Scottie Scheffler gets it done at WM Phoenix Open

When Mike Stiller was a teenager, he used to go to the AT&T Byron Nelson and follow Justin Leonard or one of the other PGA TOUR pros who played out of the Vaquero Club where he worked as a caddie. After he graduated from James Madison and scored a job with the Northern Texas PGA Section, Stiller could sometimes be found working as the calligrapher at the scoreboard outside the pavilion at TPC Four Seasons, which was hosting the tournament at the time. This week, Stiller is back at the AT&T Byron Nelson for the first time since joining the TOUR rules staff in 2015. He’s the advance man, which means Stiller arrives the previous week and interfaces with the on-site tournament staff as well as the course superintendent, assuring everything is ready for the event. “This is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” says Stiller, who is sharing duties with the retiring Brad Fabel this week. “… This is a pretty special event for me, no doubt.” Working with Stiller this week are two other former employees of the Northern Texas PGA Section – Jordan Harris and Mike Peterson. Harris will set up the front nine at the new host venue, TPC Craig Ranch, while Peterson handles the final nine holes. Like Stiller, both are working the Byron Nelson for the first time since leaving the NTPGA and joining the TOUR – Peterson in 2005 and Harris in 2017. “It’s kind of neat to see us come through the ranks like that and get to this level,” Peterson admits. And there are actually two other TOUR rules officials who have NTPGA ties: Drew Miller is a former intern while Harold Geyer, a tournament director on the Korn Ferry Tour, worked there for 12 years. Peterson started the pipeline, so to speak. He went to New Mexico State and earned a degree in business administration in a program that specialized in golf management. Internships with the Southern California and Colorado PGA sections, as well as the PGA of America, stoked Peterson’s interest in running golf tournaments. “It’s always different,” he says. “You’re always going to different places, new golf courses, new cities or states. … And I was never a good enough player to compete at any sort of high level like that. But it was a way for me to be involved at the highest level, tournament-wise.” There was another pull for Peterson, who took a job at the NTPGA as director of tournament operations right out of college. “I fell in love with the Rules of Golf,” Peterson says. “It was kind of like a puzzle to me. You had questions that people would ask you — the juniors would ask you questions, the parents, that sort of stuff and it just was neat to try and figure out what the answer was. “It could be complicated at times, but it just was a big puzzle to me and I kind of liked the way it worked. So that just got me really interested in it.” Stiller and Harris have similar backgrounds. Stiller’s first job was picking range balls so he could practice at the club where his swing coach worked. When his family moved from New Jersey to the Dallas area, he became a fixture at Vaquero, caddying and working odd jobs there. Stiller interned at the NTPGA and did so well he was offered a job before the second semester of his senior year at James Madison. He started two weeks after he graduated in 2008. “Working for the Northern Texas section really was an honor because it’s … known for being one of the very prestigious sections not just because of the quality of the tournaments and the programs that they’ve put on and conducted and run, but because of the people and, and the history of the people that have worked there,” Stiller says. Peterson had already left to work for the TOUR by the time Stiller went to work at the NTPGA. But he remembers when Peterson would stop by the office to say hello and talk golf with his former co-workers. “I always kind of looked up to him like, oh, this is really cool,” Stiller says. “It’s a PGA TOUR referee coming to just to say hello — like, how cool is that? And so, him just kind of being around kind of got me thinking maybe someday down the road, this could happen.” Harris studied professional golf management at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He learned after his first internship at a small private club in Indiana that he didn’t want to sell shirts and give lessons for the rest of his life. He was drawn to the operational side of the competition, though. “My director asked me what I liked about the internship, and I said, hey, it was a great golf professional that I worked for,” Harris recalls. “He got me involved in tournaments. I did scoreboards and picking hole locations and all that stuff. I really enjoyed that. “And he said, well, you need to go and try a section of the PGA of America and see what you think about that. At the time I had no idea what a section was. … And I just flat out asked him, I said, well, if I’m going to try this, I’d like to go to the best one. So, what’s that? Where’s the best