Westwood closes in on Dodt at Wentworth

ORLANDO, Fla. – Should we really be surprised? After all he has done since shaking hands with Mike Douglas on national television at age 2, since playing an exhibition with Sam Snead at 5, and teeing it up at the old L.A. Open at 16, Tiger Woods always has delivered something special, has he not? His six consecutive U.S. Golf Association championships, 12-shot Masters win at age 21, 15-shot U.S. Open victory and 15 major titles among his 82 PGA TOUR victories … as Maximus asked his crowd inside the fight arena in “Gladiator,” Are you not entertained? To question Woods or his talents – perhaps once-in-a-lifetime talents, says Padraig Harrington – that’s not on Tiger. That’s on us. The calendar shows that winter is close, but December in central Florida brought unseasonably warm temperatures last week at the PNC Championship. Then Tiger Woods stepped in and dialed up the true heat, as only he does. The shots that he hit – the shaping of his drives, the towering irons that landed so softly, the dead-center makes on putts from inside 15 feet – it all was vintage material. No, this wasn’t Augusta National in April, but it was more than a dismissive “hit and giggle” as Woods stepped back into the spotlight at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. He didn’t know what to expect, nor did we. Tiger being Tiger, he delivered. Are we surprised? He showed us that the golf portion of the exam he faces in the coming months looked to be in pretty good shape for a man who’d taken a year off from the game. World No. 7 Justin Thomas may have had 30 yards on him at times off the tee, but despite his self-deprecating jokes, Woods isn’t exactly short as he tries to build up his speed. Now he must wait for a badly damaged right leg, ankle and foot to get healthy enough to meet an often overlooked requirement of being a professional golfer – the walking of the courses. Pros hoof it over six or seven miles a day, and when Woods eschewed his cart and walked the final few hundred yards to the 18th green Sunday, perhaps making a statement, it looked like arduous labor. The road ahead for Woods, competitively, is the great unknown. He wisely deflects all questions about a return to the life he has led as a professional golfer. He’s quick to state he never again expects to play a full schedule. If he is to pick and choose, as Ben Hogan once did, when and where will he play? When will he be healthy enough to compete at hilly Augusta National, where he won in 2019? Could he be ready in May for the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, another difficult walk but a venue where he won Major No. 13 in 2007? Will a visit to Scotland’s Old Course at St. Andrews – he’s won there twice – for the 150th Open Championship in July deliver a larger main course than the Champions Dinner? Absent a Tiger appearance at those events, could we not see him inside the ropes again until next year’s PNC, when Charlie will be 13 and even stronger? These are all hypotheticals, and Woods is too patient, and smart, to indulge in any conjecture. Friend Matt Kuchar – who with his oldest son, Cameron, 14, was grouped with Team Woods on Sunday – was impressed and surprised by the state of Woods’ game. “Seeing what he can do just swinging a golf club makes me think that he will figure the other part out,” Kuchar said. “I think he’s got the hard part down.” Woods laughed off Kuchar’s suggestion that he appeared to be TOUR ready. “No, no, no, no,” Woods said. “I totally disagree. I’m not – I’m not at that level. I can’t compete against these guys right now, no. It’s going to take a lot of work to get to where I feel like I can compete with these guys and be at a high level.” Be that as it may, his PNC return was all about Tiger enjoying a few days of low-key golf with his son, Charlie, who, for a second consecutive year shined brightly. They wanted to have fun and avoid bogeys. Done and done. With Team Woods contending late Sunday, Charlie saved some of his best for last, hitting two superb iron shots into the 16th and 17th holes to set up their 10th and 11th straight birdies, respectively. You think that didn’t fill Pops with pride? As much as missing the competition in and of itself – his driving force for all of his nearly 46 years – Woods mostly has missed afternoons with Charlie playing golf at The Medalist. It’s where the two banter playfully and father teaches son to compete, just as his father, Earl, a tough Green Beret, once got young Tiger primed, jangling change during putts and ripping the Velcro of his golf glove during Tiger’s swings. Team Daly won, of course – John and his son, John Jr., who plays on the golf team at Arkansas – and they are a nice story unto themselves. We’ve watched the younger Daly grow up at the PNC, and at 18, his talent reached a level that it is he, not his father, batting second in the lineup on all the critical shots and putts. The elder Daly has battled cancer and remains one of golf’s fan favorites, but Tiger was here, and he casts a shadow longer than the tallest sequoia in the forest. If anything, the PNC shook us by the collar after a Tiger-less 2021, reminding us why we watch. Ian Poulter and his young son, Josh, followed Tiger and Charlie on Saturday. Baseball’s Ken Griffey Jr. walked with Tiger and Charlie on Sunday. “It’s incredible,” Padraig Harrington said Sunday afternoon. “I suppose it’s occasions like this that people on the ‘inside’ see how big Tiger really is. We’re on the inside. I played with him all these years, and you get somewhat used to it. I remember when he came back at Tampa (2018 Valspar Championship), and there was just a different noise, a different crowd. None of the younger guys would have