Ernie Els’ advice for Tiger Woods ahead of his comeback

How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s PGA Championship in his edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. Want to represent the fans against our experts? SEASON SEGMENT

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) — Will Gordon was frustrated with the way he finished last week in Bermuda. He had no complaints about his start Thursday at Mayakoba. Gordon ran off four straight birdies to start the back nine on the El Camaleon course and finished with a 9-under 62 to take a one-shot lead over Russell Henley in the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Harris English took another step back in his recovery from hip surgery and was at 64, part of a group that included former Open champion Francesco Molinari. Also seeing positive signs was Masters champion Scottie Scheffler. Without the No. 1 ranking next to his name for the first time since March, Scheffler hit plenty of iron shots close and converted them into a 65. Also at 65 was two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland, who played alongside Scheffler on a balmy and occasionally breezy day in this Mexican resort. Gordon had to go back to the Korn Ferry Tour last year to regain his PGA TOUR card. He thought he was off to a reasonable start in the new season by making every cut, and then he was five shots behind going into the final round in Bermuda last week. He played the final four holes in 4-over par and tied for 35th. “I just had an up-and-down week in Bermuda,” Gordon said. “Played some really good golf for probably 68 holes and had a rough finish. So I didn’t have many expectations coming into this week. It’s just really about managing my expectations and my emotions, so I feel like I did a good job of that today.” The objective for everyone is to keep it in the mangrove-lined fairways, manage the wind and occasional bursts of showers, and take advantage of the relatively flat greens. This might be just want English needed, especially with the good vibes of having won at Mayakoba in 2013 when he was just getting started. English capped off a two-win year in 2021 by making a solid Ryder Cup debut. But then he had surgery on his hip, which had been nagging him for years. After five months away, he returned at the Memorial Tournament and it’s been slow going. “It’s definitely getting better,” English said. “I went through a lot of rehab. But your expectations for coming back are so much higher than they should be. I’m so competitive and I want to be the mix so badly. You’ve got to give yourself time to heal and time to get your game back. “But I love it here. I love the atmosphere,” he said. “I’m excited about the next few days.” Scheffler soared to No. 1 in the world when he won four times in six starts, capped off by the Masters. He lost in a playoff at the Colonial. He had a good shot at winning the FedExCup until he didn’t convert on the final hole. But his game feels a long way from April, and Scheffler is playing three out of four weeks in the fall to try to build some momentum. The biggest takeaway from Thursday was signing a card without bogeys. “Clean card is nice,” Scheffler said. “Kept the ball in play for the most part today.” The exception was No. 3, his 12th hole, when he put his tee shot into the hazard. He took a penalty drop and hit the next one to tap-in range to escape with par. There were a lot of moments like that. Scheffler had six birdies and only a few anxious moments. “Solid golf is fun. Stress free,” Scheffler said. Work remains for Morikawa, who won six times, including two majors, in his three years on TOUR. He is running out of time to get a win in 2022, and this wouldn’t appear to be the week to end that drought after four bogeys negated his four birdies. Tony Finau was headed in that direction. He took triple bogey on his second hole by twice hitting into the hazard. He bogeyed the par-5 fifth. But he turned it around with six birdies the rest of the way and salvaged a 68.

