Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson groupings through the years

Tiger Woods feels a special energy around the Old Course at St Andrews. He has referred to it throughout his career as his favorite course in the world. He has won two Open Championships there. This summer, he has made the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews his priority. Woods traveled to Europe a week early for this week’s JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor GC in Ireland, and he said Tuesday that his decision to not compete at last month’s U.S. Open was made with an eye ahead. “I had some issues with my leg, and it would have put this tournament in jeopardy, and so there’s no reason to do that,” Woods told reporters Tuesday. “This is a pretty historic Open that we are going to be playing. I’m lucky enough to be part of the past champions that have won there, and want to play there again, and I don’t know when they are ever going to go back while I’m still able to play at a high level. “I want to be able to give it at least one more run at a high level.” Woods has competed in five previous Open Championships at St Andrews. His eight-stroke victory in 2000 was his second of four consecutive major titles in what is known as the “Tiger Slam.” His two-stroke victory at St Andrews in 2005 was his second of three Open Championship titles; he also won in 2006 at Royal Liverpool. Woods’ first Open Championship appearance came in 1995 at St Andrews. He made the cut as an amateur and finished T68. He finished T23 at St Andrews in 2010 and missed the cut in 2015. “I’ve always loved this golf course, from the first time I played it back in ’95,” Woods said at the 2015 Open at St Andrews. “I just love the creativity. You have to be able to hit all different types of shots. You need to have the right angles. Over the years of learning how to play the golf course under all different types of wind conditions, it changes greatly, and it’s based on angles. You have to put the ball on certain sides of the fairways in order to get the ball close. “To me, that type of thinking and the strategy that goes into that is something I’ve always loved.” After suffering severe injuries to both legs in a single-car accident in February 2021, Woods made his competitive return at this year’s Masters, making the cut and finishing solo 47th. He also made the cut at the PGA Championship in May but withdrew after a third-round 79; he had cited leg soreness after the round. Woods considered competing at last month’s U.S. Open at Brookline but withdrew prior to the tournament. He tweeted the week prior to the event that his body needed more time to get stronger for major championship golf. He flew to Ireland for this week’s two-day JP McManus Pro-Am, held Monday and Tuesday, and he plans to spend time practicing off-site before traveling to St Andrews. “If you asked me last year whether I would play golf again, all of my surgeons would have said no,” Woods said Tuesday. “But here I am playing two major championships this year. I will always be able to play golf, whether it’s this leg or someone else’s leg or false leg or different body pieces that have been placed or fused. I’ll always be able to play.” For the chance to play next week at St Andrews, he is very grateful.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Cameron Champ just wanted to make the cut in all of his starts this fall.   With a win and three other top-30 finishes, Champ has far exceeded that goal.   It was close in his first event, though.   He made the cut on the number after struggling with his ball-striking at the Safeway Open. Sneaking into the weekend gave him the opportunity to shoot one of those unnoticed rounds that changes a career.   He started the final round at Silverado in 66th place. His Sunday 68 in high winds set the stage for an impressive run that has made him this season’s must-see rookie.   Only two players beat Champ’s final-round score at the Safeway. He jumped 41 spots on the leaderboard and, more importantly, gained the confidence that helped him win in his next start.   “It was blowing 25 (mph), gusting a little more, maybe, and I was flighting the shots right, hitting the shots where I needed to, and then I made a few good putts,â€� Champ said Tuesday in his pre-tournament interview at The RSM Classic. “Things just kind of progressed from there.â€�   Yes, they have. Champ led after every round at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He birdied five of the final six holes to beat Corey Conners by four. Champ is ninth in the FedExCup and the early front-runner in the Rookie of the Year race.   In 12 rounds since the Safeway, he’s been inside the top 10 after nine of them. He has a 67.3 scoring average in that span, including four rounds of 65 or lower.   “I’ve just been playing with confidence, really,â€� Champ said. His outrageous length helps, as well. His average driving distance of 335.2 yards leads the TOUR. He’s nearly four yards longer than Luke List, who ranks second in that category, and 38 yards longer than the TOUR average.   He also leads in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, a statistic with outsized importance in today’s game. Eight of the top 10 in that metric qualified for last season’s TOUR Championship.   It takes more than long drives to win on the PGA TOUR, though. By being a consistent contender this fall, Champ has shown that he is more than a sideshow.   He had an opportunity to win his first start following his victory, at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, and at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. He stumbled with a final-round 73 in Las Vegas after starting the final round just three back.   A second-round 62 last week in Mexico got him into second place. He finished six shots behind Matt Kuchar despite two double bogeys on the final nine.   The RSM Classic is his fourth consecutive start. He’s trying to continue this impressive run and earn money for charity.   Champ has made birdie or eagle on one-third of his holes this season. He’s second in birdie average (5.9 per round) and has two eagles. His 96 birdies and eagles are second-most on TOUR, just one fewer than Gary Woodland.   With Woodland sitting out this week, Champ is the prohibitive favorite in the Birdies Fore Love race. That competition awards $300,000 to the player who finishes the fall season with the most birdies and eagles. Champ already has begun his own foundation. He has plans to bring after-school programs to the par-3 course that he grew up playing in Sacramento, California.   “Charity and giving back has always been a thing of mine and my family personally,â€� Champ said. “We didn’t come from much, but we always gave back as much as possible.â€�   That generosity can continue thanks to his strong start to the season.

