Golf legends Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods have gone toe-to-toe many times, but the latest 1-2 involving the two stars has the golf world in a small uproar.

On Wednesday, PGA Tour insider Daniel Rapoport reported that Mickelson and Woods came first and second respectfully in the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program. The recently-created program rewards the tour’s most popular players based on Google search frequency, social media reach, Nielsen score, global media attention, and Q-score player appeal.

As a reward for winning, Mickelson received $8 million. Woods, for coming in second, takes home $6 million. But to the frustration of many, world No. 2 Collin Morikawa came in 11th and won nothing.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of people complaining about this system and how it worked out. Some people are pointing out that Tiger Woods doesn’t deserve the award since he didn’t compete in 2021 and barely uses social media:

Others were understandably salty that Morikawa got snubbed the way he did:

Still others simply believe that the PIP is dumb:

2021 couldn’t have been more opposite for Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Mickelson won his first major in several years, claiming victory in the PGA Championship, while Woods has spent most of the year recovering from the severe car accident.

Fortunately, Woods recovered and was back on the golf course earlier this fall. He might be fit to return to Augusta for the Masters next year.

Will we see Woods and Mickelson compete at any events together next year?

Bryson DeChambeau has never been one for subtlety. So when it comes to the question of his physical transformation over the last two years—and whether steroids potentially played a part in that process—DeChambeau not surprisingly attempted to quell that notion in dramatic fashion.

On Monday, DeChambeau announced on Twitter “I am releasing my medical information today.” Shortly after the tweet, DeChambeau posted a YouTube video titled, “I got tested for PEDs…Here’s the results.” The tweet was soon deleted, and the video was disabled, although on Monday night the video was reloaded to the YouTube platform.

The beginning of the six-minute video features old news clips of athletes like Peyton Manning and Lance Armstrong facing steroid allegations before DeChambeau appears, saying he will be submitting bloodwork to get checked for performance-enhancing drugs in his system.

“I wanted you guys to see this and showcase this because no one else is going to do this,” DeChambeau says. “This is medical information that I’m willing to disclose, and I want you guys to know I did this in a way that was hopefully natural, and just hard work.”

DeChambeau is then seen outside a Quest Diagnostics lab, although a chyron over the video tells the audience that “For legal purposes filming inside is prohibited.” The video segues into a three-minute montage of DeChambeau speed training before the 2020 U.S. Open champ reads an email from Quest asserting he is clean.

“All negative,” DeChambeau says, holding up his phone to show the results. “Nothing.”

The clip ends with DeChambeau joining trainer Greg Roskopf, claiming Roskopf’s work is “Better than steroids.”

Should the clip and its production value seem out of left field, well, it’s actually not that unusual for DeChambeau, who’s increasingly leaned into the realm of social-video creation. However, the video’s timing is somewhat curious. Certainly his massive weight gain in 2020 in a short timespan and his subsequent success—coupled with the myriad of PED scandals across the sporting landscape in the last two decades—raised certain doubts. But those doubts didn’t gain much traction and mostly subsided over the last season. Additionally, DeChambeau has not publicly run afoul of the PGA Tour’s anti-doping program at any point during his career.

The PGA Tour has granted conflicting-event releases to members who have petitioned to play in the Saudi International, an Asian Tour event whose Feb. 3-6, 2022 date coincides with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Xander Schauffele are among a number of PGA Tour players committed to playing in the tournament, which has been controversial since its inception as a European Tour event in 2019. The tournament is put on by the Saudi Arabian government, which has come under international scrutiny for its human rights record. A second layer of controversy developed when the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund established LIV Golf Investments this fall, naming Greg Norman its CEO and announcing it would pump $200 million into the Asian Tour with the idea of potentially establishing a series of events in the future that could challenge the PGA Tour’s position atop professional golf.

The PGA Tour announced its decision in a memo distributed on Monday to its membership, outlining the tour’s conflicting-events policy and explaining its reasoning in this instance to grant the releases. Under PGA Tour rules, players are prohibited from playing in any other golf tournament or event on a date when the player is eligible for that week’s PGA Tour event. There are, however, a few limited exceptions: an event on a foreign player’s “home circuit,” major championships/Olympics/team events, and when the player obtains an advance written release.

