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      Tributes Pour in for Tiger Woods Wishing Him a Speedy Recovery

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyTiger Woods Live Updates and Video: Golfer Hospitalized After Car Crash‘We know how tough you are’: Tributes pour in for Woods.Feb. 23, 2021, 5:25 p.m. ETFeb. 23, 2021, 5:25 p.m. ETJohnny Diaz and Tiger Woods watching from the 18th hole at the Genesis Invitational tournament on Sunday in Southern California. Woods was the host of the event, but he could not play because of his recent back operation.Credit…Ryan Kang/Associated PressAs news spread that Tiger Woods was seriously injured in a crash on Tuesday in California, fans, fellow athletes, celebrities and politicians offered tributes and prayers for the golf superstar.The former New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez said he was “praying for my brother” and “thinking of him and his entire family.”Stephen Curry, a three-time N.B.A. champion, also said he was praying for Woods and his family. Lindsey Vonn, the Olympic gold medalist skier who had dated Woods, shared a similar message for the athlete. And the basketball legend Magic Johnson asked that people pray for Woods.Michael Phelps, the Olympic gold medalist swimmer, and Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champion, offered their sentiments as well.“Fight @tigerwoods like the champion you are for your kids and the world,” Tyson said on Twitter.The actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who called Woods the GOAT (greatest of all time), said she had been with him on Monday.“Don’t take not even a MOMENT for granted!” she said on Twitter. “I know you’re good because your Tiger within is a beast!!!”Fellow golfers recalled Woods’s strength and resilience.“We know how tough you are, we’ve seen it a hundred times,” the golfer Justin Rose said on Twitter.On ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” Justin Thomas, another professional golfer, said he was “sick to his stomach” after hearing about the crash of one of his closest friends. “Man, I just hope he’s all right,” he added.Jack Nicklaus, who won 18 major titles, said that he and his wife, Barbara, were “deeply concerned” about Woods and wished him a successful surgery and full recovery. Woods is second on the career list with 15 major victories.Former President Donald J. Trump, who awarded Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019, phoned in to Fox News on Tuesday night to pay tribute to Woods, whom he called “an incredible guy.”“He’s going to be back,” Mr. Trump said. “I have no doubt about, he’s going to be back.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Tiger Woods's Past Was Examined in Recent HBO Documentary

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyTiger Woods Live Updates and Video: Golfer Hospitalized After Car CrashWoods’s complicated past was put under a microscope in a recent documentary.Feb. 23, 2021, 5:30 p.m. ETFeb. 23, 2021, 5:30 p.m. ETMargaret Lyons and [embedded content]Tiger Woods was the subject of a recent two-part documentary on HBO called “Tiger,” which chronicles the golfer’s intense relationship with his father and especially the ways the elder Woods shaped his son’s understanding of sex and masculinity. The documentary was based on a book, “Tiger Woods,” by Armen Keteyian and Jeff Benedict.“Tiger” depicts the relentless scrutiny focused on Woods, particularly though not exclusively from tabloid media, and the tensions of a celebrity culture that can be both wildly permissive and swiftly judgmental. A number of golfers, former caddies and friends participated in the documentary, but perhaps the most revealing sources were two women who were involved with Woods at very different times in his life: Dina Parr, who dated Woods in high school, and Rachel Uchitel, who had an affair with Woods in 2009.While archival footage of Woods features heavily, he declined to participate in the documentary, and his longtime agent, Mark Steinberg, released a statement blasting it. “Just like the book it is based off of, the upcoming HBO documentary is just another unauthorized and salacious outsider attempt to paint an incomplete portrait of one of the greatest athletes of all-time,” Steinberg said.The first part of the documentary, which was released in January and is streaming on HBO Max, was HBO’s most watched sports documentary in almost three years.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Residents Say Tiger Woods Crash Happened on Dangerous Stretch of Road

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyTiger Woods Live Updates and Video: Golfer Hospitalized After Car CrashResidents say the crash happened on a dangerous stretch of road.Feb. 23, 2021, 6:14 p.m. ETFeb. 23, 2021, 6:14 p.m. ETThe authorities blocked off roads in the area near Tiger Woods’s crash.Credit…Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesRANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — The area where Tiger Woods was injured in a wreck on Tuesday is a perilous stretch of road for drivers in Southern California, with steep and winding terrain and a reputation for frequent accidents.“If you get distracted, you can start going fast,” said Farideh Sotoodeh, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 20 years and went near the crash site on Tuesday after she heard a helicopter flying overhead.Others had also gathered near yellow emergency tape. Ryan Alimento, 18, was studying at his parents’ home when he heard an aircraft above. A friend texted him about the crash.“Growing up in Southern California, you hear his name all the time,” Alimento, a student at the University of Southern California, said. “For me, being Asian-American, he was a role model. He has a complicated past, but watching him accomplish all the things he did, I thought maybe I can do big things too.”The speed limit on the street is 45 m.p.h.“It’s steep going up and coming down and you can’t see around the bend,” Alimento said, adding: “You see and hear about a lot of accidents.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Justin Thomas on Woods's Accident: ‘I’m Sick to my Stomach'