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SAVANNAH, Ga. – In one sense “Big Mike” Visacki isn’t so big anymore. Visacki, who will be one of 149 players teeing it up at the final stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament starting Thursday at The Landings Club, is working out and eating better. He’s down around 25 pounds since March, when he Monday qualified into the Valspar Championship and broke down in tears while calling to tell his father. A viral video of that moment introduced his story to fans, some of whom reached out via Venmo and other means to support the mini-tour grinder. Chief among his new benefactors is Justin Thomas, who wrote him a check to help him keep chasing the dream. Which is why, in another sense, Visacki is bigger than ever. As part of his preparation for final stage, which will determine the priority ranking for the start of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season, Visacki and Thomas played Michael Jordan’s exclusive Grove XXIII club last Friday. From Sarasota, Florida, where he lives, Visacki drove three hours to Hobe Sound, where upon piling out of the car he found himself 30 yards from Jordan himself. Then he shot 5 under to clip Thomas by two. “He had one bad hole, but he birdied the last four,” Visacki said of Thomas during an interview at The Landings, where his dad, Mike, Sr., will be his caddie for final stage. (Top 40 and ties are guaranteed entry into the first eight events of the upcoming Korn Ferry Tour season.) “It’s not how you start,” he added. “It’s how you finish.” Rickie Fowler joined them on the 12th hole. Mike, Sr., whose home in Yugoslavia was made of mud and hay, and who came to New York with his parents when he was 14, tagged along, too. He’s more of a soccer fan – he started playing golf at 42 and was taught by a Hungarian trapeze performer – but relished talking to Thomas’ father, also Mike, whom he calls, “A really great guy.” Big Mike’s day with the stars was just the latest example of how much things have changed for him. It also opened Thomas’ eyes. “I was really impressed,” Thomas said from Mexico, where he’s playing the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. “He drives the ball really well, hits his irons really solid. You can tell he’s the kind of guy to where if his wedges and chipping and putting are good, then he’s got a chance to really have a good career, professional career. “I’m obviously pulling for him,” Thomas continued. “I went through Q-School, I went through all that, it’s very stressful and it’s pressure-filled.” Doing the work After missing the cut at the Valspar and Charles Schwab Challenge, which he played on a sponsor’s exemption given by Schwab himself, Visacki went home and regrouped. His two PGA TOUR starts had made him semi-famous, but now he began to quietly remake himself with the cameras off. In addition to his new private benefactors, he found an ally in GolfTec, which provides custom club-fitting and instruction nationwide and now sponsors him. Meanwhile, nudged by his swing coach and one of his new private backers, he got serious about his weight. He looks different now; you can see it in his face. Just as importantly, he took his silver 2010 Honda Accord (211,000 miles) on a barnstorming tour that included state opens and other small tournaments, all funded by Thomas and others. “In six or seven weeks I put on 6,500 miles,” Visacki said. His itinerary was like that old Johnny Cash song, I’ve Been Everywhere: Sarasota, St. Louis, North Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado. The most significant moment: his victory at the Waterloo (Iowa) Open in July, worth $50,000. It was his biggest payday as a professional, and he texted Thomas the good news. “I just wanted to say thanks for all he’d done, allowing me to chase state opens where before I wouldn’t have able to,” Visacki said. “He gave me the chance that led to my biggest win.” Thomas, who calls Visacki a fighter, was delighted, telling him to keep going and use it as a stepping-stone. “The hard part about this game is that things don’t happen just because you think they should,” he said. Hard work and a cool backstory go only so far. “Golf doesn’t really care,” Thomas added. “Sports, that’s not how it works. It might work out in the end if you do play well.” Visacki continues to do his part. Regarding his other benefactors, he said, “They just looked me up and found me. Someone from Boston. A gentleman from Texas. I was at the golf course when I got a Venmo for 2,500 bucks; I didn’t even know who it was. I reached out on Venmo and said, ‘Do you mind if you send me your number? I want to get in contact with you.’ “We ended up talking,” he continued, “and he felt my story and he ended up sending me some more. It helped me get rid of my credit card debt.” Someone else offered to pay his membership fees at the Founders Golf Club in Sarasota. The Big Mike caravan was gaining passengers and picking up speed, and continues to do so today. Seizing the moment His barnstorming tour might not have meant quite so much had Visacki not made it through KFT Q-School’s perilous second stage two weeks ago at South Florida’s Plantation Preserve. Get through second stage and you’ve got a place to play; wash out and you’re back to the fringes. On the bubble at second stage two years ago, Visacki lost his ball in a tree on his second-to-last hole and made double bogey, then missed a birdie putt on 18 to miss by one agonizing shot. History threatened to repeat itself after Visacki shot a nervous 4-over front nine on the final day at Plantation Preserve. Tyler Beasley, a GolfTec instructor who coaches Visacki and was his caddie at first and second stage, got in his man’s ear on the long walk to the 10th tee. “He basically wasn’t turning through the ball like he needs to,” said Beasley, a former long-drive competitor. “And there’d been a rain delay, and he doubled nine, but he was focused and resilient. It was a long walk to the back nine. We walked right by his car. We got to 10 and did a fist bump and I said, ‘You can do this. Let’s go play the best nine holes of our life.’” Visacki eagled the 10th hole. He birdied 11 and 12. After three pars he birdied again at 16. He found the water on his second shot at the par-5 18th but got up and down from 160 yards, holing a putt from 12 feet to save a crucial par. It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. On another FaceTime call with his dad, he wasn’t sure if he’d done enough. When it became official that he had, on the number without a shot to spare, Visacki got a congratulatory call he won’t soon forget. “It was so funny,” he said. “We were having a quick bite to eat before going home, and Tyler said, ‘Has J.T. reached out?’ I said, ‘No, not yet.’ And he called 30 seconds later, almost like he’d heard me. The first thing he said was, ‘You don’t like to make it easy on yourself, do you, bud?’ [Laughs] I was like, ‘No, I like to give people a show.’ [Laughs] You know, going 4 over on the front, 5 under on the back. It definitely made it interesting. “It felt good, after what happened two years ago,” he continued. “This time it was the easiest putt I had had all day, right edge. I backed my caddie off from over-reading it, and poured it in. I feel like maybe it wasn’t my time back then, and now it is.” He’s an overnight success, years in the making. Credit Beasley. (Visacki had been coached by his dad.) Credit his improved diet and stamina and mobility. The catalyst, though, was that viral video at the Valspar. Letting his guard down lifted him up in ways he couldn’t have predicted. The old Honda is still around, but Visacki has bought himself another ride. It’s a 2019 Ford GT Mustang, low mileage. “I call it midnight blue,” he said. “I got a great deal on it.” The trunk easily fits his slim Sun Mountain carry bag. As for his bulkier staff bag, that might be tougher. “I’m waiting on a bag from Titleist to come,” he said, “but they were a little backordered.” A little backordered. Crisscrossing the country, playing just to cover expenses and for the chance to keep going, Visacki once could have said the same about his career. But after a wild eight months he’s on the verge of a full Korn Ferry Tour season and his best chance at achieving his dream: “Getting that PGA TOUR card so I can play with J.T. in final rounds,” he said. He’ll have a lot of people pulling for him.

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