Conditions created some unusual circumstances at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic on Friday, as Heather Bowie Young and Silvia Cavalleri each shot 6-under-par 39 on the shortened 12-hole opening round to share the lead in Atlantic, Paradise Island, Bahamas.

• After heavy rains earlier in the week on the Ocean Course forced the cancellation of Thursday's first round of this inaugural event, the LPGA decided that, with many holes under water, the opening round on Friday would be limited to 12 holes,

  Two of the holes that remained in use had to be converted into par 3s because bunkers had been virtually destroyed.

  But weather failed to cooperate on Friday, as thunder storms interrupted play for about three hours, and not everyone in the field was able to complete 12 holes.

  . An LPGA tournament must complete 36 holes to be official, and tournament officials are still hoping that can be accomplished by playing three, 12-hole rounds. There will be no cut this week, but the top 70 players and ties will earn official money, provided 36 holes are completed.

  Mariojo Uribe technically is tied with Bowie Young and Cavalleri atop the leaderboard, at 6-under, but Uribe completed just six holes on Friday. Uribe was one of 27 players who failed to complete the 12 holes Friday.

  Those 27 players will return at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning to complete first-round play, with second-round play beginning simultaneously.

  Crews will continue to work on clearing water from the course into the night on Friday.

  "Well, it's just Mother Nature, and as a golfer you grow up with this," Bowie Young said. "You know you just go when you can, and they're making the absolute best of the situation. I'm really glad we're playing golf. The holes we've played were in very good shape, like I didn't hardly have any mud on my ball, so they've gotten the course in tremendously good shape."

  Cavalleri had no notion how should would fare in the unusual 12-hole setup.

  "No. I mean it's first time for me, I think for a lot of other players," she said. "So we just go out and we are professionals, so we just play how many holes they tell us to play."

  Four players who completed 12 holes are one stroke back at 5-under - Austin Ernst, Paolo Moreno, Anna Nordqvist and Lisa McCloskey.

  Eleven players are tied at 4-under, including Maude Aimee Leblanc, who finished only nine holes on Friday, but scored a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th hole,

  . Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis, Nos. 1 and 2 in the women's world ranking, struggled a bit. Park finished 12 holes with a 1-over 46, and Lewis had a 1-under 44.

COURSE SOURCE

• IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Paiute Golf Resort - Snow Mountain Course; Las Vegas, Nev.

  THE LAYOUT: The Pete Dye-designed Snow Mountain Course was opened in 1995 as the first of three tracks at the sprawling Paiute complex 25 miles northwest of the Las Vegas Strip. The Paiute Tribe owns and operates the resort - recognized as the first master-planned, multi-course facility built on Native American land.

  What is unmistakable upon arriving at the complex is that it is a local favorite. The staff knows many of the golfers by first name, and the driving range is chock full of regulars swinging away while sharing stories.

  Each of the three courses has its own distinct flavor, and Snow Mountain is generally considered the most playable for all levels of golfers. However, it also offers four sets of tee boxes that can stretch the experience out to a long as 7,146 yards from the tips with a 73.0 rating and 126 slope.

  Some of the features of the par-72 Snow Mountain course are wide fairways with no holes that run parallel, although water comes into play on seven holes and there is a slew of risk-reward opportunities peppered throughout.

  The course plays a fairly benign 6,035 yards (68.8/111) from the whites, but the "championship" tees provide a solid test at 6,645 yards with a 70.9 rating and 118 slope.

  The rye grass fairways were in excellent shape during the spring and make excellent use of the natural rolling terrain. The greens feature plenty of slope that require good distance control, although they don't roll anywhere near as fast as some of the treacherous greens you can find around Vegas.

  GENERAL MANAGER: Chad Gunier

  LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: The first tip is to travel wisely. The Paiute Resort is roughly a $90 cab ride from the Strip - in each direction. Barring access to a car, the day gets pricey in a hurry unless you have a full foursome to split the bill. Once you arrive at the complex, however, it's well worth the effort.

  A large clubhouse housing the pro shop, restaurant and other amenities is elevated and looks out across the vast property and the three courses.

