Reavie goes from a kid holding a sign to a pro trying to win in Phoenix

Tournament ambassador Phil Mickelson leads a field of 156 players at this week’s CareerBuilder Challenge, as the PGA TOUR returns to the mainland after starting the 2018 portion of the schedule in Hawaii. Three courses will be used this week in La Quinta, California – the Stadium Course at PGA West, the Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club. Players are paired for the first three rounds in twosomes, with their pro-am partners also joining the group. The cut in the 72-hole event will be made after Saturday’s third round. PGA TOUR LIVE makes its 2018 debut with coverage from 11 a.m to 7 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday. Click here to sign up. PGA TOUR Radio will have coverage all four days, as will Golf Channel. Here’s a look at this week’s featured groups (current FedExCup ranking in parentheses). Tee times shown are for each group’s appearance on the Stadium Course at PGA West. Click here for full tee times. Hunter Mahan (92), Ryan Palmer (202): Mahan made five starts in the fall and is making his first start of 2018; he’s showing signs of a resurgence after a couple of frustrating seasons. Palmer was a cumulative 84 under at this tournament during a four-year stretch prior to missing the cut a year ago. Stadium Course tee time: Thursday, Rd. 1, 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. local) Patton Kizzire (1), Bill Haas (130): After moving into the FedExCup lead with his win at last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, Kizzire stated: “Our ultimate goal is to be No. 1 at the end of the year. We’ve got a long way to go.� If he wants to know what it takes to win the FedExCup, he can pick the brain of Haas, who won the title in 2011. Stadium Course tee time: Thursday, Rd. 1, 1:10 p.m. ET (10:10 a.m. local) John Daly (210), Mike Weir (N/A): Weir won here in 2003 and is making his 16th career start in this event. Daly, now a member of PGA TOUR Champions, is making his 13th start; his best finish is a tie for seventh 21 years ago. The last time these two were paired at a PGA TOUR event was the 2006 Buick Open. Stadium Course tee time: Friday, Rd. 2, 1:10 p.m. ET (10:10 a.m. local) Patrick Reed (108), Brandt Snedeker (162): Reed won this event in 2014, making a tournament-72-hole record 32 birdies. Snedeker has two top-10 finishes here in seven starts, but is making his first appearance here in three years. Besides Haas, Snedeker (2012) is the other past FedExCup champ in the field. Stadium Course tee time: Friday, Rd. 2, 1:20 p.m. ET (10:20 a.m. local) Jon Rahm (20), Bubba Watson (184): Rahm followed a win on the European Tour with a runner-up finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He’s making his second start here. Watson has five previous starts, including a tie for second in 2010, but hasn’t played here the previous six years. Stadium Course tee time: Saturday, Rd. 3, 12:50 p.m. ET (9:50 a.m. local) Zach Johnson (34), Phil Mickelson (37): Mickelson returns for his second year as tournament ambassador; in his 14 career starts here, he’s won twice (2002, 2004). Johnson has missed the cut here the previous three years. This will be the 12th event in their lengthy PGA TOUR careers that they’ve been paired together in at least one round of a stroke-play event. Stadium Course tee time: Saturday, Rd. 3, 1:20 p.m. ET (10:20 a.m. local) Peter Uihlein (51), Sam Saunders (149): Saunders’ grandfather Arnold Palmer won the inaugural event here in 1960 – and then made it his last PGA TOUR win in 1973. Palmer won this event five times; Saunders and Uihlein have yet to win on the PGA TOUR but would each love to break through in the desert. Stadium Course tee time: Saturday, Rd. 3, 1:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. local)

