The First Look: TOUR Championship

Collin Morikawa is finally getting a weekend off. After making his first 22 consecutive cuts as a pro, the second longest streak in the last 30 years (Tiger Woods, 25), the high-flying Morikawa came back to earth and will miss the weekend rounds at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. RELATED: Full leaderboard After shooting an opening-round 72, Morikawa could only manage one better Friday, finishing at 3 over for the tournament and well off the projected cut. “It was bound to happen at some point,” he said. “Who knows when that was going to be. But now I guess we’re going to stop talking about it and I can go and just go on to next week.” Morikawa said he will take a week off, then pick back up again for the two tournaments at Muirfield Village in Columbus, Ohio. Just two weeks ago Morikawa lost a playoff to Daniel Berger at the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first tournament back after a three-month hiatus on the PGA TOUR due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He faltered slightly with a final-round 74 and a T64 finish at the RBC Heritage, which he said led to his struggles at the Travelers, where “I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole.” Morikawa, 23, graduated from Cal Berkeley (Business Administration) in the spring of 2019, turned pro, and took off like a rocket. He was runner-up to friend Matthew Wolff at the 3M Open, finished T4 at the John Deere Classic, and won the Barracuda Championship. Along with Wolff and Puerto Rico Open winner Viktor Hovland, who is in contention at the Travelers, Morikawa is a key cog in of one of the most celebrated rookie classes in decades. He was 20th in the FedExCup and had climbed to 29th in the world heading into the Travelers. “I’m going to learn a lot from this week,” he said. “I missed the cut as an am at the Safeway Open in 2016, and I learned more then, in those two days, than I did in a lot of my events so far as a pro. I’m going to learn a lot from this week and just move forward.”

Click here to read the full article…

LOS ANGELES – Two months after nearly winning the PNC Championship alongside his son, Tiger Woods is still unable to give a timetable for his return to the PGA TOUR. Woods’ play at the PNC was better than many expected after his horrific car crash last February, but he said any progress made since December was not significant enough to forecast a return to competition. “I wish I could tell you when I’m playing again,” Woods said Wednesday from The Riviera Country Club, where he is hosting The Genesis Invitational. “I want to know, but I don’t. My golf activity has been very limited. I can chip and putt really well and hit short irons very well, but I haven’t done any long stuff seriously. I’m still working. “I’m still working on the walking part. My foot was a little messed up there about a year ago, so the walking part is something that I’m still working on, working on strength and development in that. It takes time.” Woods suffered multiple fractures in his right leg and shattered his ankle last February in Los Angeles in the days following The Genesis Invitational when his vehicle jumped a median and rolled over into a ditch. There were serious concerns at the time that the 82-time TOUR winner might lose the limb. “To be able to have my right leg still here, it’s huge,” said Woods, who turned 46 in December. “I still have a lot of issues with it, but it’s mine and I’m very thankful for that. “What’s frustrating is it’s not at my timetable. I want to be at a certain place, but I’m not. I’ve just got to continue working. I’m getting better, yes, but not at the speed and rate that I would like. You add in the age factor, too. You just don’t quite heal as fast, which is frustrating.” His play at the PNC boosted hope of a larger comeback, perhaps even for the Masters in April. But Woods pointed out he had the benefit of riding in a golf cart on his way to a runner-up finish with Charlie behind John Daly and his son, John II. Woods was also recovering from a fifth back surgery prior to the accident. The combination of ailments makes hitting longer shots more difficult. “I have seen progress. I’m a lot stronger than I was then, I’m able to hit more shots… I can play weekend warrior golf, that’s easy. But to be able to be out here and play six rounds of golf, a practice round, pro-am, four competitive days, it’s the cumulative effect of all that. I’m not able to do that yet. I’m still working on getting to that point,” Woods said. “Don’t forget when my back was bad, when we had rain delays and had to reactivate everything and go back out there again. I’ve still got that issue, too. I’ve got a long way to go. … (Playing) gave me hope to be able to play with my son again and to be able to have fun with him and have those moments, … but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be back out on TOUR playing anytime soon.” Woods did remain committed to making a comeback at some point. He needs just one more TOUR win to take sole possession of the PGA TOUR wins record he currently shares with Sam Snead. “It’s been tough, but I’ve gotten here, I’ve gotten this far and I still have a long way to go. Each and every day’s a fight and I welcome that fight. Get up in the morning, let’s go a few more rounds,” Woods said. “I wish I could spend more time on the range digging out of the dirt. … But that’s not realistic at this point. Will I come back? Yes. Will I come back and play a full schedule? No. … I can play certain events here and there, but on a full-time level, no, that will never happen again.”