More than a dozen tour players sought permission through such a release, which are limited to three per season per player. But, as the memo reads, “the Commissioner may deny any particular request if he determines that such a release would cause the PGA Tour to be in violation of a contractual commitment to a tournament sponsor … or would otherwise significantly and unreasonably harm the PGA Tour and its partners.”

There was some speculation that the tour might use that final clause to deny these requests, and previous reports predicted the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) would do so. (The DP World Tour has not yet announced a decision, though it is expected to follow the PGA Tour’s lead).

Instead, the tour essentially opted against a conflict with some of its biggest stars. “As noted above, [the PGA Tour handbook] fully supports the denial of these requests. However, in an effort to allow these members the opportunity to play in a single sanctioned tournament outside North America on a recognized tour, we have decided to approve all of these releases.”

There are, however, conditions. If a player has played Pebble Beach at least once in the past two years, he must play in either the 2023 or 2024 event. Those who have not played the tournament in the last five years will be required to play in two of the next three AT&Ts.

The memo also noted that the tour did not consider the decision to grant the releases as “precedent setting.” “We’ll evaluate all future release requests (for this event and any other events) individually and decisions will be based on the facts and circumstances in accordance with the Regulation.”

The decision will be a popular one with players, even if it will embolden LIV Golf Investments in its pursuit to loosen the PGA Tour’s grasp on the top players.

“I think we’re independent contractors and we should be able to play where we want to play,” said Rory McIlroy, chairman of the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council, earlier this month at the Hero World Challenge. “So in my opinion, I think the tour should grant releases. It’s an Asian Tour event, it’s an event that has official golf world rankings.

“I do see reasons why they wouldn’t grant releases,” McIlroy continued. “But I think if they’re trying to do what’s best for their members and their members are going to a place other than the PGA Tour and being able to earn that money, I mean, we’re independent contractors and I feel like we should be able to do that if that’s what our personal choice is. My personal choice is not to do that, but obviously a lot of players are doing that and I think it’s fair to let them do that.”

Due to the dedicated efforts of senior women golfers, ladies golf in Pakistan has developed to a point where it is recognised as an important part of the National PGF Golf Calendar which includes four ladies-only annual golf championships – one at the national level under the PGF and three at the provincial levels.

In her capacity as Chairperson Ladies Golf, PGF, Dr Asma Shami says it is time to honour the memory of two pioneers of ladies golf in Pakistan. As such two separate Ladies Golf Championships have been planned dedicated to honour the memory of Soni Wali of Peshawar and Ghazala Ansari of Lahore. While Ghazala is due to have a special tournament conducted in her name in Gymkhana Lahore early next year, the 1st KPGA Soni Wali Cup, Ladies Amateur Golf Championship is teeing off at the Peshawar Golf Club on Friday.

Over 30 lady golfers from all over Pakistan are participating in this three-day event, in which Begum Zahida Parveen, wife of Governor KP, will be the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony on December 19.

It may recalled that that these pioneers had to struggle to make their mark in an environment in which the attitude of the golfing establishment towards women golfers vacillated between condescending courtesy and benign neglect. Despite the fact that they had none of the opportunities that lady golfers now take for granted, they earned national recognition for their golfing prowess.

Soni Wali emerged as a brave trailblazer in the 1970s in the highly conservative NWFP (now KP).

With the active support of her family, she first became a single handicapper and then, in 1976, won the National Ladies Golf Championship. She died an untimely death, before she could make her mark in the international arena.

The organisers are very grateful to KPGA and President Peshawar Golf Club for sanctioning the conduct of this historic event. Similarly, they owe a debt of gratitude to Iqbal Wali, the younger brother and erstwhile golf partner of Soni Wali, for keeping his illustrious sister’s memory alive.

The Rosetta Stone for 2021, and really this cash-infused, PIP-soaked moment in professional golf, came just seven days into the new year. Adam Scott, too old and too accomplished to trifle with Potemkin promotional facades, laid it out there at Kapalua.

“I think you’ve got to identify that there’s probably 10 or 12 serious competition events during the calendar year and then the rest is a bit of entertainment, really,” Scott said. “So it’s finding that balance of your schedule and also for the tour’s schedule and what’s entertaining and how seriously it should be taken.”

