What’s happening at the Arnold Palmer Invitational

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Russell Knox may have won less than two weeks ago and once ranked among the world’s top 20 players, but even he was intimidated by Thursday’s playing partner. Tiger Woods, even if he’s five years removed from his last win and hasn’t won a major in a decade, still has that effect. “I’ve won three times. I’ve played in front of loads of people for the last eight years. But, I mean, I think it’s a little different knowing who you’re playing with,� said Knox, who owns two victories on the PGA TOUR. “I think he’s the best golfer of all time. He’s definitely the person I looked up to. So getting to play with him is pretty unique. “He’s almost like a mythical figure.� Thursday was the first time Knox and Woods played together on the PGA TOUR. The Scot arrived at Carnoustie in fine form, finishing second in France and winning the Irish Open, but he was quick to admit that playing with Woods made him nervous. Knox’s two TOUR wins include a World Golf Championship (WGC-HSBC Champions), as well as the Travelers Championship. The guy who used to play Woods’ video game got to watch him shoot his best round at a major in four years. Woods had shot over-par in the opening round of his past seven majors, averaging nearly 76 strokes in those Thursdays that so quickly quashed the enthusiasm that follows him to each of golf’s Grand Slam events. The scoreboard will show that Woods is five shots behind first-round leader Kevin Kisner, but Woods’ even-par 71 was among the better ones among Thursday’s late finishers. Nobody in the last 12 groups shot under par. Chez Reavie (69) shot the only under-par score in the final 15 groups. Woods used a conservative strategy off the tee, relying almost exclusively on long-irons. His gameplan drew comparisons to the one he used to win this championship 12 years ago at Royal Liverpool. It was his third victory in The Open Championship. “I felt like I could shoot something under par today, it would be good,� Woods said. “I birdied 1 and birdied 3, and I was right there. I had an 8-iron to 6 (a par-5) and looking like I could really do something here. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite turn out that way, but (in) this afternoon wave, I was one of the lower rounds.� Woods made three bogeys and just a single birdie on the back nine. After the round, he insisted that the two pieces of black sports tape that were visible beneath Woods’ blue vest were not cause for concern, even though he did admit that his neck has been bugging him for “a while.� “Just helping me support my neck a little bit. Makes me feel a little bit more comfortable,� he said. “Everyone acts like this is the first time I’ve been bandaged up. I’ve been doing this for years, … braces and bandages. Just this time it’s actually visible.� Woods played in Thursday’s 47th game, as they’re called over here. It was past 8 p.m. when he arrived at the final fairway, and only five groups remained on the course. Woods may remain the game’s biggest draw, but it was so late that fans were headed for the exits before he finished his round. The large, navy blue grandstands that surround the 18th green were little more than half full. Seagulls were flying low over the course, their squawking filling the silence as players stood over their shots. Mark Calcavecchia, who won this championship almost three decades ago on the other side of Scotland, watched Woods’ finish from the open window of his room in the Carnoustie Golf Hotel. As soon as Woods exited the 18th green, Calcavecchia drew the blinds and closed the window to protect against the cold breeze that blew off the North Sea. Woods will get the easier morning conditions on Friday. He is scheduled to tee off at 10:20 a.m. local time, just as an expected early-morning rain is scheduled to end. The precipitation could help take some of the fire out of a firm and fast Carnoustie. If he can take advantage, he’ll be looking at his best chance to win a major since The Open in 2013. This tournament seems to refresh Woods. He loves being creative. Shaping shots energizes him. Carnoustie was his first encounter with a links course. He played the 1995 Scottish Open before heading over to St. Andrews to play in The Open as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion. “This is how the game should be played,� Woods said Thursday. “It should be creative. It should be played on the ground.� He loves links, but his affection for winning majors is greater. For the first time in a while, his hopes were not dashed on Thursday. Woods is still in this Open Championship.

