Updates: Tiger Woods, The Open Championship, Round 2

Golf Digest recently published an updated list of the Top 30 nicest guys on the PGA TOUR. Our PGA TOUR writers – Mike McAllister, Sean Martin, Ben Everill, Cameron Morfit – held a roundtable to discuss their views of golf’s nice guys. MIKE McALLISTER: OK, Golf Digest’s list is out. What’s your reaction? Any surprises? SEAN MARTIN: I want to know why ties weren’t resolved. Charles Howell III and Peter Malnati should have to duke it out for 19th and 20th place. A nice-off. CAMERON MORFIT: Most glaring omission is Ben Crane, who is the only player I ever interviewed who insisted on making me lunch. He also wanted to play tennis after. BEN EVERILL: It’s brilliant to see Gary Woodland get a place on this list [at No. 2]. He’s a quiet guy who has been through a lot but those close to him have always known he’s a class act. The world saw more of it with his relationship with Amy Bockerstette. Also, I’m proud to see four Aussies on the list — even though I could make a case for a few more! MARTIN: It’s a strong list, but the amount of nice guys on TOUR isn’t limited to 30. EVERILL: Sean is right. You could add many more to the list. I have a soft spot for Cameron Smith. Many don’t know this guy hosts young Australian amateurs from his home state, at his house, in Ponte Vedra Beach each year. Takes them out on TPC Sawgrass and gives them a real taste of TOUR life. He also likes to buy me coffee … so maybe I am extra biased. McALLISTER: I’m actually surprised Paul Casey is that low [26th]. Was at a dinner prior to Masters last April where he spoke to a small group of writers and he was so personable, so honest, told some great stories and seemed to actually enjoy himself. He’s always been a go-to guy for me. Alas, he opened with an 81 and missed the cut, but I don’t think he’ll hold it against us. MORFIT: Yeah, Mike, I agree on Casey. I can’t think of anyone happier to be out there, or more approachable. Stewart Cink didn’t make the list, and probably should be on there. He was so accommodating and introspective for a long Q & A years ago. He posed for a picture lying down on a couch as if he was in therapy. After the article ran, Zach, his ski buddy, called him the Basket Case. McALLISTER: Why am I not surprised that Ben pointed out the Aussies. Honestly, though, I think there should be five. Geoff Ogilvy is always interesting to talk to, and he’s the most recent winner of the GWAA ASAP/Jim Murray Award for interaction with the media. Maybe it’s because he’s taken a step back from playing this year after he moved home to Australia. EVERILL: John Senden, Greg Chalmers … I could go on … but let me throw up an American then. Great to see Harold Varner III so far up on the list [No. 7 on the list]. He’s a genuine champion of a human. MORFIT: Harold is amazing. When he says he’s in it to help people, you believe it. EVERILL: Yeah, Cam, for sure. And HV3 always comes at you with a smile and questions of his own about you before you can even try to ask about him. MORFIT: I’ve never dealt with Jason Bohn for anything substantive, but every time I talk to him, he smiles and seems delighted to talk. The youngest and best player on TOUR who didn’t make this list but should is Keith Mitchell. Fabulous guy. EVERILL: I would make an early vote for Viktor Hovland. I reckon he will make the list next year. Kid’s smile is infectious. MARTIN: I always enjoy talking to Charles Howell III because he may be the biggest golf nerd on TOUR. He just loves talking about the game and engaging in conversation about it. I approached him after he shot a good score in the first round of THE PLAYERS and told him, “I don’t have any questions about you. I just have a question about Tiger.” He didn’t blink an eye, then told a great story about how he cried when he lost to Tiger at the 1996 U.S. Amateur. MORFIT: Yeah, Howell always says hi. Of course, he calls me “Bud,” but that’s OK. McALLISTER: As media types, we probably view the “nice” factor in a slightly different way than the fans behind the ropes. Given his popularity with fans, it doesn’t surprise me that Rickie is No. 1. Of course, from that same fan perspective, I’m surprised Phil’s not on the list. Phil and Rickie share the same kind of appreciation for their fans. MORFIT: Rickie is serious when he says he models himself after Arnold Palmer. You can really see it. EVERILL: Rickie is a class act. No doubt about that at all. I already liked him but when my old mate Jarrod Lyle was sick and eventually passed away, Rickie was a driving force behind helping out with his family. Didn’t matter what the ask was, he did double. McALLISTER: We’ve already mentioned a few guys who aren’t on the list. Any others? MORFIT: I would definitely add Crane, and I think he’s top 10, maybe top five. I’d add Cink. Sam Ryder is a good guy, very down to earth. I would add him. And I might add