section?” Harris’ advisor suggested the NTPGA, which is known for a junior golf tour that helped nurture the likes of Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris – Thursday’s Featured Group at TPC Craig Ranch – as well as an extensive roster of other events, including stages of the TOUR’s qualifying school and various Monday qualifiers. Harris was hired as an intern in 2008 to work with Stiller and Geyer, who would leave to work for the TOUR in ’10. “We worked together that summer and I fell in love with it,” says Harris, who was later invited back to do a seven-month internship and hired full-time. “I loved, loved everything about tournaments and got really involved with the rules and wanting to learn more.” “It was us traveling and working together an entire summer, whether it was going out to Midland to run a section championship or all the tournaments we ran here in Dallas,” Stiller recalls. “It was basically the three of us. …. “But that was a cool summer. I mean, looking back on it, it was really neat just to have all of us doing the same thing together and sure enough, just years later, we’re all out here doing it again.” Peterson, Stiller and Harris give the NTPGA’s executive director, Mark Harrison, a lot of credit for helping them grow as referees and tournament officials. “Mark’s got a wonderful golf mind and … he did a really good job of just pushing us and always thinking about how we can do things better,” Harris says. “And he really mirrored our set-up philosophy around the PGA TOUR’s set-up philosophy.” Stiller also appreciated the way Harrison put his employees in a position to succeed. “What Mark has really done, I think personally, at that section is really given the staff there that works for him the platform to really take off and do whatever they want to do,” Stiller says. “I respect Mark completely and wholly, but one particular reason that I really, really appreciate about him is that if somebody expressed him what they wanted, if they wanted to leave the organization one day and move on to something different or something bigger, he had their back 100%. “So, when I told him that this is something that I wanted to do he did everything in his power to make that happen and support me 110 percent. And that’s something I would never forget.”

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ALBANY, Bahamas – Not that long ago the only use of a golf club for Tiger Woods was as a crutch to get out of bed. Now the two-time FedExCup champion is confident his latest comeback will not be like the others because this time he’s pain free as he gears up to play at the Hero World Challenge at Albany in the Bahamas. Returning to competitive golf for the first time since February after spinal fusion surgery – the fourth back surgery since March 2014 – Woods believes this time is different. The 79-time PGA TOUR winner has played just 19 official events since 2014 and can’t confirm how many he may play in the future – but he’s excited none-the-less to test himself against the elite 18-man field. A year ago everyone left the Bahamas optimistic after Woods made as many birdies as winner Hideki Matsuyama (he finished 15th) only to see things fall apart in his next start at The Farmers Insurance Open. At Torrey Pines he was stiff and wooden on the way to missing the cut and then withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic the following week before going in for surgery. “This is very different because last year I was still struggling with a little bit of pain and I was able to hit some good shots, able to play, but in looking back on it now, I look on it as playing in slow mo,â€� Woods said Tuesday. “I didn’t realize how bad my back had become and how much I was flinching and just how slow I was. I didn’t realize it because it’s been a slow degrading process. “I thought I had some speed, thought I was playing halfway decent, shot some good scores, but now I’ve looked back on it and man, I didn’t even have much at all.â€� Woods says now the only issue he has is the odd bit of stiffness but given his back is fused that is no surprise. He’s “winging itâ€� as he learns just how hard he can swing and just what recovery he will need after competitive rounds and tournaments. Most people have the fusion surgery in their late 50’s. Woods is 41. “I’ll have a better understanding once I’m in game speed. I know I’ve always hit it harder come game time because of adrenaline and I’m looking forward to it and I’m also looking forward to see how I feel,â€� he says. The famous Woods smile was back as he thought about the possibility of competing with the new breed on TOUR. His last win came in 2013 when the likes of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were not really on the radar. Now they have joined him as major winners and FedExCup champs. Last year the under 25 brigade dominated the TOUR. They mostly know Woods via what they watched on television growing up plus clips from YouTube and video games, not the heat of battle. “In an ideal world, I would like to have them feel what some of my past guys had to go against all those years. I’d like to have them feel that same play,â€� Woods smiled. “When I turned pro, I think Jordan was still in diapers, right. “But I’m just looking forward to getting through these four rounds and having an understanding, a better understanding of where I’m at. I don’t know where I’m at. I don’t know how hard I can hit it, what shots can I play. “I don’t know what the future entails in that regard because I’m still learning this body. I just really want to be able to complete this week, play all four days and give myself a chance on that back nine on Sunday to win this thing.