Click here to read the full article…

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – As rituals go, spending his birthday at Harbour Town Golf Links is as sure a bet as you’ll find in the world of golf. After all, Davis Love III has played here 32 times since 1986. He celebrated his 22nd birthday a few days before his debut. And on the eve of yet another RBC Heritage, Love smiled warmly at the site of a birthday cake commemorating his 58th birthday. He’s won here five times, finished second once, and third once. So, he’s royalty when he’s among the Hilton Head crowd. But on this day, the cake would have to serve as the only gift he would receive because with Love serving as Presidents Cup captain later in the year, this birthday celebration would be spent answering questions. Like what is Tiger Woods’ role going to be at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte on Sept. 22-25? “Any role he wants,” said Love, quickly and firmly. “We had to pry him off the couch a little bit last winter and spring to get involved in the (2021) Ryder Cup and then once we got him going, he was very engaged and loved it.” Love joked that if Woods were to say, “‘You’re not captain anymore, I’m going to be the captain,’ we’ll probably have to talk about that one. But anything else (is open). If he wants to be co-captain or assistant captain or player, . . . whatever he wants to do.” When asked if Love truly believes Woods could play on the Presidents Cup team in five months he nodded his head. Why? “Because I didn’t think he would ever play again and he proved us wrong,” said Love. “And then, I didn’t think he could walk 72 holes at Augusta, because that’s one of our hardest walks – and he proved us wrong again.” So Love joked that it would probably assure a Woods Presidents Cup comeback if he were continue to doubt him. “Can he do it? I’ll just say no, he’s not going to play enough golf and he won’t be able to do it, so then he’ll do it,” laughed Love. “What could be a better story than him playing the Masters, him playing The Open Championship and working his way back and winning a golf tournament and being at least in the conversation.” Of all the congratulations Love said he’s received since being named Presidents Cup captain for the first time (he’s a two-time Ryder Cup captain), the one he got from Woods meant the most. “He calls me and says, ‘All right, you’re captain in Charlotte, it’s the right thing to do at this time.’” From here on, the calls will be made by Love and his assistants, two of whom – Zach Johnson and Fred Couples – were named this week. Since it’s April and the first major championship of the season is in the books, Love will start taking a serious look at the standings. When he does, he’ll see some names that might surprise folks, players who haven’t been on the international teams. Love said nothing will surprise him. In fact, “I’m prepared for a different team (than last year’s Ryder Cup team that beat Europe, 19-9). I said it (at the Ryder Cup), we won’t get the same 12 as we had last time. It never works that way.” Presently, of the top six automatic picks, two have never played on Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup team – Sam Burns, who is No. 2, and Talor Gooch, No. 6. Four players who sit in the No. 6-12 positions (Tom Hoge, Jason Kokrak, Max Homa, and Will Zalatoris) have also not played on either team. Meanwhile, stalwarts such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Daniel Berger, and Bryson DeChambeau are outside the top 12. “I’ve never really gotten hung up on it early in the year,” said Love. I don’t really start watching until the Masters. There’s a whole bunch of points to go.” But he didn’t sound concerned, either way. “You always have some flip-flop (from one team to the next). That’s what’s great about it – you get the hot guys. But the hot guys from last year might not be the hot guys from this year.”

Click here to read the full article…