PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tiger Woods left a lot of money, world-ranking points, FedEx points and his Bridgestone golf ball at the bottom of the water in front of the 17th green Sunday.

You would hardly know it based on his positive reaction after he tied for 11th at the Players Championship, shooting a final-round 69 after earlier being in a tie for second place behind eventual winner Webb Simpson.

“I really played really good today. I hit it so good,” Woods said after shooting rounds of 72-71-65-69. “I had control of it from tee to green. I made some putts. I felt good on basically every facet of the game, and it’s weird — not to really mishit a shot today and only shoot 3 under par is just weird … because I played much better than that.”

Woods began the day tied for eighth, 11 strokes behind Simpson. By the time Woods teed off, he had dropped to a tie for 17th.

He steadily climbed the leaderboard with birdies at the second, third, fourth and ninth holes. He added birdies at the 11th and 12th and was 6 under par for his round. At that point, he had closed to within four strokes of Simpson and was tied for second at 14 under par.

But like Saturday, when he was 8 under through 12 holes, the round stalled at the par-4 14th and this time was compounded by a tee shot into the water at the par-3 17th.

In both cases, Woods hit a sand wedge approach, but he said he did not misplay either shot.

“No. 14, it’s blowing downwind, and it’s off the left, and [the pin] is on top of that crown, and I thought it [the ball] was going to skip,” Woods said of the shot from 110 yards. “I thought I was going to have a hard time keeping it up top, and I spun it off the ridge. Left it short and hit a good putt. Just didn’t go in.”

The hole has been something of a nemesis for Woods. It is where he hit his tee shot in the water — leading to a controversial drop — on his way to victory in 2013. He bogeyed the hole Saturday. This time, he pounded a driver 355 yards into the fairway and had the short distance to the flag.

After it came up short and rolled off the front of the green, Woods elected to putt and left it 8 feet short then missed the par putt.

After failing to birdie the par-5 16th for the second straight day, he arrived at the par-3 17th and watched Jordan Spieth stick his shot to a few feet from a precarious pin that is typically on the right side on Sundays.

“I think I messed him up,” Spieth said. “He went and looked in my bag, and I had a 52-degree [sand wedge], which is a pretty aggressive play. I had to draw it from the water. And then he hit one, and the wind is just going like this the whole day, and if he caught this, he’s a tap-in birdie. It was unlucky there.”

Woods said Spieth’s shot did not impact him and that it was simply the wind.

“It was blowing downwind, and then, unfortunately, it switched in my face,” Woods said.

The resulting double-bogey bounced Woods out of the top 10, which meant a significant difference in prize money, FedEx points and the world ranking.

Woods finished at 277, 11 under par and seven shots back of Simpson and three back of second-place finishers Charl Schwartzel, Jimmy Walker and Xander Schauffele.

After beginning the week ranked 92nd in the world, Woods will move up to 80th. He would have been pushing the top 50 with a second-place finish. The drop also cost him approximately $600,000 in prize money, as the three players who tied for second each received $821,333, while Woods got $225,500. He will move from 53rd to 48th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Having won 14 major championships and 79 PGA Tour events in his career, Woods is not much concerned with where he is in the various rankings. But he noted Sunday that he would like to qualify for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August.

“One of my goals is to get into Akron, one last time, before we leave there,” Woods said of the tournament he has won eight times at Firestone Country Club. It is moving to Memphis, Tennessee, after this year. “I’ve won there eight times, and I would like to get there with one more chance. But I’ve [got] to do some work between now and then.”

 

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/995726211975294976

 

Short of a victory, Woods needs to be ranked among the top 50 in the world as of July 23 or July 30 to qualify.

“He’ll win sometime soon enough,” said Spieth, who tied for 41st after a final-round 74 that included an 8 at the last hole. “He’s certainly playing well enough to do so. All in all, I think he played like a 5- or 6-under round, almost shot 7 or 8 and ended up with 3.

