What positive coronavirus tests, big-name withdrawals mean for the PGA Tour now and going forward

Annika Sorenstam, Michelle Wie West and Bryson DeChambeau won’t be playing in golf’s final major of 2020, but they are hyping Lexi Thompson, Danielle Kang, Nelly Korda and more.

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The U.S. Team is staging a comeback in the Sunday Singles at the Presidents Cup. Check back here for recaps after each match finishes. The International Team, seeking its second win in Presidents Cup history, started the day with a 10-8 lead. The U.S. Team is making things tough, though. PRESIDENTS CUP: Scoring | Quiz: Which team should you support? DAY 4 SINGLES MATCH 19: U.S. WINS 3&2 Tiger Woods (U.S.) def. Abraham Ancer (International) Holes won: U.S. 7, International 4 Holes led: U.S. 11, International 0 Recap: Ancer hung tough, keeping the match all square through eight holes. Woods was too much, though. made back-to-back birdies at 9 and 10 to take a 2-up lead. Ancer cut into the lead by holing a 10-foot birdie putt to win the 13th. He gave it back with a bogey at the next hole, though. Woods birdied the next two holes to close out the match. He executed an incredible lag putt from well short of the green on the par-5 15th, then closed it out with a 20-footer for birdie. “I knew the match was over with 6 feet remaining,â€� Woods said. This was his seventh Singles win, the most in Presidents Cup history. Woods finished 3-0-0 this week. This is just the second time he’s gone undefeated in nine Presidents Cup appearances. MATCH 20: TIED Hideki Matsyuama (International) tied Tony Finau (U.S.) Holes won: International 6, U.S. 6 Holes led: International 13, U.S. 0 Recap: This one stung for the International Team. Matsuyama was 4 up after 10 holes. Finau won Nos. 11-14, three of them with birdies, to tie the match. Matsuyama regained his lead with a birdie on 16, but he three-putted to lose the 17th. They both parred the final hole. MATCH 21: U.S. WINS 4&2 Patrick Reed (U.S.) def. C.T. Pan (International) Holes won: U.S. 8, International 4 Holes led: U.S. 16, International 0 Recap: Reed came out on fire. He won six of the first seven holes, five of them with birdies. Pan won the next three holes, but Reed staved off the comeback by holing a 10-footer to halve the 11th hole. Pan birdied the 13th to pull within 2 down, but it didn’t get any closer. Reed closed it out with wins on 15 and 16. “You make birdies, you don’t hear much (from the fans),â€� Reed said about his hot start. MATCH 22: U.S. WINS 4&3 Dustin Johnson (U.S.) def. Haotong Li (International) Holes won: U.S. 7, International 3 Holes led: U.S. 13, International 0 Recap: Johnson took the early lead by winning Nos. 3-5, two of them with pars. He never led by fewer than three holes after that. Another par earned him a win on the seventh hole. Johnson was 5 up after 11 holes, and while Li won Nos. 12 and 14, it was never close. The match ended with Johnson’s birdie on the 15th hole. “I played really well today. I hit the ball great,â€� Johnson said. “obviously he struggled just a little bit. I definitely put lot of pressure on him because I hit some great shots today.â€� MATCH 23 Adam Hadwin (International) vs. Bryson DeChambeau (U.S.) MATCH 24 Sungjae Im (International) vs. Gary Woodland (U.S.) MATCH 25 Joaquin Niemann (International) vs. Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) MATCH 26 Adam Scott (International) vs. Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) MATCH 27 Byeong Hun An (International) vs. Webb Simpson (U.S.) MATCH 28 Cameron Smith (International) vs. Justin Thomas (U.S.) MATCH 29 Louis Oosthuizen (International) vs. Matt Kuchar (U.S.) MATCH 30 Marc Leishman (International) vs. Rickie Fowler (U.S.)

