Aronimink will host pair of PGA Championships

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.

Click here to read the full article…

The PGA TOUR uses a standardized system for determining event fields, based off the current season’s Priority Ranking while also including additional exemption and qualifying categories. Field sizes can vary by event, as can the number of event-specific exemptions. Fully exempt PGA TOUR members are guaranteed entry into all full-field events, with various conditional categories subject to periodic reshuffles based upon FedExCup Points accrued throughout the season. Categories with ‘reshuffle’ notation indicate that a reshuffle period has occurred. How the field qualified for the WM Phoenix Open as of 2/4/2022: Check here for updates. Winner – PGA/U.S. Open Championship (five-year exemption) Brooks Koepka Jon Rahm Justin Thomas Jimmy Walker Gary Woodland Winner of THE PLAYERS Championship prior to 1996 Si Woo Kim Webb Simpson Winner of Masters Tournament (five-year exemption) Hideki Matsuyama Winner of The Open (five-year exemption) Francesco Molinari Jordan Spieth Winner of World Golf Championships event (three-year exemption) Abraham Ancer Billy Horschel Kevin Kisner Xander Schauffele Bubba Watson Winner of Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament and Genesis Invitational (three-year exemption) Patrick Cantlay Max Homa Adam Scott PGA TOUR tournament winner (two-year exemption) Daniel Berger Sam Burns Stewart Cink Corey Conners Joel Dahmen Cam Davis Tyler Duncan Harris English Tony Finau Rickie Fowler Dylan Frittelli Brian Gay Lucas Glover Talor Gooch Branden Grace Lanto Griffin Lucas Herbert Garrick Higgo Viktor Hovland Charles Howell III Matt Jones Sung Kang Patton Kizzire Matt Kuchar Martin Laird Andrew Landry Nate Lashley K.H. Lee Luke List Adam Long Graeme McDowell Keith Mitchell Sebastián Muñoz Carlos Ortiz C.T. Pan J.T. Poston Seamus Power Chez Reavie Robert Streb Hudson Swafford Nick Taylor Michael Thompson Brendon Todd Martin Trainer Kevin Tway Career Money Exemption Luke Donald Bill Haas Rory Sabbatini Nick Watney * Sponsor’s exemption (Korn Ferry Tour Finals) Sahith Theegala Sponsor’s exemption (members not otherwise exempt) Jason Dufner Sponsors Exemptions (Unrestricted) Austin Eckroat Patrick Rodgers Preston Summerhays PGA Section Champion\Player of the Year Craig Hocknull Top 125 on prior season’s FedExCup Louis Oosthuizen Scottie Scheffler Charley Hoffman Alex Noren Keegan Bradley Brian Harman Harold Varner III Aaron Wise Tom Hoge Russell Henley Maverick McNealy Emiliano Grillo Chris Kirk Kevin Streelman Harry Higgs Matt Fitzpatrick Troy Merritt Pat Perez Andrew Putnam Doug Ghim Brandon Hagy Peter Malnati Wyndham Clark Adam Schenk Kramer Hickok Brian Stuard Henrik Norlander Roger Sloan Brandt Snedeker Hank Lebioda Tyler McCumber Denny McCarthy Adam Hadwin Brendan Steele Sepp Straka James Hahn Zach Johnson Russell Knox Matt Wallace Sam Ryder Matthew NeSmith Scott Piercy Kyle Stanley Anirban Lahiri Brice Garnett Scott Stallings Chesson Hadley # Major medical extension Danny Lee Kevin Chappell Ryan Moore William McGirt Wesley Bryan Seung-Yul Noh Kelly Kraft Korn Ferry Tour Points winners (The 25 and The Finals 25) Stephan Jaeger Joseph Bramlett * = If all prior year Korn Ferry Tour graduates are eligible for event, exemptions become unrestricted # = Latest medical extension information can be found here. $ = Category breakdown can be found here.

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…