“So his game, if I compare it to other guys that are winning golf tournaments that I’m playing with day to day, it’s right up there.”

Woods will take the next two weeks off and is expected to return at The Memorial Tournament, held May 31-June 3, that he has won five times but hasn’t played since 2015. That year, he shot his highest score as a pro, a third-round 85.

He has come a long way from those days. Some 13 months after spinal fusion surgery, he has played nine worldwide events — eight on the PGA Tour — and posted five top-12 finishes. He has jumped from 1,199th in the world to 80th. And he has some confidence.

“I felt comfortable with every facet of my game today,” Woods said. “Everything felt good. I had control, I was hitting it high, low, right, left, didn’t matter what it was. I felt like I had control of it today.”

 

Source: ESPN.com

Inbee Park brings more than her unshakably tranquil demeanor back to the top of the Rolex Women’s World Rankings this week.

She brings more than her Olympic gold medal and seven major championships to the Mediheal Championship on the outskirts of San Francisco.

She brings a jarring combination of gentleness and ruthlessness back to the top of the rankings.

Park may look as if she could play the role of Mother Teresa on some goodwill tour, but that isn’t what her opponents see when she’s wielding her Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball mallet.

She’s like Mother Teresa with Lizzy Borden’s axe.

When Park gets on one of her rolls with the putter, she scares the hell out of the rest of the tour.

At her best, Park is the most intimidating player in women’s golf today.

“Inbee makes more 20- and 30-footers on a regular basis than anyone I know,” seven-time major championship winner Karrie Webb said.

All those long putts Park can hole give her an aura more formidable than any power player in the women’s game.

“A good putter is more intimidating than someone who knocks it out there 280 yards,” Webb said “Even if Inbee misses a green, you know she can hole a putt from anywhere. It puts more pressure on your putter knowing you’re playing with someone who is probably going to make them all.”

Park, by the way, said Webb and Ai Miyazato were huge influences on her putting. She studied them when she was coming up on tour.

Webb, though, believes there’s something internal separating Park. It isn’t just Park’s ability to hole putts that makes her so intimidating. It’s the way she carries herself on the greens.

“She never gets ruffled,” Webb said. “She says she gets nervous, but you never see a change in her. If you’re going toe to toe with her, that’s what is intimidating. Even if you’re rolling in putts on top of her, it doesn’t seem to bother her. She’s definitely a player you have to try not to pay attention to when you’re paired with her, because you can get caught up in that.”

.@InbeePark talks becoming Rolex Rankings World No. 1 for the 4th time, her goals this year & more from @MEDIHEALChamp

Watch: https://t.co/LwhhwcBMI8 pic.twitter.com/bH2Qg0dORF

— LPGA (@LPGA) April 25, 2018

Park has led the LPGA in putts per greens in regulation five of the last 10 years.

Brad Beecher has been on Park’s bag for more than a decade, back before she won her first major, the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open. He has witnessed the effect Park can have on players when she starts rolling in one long putt after another.

“You have those times when she’ll hole a couple long putts early, and you just know, it’s going to be one of those days,” Beecher said. “Players look at me like, `Does she ever miss?’ or `How am I going to beat this?’ You see players in awe of it sometimes.”

Park, 29, won in her second start of 2018, after taking seven months off with a back injury. In six starts this year, she has a victory, two ties for second-place and a tie for third. She ended Shanshan Feng’s 23-week run at No. 1 with a tie for second at the Hugel-JTBC LA Open last weekend.

What ought to disturb fellow tour pros is that Park believes her ball striking has been carrying her this year. She’s still waiting for her putter to heat up. She is frustrated with her flat stick, even though she ranks second in putts per greens in regulation this season.

“Inbee Park is one of the best putters ever,” said LPGA Hall of Famer Sandra Haynie, a 42-time LPGA winner. “She’s dangerous on the greens.”