  If you're playing Snow Mountain, step back at least to the championship tees to bring in all the splendid design elements Dye incorporated.

  From the opening drive off the 347-yard par-4 first hole, it's clear that while the course isn't particularly long, there is risk-reward almost everywhere. Play it safe and you'll have far longer approach shots into most every hole. Take the more aggressive lines that Dye taunts you with, and you better be able to carry bunkers and wasteland or shape your ball with control.

  The first hole doglegs to the left and takes you away from the clubhouse. With no parallel fairways, you immediately get lost in the tranquility of the Paiute property.

  How well you play the first time around the Snow Mountain course can directly hinge on how much wind is sweeping across the desert, as there is plenty of water, sand and wasteland to balloon a scorecard.

  The par-5 third hole is a prime example. At 539 yards from the championship tees, it's two massive pokes - including a significant carry over water that runs up to the front right of the green. While downhill, a smarter approach is to lay up along the left side for a full wedge into the green. It's a beautifully designed hole that teases to the remainder of the course.

  No. 7 is a drivable par-4. While it's 309 yards, you can slice off significant yardage with a decent hit over the dogleg right. Clear the bunkers and the slope runs downhill to the putting surface.

  Water comes back into play with a pond protecting the green on the 399-yard par-4 ninth hole heading back to the clubhouse.

  The Snow Mountain experience really gets going on the 10th tee box, where you look out to a large pond that runs along the left side of the 10th hole and provides your first look at the demanding 18th hole running back along the same water feature.

  Dye presents golfers with yet another risk-reward on the 381-yard 10th. A solid strike out over the water and over the bunker requires a carry of about 220 yards - but anything left is in the hazard. Safer drives to the right leave a higher probability of an uneven lie and a dicey longer approach into a green that has very little room to go deep.

  Where Snow Mountain understandably earns most of its acclaim is with a trio of picturesque closing holes.

  My personal favorite is the par-3 16th looking out to Castle Rock and Gass Peak. At 182 yards slightly downhill, it requires a full carry over water, with little bailout room.

  The 17th is a solid 509-yard par-5 that begins your trek back to the clubhouse.

  No. 18 is one of the better finishing holes in Vegas. It runs 425 yards from the championship tees, with water all down the left-hand side and the green turning around the corner a bit at the end.

  A well-placed drive down the right that avoids two nastily-placed bunkers still leaves a mid-iron approach shot for most, with a massive slope on the right and water on the left protecting the green. Anything left requires a carry to the putting surface. A closing par is an excellent score on the course's No. 2 handicap hole.

  OTHER COURSES IN THE AREA: There are dozens of quality golf courses in the Vegas area, but Paiute is tucked away in the northwest section and we recommend playing two of its courses if you're looking to squeeze in 36 holes for the day.

  We were paired with a Vegas local who plays the Paiute tracks regularly. A 12-handicap, he likes Snow Maintain because "Wolf eats me up." Opened in 2001, Wolf is one of the longest courses in Vegas at a total of 7,604 yards. Regularly the top-ranked of the three courses, Wolf features an island green on No. 15.

  WHERE TO STAY: Paiute doesn't feature lodging, so the vast majority of out of town visitors are making their way up from the Strip.

  On the web: http://www.lvpaiutegolf.com/

The LPGA is taking drastic measures to make the most of the rain-shortened Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic.

• Friday's shortened first round will now be only 12 holes, rerouting play at the Ocean Club Golf Course around holes that have been left unplayable due to flooding. Officials hope to get in a minimum of 12 holes on Saturday and Sunday as well, and will reassess playable holes on a daily basis.

  There will be no cut this week, with the top 70 players and ties earning official money as long as at least 36 holes are completed.

  "When you have a situation like this, you bring everyone together that you trust and you make the decision," said LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan. "It's fair if someone doesn't like the decision we made, but I think this outcome is a lot better than any other alternative. Everybody who plays the next three days will play the same course."

  It's a difficult situation for the LPGA with a first-year sponsor, and players were informed of the decision during a meeting at the clubhouse at the Ocean Course, which was pummeled by more than a foot of rain over an eight-hour span on Tuesday.