Scott’s words about the PGA Tour may have captured the paradigm at the top of the year, and then the Bryson DeChambeau vs. Brooks Koepka feud exemplified it on almost a weekly basis for the subsequent 11 months. It was a beef borne out of real, authentic, competitive dislike, that got dressed up in beer-sponsor activations and a made-for-TV entertainment product by the time the year was out. It operated in both worlds with two players who won on tour, held major championship leads on Sundays and captivated an audience throughout the season with the kind of overt quarrel that’s so rare in golf. It also featured two of the whales being wooed by existential threats to the PGA Tour, their star profiles increasingly boosted by their beef as they tried to navigate the push-and-pull of playing for money and legacy with more of their prime golf ahead of them.

“The Feud” predated 2021, but this was the year it became strapped to a social-media rocket. What followed was a conflict that was a cocktail of enmity and entertainment, one that dominated the professional game and regularly penetrated the greater sports and culture news cycle.

Brooks vs. Bryson both delighted and exhausted golf fans, but that hardcore audience became secondary. The beef got the sport onto the most popular podcasts, sports television shows and social-media accounts. It generated memes that owned Twitter, however fleeting it was as with everything else on that platform, and a leaked (perhaps purposefully) video that quickly amassed 10 million views before it was nuked. If you’re the PGA Tour, rambling along in another year with Tiger Woods almost entirely out of view, what more could you want?

Well, for one, they didn’t want it to get too real. Undoubtedly happy with the added attention it brought, the tour never went all the way to promote the beef by pairing the two together in a tournament, something they could have easily arranged and what other pro leagues would quickly lean into. There were also those shouts of “Brooksy,” which Bryson and/or the tour interpreted as heckles at Memorial. That promptly poured affirmation gasoline on the fire and would follow Bryson on almost every hole of every PGA Tour event he played through the summer. By September, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan went on record classifying the shouts as “harassing behavior,” adding, “To me, at this point, it’s disrespectful, and that’s the kind of behavior that we’re not going to tolerate going forward.”

It illustrated the tension between the pro game’s persistent thirst to broaden its tent, make a splash, live under par … with the constraints of a member-run organization sensitive to its stars’ sensitivities. That sensitivity undercurrent was particularly strong this year, with renewed reports of disruptor leagues looking to exploit some top stars’ feelings that they’re not getting a commensurate piece of the pie.

Combined, their out-in-the-open feud made them the biggest active stars in the game. So it was no surprise to hear both of their names bandied about in reports of a Saudi-backed disruptor league offering $20 million and $30 million up front for commitments. And it was no surprise that one of the tour’s counter-measures, the Player Impact Program, or PIP, pushed this beef into a different realm. Koepka clearly leaned into it, bringing an element of competitiveness to his social-media tactics, so much so that he boasted by the end of the year that he “won the online battle.” Bryson, well, he was less surgical on social media, but the output was there, no doubt. The endpoint of this year-long tension was not a Sunday showdown with the stakes at their highest, but a processed-beef match on the Vegas strip, served with the produced elements that may be part of the alternative golf product being pitched as … entertainment … or maybe it’s competition? … by these disruptor league proposals.

Bryson vs. Brooks touched almost every major story of golf in 2021 while being the primary story itself. It played out on social media, the vehicle for any great sports feud in our modern times. It leaned into the PIP, introduced and seared into the golf lexicon forever this year. It benefited from the vacuum of a mostly Tiger-less year, getting golf into the larger sports and pop culture discussion. When the tour would only acknowledge its existence only from afar, the two settled for an alternative on-course resolution in The Match that had everyone walking away with more money in their pockets. This contretemps generated the most interest in the game this year—not always the actual game—but the larger traveling circus and all that surrounded it in the year 2021.

Koepka and DeChambeau may have been factors at the majors again, but neither won one. Together, their feud far outpaced the interest in any other star turn of those whose on-course accomplishments may have been greater. In this instance, interest in indulging the entertainment supplanted the competitive triumphs.

Lou Cestello learned at the same time as the rest of the world that Tiger Woods would reenter the competitive orbit at this week’s PNC Championship.

“Like everyone else, we were watching social media,” Cestello said in a phone interview Monday. “It seemed like it was a game-day decision for lack of a better term, or maybe a couple of weeks before game day. But we had our fingers crossed.”