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyTiger Woods Live Updates and Video: Golfer Hospitalized After Car Crash‘I’m sick to my stomach,’ Woods’s friend Justin Thomas said.Feb. 23, 2021, 4:22 p.m. ETFeb. 23, 2021, 4:22 p.m. ETJustin Thomas, left, and Tiger Woods during the first round of the PNC Championship golf tournament last year.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressJustin Thomas, a trusted confidant of Tiger Woods who frequently joins Woods for pretournament practice rounds, appeared stunned by the news of Woods’s accident on Tuesday.“I’m sick to my stomach,” Thomas said as he prepared for the Workday Championship, a PGA Tour event in Central Florida set to begin Thursday. “It hurts to see one of your closest friends get in an accident.”Thomas said he had heard about Woods’s crash only minutes earlier.”I’m sick to my stomach.” Justin Thomas reacts to the news of Tiger Woods being injured after a single-car crash. pic.twitter.com/RMXKLfSi9N— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 23, 2021
      “Man, I just hope he’s all right,” he said. “I’m just worried for his kids, I’m sure they’re struggling.”Thomas and his father, Mike, were paired with Woods and his son, Charlie, during the PNC Championship, a father and son tournament in December. Woods also has a daughter, Sam.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      In Naming a New Chief Executive, the U.S.G.A. Looks to the Women’s Game

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyIn Naming a New Chief Executive, the U.S.G.A. Looks to the Women’s GameWith the L.P.G.A., Mike Whan grew women’s golf. Now he’ll try to solve some of the sport’s most contentious debates: outrageous distances off the tee and a return to more traditional sites.Mike Whan with the L.P.G.A. in 2015. He will take over the U.S.G.A. sometime this summer.Credit…Chris O’Meara/Associated PressFeb. 17, 2021, 11:02 a.m. ETIn an imaginative decision for one of the most resolutely traditional organizations in American sports, the United States Golf Association announced Wednesday that its new chief executive would be Mike Whan, who has spent the last 11 years as the resourceful commissioner of the L.P.G.A. Tour.Whan, 56, will replace Mike Davis, the top executive at the U.S.G.A., which conducts the United States Open and 13 other national championships. Five months ago, Davis, a 30-year U.S.G.A. employee, revealed that 2021 would be his last year with the organization. In January, in a surprise, Whan announced his intention to leave the L.P.G.A.In an interview Tuesday, Whan said he called Davis before accepting the U.S.G.A.’s offer.“I said, you know me and you know the job, is this a bad idea?” Whan recalled. “Mike said, ‘Stop talking, you need to get into this job.’”Whan added: “I can stay in the game I love. I can have a seat that can make a real difference.”Stu Francis, the U.S.G.A. president, said Tuesday that he had been thinking about Whan as a possible Davis successor since Whan made a presentation to the association’s executive committee four years ago. Noting that the U.S.G.A., a nonprofit with annual revenues of roughly $225 million, invests in myriad golf initiatives and helps writes golf’s rule book, Francis called running the U.S.G.A. “a multifaceted job.” Of Whan, Francis added: “He has all the skill sets and has demonstrated those skill sets.”Whan, who will assume his U.S.G.A. duties at an unspecified date this summer, took over a struggling L.P.G.A. in 2010 and guided it through financial challenges, eventually expanded the tour from 24 events to 34 and nearly doubled the prize money. During the pandemic, when many tournaments were not held, Whan was able to preserve event sponsors, and the purses for the 18 tournaments the L.P.G.A. did host were not reduced.As L.P.G.A. commissioner, Whan has spent years in regular contact with leaders of golf’s governing bodies, including the U.S.G.A., the PGA Tour and the R&A, the organization that conducts the British Open.But at least in America, Whan will soon be the point man for a variety of issues facing golf, the thorniest of which is whether the sport’s leaders should enact new rules to inhibit the prodigious distances off the tee that can be achieved by technologically advanced golf balls and clubs. A recent report sponsored by the U.S.G.A. and the R&A, a co-partner overseeing the rule book, hinted at potential changes in equipment restrictions.Asked about the report on Tuesday, Whan said: “There’s little argument that we’ve known distance is a problem for a long time.” He added, “I think change is coming and needs to — how grand that change is has yet to be determined.”But Whan, who worked for Wilson Sporting Goods and TaylorMade Golf before joining the L.P.G.A., said there would still be room for innovation in the vast golf equipment market.