Brandon Matthews honeymooning, contending at Sanderson Farms

With one more win, Tiger Woods will tie Sam Snead for most career PGA TOUR victories at 82. Each time Tiger tees it up, we’ll take a look at his chances for that particular week. Here’s a CHASING 82 preview entering this week’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush. RECENT FORM Difficult to say what his form is, given the fact that his last competitive start was the U.S. Open. From that final round to Thursday’s first round at Royal Portrush, 32 days will have passed. And in the 95 days since winning the Masters in mid-April, he has played just 10 competitive rounds – a missed cut at the PGA Championship, a T-9 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, and a T-21 at the U.S. Open. NBA players could learn a lesson from Woods about load management. But that’s not to say Woods has avoided preparing for the Open. Earlier this month, Nike posted a video in which Woods discusses waking up at 1 a.m. ET in order to prep for the time change for the Open, which is five hours ahead. “If you want to succeed, if you want to get better, if you want to win, if you want to accomplish your goals, it all starts with getting up early in the morning,â€� Woods explained in the video. Although Woods has never played a competitive event in Northern Ireland, he has played practice rounds there while prepping for previous Opens. But this will be the first time he’s seen Royal Portrush. “I’ve only played (Royal) County Down, I’ve never been up to Portrush and I’m looking forward to getting up there and taking a look at the golf course and trying to figure it out,” Woods said. “I’ll get there early and do a little bit of homework – see if the golf course is going to be dry, fast or not. “Hopefully I’ll get practice rounds with different winds to try and get a feel for the golf course.â€� TOURNAMENT HISTORY Woods is making his 21st start in the Open Championship and has won three times: 2000 – At St. Andrews, Woods won with a final score of 19 under, eight strokes ahead of Thomas Bjorn and Ernie Els. The 19 under was the lowest score, in relation to par, of any major winner (eventually surpassed by Jason Day at 21 under at the 2015 PGA Championship). Woods’ win also completed the career Grand Slam. “It may be years before I fully appreciate it, but I’m inclined to believe that winning the Open at the Home of Golf is the ultimate achievement in the sport,â€� Woods said. 2005 – At St. Andrews, Woods won by five strokes over Colin Montgomerie, leading wire to wire. It was the 10th major win of his career. “When I first started playing the Tour, I didn’t think I’d have this many majors before the age of 30,â€� said the then-29-year-old Woods. “ There’s no way. No one ever has.â€�  2006 – At Royal Liverpool, Woods won by two strokes over Chris DiMarco, an emotional victory as it was his first major win after the death of his father Earl two months earlier. “To win your first tournament after my father had passed away, and for it to be a major championship, it makes it that much more special,â€� Woods said. “And mom was watching, I’m sure she was bawling her eyes out.â€� It was the first time a player had won consecutive Opens since Tom Watson in 1982-83. Since his last win, Woods’ best finish was a T-3 at Royal Lytham in 2012. Last year at Carnoustie, he was in contention midway through the final round until a double bogey-bogey stretch on his back nine, eventually finishing T-6. TEE TIMES Tee times for the Open can be found here.

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LOS ANGELES - Officials were forced to suspend play early in the third round of The Genesis Invitational after high winds saw marked balls rolling off most of the greens Saturday morning. The last time play was suspended for high winds on the PGA TOUR was the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews. The last non-major stoppage for wind was the 2014 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. All but the final group of Sam Burns, Tyler McCumber and Jason Kokrak had begun their Saturday before a decision was reached to halt proceedings as gusts hit near 30mph - an untenable situation given the hard and fast nature of Riviera Country Club's greens. "Absolutely the right thing to do here, these greens pretty much are unplayable right now with this kind of wind," International Presidents Cup captain Trevor Immelman reported on Golf Channel. Officials expect the next announcement on the possibility of a resumption to come at 11:30 a.m. local time. In the meantime, the agronomy staff are watering the putting surfaces trying to stimulate a little growth to slow them down a fraction. Burns remains the leader after his record 12-under 130 over the first two rounds gave him a five-shot overnight buffer. However moments before the suspension, Max Homa pulled within four thanks to a near albatross on the par-5 1st hole. Homa's approach shot rode the high winds expertly before finishing mere inches from the cup, allowing a tap in eagle to move him to 8 under as the horn blew in the distance. Birdies on the first by Jordan Spieth and Wyndham Clark moved them to 7 under to join McCumber, Kokrak, Joaquin Niemann and reigning FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson in third place. Johnson will resume his round with a 16-foot eagle try from the fringe of the first green. Yesterday the current world No. 1 pinpointed the par-5s as his window to claw back at Burns' lead having only made one birdie on six attempts in the opening two rounds. He is yet to birdie the opening hole despite it playing as the easiest of the week but should rectify that on resumption. "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 Friday night. "I like my position. I’m five back, but on this golf course there’s only one guy in front of me."

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