Back in action at Torrey, Tiger showed flashes

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Phil Mickelson’s favorite Augusta memory — other than the three times he’s won the Masters — took place on a week that was not Masters week. In fact, it barely even involved golf. The moment came during a trip to Augusta prior to the 2017 Masters. “Every year, I go back there and I’ll play for a couple of days to get ready before the tournament week,â€� Mickelson said. “I’ll get a group of guys — sometimes it’s Tour pros, sometimes it’s members of the club, sometimes it’s a mixture. But before one Masters a couple years ago, I went with Jimmy Dunne and Tom Brady. And we all went and worked out in the morning and Brady said, ‘Hey listen, I’ve got to go throw to [Patriots receiver Julian] Edelman next week. I always like to throw a little bit and keep my arm sharp. Do you mind catching a few passes?’â€� The odds of Mickelson saying no – well, he wasn’t going to say no. He grew up a massive fan of the San Diego Chargers, his hometown team, and follows the NFL closely. He was once part of a group that bet the Baltimore Ravens to win the Super Bowl prior to the 2001 season. (Yep, it happened.) And now he was being asked to work out with future Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Brady, with whom he will take on Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning in Capital One’s “The Match: Champions for Charityâ€� at Florida’s Medalist Golf Club this coming Sunday. “So I’m like, ‘Hell yeah. Let’s do this,’â€� Mickelson continued. “It’s 7:20 in the morning and half dark out, he’s throwing these passes to me and I’ve never seen a football come in this hard. I’ve played catch with some guys with good arms and stuff, but this ball is whistling at me and I’m only catching the last half of it. He’s just throwing, just working on it, but he’s got such ground force with his feet and his shoulder and the ball just comes in 25 yards away and there’s just no drop. “We were down to the left of the 10th hole in the cottages over there where there’s a little gym by the cabins. He’s throwing these things in here at me and I’ve got my fingers bent because I don’t want them to hyperextend. I’m making sure the ball doesn’t hit my palms, because it’ll just bounce off. “I’m really focused,â€� Mickelson went on. “Those balls were hard to catch. There were three times the ball hit my palm and all three times I had a nerve shot right through my arm all the way throughout my body from these passes. And yet, it’s one of my favorite moments, because who gets to catch passes from the freaking greatest quarterback of all time? It had an impact on me, because I didn’t realize how hard those balls are coming in and how good those receivers are to catch those things. “I actually really liked the challenge of it. I just would have liked to do it in daylight when I could see the whole flight of the ball a little bit better.â€�

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South Florida native T.J. Vogel was the medalist in Monday’s qualifier for The Honda Classic. Vogel, who was born in Pembroke Pines, shot 64 at Mayacoo Lakes Country Club to qualify for his second event of the season. Andrew Novak and PGA TOUR rookie Nate Lashley shot 65 to earn their starts in The Honda, while Jhared Hack grabbed the final spot in a playoff. Vogel and Novak both qualified for this season’s The RSM Classic, as well. Both missed the cut. Vogel, 27, finished 10th on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada Order of Merit last year. As an amateur, he won the 2012 U.S. Amateur Public Links and attended American Heritage High School in Plantation, about an hour from PGA National. Lashley, 35, is 166th in this season’s FedExCup standings, making the cut in three of nine starts. He earned his first PGA TOUR card by finishing 11th on the Web.com Tour’s Regular Season money list in 2017, winning the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship. He won three times on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica in 2016 to win the money list. Novak, 22, turned pro last year out of Wofford College. He started his career on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, making the cut in five of 11 starts. He shot 71-73 in his PGA TOUR debut at The RSM Classic. Last year, Hack finished 18th on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada’s Order of Merit. He had two third-place finishes in 12 starts. Hack, 28, has made one of four cuts on the Web.com Tour this year. The Florida native won the 2007 Western Amateur as a 17-year-old. Hack beat Ben Polland and Web.com Tour player Adam Svensson in a playoff Tuesday morning. Svensson is No. 2 on the Web.com Tour money list after winning The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club. He was the medalist in the 2015 Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament at PGA National.  

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