Questions remain for Tiger, Phil heading to Masters

Will Gordon and Brice Garnett have tested positive for the coronavirus and have withdrawn from the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship this week.

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa says the back injury he picked up at the Olympics in Japan that spoiled his FedExCup Playoffs tilt is behind him as he looks ahead to his Ryder Cup debut for the U.S. Team at Whistling Straits. Fresh off winning the 2021 Open Championship at Royal St. Georges in July, Morikawa pulled a muscle in his lower back during the first round of Olympic competition in Tokyo and figured he could battle his way through it. The injury occurred on the 14th hole after he tried hitting out of “sticky rough”. Had it not been a team event Morikawa said he may have withdrawn and despite the pain he battled all the way to a T4 finish. A Sunday 63 saw him enter a seven-way playoff for the bronze medal that was won by C.T. Pan. The Californian entered the FedExCup Playoffs as the No. 1 seed thanks to his two-win season but missed the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST and was T63 in a 69-man field at the BMW Championship before his T26 finish at the TOUR Championship. “It was just bad timing. The biggest thing I learned from those three weeks was to never play injured. I’m never going to do that again, no matter what it is,” Morikawa said. “It built bad habits into my golf swing. By the time the Playoffs had started at Liberty I thought my back was feeling good, but I had just built in some really bad swing patterns, and that’s what happens when you play with an injury.” The 24-year-old says the few weeks rest between East Lake and the Ryder Cup have him back in the right physical condition. “I’m 100 percent healthy. Knock on wood right now, but I’m feeling great,” he said. “Those three weeks I was just trying to figure out how do I hit it better because that’s a big part of my game, trusting, knowing where the golf ball is going to go. “It feels good. I was talking with Xander yesterday, and he looked at me, and he’s like, You’re back, and I was like, Yeah, I’m back. The cuts are back, and it’s a good time to have that shot.” DJ and teams heed Whistling Straits Bunker Warning U.S. Team member Dustin Johnson may have taken closer note than most with a notice given to all players ahead of the Ryder Cup to do with the 1,012 bunkers on the course. Johnson famously was penalized on the final hole of the 2010 PGA Championship for grounding his club in one of the many sandy areas that proliferate the course both in and outside the ropes. The two-shot ding cost him the tournament won by Martin Kaymer in a playoff over Bubba Watson. “All areas of the course that were designed and built as bunkers (Rule 12) will be played as bunkers during the Ryder Cup,” read the notice. “Bunkers inside the gallery rope line will be raked each morning prior to play and touched up again between sessions. Rakes are provided for the caddies allowing bunkers to be smoothed as a courtesy to other players and for care of the course. “During play, footprints, indentations, vehicular damage or uneven surfaces may develop. However, whether inside or outside the gallery rope line, relief without penalty is NOT allowed for interference by any of these alterations to the surface of the ground, whether or not smoothed.” Johnson, at 37, is the eldest member of the U.S. Team by five years and is playing his fifth Ryder Cup. But the laconic former FedExCup champion wouldn’t elaborate on any role as a leader within the youngest U.S. Team in history. “It’s a little strange for me just that I’ve never been the oldest. I always felt like I was one of the younger guys on the team. Still feel that way, but obviously I’m, I guess, the veteran on the team really,” Johnson said. “It’s a role that I enjoy, but obviously with the guys on the team, all of them are very good player, so don’t really have to do much. My role is to win as many matches as I can or just worry about my match that I’m playing in, help the team in any way that I can or that they need. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

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KAPALUA, Hawaii — Gary Woodland made a 65-foot eagle putt and finished with a birdie for a 5-under 68 to keep his three-shot lead in the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Saturday. Rory McIlroy briefly caught him for the lead until the birdies stopped falling. He shot 68 and starts the new year playing in the final group. They were tied late in the third round when McIlroy missed a good birdie chance on two par 5s at No. 15 and No. 18. In the group behind him, Woodland reached the front of the 15th green and watched his putt up the slope and into the grain drop for eagle, with the pin still in the hole. He holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the toughest pin position at the 18th — front and right — to end the day where he started. Woodland was at 17-under 202, and would love nothing better than to secure another trip to Kapalua in the first tournament of the year. Marc Leishman, who made a double bogey in the opening round and a triple bogey on Friday, limited the damage to only one bogey. He had a 68 and was well in range, four shots behind. Xander Schauffele (68) and Bryson DeChambeau (70) were five back. The only downer for Woodland was learning that his grandmother in Kansas had died Friday night. This is a family vacation for most of the Woodland crew — for Christmas, he flew out 11 relatives. “She’s been downhill for a little while now,” Woodland said. “It’s been tough. And you try to prepare for that, but you never really can. Definitely will have a little extra emotion with me, but we’ll get through it.” It was a tough day of work on the course, as the trade wind returned stronger than expected. McIlroy managed to get through it without a bogey. He had a close call on the 16th, when he tried to atone for the missed birdie on the previous hole by going at the flag and landing just over the green. He faced one of the fastest chips on the course, down the slope toward the Pacific horizon, and left it 12 short. He made his par to at least stay in range. McIlroy spoke earlier in the week about playing in the last group six times last year. One of those was the Masters, when he started two shots behind Patrick Reed and never challenged. Another was the TOUR Championship, where he was three behind Tiger Woods and didn’t give him much of a fight. “I probably pushed a little too hard, and it didn’t really work out for me,” McIlroy said. “I just have to go about my business. I didn’t make a bogey today, so I’ll make that a goal tomorrow.” It still will depend on Woodland, a three-time winner on the PGA TOUR who wants more victories to show for his improved all-around game. His only mistake on Saturday was coming up just short of the green on No. 12 and missing a 5-foot par putt. Woodland was part of a crowded leaderboard Friday when he pulled away with five straight birdies. This time, all he needed was one big putt. He laughed when it dropped, though he says it had nothing to do with surprise. “I just saw somebody’s face in the background. They weren’t too happy that the ball went in, so it made me laugh,” he said. “I enjoyed that.” The last two winners at Kapalua, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, needed something special Sunday. Thomas shot a 70 and was seven behind, while Johnson had 69 and was eight back.

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