seen that. “He completely upped it at the Masters,” Harrington continued, “and the TOUR Championship (which he won in late 2018), and he comes out here and there is a different excitement. … It’s amazing. Last year was the Charlie Woods Show, and Tiger figured a way to make it the Tiger Woods Show this year.” But not only did Woods show up, he delivered, too, as he always seems to do. Team Woods finished second, two shots back. Many chuckled when Woods turned up to the Masters as an amateur in 1995 and told anyone who would listen that he was there to win. Cute, we thought. But that was his mindset, we’d learn, and always has been. Woods used the word “thankful” several times last week. Thankful to be here after his harrowing SUV crash. Thankful to have his right leg, and not be learning to walk on a prosthetic. Thankful to be alongside his only son, competing as a team. The fans who watched? Well, Tiger was back, and they were thankful, too. They may have to wait for months to see him compete again. Maybe longer. Those are the new rules of where he is, and what he is capable of doing physically. We can wait. “I always think that golf is in a really good place, regardless of who’s around,” said Kuchar, 43, who is in his 22nd season on TOUR. “There’s a great crop of young kids who are really doing well. But look, we all know the Tiger Effect is real. It’s a massive needle mover. Just to see this event, the excitement, the buzz, it’s huge. Everywhere he goes, it follows him.” Where the spotlight follows him next, that’s a question for another day. For a weekend, anyway, golf was just happy to have Tiger Woods back. And he delivered, as he always does. Were you really surprised?

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – It was during Friday’s second round at Monterey Peninsula, and Phil Mickelson had just escaped potential trouble with another magical bunker shot. The reaction from his amateur partner, Hall of Fame 49ers quarterback Steve Young, was either a look of disbelief or a look of awe. Probably both. Mickelson then turned to Young. “I’m pretty good at this,â€� Mickelson said. “I have a DVD out.â€� It was a funny moment, but Mickelson is showing this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am that he’s deadly serious about defending his title. After his Saturday 5-under 69 at Pebble Beach, he’s 16 under and in solo second, one behind leader Nick Taylor. The two will be paired for Sunday’s final round at Pebble Beach, with Mickelson seeking a record sixth win in this event. RELATED: Leaderboard | Pro-am leaderboard | TOUR Insider: Five wins and Phil’s lucky silver dollar Driven by his competitive juices, Mickelson is even more serious in proving that at 49 – his 50th birthday is just four months away – his golf skills will not be hampered by his age. Certainly his skills with a wedge in his hands remain unequaled by anybody on the PGA TOUR. One day after his joke to Young, Mickelson displayed a short game that goes down as one of his best for a single round. Time and time again, he delivered that’s-just-Phil magic. He holed out twice for birdies on the back nine – from the bunker at the 13th and from 90 feet away at the 14th — and successfully scrambled eight of nine times, including memorable shots around the fifth green (from the rough), the sixth (from the fairway), and the 18th (after he was given relief when his second shot landed in pine straw near an obstacle). Oh, and he produced a shot for the ages out of the back bunker on the iconic 110-yard par-3 seventh. With his ball plugged into the sand, he told his caddie, brother Tim Mickelson, that he thought he could hit it low and catch the rough in order to slow down the ball and let it trickle to the pin. Few would’ve tried it, but he pulled it off, leaving him 2 feet to save his par. Mickelson called it, “No. 2 in my all-time greatest bunker shots.â€� And No. 1? “I made one in the final round at Memorial, Muirfield Village, the old 16th hole from under the lip, plugged, and I holed that one,â€� Mickelson said. “This one didn’t go in, but it was the second best I’ve ever hit. “I was just trying to not make 5. I was trying to get on the green and just make a 4, give myself a putt at a par. But it came out great.â€� Brandt Snedeker, the other pro in the foursome, didn’t see the shot. But he knew it was plugged – and he wasn’t surprised that Mickelson pulled it off. “For Phil, that’s probably run of the mill,â€� Snedeker said. “For most of us out here, it’s once in a lifetime.â€� But as Young found out in these first three days playing next to Mickelson, it’s no accident. Mickelson may be producing art, but there’s a science behind it. “If that was me, I would’ve just hit into the ocean and dropped,â€� Young said of the plugged lie at 7. “But he kind of thought about it. … It’s not like he lucked into it. He’s calling it. That’s what he wanted to do.â€� “As someone who can appreciate other athletes,â€� Young added, “for me this has been a special three days. I’ve never seen anything like this.â€� The fact that Mickelson is doing it at age 49 is a testament to his will to win and his ability to continually reinvent himself. Currently, that means a dramatic weight loss due to a nutritional diet. He’s doing what it takes and is motivated to prove that he’s not finished winning. “If you think it’s over at 45, 50, 55, he’s going to press into those numbers,â€� said Young, who played in the NFL until concussions forced his retirement at age 38. “It shows you how much he cares,â€� added Snedeker. “… I wish more guys out here had the passion he does for the game of golf. He really loves it. Loves the competition.â€� And he loves producing short-game magic. After all, he’s got the DVD to prove it.

