Tag: Tiger Woods

Brooks Koepka withdraws from Presidents Cup; Rickie Fowler in

As was expected, Brooks Koepka has not recovered from his knee injury in time to play in the Presidents Cup, giving Rickie Fowler an in.

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Brooks Koepka is out of the Presidents Cup; Rickie Fowler is in.

Koepka, ranked No. 1 in the world, announced on Wednesday that he has been forced to withdraw from the 2019 competition due to a knee injury. U.S. Team Playing Captain Tiger Woods used the additional selection afforded to him by Koepka’s withdrawal to select Fowler.

“I notified Captain Tiger Woods that despite constant medical care and rehab, I am not able to play golf at this time. I consider it to be a high honor to be part of the 2019 team and I regret not being able to compete,” Koepka said in a statement. “Since my injury in Korea, I have been in constant contact with Tiger and assured him that I was making every effort to be 100 percent in time for the Presidents Cup in Australia. However, I need more time to heal.”

Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler on the 12th tee during the second round of The 2018 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Photo: John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports

Koepka qualified as the No. 1-ranked player for the U.S. Presidents Cup Team in the points standing. December’s event would have been Koepka’s second Presidents Cup appearance after making his debut in 2017 and compiling a 2-2-0 record.

“Brooks and I talked, and he’s disappointed that he won’t be able to compete,” Woods said. “I told him to get well soon, and that we’re sorry he won’t be with us in Australia. He would clearly be an asset both on the course and in the team room.”

“Anytime you lose the No. 1 player in the world, that’s a huge loss,” said Charles Howell III, the defending champion at this week’s RSM Classic. “And Brooks, like his mentality, the way he is, I mean, he seems made for match play, so I do think it’s a big loss.  But you’re replacing him with Rickie Fowler, who’s obviously a phenomenal player.”

Fowler will now play for the third time on the U.S. Team following a strong showing in 2017 at Liberty National where he was undefeated with a 3-0-1 record. Fowler, who was 11th in the Presidents Cup points standings, hasn’t played since finishing T-19 at the Tour Championship in late August. He was expected to play at the Mayakoba Golf Classic last week, but withdrew due to an intestinal bacterial infection.

Former two-time U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III supported the selection of Fowler. He thought back to 2010, when Fowler was a rookie under consideration for Captain Corey Pavin’s final pick.

“When I called Bob Tway, he pointedly said, ‘He should be your first pick,’ and Rickie proved that over in Wales. He played like a veteran,” Love said. “Rickie loves the stage. A lot like a Phil Mickelson or now hanging around Kevin Kisner, there’s some guys that like to walk out on the final green and make that putt, they want the ball with no time on the clock and Rickie’s that guy. Rickie’s a guy you want on your side. It’s unfortunate for Brooks, but I think they picked up an all‑around team guy both playing and in the team room, so I’m excited for him.”

Kisner, who won the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play in March and had success at the 2017 Presidents Cup, has struggled the past few months. He and hot hands Kevin Na and Brendon Todd were among the names being bandied about as a replacement pick for Koepka along with old standbys Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth,

“No one else really stepped up and did much from our vantage point,” said Zach Johnson, one of team USA’s assistant captains. “I think you side with experience, camaraderie and chemistry.”

“Rickie has played on a couple Presidents Cup teams, was someone seriously considered for a pick and is well respected and liked by his teammates,” Woods said. “I know he’s going to do a great job for us. We’re all excited about this year’s event. The course is outstanding, the fans will be loud and we’re playing against great competitors. We’re ready to go.”

“When I heard Brooks wasn’t going to be ready to play, I was bummed for him and the team,” Fowler said. “Then I got a call from both Brooks and Tiger. I was humbled and excited to be given the chance. These team events have been some of the most memorable weeks of my career.

“To be picked by Tiger to compete with him and the rest of the team is very special. It is impossible to replace the world’s No. 1, but I can assure my teammates and American golf fans that I will be prepared and ready to do my part to bring home the Presidents Cup.”

The Presidents Cup will return to Melbourne, Australia and The Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the third time Dec. 9-15.

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PGA Tour money: The $30 million dollar club

This is a closer look at the golfers who have made more than $30 million in on-course career earnings in PGA Tour history.