  "It's all about your perspective on it," said world No. 2 Stacy Lewis. "If you go into it thinking, 'this is dumb' or 'we shouldn't play' then you probably won't play very well. I think, for the sponsors, we need to play. It's a first year event and we need to get out there."

  There have been 15 36-hole events since 1963 on the LPGA Tour. The most recent 36-hole tournament was the 2007 Hana Bank KOLON Championship, which was shortened from 54 holes to 36 following 50-plus mph winds during Sunday’s final round. Suzann Pettersen was declared the 36-hole champion.

Torrential rains forced the LPGA to reduce this week's inaugural Pure Silk Bahamas Classic to 54 holes beginning Friday.

• Even that schedule sounds tenuous based on the excess rainfall in the forecast and dreary course conditions with measurable standing water on nearly half of the fairways on the Atlantis, Paradise Island, course.

  Nearly a foot of rain fell on the Ocean Club Golf Course in an eight-hour period on Tuesday.

  In the wake of violent storms, significant amounts of standing water remain on at least seven holes with the ninth and 18th fairways completely flooded. Crews are working around the clock to abate water with additional efforts to clear debris and make the golf course playable ongoing.

  First and second-round pairings will remain the same with a 36-hole cut made on Saturday night.

  "Mentally, you're still in it although physically you can't do anything today at the course," said Suzann Pettersen. "I'm happy I got 18 holes of practice in yesterday. We will play whenever we can."

  Locals are calling the worst storm in the last 20 years and Nassau has significant flooding and home damage. But a 60 percent chance for more rain Wednesday into Thursday could cause further havoc.

  "You can't feel guilty about not practicing or playing today because no one is allowed out there," said Stacy Lewis. "I certainly wish for the tournament’s sake that we could have played the pro-am. First-year events have some bumps and we always get through them. This is no different."

Tiger Woods responded Wednesday morning to Sergio Garcia's fried chicken remark made a night earlier, saying it was insensitive but that the golf rivals should move past their verbal sparring.

• "The comment that was made wasn't silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate," Woods tweeted. "I'm confident that there is real regret that the remark was made.

  "The Players ended nearly two weeks ago and it's long past time to move on and talk about golf."

  During a European Tour awards dinner on Tuesday night at the BMW PGA Championship in Virginia Water, England, Garcia responded to a question about inviting Woods to dinner at the U.S. Open in June.

  "We'll have him 'round every night," Garcia said. "We will serve fried chicken."

  Garcia issued an apology later in the evening for the racially insensitive comment.

  "I apologize for any offense that may have been caused by my comment on stage during the European Tour Players' Awards dinner," Garcia said in a statement. "I answered a question that was clearly made towards me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner."

  Garcia said he was sorry again Wednesday during a news conference.

  "Obviously, finally, most importantly, I want to apologize to Tiger and anyone I could have offended by the comment I made," he said. "I just want to say I feel sick about it, and I'm truly, truly sorry. ... I hope we can move on."

  Garcia emphasized that he wasn't trying to be racist and that he had reached out to Woods' agent.

  "It was very hard," Garcia said. "As soon as I left the dinner, I started getting a sick feeling on my body. I really didn't sleep at all last night."

  The spat started at The Players Championship earlier this month when Woods and Garcia played together during the third round. As Garcia prepared to hit a shot on the second hole, he said Woods pulled a club from his bag across the fairway, which caused the crowd to stir and distracted Garcia. A dispute ensued between the two.

  Garcia clearly doesn't get along with the world's No. 1 player.

  "I mean, you can't like everybody," Garcia said earlier Tuesday. "I think that there's people that you connect with and there's people that you don't. You know, it's pretty much as simple as that. I think that he doesn't need me in his life, I don't need him in mine, and let's move on and keep doing what we're doing.''

As I stood over a 10-foot birdie putt at my local golf course last weekend, I felt an uncomfortable but remarkably familiar emotion flow through my body.

• Fear.