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CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Russell Knox may have won less than two weeks ago and once ranked among the world’s top 20 players, but even he was intimidated by Thursday’s playing partner. Tiger Woods, even if he’s five years removed from his last win and hasn’t won a major in a decade, still has that effect. “I’ve won three times. I’ve played in front of loads of people for the last eight years. But, I mean, I think it’s a little different knowing who you’re playing with,� said Knox, who owns two victories on the PGA TOUR. “I think he’s the best golfer of all time. He’s definitely the person I looked up to. So getting to play with him is pretty unique. “He’s almost like a mythical figure.� Thursday was the first time Knox and Woods played together on the PGA TOUR. The Scot arrived at Carnoustie in fine form, finishing second in France and winning the Irish Open, but he was quick to admit that playing with Woods made him nervous. Knox’s two TOUR wins include a World Golf Championship (WGC-HSBC Champions), as well as the Travelers Championship. The guy who used to play Woods’ video game got to watch him shoot his best round at a major in four years. Woods had shot over-par in the opening round of his past seven majors, averaging nearly 76 strokes in those Thursdays that so quickly quashed the enthusiasm that follows him to each of golf’s Grand Slam events. The scoreboard will show that Woods is five shots behind first-round leader Kevin Kisner, but Woods’ even-par 71 was among the better ones among Thursday’s late finishers. Nobody in the last 12 groups shot under par. Chez Reavie (69) shot the only under-par score in the final 15 groups. Woods used a conservative strategy off the tee, relying almost exclusively on long-irons. His gameplan drew comparisons to the one he used to win this championship 12 years ago at Royal Liverpool. It was his third victory in The Open Championship. “I felt like I could shoot something under par today, it would be good,� Woods said. “I birdied 1 and birdied 3, and I was right there. I had an 8-iron to 6 (a par-5) and looking like I could really do something here. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite turn out that way, but (in) this afternoon wave, I was one of the lower rounds.� Woods made three bogeys and just a single birdie on the back nine. After the round, he insisted that the two pieces of black sports tape that were visible beneath Woods’ blue vest were not cause for concern, even though he did admit that his neck has been bugging him for “a while.� “Just helping me support my neck a little bit. Makes me feel a little bit more comfortable,� he said. “Everyone acts like this is the first time I’ve been bandaged up. I’ve been doing this for years, … braces and bandages. Just this time it’s actually visible.� Woods played in Thursday’s 47th game, as they’re called over here. It was past 8 p.m. when he arrived at the final fairway, and only five groups remained on the course. Woods may remain the game’s biggest draw, but it was so late that fans were headed for the exits before he finished his round. The large, navy blue grandstands that surround the 18th green were little more than half full. Seagulls were flying low over the course, their squawking filling the silence as players stood over their shots. Mark Calcavecchia, who won this championship almost three decades ago on the other side of Scotland, watched Woods’ finish from the open window of his room in the Carnoustie Golf Hotel. As soon as Woods exited the 18th green, Calcavecchia drew the blinds and closed the window to protect against the cold breeze that blew off the North Sea. Woods will get the easier morning conditions on Friday. He is scheduled to tee off at 10:20 a.m. local time, just as an expected early-morning rain is scheduled to end. The precipitation could help take some of the fire out of a firm and fast Carnoustie. If he can take advantage, he’ll be looking at his best chance to win a major since The Open in 2013. This tournament seems to refresh Woods. He loves being creative. Shaping shots energizes him. Carnoustie was his first encounter with a links course. He played the 1995 Scottish Open before heading over to St. Andrews to play in The Open as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion. “This is how the game should be played,� Woods said Thursday. “It should be creative. It should be played on the ground.� He loves links, but his affection for winning majors is greater. For the first time in a while, his hopes were not dashed on Thursday. Woods is still in this Open Championship.

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BRISBANE, Australia — Jack Newton, who lost to Tom Watson in a 1975 Open Championship playoff and tied for second behind Seve Ballesteros at the 1980 Masters before his professional golf career ended in a near-fatal aircraft propeller accident, has died. He was 72. Newton, who had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, died early Friday due to “health complications,” his family said in a statement. “(He) was a fearless competitor and iconic Australian, blazing a formidable trail during his professional golfing career,” his family added. “He fought back from tremendous adversity as only he could.” Newton won the PGA TOUR’s Buick Open in 1978 and the Australian Open in 1979 and three tournaments in Europe before his career —- and nearly his life — ended when he walked into the propeller of a small plane he was about to board at Sydney airport on July 24, 1983. His right arm was severed, he lost sight in his right eye and also sustained severe injuries to his abdomen. Doctors gave him only a 50-50 chance of surviving, and he spent nearly two months in intensive care and required lengthy rehabilitation from his injuries. “Things weren’t looking too good for me. I knew that from the priest walking around my (hospital) bed,” Newton said later. He was 33 at the time of the accident. Despite his near-death experience, Newton and his jovial personality returned to public life. He became a popular television, radio and newspaper golf commentator, golf course designer and chairman of the Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for golf’s up-and-coming players in Australia. The foundation’s annual tournament attracted a who’s who of celebrities and pro golfers in Australia, most of whom dressed up in outlandish costumes as encouraged each year by Newton. Not to be denied from playing the game he loved, he taught himself to play golf one-handed, swinging the club with his left hand in a right-handed stance. He regularly had scores in the mid-80s for 18 holes. That translates to a handicap of about 12 or 14, one that most able-bodied amateur players would aspire to. Newton turned professional in 1971 on the European Tour (DP World Tour) and won his first event, the Dutch Open, the following year. A week later, he won another tournament at Fulford, England and, in 1974, the tour’s match play championship. The Australian’s playoff loss in the 1975 Open Championship at Carnoustie came after Watson had a few rather fortuitous shots. A wire fence kept Watson’s ball in bounds on the eighth hole and the American chipped for eagle at the 14th to claim the Claret Jug by a shot over Newton. “I always felt that if I came into a major with some good form, then I could be dangerous,” Newton had said. “That’s the way I played golf. Once I got my tail up I wasn’t afraid of anybody.” Australian golfer Greg Chalmers said on Twitter: “Every journey starts somewhere, mine was in golf tournaments under the Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation.” Fellow Aussie pro James Nitties said: “Jack Newton not only an amazing golfer but what he and his family did for charity and junior golf in Australia was truly amazing.” PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman praised Newton’s impact on the game Down Under. “Jack has been such an influential figure in Australian golf and his contribution and legacy will live on for many decades to come,” Kirkman said. “He was as tough off the course as he was on it. Yet underlying everything was his deep passion for the game of golf and the positive impact it could have on people’s lives, particularly young people.” Newton is survived by his wife, Jackie, and two children, Kristie and Clint, and six grandchildren. Kristie was a pro golfer and Clint Newton, who was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, played rugby league in Australia and Britain and represented the United States at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup. “His passion for sport and contributing to future generations of golfers and the Australian community demonstrates the character of our father, beloved husband, proud brother, adoring grandfather, and maverick mate,” his family said in the statement.

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