As a senior executive at PNC who oversees the bank’s sponsorship team, Cestello had a particular rooting interest in Woods’ decision to make his return this week. First and foremost, Cestello said, he was happy for Woods and his family, in that Woods is already far enough along in his recovery from his February car accident to compete again. But for Cestello and his team, there also was the added bonus of what Tiger and his son Charlie’s participation in the PNC means for attention around the event.

“It’s almost immeasurable,” Cestello said. “We’ll have to see what the TV ratings end up being. Tiger just kind blows the lid off it in terms of the popularity.”

Indeed, for the second consecutive year Tiger and Charlie have made what was once a low-wattage off-season affair into one of the most buzzed-about events on the golf calendar. When Tiger and Charlie played a year ago, the golf world got its first extended look at father and son in action. An average of 1.5 million viewers tuned in to both the Saturday and Sunday telecasts, almost tripling 2019 numbers. This year, even more intrigue. On the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes course, Tiger will do what even a few weeks ago seemed unthinkable: pace fairways and hit full-swing shots in a nationally televised event, less than 10 months after suffering injuries so severe they could have resulted in him losing his right leg.

“We’re math people,” Cestello said when asked about Tiger’s potential impact on drawing eyeballs this week. “We’re always watching ratings and numbers and try to measure everything we can. We expect there to be a big bump this year.”

Beyond TV, PNC will also enjoy all the publicity from countless media outlets covering the event on their platforms, including many from outside the golf space. The tournament received so many requests for media credentials that it has had to set up a spillover press center in the on-site hotel.

It’s been quite a ride for the PNC. When the event was founded in 1995, what was then known as the Father/Son Challenge was a chill feel-good tourney that put a bow on the year with major winners and their sons teaming up for a 36-hole scramble in the Florida sunshine. The Floyds (Ray and Ray Jr.) dominated the early years, winning five of the first six editions. Larry and Drew Nelson had a nice run, winning in 2004, ’07 and ’08. By 2009, though, the Father/Son was without a title sponsor and dropped off the calendar. The event remained on hiatus until 2012 when PNC stepped in to help fund it.

In 2017, the tournament — which is jointly owned by IMG and NBC Sports — spiced up the field, allowing younger winners to compete with their fathers. In 2019, Annika Sorenstam became the first woman to join the field. This year, world No. 1 Nelly Korda will play alongside her father Petr.

But Tiger’s return will dominate the headlines. “Certainly his and Charlie’s involvement has created a fervor around this event that we have not seen in the past,” Cestello said. “It’s already the highlight of our nine-year history, his making his comeback here.”

Cestello, who is on site in Orlando, will be closely watching how Tiger’s weekend unfolds — with PNC’s marketing interests in mind, yes, but also simply as a curious observer.

“Sometimes you forgot in a position like ours, when you’re a sponsor, that we’re regular people and golf fans as well,” Cestello said. “Just to see the level of excitement on the internet when Tiger was hitting balls on the range in Albany a couple of weeks back and how the internet lit up, it has us super-excited for PNC, but super-excited for Tiger as well.”

With two of Pakistan’s leading golfers in the team, Siddiqsons won the top honours in TCF’s 18th Annual Golf Tournament here at the Karachi Golf Club.

Former national amateur champion Omar Khalid and Sindh amateur champion Yashal Shah, two of the country’s top-ranked players, joined hands to give Siddiqsons, captained by Abdul Rahim Rafi, an exciting win in the 18-hole contest held for a noble cause. The seasoned Qazi Amir Hussain completed the winning foursome. They finished with a gross score of 57 (-15) which included three eagles.

Team Zee which included Zafar Mehmood, Abdul Rehman, Irfan Rashid and Humayun Zafar, secured the runners-up title.

On a beautiful Sunday morning, more than 140 passionate golfers came together at the Karachi Golf Club to support education for the less privileged. The tournament was hosted by The Citizens Foundation (TCF) – a leading non-profit organisation that builds and operates schools in the urban slums and rural areas of Pakistan – to raise funds and bring less privileged children back to school amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Now in its 18th year, TCF’s Golf Tournament was played under a Texas Scramble Format while strictly adhering to Covid-19 safety guidelines.

The tournament was also attended by Mike Nithavrianakis, Deputy High Commissioner Karachi and Trade Director Pakistan, as the chief guest who also distributed prizes during the presentation ceremony. He commented, TCF’s commitment to providing education to under privileged children throughout Pakistan is phenomenal. The transformational impact that this has on so many pupils is changing their and their families’ lives for the better.”