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NASSAU, Bahamas – Having struck his last competitive shot and signed his last scorecard of 2018, Tiger Woods was quick to switch into reflective mode Sunday afternoon at his Hero World Challenge. It didn’t take him long to offer a proper perspective. “The entire year has been amazing,â€� he said. While this week wasn’t exactly amazing for Tiger — he finished next-to-last in the 18-man field after a 1-over 73 left him at 1 under for the tournament – 2018 will indeed go down as one of his most memorable. His return to the PGA TOUR after undergoing multiple back surgeries would’ve been enough of a comeback story. But then he started making noise on the weekend and giving himself opportunities to win again. It finally culminated at the TOUR Championship when he won for the 80th time on TOUR, but the first in five years. “I’m done competing. I’m done playing for the year,â€� said Woods, who is scheduled to fly to Australia this week to help promote the 2019 Presidents Cup, of which he is the U.S. captain. “It’s been quite an amazing year to go from where I’ve come from and now I can actually finally say I’m done playing for the year. We can sit back and really enjoy it.â€� Woods said it didn’t take him winning at East Lake to know he could win again on TOUR. He said being in contention at the Valspar Championship in March – it was just his fourth start of the season – was all the confirmation he needed. Unlike two weeks earlier at the Honda Classic, where Woods finished T-12th but was unhappy with the way he completed his rounds, Tiger was encouraged with his share of second behind winner Paul Casey. “Once I put myself in position to win at Tampa four tournaments into it, I knew I could win,â€� Woods said. “Now, could I play consistently week-in, week-out? That’s a totally different matter.â€� Woods produced six more top-10 finishes after Valspar, but he also missed his second cut of the season at the U.S. Open and was a non-factor in the first two events of the FedExCup Playoffs. Those are some of the consistency issues that he will try to clean up in 2019. Part of that solution will resolve itself as Woods reduces his playing schedule. His 19 worldwide starts in 2018 matches his total from five years. Woods didn’t anticipate playing that many, but with his body holding up and by gaining qualification in certain events – like the late-season World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational after he moved inside the top 50 in the world rankings — the starts kept adding up. Down the stretch, he played seven times in nine weeks. Only once since 2006 has Woods played more events in a year than 19 – the 22 starts he made in 2012. He was still in his late 30s back then. Later this month, he turns 43 and Woods promises not to subject his aging body to the rigors of that many starts moving forward. He and his team will soon get together and try to figure out. His only confirmed starts for now is the Genesis Open, which is run by his foundation, and the four majors. “We’re going to sit back after I’m done with Australia and really get back into the gym and build up my body, get it stronger and get some weight on me and see where I want to start the year and see how many events that I should play,â€� Woods said. “I’m not going to play as many as I did this year. I played in too many this year, and that was from adding an event because I missed the cut at L.A. to qualifying to get into Akron. Who knew that I could make it through all the Playoffs events? So all those events told a lot. “I won’t be playing as much as I did last year. … That was just too much for my body to handle and I was not physically prepared for it. I hadn’t trained for that, so we’re going to make some adjustments for next year.â€� For now, he will not only take time to reflect but will also start the off-season testing on his equipment. He did not change his equipment in 2018 but is looking forward to whatever TaylorMade may have in store for him. Plus, as he mentioned, he’ll hit the gym in hopes of adding another measure of consistency. At some point early in 2019 – he’s not yet ruled out the Sentry Tournament of Champions, although he hasn’t played the tournament since 2005 – we’ll see Tiger back on the course. Unlike a year ago, the expectations will be different. Much higher. “I know that I can win because obviously I just proved it,â€� Woods said. “It’s just a matter of getting everything kind of peaking at the right time. … The will and the want and the desire hasn’t changed; it’s just a matter of is the body willing to do it. “There are days or weeks that they don’t cooperate, so that’s just part of the injuries I’ve gone through and aging. The older athletes just don’t perform as consistently as they once did. I’ve been out here for 20-some odd years.â€� Luckily for the golf world, it now appears he’ll be out for a few more years.

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