J.T. Poston, although I don’t know him that well. Can we add Parker McLachlin? His status isn’t that great, but he’s a super good guy. Oh, and definitely add Keith Mitchell. MARTIN: Kevin Na. He’s become a fan favorite because he’s open and honest about his struggles and is willing to accept criticism. McALLISTER: Na was great at Colonial. Of course, it helps that he won. Everybody’s happy after a win. But I like his honesty. Always good for us. EVERILL: I agree on Na, Sean. He’s always just so open and fun to talk to, and I think that goes for his interactions with the fans, too. McALLISTER: As a proud Texan, I’d include Ryan Palmer. Spent some time earlier this year at his house where he did a shoot for PGA TOUR Entertainment. Has a great family, heavy into the charity side. You can tell he’s one of those down-to-earth guys who’d be great to have a beer with at the nearest sports pub. Plus, he cooks a mean BBQ, and he’s a Dallas Cowboys fan. I’ll forgive him for going to Texas A&M and not my alma mater, Texas Tech. MORFIT: I like Palmer, too. Easy guy to talk to. EVERILL: For me, guys I would have advocated for include Smithy, John Senden and Snake Chalmers like I mentioned above. At the 2013 Masters after his first round, Sendo reached into his bag and pulled out a stuffed Masters bear. He’d signed it. It was for my first kid I had few months earlier. He had forgotten to give it to me on practice days but put it in his bag, for the round, because he knew he’d see me after. Doesn’t seem like much but I found that amazing. I also think Anirban Lahiri is a legend. He’s gone out of his way to approach me a few times in places like airport restaurants to talk cricket and other things. Abraham Ancer is another I’m starting to like a lot. MORFIT: Lahiri! Gotta have him on the list. He’s top 10 for sure. EVERILL: I do have one from left field, though … McALLISTER: Go on … EVERILL: Tiger. He was certainly not the nicest guy for some time. He was so insular. So focused. But now, he’s different. McALLISTER: I can see it. Tiger’s underrated, especially when you factor in the demands on his time. I didn’t cover him back in his heyday – the first major I covered for the PGA TOUR was the 2008 U.S. Open; I didn’t expect it to take 11 years before I’d see him win another — but people who did cover him in the early 2000s say he’s more approachable now. Glad to see him wearing a smile on his face more often. EVERILL: Padraig Harrington says something great in an article about Adam Scott. “Relative to ability to play … he’s a world beater.” The sentiment is the better the player, the harder it might be to seem nice. McALLISTER: Speaking of Harrington … well, you guys probably aren’t surprised I’m advocating his name big-time. My personal favorite. I always learn something from him every time I interview him. He’s been at the top of my list ever since 2008. Of course, he won two majors that year. Ah, the good ol’ days. MORFIT: I’m really championing  Ben Crane. This is a guy who is blindingly nice on the personal level, but also, with his wife, Heather, is trying to make the world a better place, too. Close runner-up: Jay Haas. I still remember how bad he wanted me to try fried chicken gizzards and experience the splendor for myself. MARTIN: I’m going to go with Webb Simpson. I’ve always enjoyed walking pro-ams with him and his caddie, Paul Tesori. He’s another guy who has been through some struggles. I think there’s a theme here. The hard times can humble us and help us become better, kinder people. And those All-Star Kids Clinics that Tesori’s foundation puts on for kids with special needs are a great act of service. Several players on this list, including Simpson and Spieth, help with those. McALLISTER: Webb is No. 5 on the Golf Digest list. The four ahead of him are Rory (4), Spieth (3), Woodland (2) and Rickie (1). Can’t argue with any of them. Of course, I’ve got a fondness for the Texan. I went to one of Spieth’s junior clinics at the AT&T Byron Nelson one year. He was really engaging with the kids, seemed to be having fun. I feel like he was just an older version of them. He’s good with the kids — that’s a big plus in anybody’s book. Anybody have a good personal story about any of those top 4? MORFIT: I was out to dinner with some other writers at THE PLAYERS Championship last year and we all sort of noticed Jordan was there. He noticed us. We exchanged nods. He was there with his wife, and they got up to leave. When we went to pay, we were told he’d taken care of the drinks. Wait. Ben, were you there at dinner? I think it was me and you and the Big Man (Mark Cannizarro of the New York Post) and Evin (Priest of Australian Associated Press). EVERILL: I was at that dinner, Camo! Yeah, that was awesome of Spieth. MARTIN: Sensing a common theme that if a player bought your food … McALLISTER: Don’t make me go back and check if you guys expensed drinks that night.