“I am so thankful to the golfing community for their support in generously donating to TCF. The funds raised will help a large number of deserving kids and allow TCF to continue to reach more and more young people.”

Speaking at the event, Mushtaq Chhapra, TCF’s Co-Founder and Director said, “Every year, our incredible community of golfers gather to put up a great game of golf whilst also creating life-changing impact for less privileged children. With their generosity and support, we are bringing vulnerable children back into their classrooms after the COVID-19 crisis and reigniting their dreams! I am very grateful to all the participants, the Karachi Golf Club Team and our sponsors, who made this event a success yet again!”

Jason Kokrak wanted Kevin Na to bring his hot putter this week.

Na did just that, doing his trademark walk-in on six of seven birdies in a row — the other was his chip-in on No. 9 — and Kokrak birdied the last three holes to win the QBE Shootout by a stroke on Sunday at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.

“I started making some putts and hit some really good shots in there and it was just one after another after another and I just kept going,” Na said. “That chip-in on 9 was huge. I think that was a tough hole to birdie and for me to chip it in, I felt like we really gained one there.”

“He told me on nine he was going to hoop it after he missed the green, and he sure did, it was right in the middle,” Kokrak said of Na’s chip-in. “It was pretty impressive stuff to watch that and kind of inspired me a little bit to get the train going. I made a couple myself.”

Marc Leishman and Jason Day entered the final round in the better-ball format with a three-stroke lead and increased it to four early, but both of their putters went cold, and they finished third, two strokes back.

Billy Horschel holed out from near the water on the par-4 18th for birdie to put him and partner Sam Burns in second at 32-under, one behind Kokrak and Na, whose 33-under total was one off the tournament record.

Defending champions Harris English and Matt Kuchar, who tied that tournament record in a nine-shot win last year, got within a stroke with English’s eagle on No. 17, but the three-time winners didn’t come close on No. 18.

They did get a front-row seat to watch Na’s putting show, though.

“That was impressive stuff,” Kuchar said. “At one point as a competitor I wanted to say something to see if I could jinx it, but I figured we would let it go and to see how far. To go seven in a row was awesome. They combine to be a great team. Jason really turned it on kind of when Kevin finished with seven and Jason came on strong as could be. That was a tough duo.”

“You get that guy on the green, he can make a putt, a 50-foot putt look like a five-foot putt,” Horschel said of Na. “He can roll that rock with the best of them.”

But it was Kokrak who made the big putt on No. 18. He rolled in an 8-footer following Na’s miss from 10 feet on No. 18.

“I wanted to give him the spotlight,” Na joked. “… That was awesome when he made that. I was actually a little nervous when he was putting.”

“I’m not normally known for my putting,” Kokrak said. “… I was hoping he would just walk it in and take the pressure off me, but he did enough, he pulled his own weight for sure.”

Leishman/Day and Horschel/Burns needed to hole out from the 18th fairway to force a playoff, but Burns was the only one to come close, knocking it to a few feet.

LPGA star Lexi Thompson and two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson finished ninth after a 4-under 68.

Na birdied Nos. 7 and 8 to start his streak, then holed out from the right of the green for birdie on No. 9. That kickstarted four more Na birdies to start on the back before Kokrak, who had started the streak with a birdie on No. 6, capped it with a birdie on No. 14. Kokrak stuck it within a few feet on the par-3 16th, then had a two-putt birdie on the par-5 17th.

“On the back nine I said, ‘Hey, when are you going to show up?’” Na said. “He said, ‘I’ll be there when you really need me,’ and he really showed up when I needed him.”

While Na was making bombs on the green, Kokrak was hitting them all week.

“I just told him to bring the bomb and he brought the bomb,” Na said. “It was fun watching him hit those bombs. It’s nice when you play scramble, pick up the ball and walk up 30 yards and drop it. We had a good time.

“There were holes or moments that we weren’t playing so well, but we never really got down, we just kind of said, don’t — you know, if one of us said, ah, sorry, no big deal, you know? We really had a good time and that was the key to playing well.”

Na claimed the Sony Open in Hawaii back in January while Kokrak picked up two wins on Tour in 2021, first at the Charles Schwab Challenge in May and most recently at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open in November.