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Garcia and Stenson shine at BMW International

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Keith Mitchell doesn’t have a lot of winning experience to draw upon. His only victory since turning pro in 2014 was a mini-tour event in North Carolina. Although he was an All-American at the University of Georgia, he never won a collegiate event, struggling early on with the discipline needed to maximize his potential. Oh, he’s come close to winning a couple of times. He lost a three-man playoff in Brazil on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica in 2015. He had a few looks on the Web.com Tour, including a tie for third in the News Sentinel Open in his native Tennessee. And in his rookie season on TOUR a year ago, he was solo second – albeit by four shots – in the Dominican Republic. Mainly, he’s suffered heartbreak. In August of 2017, he had a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole in the final regular-season event of the Web.com Tour at Pumpkin Ridge outside Portland, Oregon. Making the putt would secure his PGA TOUR card. He missed it. “I think about it all the time,� Mitchell said about that putt. “I don’t have a number, but it’s in the thousands.� He was definitely thinking about it Sunday morning while driving to PGA National to play the final round of The Honda Classic. Tied for second to start the day, Mitchell had a life-changing opportunity in his grasp. He just needed to achieve something he’s rarely done the last few years. Some golfers might flinch at those negative feelings, of failing to get it done when the pressure and stakes were at their highest. Mitchell, though, used it as motivation, as determination. He’s felt what it’s like to come up short. Time for a different sensation. “I didn’t want to have those feelings today,� Mitchell said. “I wanted to overcome those. I wanted to see what it was like on the other side.� The other side was now 15-1/2 feet away on the 18th hole at PGA National late Sunday afternoon. A similar distance to Pumpkin Ridge, and no surprise that those memories were threatening to distract him from the task at hand. Hole the birdie putt, and he becomes a PGA TOUR winner. Miss it and he falls into a playoff with two of the TOUR’s biggest names, Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler, each a local resident with a huge following. But this was no Pumpkin Ridge. Keith Mitchell’s time had finally come – a one-stroke win, a two-year TOUR exemption and all the other accoutrements that come with being a TOUR winner. Sorry, Brooks. Sorry, Rickie. “If I make par here, I got a playoff with two of the best players in the world and potentially Hall-of-Famers of all time,� Mitchell said. “That’s a big thought for a guy that’s on his second year of TOUR that’s never won. So I was able to execute and that’s something I haven’t been able to do in the past.� Two days earlier, Mitchell had finished 36 holes as the co-leader with Sungjae Im. A headline in the local newspaper called them “no-names� and someone else in the media made the suggestion that neither one would be in contention on Sunday when the tournament was decided. A friend of Mitchell’s sent him a text with the headline and the slight, and added a simple “show those guys what’s up� message. On the first tee in Saturday’s third round, Mitchell read the text. He did the same on Sunday prior to teeing off. He wasn’t angry. He simply wanted that chip on his shoulder. He plays better when nothing is expected of him. “I don’t expect to have any great stuff to be written about me because I’ve only been out here for a year,� Mitchell said. “So I’m not saying that in a negative light. I just used that as a little kind of emotion that everyone gets their start somewhere, everyone gets their first win somewhere, and I wanted this to be mine.� It didn’t start that well, with Mitchell opening with consecutive bogeys. But that just moved the spotlight even further away. He bounced back with two birdies before making the turn, and then bounced back again after having to lay up with his second shot at the par-4 11th and suffering another bogey. An 11-foot birdie putt at the 12th was the start of three birdies in the next four holes. Once he reached 8 under after a brilliant tee shot to 4 feet at the par-3 15th, he was in a five-way tie for the lead. Koepka was about to finish at 8 under, but Fowler was in the group immediately ahead of Mitchell. He had to hear the roars at both the 17th and 18th holes when Fowler rolled in birdie putts to also reach 8 under. That might’ve been the breaking point for some, especially a non-winner on a hard course. And then Mitchell pulled his tee shot at the par-5 18th into the fairway bunker. His ball was too close to the lip, preventing him for reaching the green in two. Another potential negative for the big hitter, but a solid bunker shot set him up 129 yards away with his third shot. “I knew I had a chance to win the tournament and I wasn’t going to let my ball being in the bunker deter me,� Mitchell said. “I made birdie the old-fashioned way, I guess they call it – which is not the Keith Mitchell way at all.� Mitchell then rolled in the winning putt. Fowler, waiting in front of the scoring area to see if there would a playoff, decided to hang around to welcome Mitchell to the winner’s club. He doesn’t know Mitchell that well, but Fowler knows how hard a course PGA National plays. “I knew what Keith was going through on the last, having been there,� said Fowler, who won The Honda Classic two years ago. “It’s not easy winning out here, especially your first. So seeing him make that putt, it’s cool. “I know the feeling. All you can do is sit back, smile, congratulate him.� Congratulations, of course, generally are reserved for winners. Keith Mitchell might not have been on the receiving end the last few years, but there were plenty of people waiting to shake his hand Sunday.

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