Haynie said she would rank Park with Kathy Whitworth, Mickey Wright and Nancy Lopez as the best putters she ever saw.

Hall of Famer Joanne Carner says Park is the best putter she has seen since Lopez.

“I thought Nancy was a great putter,” Carner said. “Inbee is even better.”

Park uses a left-hand low grip, with a mostly shoulder move and quiet hands.

Lopez used a conventional grip, interlocking, with her right index finger down the shaft. She had a more handsy stroke than Park.

Like Lopez, Park prefers a mallet-style putter, and she doesn’t switch putters much. She is currently playing with an Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball putter. She won the gold medal with it two years ago. She used an Oddysey White Ice Sabertooth winged mallet when she won three majors in a row in 2013.

Lopez hit the LPGA as a rookie in 1978 with a Ray Cook M1 mallet putter and used it for 20 years. It’s in the World Golf Hall of Fame today.

“I watch Inbee, and I think, `Wow, that’s how I used to putt,’” Lopez said. “You can see she’s not mechanical at all. So many players today are mechanical. They forget if you just look at the hole and stroke it, you’re going to make more putts.”

Notably, Park has never had a putting coach, not really. Her husband and swing coach, Gi Hyeob Nam, will look at her stroke when she asks for help.

“When I’m putting, I’m concentrating on the read and mostly my speed,” Park said. “I don’t think mechanically about my stroke at all, unless I think there’s something wrong with it, and then I’ll have my husband take a look. But, really, I rely on my feel. I don’t think about my stroke when I’m out there playing.”

Hall of Famer Judy Rankin says Park’s remarkably consistent speed is a key to her putting.

“Inbee is definitely a feel putter, and her speed is so consistent, all the time,” Rankin said. “You have to assume she’s a great green reader.”

Beecher says Park’s ability to read greens is a gift. She doesn’t rely on him for that. She reads greens herself.

“I think what impresses me most is Inbee has a natural stroke,” Beecher said. “There’s nothing too technical. It’s more straight through and straight back, but I think the key element of the stroke is that she keeps the putter so close to the ground, all the time, on the takeaway and the follow-through. It helps with the roll and with consistency.”

Park said that’s one of her fundamentals.

“I keep it low, almost like I’m hitting the ground,” Park said. “When I don’t do that, I miss more putts.”

Beecher believes the real reason Park putts so well is that the putter brought her into the game. It’s how she got started, with her father, Gun Gyu Park, putting the club in her hands as a child. She loved putting on her own.

“That’s how she fell in love with the game,” Beecher said. “Getting started that way, it’s played a huge role in her career.”

 

Source: GolfChannel.com

Masters champion Patrick Reed says he doesn’t believe in one company sponsoring a golfer entirely. At least that’s his stance right now.

But the decision to play with a mixed bag of clubs — and not commit to one big-name brand — could be costing him millions, experts say.

The 27-year-old winner of six PGA Tour titles parted ways with Callaway Golf last year and told CNBC this week, “It’s hard to believe that there is one company that makes 14 perfect golf clubs.”

Golf Channel equipment expert Matt Adams sees Reed in a “unique situation” financially. He estimates winning a Masters could pay out between $12 million-$15 million from corporate appearances, speaking fees and endorsement dollars. That number could be even higher for Reed considering he’s a free agent with his clubs.

“I don’t think (Reed) is looking for or stressed about finding an (equipment) deal. There’s no rush,” said Adams, who’s worked in the golf industry for more than 25 years. “However, when you’re the Masters champion, referred to as Captain America, and it’s a Ryder Cup year, I get the feeling that equipment companies will be knocking on the door and would love to sign somebody of (Reed’s) caliber, particularly when they can offer him a lot of money in a category where he’s not making anything in.”

There’s been an overall decline in equipment deals because of how the market has changed, Adams notes. But he says the decline has generally hurt PGA Tour players less accomplished than Reed, who’s ranked No. 11 in the world.