  I'd been here before - playing for bragging rights in a men's club tournament with a group of good friends. And history was not on my side. Nor was the current state of my mind.

  As the putt slid by the left edge, I knew I'd left myself a little left-breaking downhill putt. It's one I make 99 out of 100 times on the range and don't think twice about it. But with something on the line I cared about, I let my right wrist break and pushed the putt to the left.

  And the three-footer coming back.

  When I left a five-footer short on the next hole, one of my buddies shook his head and simply said, "You are so inside your own head right now."

  And that is the very heart of the sensitive chord struck with Tuesday's announcement by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club and the U.S. Golf Association to outlaw the use of anchoring long putters to the body beginning in 2016.

  I'm what you might call a driving range all-star. I can win side games and look like a scratch golfer with 100 balls and meaningless targets in front of me. Good balance and solid mechanics from 30-plus years of playing the game.

  However, hundreds of rounds have also built a deep reservoir of terrible shots that my memory can recall like Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind." It typically rears its ugly head on the putting green, where shaky hands can make a six-inch tap-in feel like a daunting task.

  That's why I immediately jumped staunchly in the corner of Tiger Woods, Brandt Snedeker and Steve Stricker when they came out in favor of banning the use of anchored putting strokes. I'm in full agreement it takes away from the intent to have a "free swing," where nerves must be managed every bit as much as mechanics.

  Tim Clark can give all the impassioned speeches he wants about how anchoring the putter goes back decades, or even longer. There's a reason why he and Carl Pettersson have used anchored putters since joining the PGA Tour.

  As Snedeker said last November, "It works."

  Adam Scott has one of the best pure swings you'll ever see, but his inability to hit clutch putts always held the Aussie back from joining the world's elite golfers. When he switched to an anchor-based putter, Scott became far more consistent and nearly won the British Open last year before breaking through at The Masters last month.

  Ernie Els won that British Open over Scott, using a belly putter to help fix the putting woes he has encountered as he slowly leaves his prime. I've often wondered if we'd even know Keegan Bradley or Webb Simpson -- two more major champions --without their mastery of long putters shoved into their chests or bellies.

  Would the golf world be a less entertaining place without those figures? Hardly.

  We'd simply have more dramatic stories to rehash along the lines of Retief Goosen nearly choking away the 2001 U.S. Open with a missed two-footer on the 72nd hole, or I.K. Kim's heartbreaking loss at the LPGA's Kraft Nabisco Championship last year when she missed a one-foot putt on the final hole of regulation.

  Overcoming nerves with a pure swing of the flat stick speaks to the beauty of the sport.

  Truth be told, if I wasn't so stubborn to fix my own flaws and had the patience to revamp a major part of my game, I'd have no hesitation in using an anchored putter if it took my "yips" and gave them a proper burial at sea.

  And there's the rub. The USGA ruling will outlaw anchoring a putter to your body for all amateurs. The PGA Tour, however, is considering whether it will follow suit and likewise institute the rule for its professionals.

  Translation: Come 2016, I won't be allowed to solve my yips through the use of an anchored putter, but Scott could still be hoisting major tournament trophies without having to test the strength of his nerves through the most minute movements in his hands and wrists.

  That's where the entire issue has taken a duck hook into the forest.

  I could care less if the champion at my local muni earned his bragging rights after elevating his game with a putter shoved into his belly. It's far more important that millions of amateur golfers every year are enjoying the game -- or returning to it -- because a long putter has made the sport ... gasp ... more fun.

  I do care that the best golfers in the world who literally have millions of dollars riding on every putt, are put to the test in the truest sense of the word. You can show me a picture of a golfer from 60 years ago with an anchored putter, but it's not going to change the equation when it comes to the debate the PGA Tour continued to fail to put to rest Tuesday when it said it will review its plans come 2016. All Commissioner Tim Finchem needs to listen to is two words.

  It works.

Golf's governing body officially approved a rules change that will outlaw the use of putters anchored to the body beginning in 2016.

• The hotly-debated issue has divided the golf community for the past few years, especially with four of the past six major championship winners using long putters that were anchored to their bodies -- effectively creating a hinge.