The victory was an emotional one for Na, who said that two friends recently had died. One was Kenny Lee, who Na said was a friend from Las Vegas, and the other was Dusty Smith, who had been a caddie for Na growing up. He died of a heart attack.

“I mean, I’ve never cried so much in the past month,” Na said during the 18th green interview. “… I want to thank both of them, and I think this wouldn’t have been possible without them.”

Johnson is back in field, along with Ryan Alford, after missing in 2021 because of COVID-19

Kamaiu Johnson stood in an alcove at Wilshire Country Club last month with bittersweet feelings. The APGA Tour star was excited to award a PGA TOUR exemption to his good friend, Ryan Alford, but he also was reminded of his own missed opportunity.

This year’s Farmers Insurance Open was supposed to be Johnson’s PGA TOUR debut, the culmination of an inspiring road from eighth-grade dropout to professional golfer that was made possible by the generosity of so many.

But Johnson had to withdraw from the Farmers Insurance Open after testing positive for COVID-19. Though he was later awarded sponsor exemptions to three other events, there was still disappointment in missing his chance to play San Diego’s famed seaside course that is the site of so many historic moments.

Through the adversity, Johnson had kept his head up high. That attitude has allowed him to beat the odds and make it this far. The path to the PGA TOUR was never going to be easy – he knew that – and it just steeled him to work harder. He’s a firm believer that good things happen to good people. So, he pushed aside any personal disappointments and stood tall in front of the small gathering at Wilshire after the final event of the APGA’s newly-established Farmers Insurance Fall Series.

Johnson spoke with gusto about the pride he had in Alford and how excited he was to be a part of presenting him a dream opportunity. There wasn’t a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice.

“Ryan and I, we travel together, we push each other, we talk trash, we are like family, … and at the end of the day we really just want to see each other get better and succeed. We want to be out there on the PGA TOUR together,” Johnson said.

“A lot of us here on the APGA Tour, we know that’s what Calvin Peete and Jim Thorpe and those guys did back in the day. They hung out together, they made each other stronger, they were like a big family, and they pushed each other and that’s what we want to do. It gives me so much pride to be able to announce this for Ryan. … I know he’ll do well at Torrey. I know that’s what he’s been waiting for, he’s a winner, and he deserves it.”

Alford, rendered almost speechless, was picked by the tournament committee after an impressive two-win season on the APGA in 2021. He’d narrowly missed a third, finishing runner-up at Wilshire just moments earlier.

As a high school teammate of PGA TOUR winner Sam Burns – where they claimed five state championships – Alford has been exposed to high level golf for some time. Now he gets his chance to join it.

One man certainly not surprised to see Johnson’s professionalism in the moment was Marty Gorsich, the CEO of Farmers Insurance and Chairman of the Century Club that awarded the exemption. Farmers has been an industry leader in supporting the growth of diversity in golf and Gorsich followed up with some lovely words about both players before slipping in the second surprise. Johnson also would be receiving a spot in the field for the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open.

“It’s a tough decision when trying to grant exemptions because there are always so many great stories and people who deserve opportunities,” Gorsich said. “But we thought Kamaiu was worthy last year and when we saw the way he handled himself leading into last year, going through the COVID experience and coming out of it with such class, that’s really what pushed it over the top for us.”

As the news sunk in, Johnson’s thoughts immediately turned to how he would approach things differently this time around.

“There’s a little bit of unfinished business there,” Johnson, 30, said. “This time around I’ll be more intentional in everything I do. That’s what the guys out there do so well.

“Getting COVID, … it was a devastating moment. You work so hard to play on such a big stage, … but we got through it, and it goes to show what happens if you surround yourself with the right people and work hard, then the sky’s the limit.

“You have got to let that stuff go to the side and it all just motivates me to get better. Just to get another chance to play on the PGA TOUR again, I know I’ll be ready more than I was after having COVID and I’m really looking forward to it.”

For the 25-year-old Alford, the whole process is new, but in Burns he has a regular playing partner – and friend – who can walk him through it. The pair can often be found at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, Louisiana, mixing it against each other. Burns, the 13th-ranked player in the world, won twice on the PGA TOUR in 2021. Alford won back-to-back starts on the APGA in April and May and believes he can make the most of his opportunity.

