Collin Morikawa pulls away for six-shot lead at Sentry Tournament of Champions

John Daly has been diagnosed with bladder cancer. The five-time PGA TOUR winner told the Golf Channel he was seeing a urologist about kidney stones when it was revealed that although the stones had dissolved, he had cancer. Daly, 54, said he had undergone a procedure to remove the cancer, and was hopeful and upbeat about treatment and recovery despite a strong likelihood of relapse. “He said there’s an 85 percent chance it comes back," Daly said. "So I’ve got to go back and see him in three months. They will probably have to cut it out again. It’s probably going to come back, and then another three months that you don’t know. You just don’t know. Luckily for me they caught it early, but bladder cancer is something that I don’t know all the details. But it doesn’t look like it may go away. We will just see what happens. Maybe there’s a miracle.” Daly has been struggling with back pain, as well, which combined with the kidney stones has limited his PGA TOUR Champions starts. He is in the field for this week's PGA TOUR Champions event, the Sanford International at Minnehana Country Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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Tiger Woods carded an opening-round even-par 70 at The Honda Classic. He trailed by three shots when he finished his round after a difficult and windy morning at PGA National. Rd. 1: Tiger Woods hole-by-hole No. 10 (par 4, 505 yards): Drive barely misses the right edge of the fairway and settled down in the first cut of rough. Second shot runs just over the green into the first cut of rough. Chipped to 1 foot, tapped in par putt. Score: Even par. No. 11 (par 4, 450 yards): Tee shot into right intermediate rough, but 151-yard approach settles to 19 feet, 6 inches. He drains the birdie putt. Score: 1-under par. No. 12 (par 4, 438 yards): Tee shot misses slight left this time, ball settling into the rough. Moves his second shot 190 yards up the fairway, and chips to three feet, five inches before making the putt to save par. Score: 1-under par. No. 13  (par 4, 388 yards): Hits 292-yard tee shot into the fairway, from where his 93-yard approach settles to five feet, three inches from the pin. He birdies again to get to -2, a solid and surprising start for a guy who missed the cut by a mile at the Genesis Open last week. Score: 2-under par. No. 14 (par 4, 465 yards): Woods belts a driver 316 yards into the left fairway, but his 161-yard approach misses the green to the right. He chips up to four feet, 10 inches and drains the par putt to remain -2. Score: 2-under par. No. 15 (par 3, 179 yards): With the tees moved up about 20 yards this morning, Tiger’s first shot goes 158 yards and settles 18 feet, six inches away from the pin. Routine two-putt par to remain at -2, among the leaders. Score: 2-under par. No. 16 (par 4, 434 yards): Throttles back a bit with the tee shot, a 267-yard shot that finds the left fairway. Alas, approach shot flies 171 yards and lands in left greenside bunker. Splashes out and watches ball roll eight feet, five inches past the pin, then misses right-to-left curling par try. Bogey drops him back to -1 and out of the lead. Score: 1-under par. No. 17 (par 3, 190 yards): With the tees back a bit today, hits 200-yard first shot straight at the stick but watches ball bound into the rough, just barely left of the fringe. He’s short-sided himself, but a deft chip leaves him just five inches left for the par save. Remains at -1. Score: 1-under par. No. 18 (par 5, 545 yards): The breeze is up, so it doesn’t seem like a go-for-it type of morning. Woods hits the driver and finds the fairway. From roughly 300 yards out, there will be no going for the green in two. Long iron lay-up also finds the fairway, but 98-yard pitch shot is way short, barely making it to the green and leaving him a 40-footer for birdie. Two-putt par means he’ll make the turn at 1-under. Very solid start. Score: 1-under par. No. 1 (par 4, 373 yards): Hits long iron 236 yards down the fairway, but bails out away from the water with his 136-yard approach shot, leaving himself a tough two-putt of 41 feet, five inches. Lag putt comes up just under four feet short, and with the wind whipping at his pant legs, Woods drains the par putt to stay at -1. Tough conditions out there. Score: 1-under par. No. 2 (par 4, 441 yards): Woods tugs iron off the tee, ball veering off into left intermediate rough. Still able to get enough on 159-yard approach shot, though, and watches ball stop 25 feet, two inches short of the pin. Birdie try also short, but easy two-putt pars are good in the breezy conditions. Score: 1-under par. No. 3 (par-5, 533 yards): Woods loses his driver right, his ball finding the fairway bunker, from which it will be impossible to reach the green in two. Extricates himself nicely, leaving himself 150-yard approach from the fairway into a stiff breeze. Attempts to play a knockdown shot but hooks his third into left greenside bunker. Fourth shot clears the sand but settles into rough short of green, leaving him 13 feet, nine inches from the pin for par. Bellied wedge comes up three and a half feet short for par, and he blasts his bogey putt five and a half feet past the pin. Makes that one for a double to go from -1 to +1. Score: 1-over par. Leaderboard update: Woods double-bogey 7 at the par-5 third hole sends him spiraling down the board to T24 (+1). FedExCup champ Justin Thomas is in the lead at -4 on a very windy day at PGA National. No. 4 (par 4, 392 yards): Hole is playing downwind today, and Woods strafes an iron 292 yards down the fairway. Hits sand wedge for 99-yard second shot and knocks it to six feet, six inches right of the flagstick. Trying to bounce back after messy double at the previous hole, he rolls in the bounce-back birdie to get back to even. Score: Even par. No. 5 (par 3, 208 yards): Tough hole with water left. Tee shot misses slightly right and short, but catches portion of the green, leaving himself 52 feet, nine inches away. Lags his first putt to four feet, four inches and makes the par to remain even. Tied for 12th at the moment, four off the lead. Score: Even par. No. 6 (par 4, 437 yards): At one of the toughest holes on the course, hits driver way right and laughs. From not a great lie in the right rough, 184 yards away, he aims at the water left and, planning a cut. Takes a wicked cut at the ball, which goes over the trees and winds up in the sand trap between the green and the water. Tremendous shot. Splashes out to within inches for an amazing tap-in par to remain even. Score: Even par. No. 7 (par 3, 232 yards): Woods loves the tee shot, which is straight at the stick, but as Justin Thomas before him learned it’s impossible to stop the ball downwind like this. Ball trundles into rough behind green, and Woods chips up to 3 feet, 10 inches and makes the putt for par. Remains even par, a very good score on a blustery day. Score: Even par. Leaderboard update: With Justin Thomas bogey in the group ahead of him, Woods at even par is just three off the pace. He’s also looking at a birdie putt of just under 14 feet at the par-4 eighth hole. No. 8 (par 4, 428 yards): Splits the fairway with a 3-wood, leaving a 167-yard approach shot that bounds up onto the green. Sizes up a birdie putt of 13 feet, nine inches, settles himself over the ball and tugs it just slightly, settling for a par to remain at even par with one hole remaining. Solid day so far, just three back in tough, blustery conditions that have gotten the better of many. Score: Even par.  No. 9 (par 4, 429 yards): Playing his last hole of the day dead into the wind, Tiger hits 3-wood off the tee 266 yards, the ball finishing just slightly right of the fairway, in the first cut. From 178 yards, approach is dead at the flagstick and comes up 20 feet, seven inches short. Woods gets set over the birdie try and charges the putt well past the hole. He’s still got a ticklish four-footer for par, which he makes, the ball curling all around the hole and dropping. He will sign for an even-par 70. With the best score of the morning wave just 67, by Daniel Berger, Morgan Hoffmann and Justin Thomas, and the field averaging some two and a half shots over par, a very encouraging start for Tiger Woods. Score: Even par.