“I think all the people that hear about change think, ‘Oh, no, it’s over, they’re going to put a governor on and everybody’s going to have all the same distance,’” he said. “Nobody has any interest in doing that to either the game or the people that make the game exciting.”Whan will also be central to ascertaining which courses will be selected as U.S.G.A. championship sites, particularly when it comes to the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open. Some of the most controversial decisions in Davis’s tenure stemmed from a desire to branch out from an established, if unofficial, rotation of traditional sites for the association’s premier events. That led to the U.S. Open’s being played in largely untested venues like Chambers Bay in Washington State and Erin Hills in Wisconsin with, at best, mixed results.Lately, the U.S.G.A. has signaled its inclination to return to golf courses with a history of hosting the national golf championship, something endorsed by Francis and Whan.“You’re going to see much more of a locking in on traditional sites,” Francis said.Whan, who will be just the U.S.G.A.’s eighth chief executive, said players wanted the same thing. Cognizant that this year’s U.S. Women’s Open will be contested at the Olympic Club in San Francisco for the first time (it has hosted the U.S. Open five times), Whan said, “I can promise you right now there are players on the L.P.G.A. dreaming of Olympic.”Davis, who is leaving the U.S.G.A. to pursue his interest in golf course design, endorsed Whan’s selection.“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mike Whan for many years, and I view him as a trusted, strategic leader who has a proven track record of building collaborative partnerships,” Davis said in a statement. “I know the U.S.G.A. will be in great hands, and I look forward to partnering with Mike to ensure a smooth and successful transition.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      P.G.A. Championship Lands in Oklahoma After Leaving Trump Property

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Capitol Riot FalloutVisual TimelineInside the SiegeNotable ArrestsCapitol Police in CrisisThe Global Far RightAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAfter Leaving Trump Property, P.G.A. Championship Lands in OklahomaThe major had been set to be played at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, N.J. in 2022, until the P.G.A. of America pulled out, saying that holding it there would be “detrimental” to its brand.The P.G.A. of America, which conducts the tournament, said Monday that it had awarded its 2022 championship to the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.Credit…Rob Carr/Associated PressJan. 25, 2021Updated 9:36 p.m. ETThe 2022 P.G.A. Championship, which was withdrawn from Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., days after a mob incited by the former president stormed the Capitol in a riot that resulted in the deaths of five people, has been awarded to the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.The P.G.A. of America, which conducts the tournament, one of the four major men’s golf championships worldwide, announced the new site for the event Monday in a brief statement. The tournament will be played next year from May 19 to 22.For many years, Donald Trump had publicly lobbied each of golf’s governing bodies to bestow one of the sport’s featured championships to one of his golf courses. The Bedminster club hosted the 2017 United States Women’s Open, and his club in Virginia was the site of the 2017 Senior P.G.A. Championship.The P.G.A. of America chose Trump Bedminster to host the 2022 championship in 2014, before Trump was a candidate for president. But on Jan. 10, the organization’s president, Jim Richerson, said in a video statement: “It has become clear that conducting the P.G.A. Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the P.G.A. of America brand, and would put at risk the P.G.A.’s ability to deliver our many programs, and sustain the longevity of our mission.”The next day, the chief executive of the R&A, the organization that conducts the British Open, said its flagship event would not return to Trump Turnberry, a golf course in Scotland owned by Trump, for “the foreseeable future.” Turnberry, purchased by Trump seven years ago, has hosted the British Open, the oldest of golf’s four men’s majors, four times, most recently in 2009. It previously hosted the Women’s Open in 2015.Robert Wood Johnson IV, the American ambassador to Britain during the Trump administration, told multiple colleagues in February 2018 that he had been asked to see if the British government could help Turnberry host the British Open again, according to three people with knowledge of the episode. The British government said Johnson made no request regarding the British Open and Trump denied asking Johnson to press such a move.While the resort was not scheduled to be the site of this year’s event, it was in consideration for the 2023 British Open.