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Had you sought to find a flaw in Tiger Woods’ golf game – at least in his prime – chances are you would have come up empty. He drove it long and very effectively, played long irons as well as anyone, had a killer short game, and putted brilliantly, especially when the pressure was on. Pretty much, he was perfect. But if you were determined to find a hiccup, you were safe with choosing Woods’ left knee. It was his soft spot going back to 1994 when as an 18-year-old, he had surgery to remove two benign tumors. Eight years later, Woods had surgery to remove fluid from around the ACL in that same knee and then in 2007 he ruptured that same ACL while running, though he chose to play through it. Unfortunately, it all caught up to him in the spring of 2008 when he had arthroscopic surgery on the left knee, then was told by doctors he had stress fractures on the left tibia and needed to rest it. That he came back after that short rest to win the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines is a part of golf folklore. But perhaps just as impressively is the fact he rebounded from nearly eight months on the sidelines to claim a second FedExCup title. Devoid of a major, it perhaps gets overshadowed, but this stretch certainly helped amp up the aura. Win No. 66: March 29, 2009 – Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard As the ground shook and the sun fell into the horizon, Woods’ longtime caddie, Steve Williams, leaned into the boss and screamed, “This feels like we hadn’t left.â€� Indeed, if there was a place on the PGA TOUR landscape that offered a comfort zone, it was the 18th hole at Bay Hill. As he had done in 2001 and 2008, Woods made a birdie putt to win at this demanding finishing hole, in front of Palmer, no less, and so Zach Johnson had every reason to place tongue firmly in cheek. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him make a putt when he needed,â€� said Johnson. For the record, it had been 286 days since Woods’ previous victory, the 2008 U.S. Open, though it had taken just three tournaments into the comeback season to post a win. So, yeah, Williams was right; it had to feel like they hadn’t left, much to the chagrin of Sean O’Hair, whose five-shot lead was made to disappear with Woods’ closing 67. By the Numbers: Only PGA TOUR win where Tiger didn’t play the par 5’s under par (even for week). Win No. 67: June 8, 2009 – the Memorial Tournament With a closing 65 to wipe out a four-stroke deficit, Woods gives Jack Nicklaus, the tournament host, plenty of fodder. “I suspect (a 15th major championship) will come for Tiger Woods in about two weeks,â€� said Nicklaus, predicting a U.S. Open triumph. OK, so we’re eight years later and still waiting for No. 15, but Nicklaus’ praise was well-grounded. Just ask beleaguered playing competitor Michael Letzig, who was paired with Woods and said: “I don’t know how to describe it. It was the best golf I’ve ever seen.â€� Or ask Jim Furyk, who said the media was fueling this incredible comeback. “I just wish you all would just quit ticking him off … so he has to come back and keep proving stuff.â€� Never one to shortchange the customers, Woods nails down the rally with an eagle at the par-5 11th, then approaches that scraped the sky and set up birdies at the 17th and 18th. By the Numbers: Tiger hit every fairway in the final round, marking the only time in his career where he accomplished this feat in the final round of a PGA TOUR victory. Win No. 68: July 5, 2009 – AT&T National No rally from behind needed this time, but Woods did have to shake a 54-hole tie with young and talented Anthony Kim. Just don’t say that Woods – who closed with 67 to shake Kim and hold off Hunter Mahan’s scintillating 62 — intimidated the bold and brash Kim. “You know, you can’t physically intimidate anybody,â€� Woods smiled. Mahan suggested there was no great mystery to why Woods had moved right back into a winning mode. “He’s pretty good. He knows what he’s doing. He knows how to play this game better than anybody,â€� said Mahan. As for Kim, he chalked it up to a learning experience. And just what did he learn? “That if you have a birdie putt, you better make it – especially on the last day,â€� he said. “Tiger obviously wins for a reason.â€� By the Numbers: Tiger finished with a 2.69 Scoring Average on the par 3s, matching his second best Par 3 Scoring Average in his 77 stroke-play victories. Win No. 69: Aug. 2, 2009 – Buick Open “You know,â€� conceded Vaughn Taylor, when asked about Tiger Woods, “he’s always on everyone’s mind.â€� Even on Friday? Taylor smiled and nodded his head. “I’m sure the closer we get to Sunday and the closer he gets to the top, guys always think about him.â€� The conversation was prompted by vintage Woods; having opened with 71 to sit in a tie for 95th, Woods roared past 91 players with a sizzling 63 in Round 2. When he added a 65 on Saturday, he seized the lead, then produced a bogey-free 69 to nail down a three-stroke win, his third in this tournament at Warwick Hills. So, yeah, Taylor had reason to speak the truth, and Aussie Greg Chalmers, one of those who tied for second, agreed with that assessment. “With any other player you might think there’s a chance, but with Tiger, he’s done it so regularly I think his peers know he’s going to close it out.â€� By the Numbers: Was the 10th victory in the ShotLink era where Tiger was perfect from inside 5 feet.  Win No. 70: Aug. 9, 2009 – World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational If the third-round 65 that pushed Woods into second place, just three off Padraig Harrington’s lead, wasn’t enough to give you a sense of the plot, then him playing the first five holes in Sunday’s final round in 4 under surely was. “What are you watching for?â€� Camilo Villegas said after his round to media members watching TV monitors in the scoring area. “You know what’s going to happen.â€� Villegas nailed it, too, as Woods maintained that torrid pace and shot a second-straight 65 to rally past Harrington. He became the first player in history to win seven times on the same course (Firestone) and nailed down his 16th World Golf Championship. “He could play this course left-handed and do well,â€� said Hunter Mahan. True, Woods was helped immensely by Harrington, who made a triple-bogey at the par-5 16th against his opponent’s birdie. Woods’ 70th career win came in just his 234th professional start, an utterly incredible winning percentage of 29.9. By the Numbers: 21st career final round comeback victory. In his career Tiger has come-from-behind in the final round to win in 23 times. Win No. 71: Sept. 13, 2009 – BMW Championship To the list of favorite playgrounds that treated Woods well, Cog Hill didn’t get proper respect, but it surely brought a smile to his face. A third-round 62 – which began with a bogey at the opening hole, too – propelled Woods into a seven-stroke lead, which had even veteran players searching for superlatives. “I felt like we had a tournament within a tournament,â€� said Jim Furyk, who wound up T-2, a whopping eight back. “It was a tournament for second.â€� Aussie Marc Leishman, who shared second with Furyk, was too agog over Woods to be stuck on the huge deficit. “He was amazing,â€� said Leishman, who earned the right to play in the final pairing alongside Woods for the first time in his career. That he was never in position to challenge Woods and get into contention to win didn’t really bother him, either. The experience was what he treasured, even if he never envisioned someone getting to 19 under. “But I guess when you’ve got Tiger in the field, never say never,â€� Leishman said. Given that Woods had won six of 17 starts in 2009, the sixth time in his career that he had won at least six times in a season, you never would have believed it would be more than two seasons before he’d win again. But that is the inexplicable way his career turned just weeks after this dominating win. By the Numbers: Tiger won by 8 strokes, marking his 10th career victory by 8 or more strokes on TOUR. Back to Chasing 82                Chapter 8: The Great Comeback, Part I

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