  The Royal & Ancient Golf Club and the U.S. Golf Association (USGA) said Rule 14-1b would take effect in 2016. It wouldn't ban long putters commonly referred to as "belly putters," but would prevent golfers from anchoring them to their belly or chest.

  "We recognize this has been a divisive issue, but after thorough consideration, we remain convinced that this is the right decision for golf," R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said.

  Masters champion Adam Scott, reigning U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson and 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley all use belly putters, and Ernie Els used one while winning last year's British Open.

  Bradley and other professional golfers, including Tim Clark and Carl Pettersson, have been vocal in their opposition belly putter ban, while Tiger Woods has been a strong proponent of the rules change along with Brandt Snedeker and Steve Stricker.

  "I hope they go with the ban," Woods said this week. "Anchoring should not be a part of the game. It should be mandatory to have to swing all 14 clubs. And as far as the PGA Tour, I hope they do (ban) it as soon as possible to be honest with you. I've always said that. I've always felt that golf you should have to control your nerves and swing all 14 clubs, not just 13."

  The PGA Tour now must decide whether to establish its own criteria or align with the new rule. Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in February that a ban on belly putters by golf's governing bodies would be a "mistake," although he favors everyone playing by the same rules.

  In a statement Tuesday, the Tour said: "We would like to thank the USGA for providing the opportunity for input and suggestions relative to Rule 14-1b over the last several months. During that time, various questions were raised and issues discussed.

  "We will now begin our process to ascertain whether the various provisions of Rule 14-1b will be implemented in our competitions and, if so, examine the process for implementation.

  "In this regard, over the next month, we will engage in discussions with our Player Advisory Council and Policy Board members.

  "We will announce our position regarding the application of Rule 14-1b to our competitions upon conclusion of our process, and will have no further comment on the matter until that time."

  The Tour statement references the 90-window the R&A and USGA provided for commentary on the proposed rule change.

  "We strongly believe that this rule is for the betterment of the game," USGA president Glen Nager said. "Rule 14-1b protects one of the important challenges in the game -- the free swing of the entire club."

  Opponents of the ruling fear the ban will have a far-reaching impact through the amateur levels of the game -- turning off golfers who have turned to belly putters for increased enjoyment. However, the game's governing bodies have determined that anchoring a putter to the body is a departure from how golf was intended to be played.

  "Intentionally securing one end of the club against the body, and creating a point of physical attachment around which the club is swung, is a substantial departure from that traditional free swing," Nager said. "Anchoring creates potential advantages, such as making the stroke simpler and more repeatable, restricting the movement and rotation of the hands, arms and clubface, creating a fixed pivot point, and creating extra support and stability that may diminish the effects of nerves and pressure."

  Clark is one of a handful of golfers who have used belly putters since joining the PGA Tour, and rose to the forefront of the debate with a speech during a players-only meeting. However, the debate hasn't been nearly as divisive on the European Tour and other tours around the world.

  While Clark and Scott have argued players using belly putters win due to thousands of hours of practice rather than the use of a belly putter, the issue for players including Snedeker is the "anchoring" of a club.

  "I feel like they should be banned," Snedeker, who led the Tour in strokes gained putting and was second in total putting while using a conventional putter in 2012, said in November.

  "I've got no problem with longer putters if you want to make sure they're not anchored; I've just got a problem with anchoring.

  "There's a reason why guys that have belly putters use them -- they work," he continued. "If they didn't work, they wouldn't use them."

  "The understandable objections of these relative few cannot prevent adoption of a rule that will serve the best interests of the entire game going forward," Nager said. "Indeed rather than being too late, now is actually a necessary time to act, before even larger numbers begin to anchor and before anchoring takes firm root globally."

  In a statement, the LPGA announced it will abide by the rules set by the USGA and the R&A.

  "The LPGA has consistently conducted our official events in accordance with the Rules of Golf as established by the USGA and the R&A. We recognize the need for an independent governing body to maintain the rules of the game," the statement read. "We trust in the ability and expertise of both the USGA and R&A to make the decisions that are in the best interests of the game.