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SAN DIEGO — Mackenzie Hughes and Louis Oosthuizen brought the memories of Tiger Woods roaring back to life Saturday in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Just like in 2008, when Woods made eagle putts across the green on Nos. 13 and 18, it left this U.S. Open up for grabs. RELATED: Leaderboard | Inside the Field: Travelers Championship First it was Hughes, rolling in a 60-foot eagle putt from the back of the green to the front pin at No. 13 that got him into the mix. Next came Oosthuizen with an eagle putt from 50 feet to a front pin on the 18th. That led to them being tied for the lead with Russell Henley, who was hanging on for dear life at the end of a third round that set the stage for a Sunday filled with possibilities. Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau were two shots behind. McIlroy has gone seven years without a major, while DeChambeau can get the last laugh by joining Brooks Koepka with back-to-back U.S. Open titles. A U.S. Open that for two days lacked excitement came to life in a big way. Hughes, coming off four consecutive missed cuts, birdied the 18th for a 3-under 68. He was the first player to reach 5-under 208. Oosthuizen made next to nothing until he holed 80 feet worth of putts over the final three holes, a 30-foot birdie on the 16th and his big eagle at the last. “The only thing you see is … you can actually putt this in the water,” Oosthuizen said. Woods is recovering from his February car crash that badly injured his legs and is not back at Torrey Pines. In his absence were replays of the eagles he made on the 13th and 18th hole in the third round in 2008 that gave him the 54-hole lead. It took two players to do that this time, but it was equally spectacular. “I know Tiger’s was further right, but halfway there, I loved it,” Hughes said. “The charge that goes through your body when the ball goes in the hole and the crowd erupts is why we play. It gives me goosebumps now thinking about it.” And he’ll have plenty of nerves Sunday playing in the final group with Oosthuizen, who has had five runner-up finishes in the majors — two in playoffs — since winning the 2010 Open Championship at St. Andrews. Henley holed a bunker shot on the par-3 11th for birdie for a two-shot lead and made a great par save from the cabbage behind he 12th green. But he showed signs of cracking over the last hour, dropping shots on the 15th and having to escape with par on No. 18. Thirteen players remained under par going into the final round. Eight players were separated by three shots on a tough course that might not be as accessible as it was Saturday, when all three par 5s were set up to be reachable in two. McIlroy started the day six shots behind and did his best work to save bogey. He ran off three birdies in four holes to start the back nine, only to pull his tee shot into a ravine. He took a penalty drop instead of going into the ravine — a smart decision considering television showed a large rattlesnake in the area — and limited the damage to a bogey. A birdie on the 18th for a 67, matching the low score of the week, gave him a chance to win a major for the first time since the 2014 PGA Championship. McIlroy hasn’t had many of those opportunities lately. “This is the only tournament in the world where you fist-pump a bogey,” McIlroy said. “Only losing one there was a big deal, and getting it up-and-down out of the bunker on 16 and making that birdie on 18 just to get that shot back that I lost, really big.” DeChambeau played it big, too, going with driver just about everywhere and missing some fairways by such a wide margin that he had good lies in fan-trampled grass. It led to his first time in 67 rounds at the majors without a bogey on his card, and his 68 gave him a chance to join Koepka and Curtis Strange as the only back-to-back Open winners in the last 50 years. Koepka, meanwhile, was among those who lost a good opportunity. He shot 71 and was only five shots behind, but with 13 players ahead of him. Jon Rahm, slowed by a double bogey on No. 14 and not nearly enough birdies, had a 72 and was in the group at 2-under 211 along with Scottie Scheffler (70) and Matthew Wolff (73). Dustin Johnson shot a 68 and was among those at 1-under 212, four behind and very much in the game in this major and on this golf course. “It’s a golf course where anything can happen,” Oosthuizen said.

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