The International team faces historic odds; can it pull off a massive Presidents Cup upset?

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are ready for a made-for-TV rematch at a time when fans are craving live action. And this time, they’ll have company. Turner Sports says quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will join them for a two-on-two match sometime in May. Missing from the announcement were such details as when and where the match would be played, except that tournament organizers would work with government and health officials to meet safety and health standards. Turner said all donations and fundraising from “The Match: Champions for Charity” would benefit relief efforts for the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be televised on TNT, with social and digital content leading up and during the event available through Bleacher Report and House of Highlights. “It’s on now,” Mickelson tweeted Wednesday afternoon responding to Bleacher Report. He added that he would be paired with Brady, saying: “After feeling the sting of defeat the first time around, Looks like (at)TigerWoods is bringing a ringer to The Match ((hash)PeytonManning). I’m bringing a GOAT. (at)TomBrady — Ready to hit bombs?” The first match over Thanksgiving weekend in November 2018 was supposed to be pay-per-view, except that technical difficulties allowed everyone to watch. It lacked some of wild bets both players had teased, and the trash talking was forced at times. Mickelson ended up winning the $9 million winner-take-all purse in a wedge contest under the lights when the matched ended in a tie. Live golf was last seen on television March 12, the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship as developments with the new coronavirus accelerated at such a rate that sports began shutting down. The PGA TOUR first decided not to have fans at the TPC Sawgrass, then canceled its premier event, and then began canceling or postponing all tournaments across each of its tours. Woods was not at THE PLAYERS. The defending Masters champion has not played since he finished last in his Genesis Invitational at Riviera on Feb. 16. Saying his back did not feel ready, Woods chose not to play the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS Championship. Woods and Manning have played together in pro-ams on the PGA TOUR. The Palm Beach Post has reported that Brady, who recently signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has joined fabled Seminole Golf Club in south Florida.

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SAN DIEGO – Former Farmers Insurance Open champion Jason Day will start at Torrey Pines this week with a new caddie as regular bagman Luke Reardon is still in the process of acquiring a work visa. The 10-time PGA TOUR winner will open up his 2018 campaign with another good friend on the bag as Reardon waits in Australia for clearance to return to the USA. Day was spotted working with Rika Batibasaga at Torrey Pines on Monday. Batibasaga has played professionally on the Australasian and EuroPro Tours in the past and has often been a practice partner for Day in his home town of Columbus. Day’s agent Bud Martin confirmed Batibasaga will take over duties until the visa process concludes. Day – the 2015 Farmers Insurance Open champion – is looking for a rebound season having not won since the 2016 PLAYERS Championship. The 30-year-old former world No.1 had now full-time swing coach Colin Swatton on his bag for all of his victories before hiring Reardon in September of 2017. Day has three career top-10 results at Torrey Pines including his victory and also won a Junior World title there. He currently sits 76th in the FedExCup after a pair of T11 finishes at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES and the World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions.

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DETROIT — Tony Finau sent an approach from 250 yards soaring over trees and onto the seventh green at Detroit Golf Club, going for the reward and ignoring the risk with a difficult shot. The way he has been playing over the last week, it made a lot of sense. Finau, coming off his third career victory on the PGA TOUR, and Taylor Pendrith shared the first-round lead at 8-under 64 on Thursday in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The pivotal shot on Finau’s 16th hole, a 560-yard par 5, set up a two-putt from 43 feet for one of his eight birdies. “I had to get all of it to get it to the hole and hit it right in the middle of the green,” he said. The leaderboard was filled with players who took advantage of favorable scoring conditions with morning tee times. In the afternoon, the wind picked up and the scores did as well. Former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, Michael Thompson, Cameron Champ, Lee Hodges and Matt Wallace were two shots back. Si Woo Kim and Kurt Kitayama, both ranked among the top 70 in the world, were in the pack at 67. Finau, who rallied from a five-shot deficit with 11 holes left to win the 3M Open by three shots Sunday in Minnesota, opened with a birdie and had five birdies on his front nine. After cooling off with four straight pars, Finau closed with his seventh and eighth birdies in a bogey-free round. He hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in 728 PGA TOUR stroke-play rounds. “Do the math, I missed 10 putts,” he said. “Obviously, 64′s a very good round, but this is a golf course where a lot of guys are going to make birdies.” On the par-4 eighth hole, he made a 41-foot putt downhill with a slight break from right to left for another birdie and a three-shot lead. “It was nice to just get a bonus birdie on 8 after a poor wedge shot, but that’s why we call our putter the equalizer,” Finau said. Pendrith, a 31-year-old PGA TOUR rookie, surged into a share of the lead with five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on his back nine. Toward the end of his round, the relatively anonymous player in the world noticed the ‘h’ in his last name was missing on the leaderboard. Alas, the 8 under next to his misspelled name was correct. “That’s all that matters,” he said with a grin. Pendrith is atop a leaderboard for the first time on the PGA TOUR following an opening round. The Canadian did have the third-round lead by three shots last October at the Bermuda Championship before closing with a 76 and finishing a career-high fifth. In March, he was 13th at THE PLAYERS Championship and came away with a career-best $327,222 — and a broken rib. The injury prevented him from competing for nearly four months, leading to him being ranked No. 237. He has bounced back with ties for 11th and 13th at tournaments earlier this month. “When I’m healthy, I can compete with the best,” Pendrith said. Nate Lashley, who won his first and only PGA TOUR title in Detroit four years ago, shot a 68 after getting an anti-inflammatory shot in his right foot. “I’m having surgery next week,” he said, adding he will need four to six weeks to recover. Mark Hubbard was also four shots off the lead after a topsy-turvy round with four birdies, two bogeys and an ace on the par-3, 216-yard 11th hole. Hubbard dropped his club and his head after hitting his tee shot. “That’s embarrassing,” he said while the ball was in flight. The ball landed on the front of the green and rolled toward the cup before going around it and dropping in. “That’s probably going to end up being one of my favorite hole-in-ones,” said Hubbard, who has nine career aces. Defending FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay, ranked No. 4 in the world, and 13th-ranked Will Zalatoris both shot 70. Cameron Young was another shot back and 20th-ranked Max Homa had a 72.

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