â€� Just what Woods will be able to achieve over the next few years is yet to be seen. He clearly is on the back nine of his career. But anything of note from this point on should be seen as gravy on a legendary career. “This surgery was about quality of life because I didn’t really have much. I’ve been in bed for about two years and people ask me, why don’t you go out to dinner? I can’t, I can’t sit,â€� the 14-time major winner revealed. “So to be able to have the ability to go out and do things like that, and on top of that to be able to participate in my kids’ sports again… I’ve missed it.â€� With his daughter Sam, now 10, and son Charlie, now eight, Woods is also driven by the fact they’ve not seen him at his best. He would like for them to know their dad outside of the YouTube realm. And while they won’t be in Albany this week… if things go well there might come a day where a young Woods gets to carry the bag for dad somewhere, perhaps Augusta National like Jack Nicklaus’ son famously did for the 1986 victory. “I want them to see what I’ve been able to do my entire career. I’ve been fortunate enough to play tournament golf for 37 years and I want them to experience some of that, have a better understanding of it,â€� he said. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be playing but I want them to come to a few events, I want them to feel it, I want them to understand it a little bit more.â€� Not that long ago it appeared this day might never come again. It appeared it could all be over. But despite some really rough days Woods always thought he would be back. “I always thought that I was tough mentally,â€� Woods said. “My dad always thought so as well. Going through all this just reaffirmed that.â€�

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How the field qualified for THE PLAYERS Championship as of 03/08/19: Winner – Tournament Winner in the Past Year Keegan Bradley Cameron Champ Bryson DeChambeau Rickie Fowler J.B. Holmes Charles Howell III Dustin Johnson Michael Kim Brooks Koepka Matt Kuchar Marc Leishman Adam Long Troy Merritt Phil Mickelson Keith Mitchell Francesco Molinari Kevin Na Andrew Putnam Justin Rose Xander Schauffele Brandt Snedeker Justin Thomas Martin Trainer Kevin Tway Bubba Watson Aaron Wise Tiger Woods Top 125 on Prior Season’s FedExCup Points List Billy Horschel Tony Finau Webb Simpson Cameron Smith Rory McIlroy Hideki Matsuyama Jason Day Tommy Fleetwood Patrick Cantlay Patrick Reed Jon Rahm Paul Casey Gary Woodland Kyle Stanley Patton Kizzire Jordan Spieth Emiliano Grillo Chez Reavie Cheng Tsung Pan Adam Hadwin Andrew Landry Austin Cook Pat Perez Rafa Cabrera Bello Byeong Hun An Alex Noren Chesson Hadley Luke List Beau Hossler Kevin Kisner Brian Harman Ryan Armour Ian Poulter Adam Scott Jason Kokrak Tyrrell Hatton Si Woo Kim Brendan Steele Henrik Stenson Zach Johnson Brian Gay Abraham Ancer Brice Garnett J.J. Spaun Ryan Palmer Peter Uihlein Ted Potter, Jr. Chris Kirk Scott Piercy Louis Oosthuizen Daniel Berger Ryan Moore Whee Kim Stewart Cink Nick Watney Jimmy Walker Kevin Streelman Bronson Burgoon Charley Hoffman Joel Dahmen Brian Stuard Branden Grace Russell Knox Kelly Kraft Tom Hoge Scott Stallings Satoshi Kodaira Jhonattan Vegas Russell Henley Danny Lee Ollie Schniederjans Anirban Lahiri Jason Dufner Sam Ryder Trey Mullinax Brandon Harkins Patrick Rodgers Charl Schwartzel Harold Varner III Alex Cejka Rory Sabbatini Richy Werenski Sung Kang John Huh Tyler Duncan Seamus Power Martin Laird J.T. Poston Vaughn Taylor Grayson Murray Sam Saunders Ryan Blaum Scott Brown Nick Taylor Bud Cauley Harris English Top 125 (Medical) Lucas Glover Winner – THE PLAYERS Championship (last 5 years) Martin Kaymer Winner – Masters Tournament Sergio Garcia Danny Willett Top 50 – World Golf Ranking thru The Honda Classic Haotong Li Matt Wallace Kiradech Aphibarnrat Eddie Pepperell Matthew Fitzpatrick Shane Lowry Thorbjørn Olesen Lucas Bjerregaard Winner – Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship – Prior Year Vijay Singh Leading Money Winner from Web.com Tour and Finals Prior Year Sungjae Im Denny McCarthy Below Top 10 on Current Year FedExCup Points Michael Thompson Talor Gooch Corey Conners Aaron Baddeley Scott Langley Jim Furyk

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