  "The USGA provided ample time and opportunity for us to not only educate our players, but also to solicit input, concerns and feedback surrounding Rule 14-1b. While we know that not every one of our members is in favor of the rule change, the LPGA will continue to respect and follow the Rules of Golf which includes the implementation of Rule 14-1b in January of 2016."

  How much impact the ruling will have exactly will play out over the next two-plus years. Scott, for one, has no intention of ditching his long putter.

  "I don't think there will be much for me to change,' he told the Daily Mail earlier this month. 'If I have to separate the putter a millimeter from my chest, then I will do that.

  "Tomorrow would be enough time for me (to change). I don't see myself putting any different looks-wise."

Tiger Woods provided a one-word answer on Monday as to whether he has tried to clear the air with Sergio Garcia in after their Players Championship disagreement.

• "No," Woods told reporters at Congressional Country Club outside of Washington, D.C.

  Woods smiled after making the remark during media day for the June 27-30 AT&T National.

  Woods and Garcia were involved in a spat at the TPC Sawgrass May 11-12. Garcia was annoyed by a distraction he felt Woods could have avoided when they were in the same playing group in the third round.

  After the final round, Garcia said he was glad he wasn't in Woods' group that day.

  "He isn't the nicest guy on tour," Garcia said.

  Later Monday, Woods told USA Today, "Obviously the matter has been put behind me. The truth came out. As I was saying the entire time, I told people what I had heard and what had happened."

  Neither seems bothered by the incident.

  "He doesn't make a difference to my life and I know I don't make a difference to his life," Garcia said Monday, according to ESPN.com. "This is not just one thing. This has been going on for a long time."

  While speaking at an event in London on Monday, he insisted he would not back down from Woods.

  "He called me a whiner," Garcia said, according to ESPN.com. "That's probably right. It's also probably the first thing he's told you guys that's true in 15 years. I know what he is like. You guys are finding out.

  "He can and will beat me a lot of times but he is not going to step on me. I'm not afraid of him."

COMING UP

• PGA TOUR: Crowne Plaza Invitation at Colonial at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday through Sunday.

  TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EDT on CBS.

  LAST YEAR: Zach Johnson holed a five-foot putt for par to give him what appeared to be a three-stroke victory over Jason Dufner for his second title at Colonial in three years. However, Johnson forgot to re-mark his ball after moving it because his coin was in Dufner's line, and he was assessed a two-stroke penalty, leaving him with a one-stroke victory after a closing even-par 70. Johnson also won the John Deere Classic in July, giving him two victories in a season for the third time in his PGA Tour career. Dufner, a 35-year-old journeyman who had never won on the circuit before 2012, seemed to be headed for this third victory in four tournaments by opening with scores of 65-64-66 before closing with a 74 that included a double bogey and a triple bogey.

  CHAMPIONS TOUR: 74th Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Thursday through Sunday.

  TV: Thursday and Friday, noon-3 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.

  LAST YEAR: Roger Chapman of England built a nine-stroke lead early in the final round and held on to claim his first victory on the Champions Tour by two shots over John Cook at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Mich. The 53-year-old Chapman, who had only three professional victories previously, added the U.S. Senior Open less than a month later. In the Senior PGA, he built a five-stroke lead after 54 holes with rounds of 68-67-64 before closing with a 1-over-par 72, carding bogeys on three of the last five holes. Kenny Perry posted a tournament-record 62 in the final round, but all it got him was a tie for ninth, five strokes behind Chapman.

  LPGA TOUR: Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic at Ocean Club Golf Course in Paradise Island, Bahamas, Thursday through Sunday.

  TV: Thursday and Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

  LAST YEAR: This is the inaugural tournament and the first time an LPGA Tour event will be played in the Bahamas.

--Sir Nick Faldo announced that he will play in the 153rd Open Championship in July at Muirfield, where he won the oldest tournament in the world in 1987 and 1992.

• The 55-year-old Faldo, a six-time major champion, will play in the Open for the first time since 2010. That year, he missed the cut on the Old Course at St. Andrews, where he claimed a third Claret Jug in 1990. He has missed the cut in his last four appearances in the Open.