The PGA Tour has 10 members of the $50 million club.

Following the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in China, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia each joined that exclusive membership.

Furthermore, there are 18 golfers who have won at least $40 million in on-course earnings, 38 golfers with $30 million or more, 77 who have earned at least $20 million and 189 who have surpassed the $10 million plateau.

In all, 643 golfers have won $5,728,260,700 in career earnings, according to the PGA Tour, through the 2019 WGC-HSBC Champions.

Tiger Woods leads the way, of course. He has topped the $120 million mark and is the only golfer with more than $100 million in career earnings.

The $30 million dollar club

Let’s take a closer look here at the top 38 of all-time.

These are the golfers who have surpassed $30 million in on-course earnings.

Some of the names and numbers may surprise you.

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Tiger Woods: Where and when will he play next?

Taking our best guess based on history and early commitments as to where and when Tiger Woods will play between now and The Masters.

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Tiger Woods matched Sam Snead with his 82nd victory at the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in late October. It left his fans yearning for more and wondering when he will play next.

Woods elected not to play in the upcoming RSM Classic at the Sea Island Golf Club in Georgia, which means his next start in an official Tour event won’t happen until the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the earliest.

But Woods has already confirmed that he will play at the Hero World Challenge, an 18-man, no-cut event that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, which begins Dec. 4 at The Albany Club in the Bahamas. Then it is straight to Melbourne, Australia, for The Presidents Cup. Woods will become the first playing captain in the biennial event since Hale Irwin in 1994. Woods is required to play at least one match before the Sunday singles.

When will he make his 2020 debut?

That still remains a mystery. As previously noted, he’s eligible for the winners-only Tournament of Champions in Maui, but he skipped it last year even after gaining eligibility  as winner of the Tour Championship and hasn’t appeared at Kapalua since 2005 despite a memorable victory there in 2000.

More likely, Woods will make his 2020 debut at his usual starting spot, the Farmers Insurance Open (Jan. 23-26) in San Diego, where he’s won eight times at Torrey Pines, including the 2008 U.S. Open. Woods has yet to commit there, but he’s already done so for the Genesis Invitational, Feb. 13-16. He’s still never won at Riviera Country Club.

Given his myriad injuries, Woods will likely continue with a less is more schedule. So, it will be surprising to see him sign up to the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where he once made the whole state of Arizona shake with a hole-in-one at TPC Scottsdale’s 16th, but also couldn’t break 80 with the chipping yips during his last appearance in 2015. Nor is he likely to be in the mood for the six-hour rounds, potentially cold weather and bumpy greens of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

After his hosting duties at the Genesis Invitational, Woods has been a loyal attendee of WGC’s and could test his stamina by teeing it up two weeks in a row with a start at the WGC-Mexico Championship in Mexico City. If his body cooperates, the Honda Classic, despite being a home game for Woods and the start of the Florida Swing, will be a scheduling casualty as it is doubtful he will choose to play three in a row. That’s too much golf for his back and knee at this stage in his career.

Woods missed the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year. That has been a favorite hunting ground for him and site of eight of his victories. It’s a safe bet that if the body is willing this time, he’ll be there, and the week after is The Players Championship, where Woods is a two-time champion.

In 2018, Woods finished second at the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook. The course fits his eye, but don’t count on Woods showing up unless he’s had to alter his schedule for health reasons or feels the sudden urge to add a start in his run up to the Masters if he’s missed a bunch of cuts and looking for reps.

Last year, Woods made his final tuneup for Augusta at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas. There’s the potential to have to play a lot of golf should Woods go far in the competition, including 36 on Saturday, so his participation here could be subject to change.

All of this leads up to April 9, and Tiger’s defense of the green jacket. That can’t come soon enough, but there should be a respectable number of early-season starts to see Woods and his chase for Tour title No. 83.

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Tiger Woods completes Hero World Challenge field with Jordan Spieth, Henrik Stenson

The 18-player field for next month’s Hero World Challenge consists of eight players in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

“See you boys in the Bahamas.”

That’s what Tiger Woods had to say Wednesday morning on Twitter to Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson, his final two additions to the 18-player field for the Hero World Challenge in Albany, Bahamas, Dec. 4-7.