“We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances,” Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive, said.Southern Hills has been the setting for four previous P.G.A. Championships, the last in 2007 when Tiger Woods won the tournament. The course also hosted three U.S. Opens from 1958 to 2001. Moving the P.G.A. Championship to Oklahoma also locates a men’s major in a noncoastal setting. This year’s U.S. Open will be contested near San Diego while the 2021 P.G.A. Championship will be held on Kiawah Island along the South Carolina shoreline.“Excited to return to SHCC for the fifth time,” the P.G.A. of America wrote on its website Monday. “The course offers a tough-but-fair test for the strongest field in golf.”Southern Hills was designed in 1936 but underwent an $11 million restoration led by the noted golf-course architect Gil Hanse two years ago.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      For Elite Golfers, Money Talks

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesU.S. Travel BanVaccine InformationTimelineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFor Elite Golfers, Money TalksSponsors have long paid players to compete in tournaments, but that money has become more important to get players to travel during the pandemic.High-profile players like Rory McIlroy, seen putting during round two of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in 2018, bring in fans and make sponsors happy, so their presence is important.Credit…Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesJan. 20, 2021, 5:02 a.m. ETCraig Spence has no doubt that the shot he hit into the 18th green in the final round of the Australian Masters in 1999 was what granted him entry into the lucrative world of international golf, with its larger purses and equally attractive appearance fees.That shot set Spence up for a putt to beat Greg Norman, who at that point had twice won the British Open, and Spence did it in their home country at its most important tournament.“I hit the perfect shot, four feet behind the hole,” he said.When he made the putt, for a birdie and the win, invitations to play on the Asian and Japan tours, the PGA Tour and the European Tour came pouring in.Those were great, but it was the appearance fees from sponsors for top international players and up-and-coming ones like him that made a few of the long trips easier to make. Those fees eased the pressure on Spence to cover the costs of bringing his caddie, coach and family members to tournaments.“Now you’re teeing it up and playing for free,” said Spence, who now teaches golf in Western Australia. “You’re not going to lose anything if you don’t play well.”In 1999 Craig Spence won the  Australian Masters and moved into the echelon of elite golfers offered appearance fees.Credit…Jack Atley/Getty ImagesPaying players to fly to a professional golf tournament might seem unnecessary. But it’s an old practice used even in events where the winner receives millions of dollars and where an also-ran can make tens of thousands.And coming out of 2020, when professional golf events after March were largely closed to fans because of the pandemic, those fees have become more important this year and are an integral part of a tournament’s marketing budget.Without marquee players, fewer fans will watch at home, further worsening the return for sponsors. As one agent pointed out, if viewership numbers were down, sponsors would be even more concerned with their marketing spending than they were now.“Appearance fees do still exist at certain events for certain players,” said James Dunkley, manager for Lee Westwood and other players.The European Tour’s swing through the Middle East is known for using appearance fees to build top-notch fields. Those tournaments include the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which starts Thursday, followed by events in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, with prestige falling by the last two events.The reasons for paying fees are many. Without them, some top players won’t attend and the strength of the roster falls, which reduces the number of points available for the world golf rankings. That can further keep top players away. Sponsors, doling out millions of dollars, want to guarantee a strong field.Top players, who are mostly based in the United States, often want to avoid the travel and instead play in the early events on the PGA Tour, in Hawaii and California. They also have other commitments to schedule around.“Players typically commit to play 35 weeks, which leaves you 17 weeks a year off, or for holidays or sponsor obligations,” said Nick Biesecker, a longtime golf agent. “Time is your most valuable commodity. It has to be lucrative to carve out a week.”The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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      Five Golfers to Watch at Abu Dhabi

