five others learned they were moved inside the top 125 on the 2021-22 FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List, effective as of 1:15 p.m. ET, replacing six players. Matt Wallace, Austin Smotherman, Lower, Doc Redman, Danny Willett and Kelly Kraft now rank Nos. 120-125 on the FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List, respectively. These six players will earn fully exempt 2022-23 TOUR status and gain THE PLAYERS Championship access following Friday’s announcement. Six players who finished inside the top 125 have been removed from the 2021-22 FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List – Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Anirban Lahiri and Cameron Tringale. Lower, Redman and Kraft have been subsequently removed from the Korn Ferry Tour Finals Eligibility Points List (i.e. – The Finals 25), as they cannot better their TOUR status via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. These players will not count toward The Finals 25. Lower (ninth), Redman (16th) and Kraft (T32) all held points on the Finals Eligibility Points List entering this week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, the third and final tournament of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, as well as the 26th and final event of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season. Smotherman competed in the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron but missed the cut; Wallace and Willett did not compete in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. The top 25 players on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals Eligibility Points List at the conclusion of this week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance will earn 2022-23 PGA TOUR membership, and they will slot into the TOUR Priority Ranking in alternating fashion with the top 25 players from the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Eligibility Points List (i.e. – The 25). The final FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List for the 2021-22 season will not be finalized until 5 p.m. ET on September 9.

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KAPALUA, Hawaii – Collin Morikawa is chasing more than a sixth PGA TOUR victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions as the 24-year-old can become the second quickest player to reach world No. 1 at the Plantation Course. Morikawa needs a top three finish and some help from current No. 1 Jon Rahm to become just the 25th player to ascend to the top of the world since the Official World Golf Ranking was launched in 1986. In just his 62nd start as a professional Morikawa would be the second quickest player to get to the top, behind only Tiger Woods who took just 21 starts to make the move. Currently Jordan Spieth, with 77 starts, is the next best. If Morikawa, who opened with a 5-under 68 on Thursday to be three off the lead, wins in Maui he needs Rahm to be placed lower than a stand-alone runner-up. Rahm was just a shot out of Cameron Smith’s lead after an opening 66. Second place alone from Morikawa would be enough if Rahm placed lower than tied fifth with one other player while third alone would get the job done if Rahm placed lower than tied thirty-second with one other player in the 38-man field. “It’s been a dream my entire life to get to No.1 in the world, but it’s not just about getting to No. 1 it’s about sustaining that,” Morikawa said earlier this week. “And it’s not like that’s a peak… I get to No. 1 and I can go retire and relax on the beach, like there are still so many things that I’m going to keep pushing myself when that, if or when that does happen. “Having an opportunity here, it’s all in my control, all I can do is try and win the tournament and that’s all I’m going to focus on. But it’s a huge goal, it always has been and it means something that when you do get there it means you’re doing something right or at least a good amount of things right.” The Californian had the chance to claim top spot during the Hero World Challenge last month, taking a five-shot lead into the final round knowing a win would be enough. But he struggled on Sunday and surrendered the tournament to a surging Viktor Hovland. Morikawa would become just the fourth player to reach world No. 1 before turning 25, joining Woods, Rory McIlroy and Spieth. He turns 25 on Feb. 6, 2022. In 2021 Morikawa won the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession to join Woods as the only players to win a major and WGC before turning 25. He also claimed his second major at The Open Championship and was the victor at the DP World Tour Championship to take the season long Race to Dubai title.

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