Product Spotlight: Aldila Ascent shafts

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AUSTIN, Texas – This time Tiger Woods is just happy to be here. That doesn’t mean the three-time World Golf Championship – Dell Technologies Match Play champion isn’t hoping to make it a fourth win in the man on man showdown – he’s just cognizant of the progress he’s made to be back for the first time since 2013. In that time Woods’ has had four back surgeries. He also recently dealt with a neck complaint. But he’s also successfully returned to the winner’s circle at the 2018 TOUR Championship. It is that victory, and the schedule he endured, that gives the 43-year-old confidence he could get through seven rounds in five days to win. “Hopefully I can play well enough to get to that point to where I’m in the finals,â€� the 80-time PGATOUR winner said on the eve of his first match. “The end of last year gave me a lot of confidence that I played as many events as I did to end the season. I was tired, but my body held up. “My training has been pretty good. My neck has been feeling better, which is nice. And so I have to play well and beat the guy in front of me in order to have that situation where I’m there on Sunday in the finals. There’s a lot of work to be done between now and then.â€� Woods is slated to play against fellow TOUR winners Aaron Wise, Patrick Cantlay and Brandt Snedeker in his group. In his 13 previous appearances in the event it was a single elimination format.  “I’m looking forward to getting introduced to this new format. This will be a little bit different than what I’m used to,â€� Woods added. “I guess you can halve a match and still move on. And so that’s different. I don’t really know the intricacies of it all. I just know that I need to win all three, and I move on. It’s not real complicated. Play well and take care of the guy in front of me. “I’m looking forward to the fact that I just get to focus on one guy. Each and every shot is different, and you don’t really care what the rest of the field is doing. I just have to beat the guy standing in front of me.â€� The first guy up is PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Wise, a 22-year-old that Woods is actually well aware of given his old college teammate Casey Martin was Wise’s college coach when he was winning an NCAA title in 2016. “I watched him play well when they were in Eugene. And Casey said a lot of good things about him when he was being recruited, as well as when he was in college. Amazing talent,â€� Woods said. “Obviously he won at the Nelson and he has the game to win golf tournaments. I get to go out there and put a lot of pressure on him and hit the ball well and hopefully get the ball in the right spot to make putts.â€�

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The ballots are out for PGA TOUR Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, and we gave out season superlatives last week. But not so fast. Here were some other unforgettable moments and achievements from a brilliant 2018-19 season. Best New Way to Watch a Tournament: BMW Championship It was tailgating without the tailgate for four Medinah Country Club members who rented out a 350-square foot “tinyâ€� house just to the right of the 14th tee. The house featured two lofts with queen-size beds, plenty of windows, a full bathroom, a couch, and a galley kitchen with four-burner stove and microwave. It also came with a private chef and bartender.  “If this takes off, we want to be able to say we were the first,â€� said John Christopher, a financial planner and one of the four club members who rented it. You could feel the breeze come off an especially vigorous practice swing, and a few of the players, like Ryan Palmer, even came under the ropes to sit in their Adirondack chairs. Toughest start: Rory McIlroy Hit his first shot out of bounds and made a quadruple bogey at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, the first Open in Ireland since 1951. Best finish: Rory McIlroy He started five back but won the TOUR Championship to become the only other player other than Tiger Woods to win the FedExCup. Biggest turnaround: Rory McIlroy After going into the final round of the World Golf Championships – FedEx St. Jude Invitational one ahead of Brooks Koepka and losing by six, McIlroy went into the final round of the TOUR Championship one back of Koepka and beat him by six.  Best Social Media Follow: Phil Mickelson This is a hot field with Max Homa taking the veteran Mickelson down to the wire, but in the end the countless calf flexes and “Phireside with Philâ€� chats bring Mickelson the award. If you haven’t seen what the Hall-Of-Famer is bringing to the table, you’re missing out. Better-Than-Most Award: Jhonattan Vegas On Sunday at the PLAYERS Championship, Eddie Pepperell thrilled the crowds at the iconic par-3 17th island green with a 50-foot birdie bomb. Vegas then stepped up and connected for birdie from 69-feet, seven-inches, the longest made putt on 17 since official records began in 2003. Patience-is-a-Virtue Award:Charles Howell III Augusta native won the RSM Classic to break a win drought of 11 years and nine months, or 333 starts. Robert Gamez (15 year, six months) still has the longest gap between wins.  Family Ties Award, Part I:  Charles Howell III and his kids, in tears, after Howell won the RSM.  Family Ties Award, Part II:  After his first major win in 11 years at The Masters Tournament, Tiger Woods embraced his kids just off the 18th green at Augusta in almost the identical spot a young Woods embraced his father, Earl, after his incredible 1997 Masters win 22 years earlier.  Family Ties Award, Part III:  Nate Lashley and his sister Brooke embracing after Lashley, the last alternate into the field, won the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His first PGA TOUR win came 15 years after their parents – and Lashley’s then girlfriend – died in a plane crash after watching him play in a college tournament. Best Home Performance: Shane Lowry Northern Ireland and Ireland are not the same country, but it was epic to see Lowry, an Irishman, take out the first Open Championship in Northern Ireland since 1951. Lowry admitted to crying in the carpark after missing the cut at Carnoustie a year earlier as he felt his game was gone. But in front of massive crowds he destroyed the competition. His new mission is to have a celebration drink with everyone on his home island. We wish him well.  Biggest Shocker: Jim Herman Herman won the Barbasol Championship after having made just three cuts in 19 starts. Best Forgotten Finish: Patrick Rodgers Rodgers fired closing rounds of 61-62 at the RSM Classic, the best closing 36-holes in PGA TOUR history, to get himself into a playoff against Charles Howell III. Nostradamus Award: John McLaren Paul Casey’s caddie donned a bib that said “CHAMP” in the Wednesday pro-am before Casey successfully defended his title at the Valspar Championship. Clean-Sheet Award: J.T. Poston Poston got his first win at the Wyndham Championship and became the first player to win without a bogey over 72 holes since Lee Trevino at the ’74 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Boldest-Beginning Award: Collin Morikawa At the Barracuda Championship, Morikawa, who just months earlier had been finishing up his degree at Cal-Berkeley, became the first Special Temporary Member to win on the PGA TOUR since Shane Lowry at the 2015 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Best Sponsor Return for Investment: 3M Open  The new 3M Open decided to give young gun Matthew Wolff and a handful of other young studs sponsor invites in Minnesota. Wolff paid them back by winning with an epic eagle on the 72nd hole, beating Collin Morikawa, another invite, by a shot.  Iron Man Award: Sungjae Im Rookie played a PGA TOUR-high 35 events and barely took a week off on his way to be the only rookie to make the TOUR Championship. That’s the most starts since Danny Lee (36) in 2015.  The Zoolander Blue Steel Award: Brooks Koepka It was a no contest once the ESPN Body Issue photos of Brooks Koepka were released. Koepka reportedly lost 25 pounds to feature in the nude photos.

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