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It would be easy to assume PGA TOUR players are always using the latest and greatest gear. It makes sense since equipment manufacturers are theoretically updating, elevating, and pushing the limits of technology year-in and year-out. And, of course, the OEMs want their staffers to use the latest equipment lines. However, every now and then, there are clubs that just refuse to go away. Call it superstition, bad habit, nostalgia, or anything in between. Below are five clubs out on TOUR that simply refuse to take a knee and retire. Putters are exempt here (hence the exclusion of Tiger Woods' "Elder Wand" Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS). Kevin Na's Callaway Great Big Bertha Epic Driver Granted, he’s not the only player on this list playing an older driver (defined as something four-plus years old), but Kevin Na's reluctance to switch is still something to notice. It's not necessarily a crime to keep something that works, but with all the progression Callaway has made since 2017, it's hard to fathom that the guy couldn't have picked up an extra 10 yards with a newer driver. Can't blame Na for being loyal — and winning doesn't help the case for a change either. Na's win at the recent Sony Open in Hawaii has given him wins in each of the last four seasons. Specs Driver: Callaway GBB Epic (9 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD GP 6 TX Tony Finau's and Brooks Koepka's Nike Vapor Pro 3-irons This is the one that still fascinates gearheads. Why do two of the best players in the world continue to stubbornly put this 3-iron back in the bag over and over again? Over the past 4-5 years, it has been benched a couple of times by both Finau and Koepka but like clockwork, both players had it in play last week at The American Express. WRX asked former Nike Tour Technician Ben Giunta for insight. "Players have positive vibes with that model," he said. "It doesn't have a ton of offset. It's consistent. It fits their eyes, and it is really hot." Hard to argue with that reasoning. Specs Brooks Koepka Nike Vapor Fly Pro (3-iron) Shaft: Fujikura Pro 95 Tour Spec X-Flex Tony Finau Nike Vapor Fly Pro (3-iron) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid 105 X Fred Couples' Callaway FT-i Squareway 3-wood "I haven't found anything I hit better." That's what Fred Couples told GolfWRX's Johnny Wunder on The Gear Dive Podcast back in 2019. The story of how Couples stuck this in his bag is perhaps one of the most Freddie Couples stories ever. The story goes that Freddie was on the range at the 2008 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic at SilverRock. The Harrison rep at the time was testing shafts with Fred and one of the samples was connected to this square-headed Callaway fairway wood. Remember, it's 2008 and shaft reps usually had test clubs built up to speed the process up. After hitting a few, Fred turned to the guy and said "I love it." The rep said, "Great so what head do want it in?" Fred replied, "Nope, I love the whole thing, thanks." Headcover went on. In the bag it went. Here we are today. Specs Callaway FTI Squareway (15 degrees) Shaft: Harrison Mugen Prototype 75 X (43-inches, D3) Grip: Golf Pride CP2 Wrap 58R "Logo Down" Henrik Stenson's Callaway Legacy Black irons It's typically his old trusty Diablo Octane 3-wood that gets all the attention, but now that the trusty weapon has officially been put to rest, there is another section of Stenson's bag that stands out for its longevity — his irons. Keep in mind that his Callaway Legacy Black irons were never even sold in the United States. They were a Japanese-only offering that caught his eye back in 2013. Stenson has never shied away from forgiveness in his irons. He loved that the clubs had a blade profile at address while still giving him plenty of help down below. As one of the best ball strikers in recent memory, it's comforting to know that even someone like Henrik Stenson will take all the help he can get. Word on the street is that he has gone through 10-plus sets of the irons and the stock is getting thin. Specs Callaway Legacy Black (3-PW) Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120 X

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