Spieth will finish his year at the Hero after not being selected by Woods with one of his four captain’s picks for the 2019 Presidents Cup, held the following week at Australia’s Royal Melbourne. The Hero will be a Wednesday-Saturday event in order to accommodate players’ travel for the Presidents Cup.

The now-complete field for the Hero features eight of the top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. Here’s the full list of who’s confirmed (OWGR in parentheses).

  • Dustin Johnson (3), USA
  • Justin Thomas (4), USA
  • Jon Rahm (5), Spain – 2018 champion
  • Patrick Cantlay (6), USA
  • Tiger Woods (7), USA – Tournament host, five-time champion
  • Justin Rose (8), England
  • Xander Schauffele (9), USA
  • Bryson DeChambeau (10), USA
  • Webb Simpson (11), USA
  • Gary Woodland (14), USA
  • Patrick Reed (15), USA
  • Tony Finau (16), USA
  • Rickie Fowler (21), USA – 2017 champion
  • Matt Kuchar (22), USA
  • Kevin Kisner (35), USA
  • Bubba Watson (38), USA – 2015 champion
  • Henrik Stenson (40), Sweden
  • Jordan Spieth (43), USA – 2014 champion

The tournament will benefit not only Woods’ TGR Foundation, but also the ONE Bahamas Fund, which was founded by Woods, NEXUS Luxury Collection and members of the Albany community following Hurricane Dorian. The group pledged $6 million towards the rebuilding of the Bahamas with a dollar-for-dollar match in hopes of raising $12 million to help those affected by the hurricane. Justin Timberlake helped begin the efforts in September.

The event will be broadcast on Golf Channel during all four rounds and will air on NBC during Saturday’s final round.

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Why the Patrick Reed Presidents Cup pick was the right call by Tiger

Tiger Woods’s selection of Patrick Reed was the right call and could be the start of the Captain America redemption tour Down Under.

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Of Tiger Woods’s four captain picks for the Presidents Cup, he made three no brainers and chose Patrick Reed.

Woods could have justified the selection of the hot hand, Kevin Na, who has won twice in his past 10 starts, including at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October. He could’ve picked Rickie Fowler and few would have batted an eye. He could have ignored the standings and current form and gone for veteran leadership and taken Phil Mickelson or went with his gut and Jordan Spieth. (After his 2015 season, could anyone imagine a scenario where a healthy Spieth wouldn’t be on an American team for at least the next decade?)

But Woods made the right call in taking the 29-year-old Reed to round out his team going to Australia this December, despite the fact that, as the saying goes, his baggage doesn’t fit in the overhead compartment.

“Definitely was fired up to get the phone call from Tiger saying that I was a pick and that he can’t wait for me to be a part of the team and that I’d bring a lot to the team,” Reed said in a conference call with media on Tuesday night. “That means a lot, especially coming from one of the greatest golfers ever to live on this planet. For him to trust in me and the team to trust in me means a lot because it means that I’ve worked hard and that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, and that’s try to go out and play the best golf I can.”

Woods could have served as judge and jury and sentenced Reed to a one-year banishment from Team USA for “conduct unbecoming,” to borrow the PGA Tour’s all-encompassing pet phrase. What’s said in the locker room, stays in the locker room. Reed violated this basic rule when he threw Jim Furyk, the 2018 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, under the bus and aired the team’s dirty laundry publicly following the team’s defeat at Le Golf National in France. Forget the staged bro-hug when Reed and Spieth were paired together for the first time this season at the Farmers Insurance Open – the Presidents Cup selection was the ultimate determinant of how severe the consequences of Reed’s actions would be (apparently, at worst, he was given double-secret probation).

No one has a longer memory than Woods – see Stephen Ames, 9 and 8 – but his selection of Reed proves that he’s willing to let bygones be bygones for the good of the future of Team USA.

“That was all put to bed,” Reed said. “We all talked about it. We’ve all moved on, and we’re all just really getting excited for this year and to focus on going out and doing what we’re supposed to do.”