“For someone as high a caliber as him to win the Masters without an equipment deal is extremely rare,” Adams said. “Five to 10 years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to see any Tour player who didn’t have an equipment deal, but there’s not as much money as there used to be.”

After the Masters, Reed seemed unfazed that he’d miss out on a bonus that golfers typically receive from their equipment sponsor after winning a major championship. “The biggest thing was, I wanted to be different,” he told CNBC.

Just how different is it? Reed’s decision to sign with Nike for a clothing deal that’s separate from his equipment falls in line with Tiger Woods’ decision to be sponsored by Nike for apparel but TaylorMade for clubs and Bridgestone Golf for balls.

We have had the time of our lives in NYC! Thank you @pgatour and New York City for being such awesome hosts! So much fun! #TheMasters #MastersChamp2018 pic.twitter.com/4HIyukGoli

— Patrick Reed (@PReedGolf) April 10, 2018

Nike stopped making golf equipment in 2016, creating a major wave of free agency for some of the top equipment brands. Since leaving Callaway last year, Reed hasn’t signed with another equipment company.

While under contract with Callaway, he was seen using other brands’ clubs and blamed lackluster results on his equipment.

“That’s the trade-off, when those two things are at conflict,” said Southern California associate professor David Carter, the executive director of the school’s sports business institute. “An athlete in this situation has to weigh what’s best for his on-course performance and long-term, off-course financial wellbeing.”

While Reed’s situation with no equipment sponsor is unusual, there are other recent high-profile examples. Brooks Koepka also bucked the trend when he won the 2017 U.S. Open by using a bag full of irons he wasn’t paid to play with.

Koepka, who had used Nike equipment before it got out of the club-making game and now has an apparel deal with the company like Reed, was courted by Mizuno Golf. Although he wasn’t under contract, Koepka used Mizuno irons created specifically with him in mind (as an athletic long driver) for the U.S. Open.

In another sign of how much the market has changed, Sergio Garcia split with longtime sponsor TaylorMade after 2017, the year he won his green jacket, and signed on with Callaway.

Adams says big-name players such as Tiger or Rory McIlroy can make more than $20 million a year from their apparel and equipment deals combined, and those deals are typically written long term for five to seven years. But the numbers greatly vary below the top-tier names, with mid-range golfers averaging closer to the $1 million-$5 million range for shorter terms.

According to experts, most equipment companies will sponsor around five to seven notable Tour players, and their contracts require a golfer to use 12 or 13 of 14 clubs with the brand. Tiger’s deal is the rare exception to the rule.

In 2016, Phil Mickelson earned $50 million off the course from appearance fees, course design and a list of sponsors that included Callaway and Rolex, according to Forbes. The only active athletes to earn more outside of their normal salaries that year was Roger Federer ($60 million) and LeBron James ($54 million). And Jordan Spieth more than doubled his sponsorship earnings after he won two majors in 2015

“The position that Reed is in now is a good one because of his notoriety,” Carter said. “Whether it’s good, bad or indifferent, he has an emerging brand that gives him a tremendous amount of leverage with these (equipment) companies.”

Reed’s case presents an interesting dilemma: Comfort with his clubs or dollar signs. It’s worth noting that he earned $1.98 million for his Masters victory and has just over $22 million in PGA Tour earnings overall.

At Augusta National last weekend, Reed used a Ping driver, Titleist and Callaway irons, Artisan Golf wedges, a 7-year-old Nike 3-wood club and an Odyssey putter. And he used a Titleist Pro V1 ball.

“He would be passing up quite a bit of money,” Carter said of Reed’s lack of equipment sponsor. “But if he’s being true to himself and his personal brand, he could monetize it elsewhere. He could do a deal when he’s comfortable. But it almost seems inevitable for him to sign (an equipment contract). You can only go rogue for so long without it having a (financial) effect.”

Contributing: David Dusek of Golfweek