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LOS ANGELES – Magic happens in Hollywood. The Oscars came and went this weekend in Los Angeles as the iconic golden statues were handed out in a celebration of the best motion pictures have to offer. ‘Parasite’ took home plenty of awards, with Best Original Screenplay being one of them. But even those now-decorated writers may not be able to dream up a storyline quite like Tiger Woods winning this week at Riviera Country Club. Woods serves as host of the now-elevated Genesis Invitational this week at Riviera – a tournament that is now on the same level as a pair of other events named after and/or hosted by golf legends: the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide (Jack Nicklaus). Sitting on 82 PGA TOUR wins, tied with Sam Snead at the top of the all-time list, Woods is looking to sit alone atop the list with another victory. It’s already been an incredible career for the 44-year-old, but winning at Riviera has eluded him. Related: Will Woods return as Presidents Cup captain? | TOUR pros: My first time with Tiger | Tiger chasing record 83rd TOUR win Woods has played Riviera Country Club 12 times on the PGA TOUR without a win – the most starts on a course without victory in his storied career. It all began as a 16-year-old in 1992 with the native Californian’s TOUR debut. He was runner up in 1999 and had additional top-10s at Riviera in 2003 and 2004, but otherwise hasn’t had much to get overly excited about. The majority of his starts, 10 of them, happened between 1992 and 2006 before he returned over the last two seasons as host. Back in his prime, Woods would struggle with the inconsistent poa annua greens at the iconic course as well as the thick kikuyu rough that he would often find off the tee. The propensity for the tournament to fall in rare wet weeks for Los Angeles didn’t help either. But this is a new Tiger Woods. A more matured player who, more than ever, knows how to plod his way around to find a score. He doesn’t try to overpower a course; he tries to outthink it. So is he more suited to a win at Riviera Country Club than ever before? And has he allowed himself to think just how incredible such a win would be in the scope of his career? “That’s been mentioned,â€� Woods said with a smile. “To come here in, what, ’92 and play but to come here with my dad and my old pro, Rudy, who took me up here. I remember watching Lanny Wadkins play well here and win, seeing Corey Pavin and Davis and Freddie go after it. There’s a lot of history for me.â€� Woods recounted a story from his childhood where, as a spectator, he ran over to the eighth green to watch Tom Watson hit a chip shot from near the gallery, only to be moved out of the way by Watson’s caddie Bruce Edwards. He recounted it when he joined the TOUR and was told playfully, “well, you were in the way.â€� Woods still beams at such stories from his younger years. “For me to have experiences like that here at Riv and to have now this be my event.. (it’s great), and hopefully on Sunday we’ll be having this discussion a little bit more,â€� Woods added. “I’ve played in a number of events over the years and for me not to win an event that has meant so much to me in my hometown (is tough). I’ve done well in San Diego, I’ve done well at Sherwood, just haven’t done well here. So hopefully I can put together this week and we’ll have a great conversation on Sunday.â€� So what does the man himself say has stood in the way of his success at Riviera? “Historically, never really putted well here,â€� Woods says. “I’ve played here so many rounds. It suits a natural cutter of the golf ball, so I figured that’s what I have done pretty much my entire career, but when it comes right down to it, you’ve got to hit the ball well here because the greens are so small and they’re so slopey. “If you look at the history of champions at this event, they have all been able to shape the golf ball. There are some great alley ways with the eucalyptus trees but you still have to be able to shape the ball. And people don’t realize these greens have a lot of steepness to them. So hitting the ball in the correct spots stresses the iron game but also again, if you are able to shape the ball correctly, it makes these greens, even though they are tiny, a lot bigger.â€� One man who has had success at Riviera is three-time champion Bubba Watson. And he believes Woods is a serious threat to stopping his quest for a fourth title, despite what his previous results indicate. “What I have seen over the last year – the smooth swing… the calm motion of the driver and iron swing look the same now speed-wise… and he just looks so controlled,â€� Watson said. “He can win at any moment. Doesn’t matter the course, the difficulty… with his golf swing so pure, he can win. And he knows this golf course better than most, so it just comes down to trusting his putter. Trusting he has the read and trusting his stroke. In the past, he has played well here, we just expect so much from him and I think he just hasn’t made those momentum putts.â€� With a positive weather forecast this week in Los Angeles, the soft poa greens that bring out more hops and skips won’t surface as much. We certainly won’t be looking at a 34-hole final round like a year ago. “The harder the golf course, the better his chances,â€� Matt Kuchar says. “This place is difficult. If the greens and course is firm he has an even better chance. And I put so much more stock in to how you are playing presently and how much control you have versus historical results.â€� When it comes to form, Woods is doing pretty well. He won The ZOZO Championship earlier this season and was a clear MVP of the victorious U.S. Presidents Cup team, which he also captained, at Royal Melbourne in December. More recently, he was T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open a few weeks back. While he is yet to play enough rounds this season to officially qualify for rankings in TOUR stats, he would be 51st in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and fifth in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green if he were ranked. Woods’ irons might be as good as they have ever been in and his driver no longer produces the wild miss of his younger years. So if he can find the fairway somewhat consistently, the chances are he will have more looks at birdie than others. “I don’t think there is a course he’s not suited to in his current form. What I saw down in Australia – that’s as good as I’ve seen him drive it as long as I have been around him,â€� Steve Stricker said. “He’s always been a great iron player and he looks like he has his putting under control. So I wouldn’t put anything past him. I’m sure he feels a little extra pressure here to win. He got his first start here as a 16-year-old and he grew up right down the road. So I bet he really wants it, which can sometimes get in the way. But no one should be surprised if he does well here this week.â€� Striker might be the missing ingredient this week. The veteran is known for giving putting advice to Woods in the past and does so with countless TOUR players when asked outside of competition rounds. He is paired with Woods over the opening two rounds this week. Perhaps that familiar feeling will help Woods stay at peace with the ebbs and flows of the putting surfaces. And if, come Sunday, Woods can slay the jinx at the place where it all began and take the all-time TOUR wins record outright in his home state, that would be a performance worthy of an Oscar.

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