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Patrick Reed established his reputation as “Captain America” with his take down of Rory McIlroy at the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National. Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

If the U.S. is going to regain the Ryder Cup in 2020, it is going to need the fiery Reed, who Tiger said “bleeds red, white and blue.” Where better for Reed to reestablish his aura as a big-game killer (see, Rory McIlroy, Hazeltine, 2016) than at the Ryder Cup Lite? While Sergio Garcia and Matt Kuchar go around kissing babies in Instagram posts and hosting junior clinics to restore their public image, Reed seems if not to revel in his bad-boy image to at least accept “it is what it is” and the 2019 Presidents Cup has a chance to be his personal Captain America redemption tour Down Under.

“For some reason I love to go in and basically feel like my back is up against the wall and go out and try to prove something every week I play,” he said. “It’s just been something that’s always been a part of me.”

Woods has always been a bit of a lone wolf, too, and he’s said before that he sees some of himself in Reed, the 2018 Masters champion who draped the green jacket on his back this April. While trying to describe what will make Woods a good captain at the Presidents Cup, Reed pointed out that Tiger has taken the time to understand the personalities of each player “and knowing what makes them tick.”

Woods knows that Reed is going to be a fixture on the U.S. side for many years to come and he needs to be brought back into the inner circle, for better or worse. Reed is a match-play maven. He is the U.S. version of Ian Poulter. Or maybe an even better comparison is to say he is the U.S. team’s Colonel Nathan Jessup in “A Few Good Men:”

“My existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, wins matches. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall.”

Yes, we do, and so does Tiger. Do we not want a guy on the team that when asked who he’d like to play in the Sunday singles answers, “Whoever is playing best on their team. I’ve always just loved to go up against the best guy, so whoever is playing the best I’d love to take him on on Sunday.”

Captain America is out to remove the tarnish of going 1-3 in the last Ryder Cup (though he’s a little too quick to point out that he’s still undefeated in singles. Note to Patrick: the team lost; that’s all that matters.) Does Reed feel any extra pressure to live up to his reputation?

“I don’t. You know, everyone has bad years no matter what,” Reed said.

His back is firmly against the wall just the way Reed likes it. America won’t stand for another bad year. Let the redemption tour begin.

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Tiger Woods drops ‘f-bomb’ in radio interview talking about plans post-retirement

In an Australian radio interview promoting the Presidents Cup, Tiger Woods was asked about his plans post retirement.

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Tiger’s feeling loose ahead of the Presidents Cup.

In an interview Tuesday with Triple M’s “Hot Breakfast,” an Australian radio show, Tiger Woods was asked what he plans to do after he retires and if he had any tips for struggling golfers.

In regard to his plans after retirement, Woods said he plans to spend as much time outside as possible.

“For me, it’ll be simple,” Woods said. “I love spearfishing. I love being in the water, I love hunting. I like going on hunting trips, fishing trips and diving trip so to me, just being out in nature is the (expletive) ultimate best.”

PRESIDENTS CUP: Meet Team USA and the International Team

The f-bomb drew a surprised, wide-eyed reaction from both talk show hosts, Wil Anderson and Luke Darcy.

“I don’t like being around a lot of people in that regard,” Woods continued. “I like to be out in nature because that’s what I grew up, that’s what I do, golf is always out in nature so for me, that’s the ultimate best.”

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As for when retirement might be, Woods didn’t say when, but the 43-year-old did say there’s one advantage to playing into his 50s.

“I think the golden carrot of getting out there when I’m 50 is getting a cart, right?” Woods said, which was met by laughter from Anderson and Darcy.

Woods, who recorded his 82nd PGA Tour victory at the Zozo Championship in October, was also asked in the interview if he had any advice for new or struggling golfers. The 15-time major winner encouraged golfers to start small.

“To get better, I would say more than anything try to make little swings and build up, make bigger swings but hit the ball in the middle of the face,” Woods said. “That’s something I stress with every single junior golfer and every amateur, start with a little pitch shot 10 yards, and then 20, 30. Work your way out and try to hit the ball in the middle of the face.

“If you can find the middle of the face consistently, your game is going to improve by so many shots, you’re going to enjoy the game so much more, but if you can’t find the middle of the face it’s going to be quite frustrating, and this game is frustrating enough.”

The entire interview with Woods including his thoughts on the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne can be heard below.

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