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFive Golfers to Watch at Abu DhabiThe field seems impressive, and Lee Westwood is back to defend his title.Lee Westwood won the tournament last year and also was the European Tour’s Player of the Year.Credit…Mike Egerton/Press Association, via Associated PressJan. 20, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETThe European Tour will start its new season this week with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates. The tour will have 42 events in 24 countries, capped in November by the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.The HSBC championship, which has been held at the same course every year since 2006, is one of four tournaments in the Rolex Series.Here are five players to watch:Rory McIlroyMcIlroy, 31, of Northern Ireland, is due. His last victory came at the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai in the fall of 2019. It was the same year he captured the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup for the second time.The Abu Dhabi course certainly appeals to McIlroy, who finished second in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. He hasn’t played in the event since 2018, when he tied for third.Last year wasn’t one of McIlroy’s best. He recorded a number of very good rounds, but the problem was being able to put four of them together in the same week.Rory McIlroy at the Masters last year.Credit…Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesA good example was the Masters in November. Over the last three days, McIlroy shot 66, 67 and 69, one stroke lower in that span than the champion, Dustin Johnson. McIlroy, however, had started the tournament with a three-over 75. It was simply too much ground to make up.McIlroy, who was ranked No. 1 in the world before the pandemic, hasn’t won a major since 2014. Currently No. 6 in the rankings, he can achieve the Grand Slam with a victory in April at the Masters.Justin ThomasThomas, 27, ranked No. 3 in the world, will be playing for the first time in Abu Dhabi. He is one of the favorites every time he tees it up. He won three tournaments last season on the PGA Tour and now has 13 victories in his career.About two weeks ago, at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, Thomas finished third, shooting a final-round 66. His most costly mistake came when he bogeyed No. 17, as he finished one shot out of the playoff between Harris English and Joaquin Niemann.Justin Thomas at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.Credit…Cliff Hawkins/Getty ImagesThomas’s strong play at the tournament was overshadowed by his use of an anti-gay slur after missing a putt. He later apologized.In his three previous European Tour starts, his best finish was a tie for eighth at the 2018 HNA Open de France.Lee WestwoodWestwood, the defending champion and European Tour Golfer of the Year in 2020, is still quite capable at the age of 47.In last year’s event at Abu Dhabi, he held off Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Victor Perez to win his 25th European Tour victory. The wins have come in four separate decades.Westwood, the former No. 1 player in the world, will also have an opportunity this week to improve his chances of qualifying for the 2021 Ryder Cup, which will be held in Wisconsin.He has been a member of the European team 10 times, starting in 1997, and only Nick Faldo has appeared in more matches.A blemish in Westwood’s career is the lack of a major championship. He has come close with nine top-three finishes. In the 2019 British Open he finished in a tie for fourth.Westwood has been an excellent ball striker for many years. His short game, however, has not been at the same level.Tommy FleetwoodFleetwood, who turned 30 on Tuesday, has had a great deal of success at the Abu Dhabi course. He won the event in 2017 and 2018 and tied for second in 2020.Fleetwood, No. 19 in the world rankings, is also still chasing his first major title. He has been in contention on several occasions. In the 2018 United States Open, he fired a final-round 63 to finish one shot back of the winner, Brooks Koepka.In 2020, Fleetwood finished four times in the top three. Nonetheless, he knows the year could have been much better.“There are areas of my game where I felt I struggled,” he said. “My long game wasn’t up to the standard I feel it has to be.”Tommy Fleetwood at the Masters last year.Credit…Patrick Smith/Getty ImagesEven so, making the Ryder Cup team is well within his sights.The event, Fleetwood said, “is something you never want to miss again.” Fleetwood was 4-1 for the European team in 2018.Another goal is making it to Tokyo.“The Olympics is an occasion that I want to experience and represent my nation,” he said.Matthew FitzpatrickFitzpatrick ended the 2020 season with a striking victory at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. Tied for the lead heading into the final round, he birdied five of the first seven holes, prevailing by a shot over Westwood. It was his sixth European Tour triumph and first since the 2018 Omega European Masters.The win in Dubai couldn’t have come at a better time. In his prior 10 tournaments, he’d missed four cuts.“It was definitely great to get another win under my belt after so many second-place finishes over the last two seasons,” Fitzpatrick said.“I think any win or good result gives you some confidence, so hopefully I can carry the momentum into 2021. I’d say on the weeks leading up to the event I did some great swing work with my coach, Mike Walker, and that definitely showed.”Matthew Fitzpatrick at the BMW P.G.A. Championship in October.Credit…Paul Childs/Action Images, via ReutersOver the years, Fitzpatrick, No. 17 in the world, has revised his view of the Abu Dhabi course.“When I first came out on the European Tour, I kind of thought that it didn’t suit my game,” he said. “My perception of it was that it was a bomber’s paradise, but since then it’s kind of proved my theory wrong.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More