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KAPALUA, HI – Despite being in idyllic Maui, it was getting tough for Viktor Hovland to sport his trademark smile. The Norwegian superstar arrived on the island for the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the Dec. 29, set for a week of preparation after a holiday break in his home country. Alas, his golf clubs failed to join him. Flying high after recent wins at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba and the Hero World Challenge during the last two months, Hovland had put away his clubs in Oslo’s winter conditions to reconnect with family and friends over Christmas. He was content the week in Maui would bring sufficient time to get his swing back into a groove. But in the end the world No. 7 had just 24 hours to prepare after his trusty Ping sticks failed to follow him on a travel adventure halfway around the world. Hovland flew from Oslo through Paris and on to Seattle where he was left waiting for his bag for half an hour. Then he was told it had inadvertently been sent off course. “My duffel bag and my mom’s duffel bag was there, but we waited 30 minutes for my golf bag and it didn’t show up,” Hovland said. “I asked someone and they said they sent it through Salt Lake City, apparently.” The delay meant a missed connection to Maui forcing him onto another airline which complicated the search and saw his clothes delayed. “It was a big headache,” Hovland added. “But we got the clothes the next day and then it seemed the golf bag was just somehow sitting in Seattle for five days straight. “They didn’t really know where it was, so I was concerned they lost it initially. And then after a couple of days, they said they physically had it. That got me more frustrated. If you can see the bag, it shouldn’t be that hard to put it on the flight.” That left the 24-year-old doing what most do in Maui. Vacationing. “I really didn’t do anything. I worked out, ate, went to the beach… just had a vacation essentially,” he said. “I really haven’t touched a club since the Bahamas so I was planning on getting here to practice the whole last week and get back into it. Obviously, the preparations haven’t been ideal this time around.” Hovland resorted to using the clubs of his caddie Shay Knight for a little bit of practice. “He has Ping clubs, so that was good. But obviously different specs and different clubs so it wasn’t ideal but at least when you haven’t hit balls, the main thing is to just kind of get a feel for it.” Hovland’s drama wasn’t over. Replacement irons overnighted by Ping from Arizona got delayed in Honolulu and didn’t beat his regular bag which finally arrived late Tuesday night. The bag was roughed up and his back up driver had been snapped. At least he hadn’t planned to use it. In fact, he is still using a driver that belonged to James Hahn – one he was able to borrow in Mayakoba when Danny Lee accidently broke Hovland’s own driver on the range while testing out a speed drill. He would go on to win that week and subsequently still has it. With expectations now lowered for this week, would Hovland struggle to smile like has become his custom or would this equipment fiasco once again prove a good omen? “I was pretty frustrated there a couple of times,” he admitted. “But it’s not ideal that I have to spend these next couple of days to try to get back into things and find my swing. “It’s a little different case because I was playing pretty good and then testing James’ driver, it was really good. I’m still playing that driver … It’s a little different this week, but I’m getting better every day.”

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – This week, it’s the amateur portion of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Next month, it’s a sponsor exemption, making him one of the 132 competitors at the first-year PGA TOUR event, the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. And then? Difficult to say right now. At age 37, Tony Romo is a retired NFL quarterback, just finished his first year as lead analyst on CBS and is arguably the most accomplished golfer as any amateur in the field this week at Pebble Beach. More important, for the first time in his life, he has the time, the health and the desire to make golf a daily part of his life. So maybe he gets more invites into TOUR events. Maybe he sees progress. Maybe the competitive juices flow just like they did when he quarterbacked the Dallas Cowboys. And maybe one day, he chases membership onto a professional tour. Consider this: Romo has 13 years to fine-tune his game for the PGA TOUR Champions. He could follow the same path as another former NFL quarterback, John Brodie, who retired from the NFL at age 35 and eventually became a Champions member once he turned 50, even winning one event. When asked if Romo might have pro golf aspirations, his good friend and practice partner Jordan Spieth said he could see it happening. “He loves golf so much,â€� Spieth said. “He’s going to practice it all the time. That’s all he’s been doing. Yeah, I think that’s not out of the realm at all.â€� Romo, of course, is not about to disclose such lofty intentions. He’s just grateful for the opportunity to play next month’s event in the Dominican Republic. The news of the sponsor exemption was made public on Wednesday, so let’s just digest that for now. Even so, he wasn’t dismissing the idea. “Well, you got to go play,â€� Romo said. “You never know how good you are until you go play and perform. Ultimately, obviously the odds going against these guys are not great. I think we all know that. “But I think that’s what makes it really fun and enjoyable. I also think that the challenge that’s presented is what a competitor really wants. I think that’s what you always want to be around or be a part of. I know it’s about your own game and it’s about improving, that’s all you’re trying to do is consistently improve and get better. But you can learn a lot being around these guys and competing against them and I think that does make you better.â€� Romo has chased golf opportunities before. He’s attempted to qualify for the U.S. Open three times, advancing to the sectional stage of qualifying in 2010. He’s made a few appearances in the AT&T Pebble Beach as an amateur, and last year he played in the Western Amateur. But there are significant differences between those attempts and the present (and future) ones. As the Cowboys quarterback, Romo’s window of playing a significant amount of golf was basically reduced to five months a year. And of course, late in his career, he battled lower back injuries, undergoing two surgeries. A compression fracture to the L1 vertebra prior to the 2016 season kept him sidelined for most of the season. He was supplanted as the starter, giving way to Dak Prescott, and eventually opted to retire in order to join Jim Nantz in the CBS broadcast booth for the 2017 season. With a year of good health and a job that allows him plenty of time on the course, Romo finally has been able to focus his attention on golf for an extended period. “I started off very rusty last spring and summer and then I started to see some good signs here over the last month or two that I feel good about with the game,â€� Romo said. “Hopefully it will show.â€� At Pebble Beach, he will partner Will Zalatoris in the team competition. Romo carries an +0.3 handicap and is one of just three amateurs with a 0 handicap (the others are investment banker Kevin Baldwin and No Doubt drummer Adrian Young). Evidently, Romo’s goals are lofty this week – at least according to Spieth. “He wants to beat the pros that are in his group,â€� Spieth said, referring to Zalatoris and Hunter Mahan. “That’s kind of his goal. He thinks he can win this golf tournament if he played it with us.â€� Romo smiled upon hearing the comments: “Jordan just set me up for failure a little bit.â€� So how will Romo define success at Corales Puntacana? Just like his long-range future, it’s tough to say. “I really don’t know, to be honest with you,â€� he replied. “I’ve never played golf for a year straight. I don’t know what constitutes (success). More than anything, I’m not putting any expectations as far as what’s going to make a successful week. “You play and compete in tournaments to know what to practice. The tournament will show me a lot.â€� However it turns out for Romo – not only in the Dominican Republic but also this week at Pebble Beach — it should be fun to watch. Spieth often plays with Romo when the two are back home in Dallas. The 11-time TOUR winner is quite impressed with the former quarterback of his favorite NFL team. “His short game is fantastic,â€� Spieth said. “He’s walking in putts from 15 feet at home. I mean, walking them in almost every hole. It’s really impressive. We’ll see if he walks them in out here. It’s harder to walk them in on poa annua. “But he’s a guy that when he gets kind of a feeling, he sees a couple shots – he believes it like this. And then he can hit a hundred of them in a row. His muscle memory, his hand-eye coordination, is really special. So I have no doubt he’ll shoot under par every round out here from where they’re playing from.â€�

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Tiger at Torrey Pines – yes, that’s enough to make any golf fan salivate. But the Farmers Insurance Open includes plenty of other one-name notables in its stellar field this week. Rory. Rickie. Jason. Jordan. And while we’re at it, throw in last year’s FedExCup winner (Justin Rose) and this year’s leader (Xander Schauffele). Should be a big week in SoCal. THE FLYOVER Two years ago, the 570-yard par-5 18th at Torrey Pines South yielded 11 eagles. A year ago, no birdies were recorded on the hole. Yet the stroke average remained relatively the same (4.766 in 2017, 4.768 last year). Finding the fairway isn’t all that easy at the 18th, and bunkers on either side of the fairway often gobble up the loose shots. Here’s a closer look at the 18th. LANDING ZONE For the last four seasons, the 504-yard par-4 12th at Torrey Pines South has ranked inside the 10 most difficult of all holes played on the PGA TOUR. Last year’s stroke average of 4.435 ranked it as the seventh toughest. Uphill … into the wind … long-iron approach … awkward angles – it’s no wonder that four pars at 12 this week will leave players smiling. Here’s a look at where all tee shots landed last year. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Wade Stettner: “A high pressure ridge will influence the weather through this weekend resulting in dry conditions and above normal temperatures. High temperatures are forecast near 70 degrees through Sunday with winds out of the north/northwest each day. An off-shore gradient will keep the marine layer away from the coast over the next few days, although the marine layer may get close to the coast on Sunday as the gradient turns neutral.â€� For the latest weather news from San Diego, California, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK This is the first PGA TOUR event that I ever attended with my dad when this was the old Andy Williams tournament. To have won on this property and had the success I’ve had, it’s been a lot of fun and looking forward to getting out there this week. BY THE NUMBERS 48.82 – Percentage of fairways hit at Torrey Pines South last year. It was the only course played on the PGA TOUR with less than 50 percent success rate. 51.01 – Percentage of fairways hit at Torrey Pines North in the first two rounds last year. That made it the fourth most difficult course in which to hit the fairway. 14 – Wins in California by Tiger Woods. That’s the most of any player since 1997. Another native Californian, Phil Mickelson, ranks second during the time period with 11 wins. -166 – Score under par since 1998 by Tiger Woods at the Farmers Insurance Open. Mickelson ranks second on that list at 99 under. SCATTERSHOTS Eight again? If Tiger Woods wins this week, it will be his eighth Farmers Insurance Open victory. He already has eight wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and eight at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, tying the TOUR record for most wins at a single tournament set by Sam Snead at the Wyndham Championship. Woods, of course, already has eight wins at Torrey Pines, having captured the 2008 U.S. Open there. But that first hole: Tiger’s nemesis at Torrey Pines South lately is the opening hole. In his last 19 rounds played at that course, he has four double bogeys, including three at the 2008 U.S. Open). He’s played the hole at a stroke average of 4.38. Prior to 2008, he didn’t have much of a problem, playing the 450-yard par 4 No. 1 at a stroke average of 3.79 with zero double bogeys. Big points: Defending champion Jason Day has accumulated 1,268 FedExCup points at the Farmers Insurance Open since 2009 (two wins and two other top-10 finishes will do the trick). That’s the second-most points of any player at Farmers in that span; Brandt Snedeker has been even more productive with 1,681 points. Tourney debut: Rory McIlroy is making his first career start at the Farmers Insurance Open. McIlroy’s lone win in a tournament debut came at the 2010 Wells Fargo Championship. He has four other top-10 finishes in tourney debuts, including a T-4 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions earlier this month. Pro debut: Braden Thornberry, the 2017 NCAA champion, is making his first start since opting to skip the spring portion of his senior season at the University of Mississippi. This isn’t his first PGA TOUR start, though – he made four of them as an amateur, including a T-4 at the 2017 FedEx St. Jude Classic. Long layout: At 7,698 yards, Torrey Pines South was the longest course played on the PGA TOUR last season.

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