“This is a dream come true and I’m so thankful to everyone who’s making this possible,” Alford said. “I’ve played Torrey once back in college and I’m excited for the chance to test myself there again. I’m happy and I’m proud and confident that the process that has me here can continue.

“In my humble opinion, I get to play on a regular basis with one of the best players in the world and I try to compare myself to him each day, and I definitely feel like my game is there and competitive.”

Alford’s grounding in the sport started with the First Tee. His father now heads up the program’s Northwest Louisiana chapter. Ryan is a former participant in PGA TOUR Champions’ PURE Insurance Championship, which pairs kids from the First Tee with Champions players. Ryan was paired with Hal Sutton, and he’s also been lucky enough to share a tee time with another major champion from Louisiana, David Toms, on numerous occasions. The key advice from everyone has been to keep calm and play your own game.

“I know I’ll just have to stick to my routine, and I know a lot of people can get blown away by this stage but at the end of the day it’s just golf and I’ve got to be mindful of that,” Alford said. “I’ve got to welcome any adversity and know that the hard work can get you through.”

Burns – who sits second in the FedExCup race after picking up his second TOUR win at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October – was overjoyed with the news of Alford’s opportunity. And he’s adamant his former Calvary Baptist Academy teammate can hold his own.

“I’m excited for him. I think it’s a great opportunity for him. Ryan and I play a lot of golf together and he’s a great player,” Burns said. “He hits it far, hits it straight, and he’s a really good putter. I don’t see any reason he won’t play well there and compete. It’s a good golf course for him and he’s had a great year so I’m excited to see what he can do.”

After much speculation, Tiger Woods has ended the suspense: He is making his competitive return to golf later this month.

Woods committed Wednesday to next week’s PNC Championship, where he’ll tee it up with son, Charlie, for the second straight year Dec. 18-19 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.

The 36-hole, two-man scramble event will mark Woods’ first tournament of any kind since last year’s PNC Championship and comes less than 10 months after Woods suffered major injuries to his right leg in a single-car accident on Feb. 24 near Los Angeles.

“Although it’s been a long and challenging year, I am very excited to close it out by competing in the PNC Championship with my son Charlie. I’m playing as a dad and couldn’t be more excited and proud,” Tiger Woods said in a tournament press release.

Woods spoke to the media for the first time since the accident last week in the Bahamas ahead of the Hero World Challenge. He was asked about playing again, specifically in the PNC, but Woods wouldn’t provide a target return date. He did, however, mention that his surgically repaired leg – and back – was allowing him to “play a round here or there” and “a little hit and giggle.”

“I’ll put it to you this way, as far as playing at the Tour level, I don’t know when that’s going to happen,” Woods said. “Now, I’ll play a round here or there, a little hit and giggle, I can do something like that. … To see some of my shots fall out of the sky a lot shorter than they used to is a little eye-opening, but at least I’m able to do it again. That’s something that for a while there it didn’t look like I was going to. Now I’m able to participate in the sport of golf, now to what level, I do not know that. I’ll keep you abreast, all of you abreast as progress continues to go on, whether I’ll be out here and at what level and when.”

Woods, the tournament host, didn’t compete in the Hero, won by Viktor Hovland, but he was spotted multiple days practicing – and hitting drivers – on the back of the range at Albany.

“I can hit it, it just doesn’t go as far,” Woods told Steve Sands and David Feherty in the NBC booth on Saturday about taking driver swings. “The power’s not there, but yeah I can hit drivers. I can hit any club in the bag, it’s just – I’m not to the point where I can hear it land, so I’m OK.”

Woods’ friend and former college teammate, NBC/Golf Channel analyst Notah Begay III, said last week that as it pertained to Woods playing the PNC, “a lot of things that are going for that possibility to happen.”

“Tiger can ride a cart, he can drive up basically to the golf ball and almost onto the green, so the walking might not be as much of a stress on the leg,” Begay said. “But also, he can play Charlie’s drives. I covered them for the majority of that event last year, and Charlie was hitting most of the drives because of where his tees are at, and he’s such a good ball-striker that they were taking advantage of his drives because they were much farther than where Tiger’s balls were off the tee. Those are two critical things that I think might factor into him possibly showing up in a couple weeks with Charlie. I know the world would love to see it.”