  "I've been fighting it for years," said Faldo, who is the lead golf analyst for CBS Sports. "I was in the gym on Monday, and it suddenly just hit me. I thought, 'Come on, this is one more walk, and I'll probably never (again) get a chance to walk at Muirfield.'

  "If I can just get over the hurdle and say to myself, 'What will be, will be' ... I can't be any fitter. If I can just hit a few solid long irons, who knows what could happen? I could just go play and enjoy the shot.

  "I've got just over two months to go to get myself to pretend that I'm a golfer."

  Faldo chose his son, Matthew, to be his caddie for the week at Muirfield, saying he is playing in the tournament primarily to allow his family to experience the event.

  --The World Cup of Golf will be played Nov. 21-24 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the International Federation of PGA Tours announced.

  Royal Melbourne, which hosted the Presidents Cup in 2011, will host back-to-back events in November, with Masters champion Adam Scott defending his title on the course in the Australian Masters a week earlier.

  "We're thrilled that the World Cup will return to Australia, bringing this historic event to a venue, city and country that have hosted the biggest and best international sporting events for many years," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.

  "The Presidents Cup 2011 was the best in event history, thanks in no small part to the welcome provided to us by the incredible Australian sports fans, the Victorian government and the Victorian Major Events Company.

  "With all of those ingredients still in place, and added to them Adam Scott's win at the Masters Tournament in April, there is tremendous momentum and excitement for the World Cup 2013."

  The World Cup has been played three previous times in Australia, each time at Royal Melbourne. The event was last played in Australia in 1988 as part of the nation's bicentennial celebrations, and Ben Crenshaw and Mark McCumber of the United States beat out Masashi (Jumbo) Ozaki and Tateo Ozaki of Japan.

  The World Cup of Golf boasts an $8 million total purse and returns to an individual, stroke-play competition for $7 million, with a team component (adding the total scores of two-man teams) for $1 million.

  The qualification system for the event is similar to that which will be used in the Olympic Games, when golf returns to the program in 2016. The field will include 60 players, with eligibility taken from the Official World Golf Rankings.

  Up to four players can qualify per country, if they are in the top 15 of the rankings. Beyond No. 15, up to a maximum of two players per country can qualify.

  The World Cup of Golf was first played in 1953, with Roberto De Vicenzo and Antonio Cerda of Argentina winning at Beaconsfield Golf and Country Club in Montreal.

  The event was played annually until becoming a biennial event in 2011, when Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland of the U.S. claimed the title on the Blackstone Course at Mission Hills Golf Club in Hainan, China.

  The U.S. has dominated the event with 34 titles, followed by South Africa with five. Spain and Australia are tied with four championships.

  --Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England, has been selected as the venue for the 2019 Walker Cup matches, the United States Golf Association announced.

  The 47th edition of the biennial matches that pit the best amateur golfers of Great Britain and Ireland against those from the United States will be played in September 2019 as Royal Liverpool celebrates the 150th anniversary of its foundation.

  "The Walker Cup is one of the most historic and prestigious events in golf," said Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, executive director of championships for the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. "We are delighted to be taking the match back to Royal Liverpool in its 150th year. Hoylake will provide an outstanding challenge for both teams. It is one of the finest tests of links golf to be found anywhere and has hosted many successful championships over the years."

  Hoylake was the venue for a 1921 match between amateurs from the U.S. and Great Britain that led to the Walker Cup matches being established. The first official Walker Cup was played at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, N.Y., in 1922.

  The Walker Cup was held at Hoylake in 1983, when the U.S., led by captain Jay Sigel, beat Charlie Green's team from Great Britain and Ireland, 13 1/2-10 1/2.

  The Open Championship will return to Hoylake, where Tiger Woods claimed the title in 2006, for the 12th time next year.

  In 2012, Royal Liverpool hosted the Ricoh Women's British Open won by Jiyai Shin of South Korea, and the course has been the site of the British Amateur Championship on 18 occasions in addition to the 1992 Curtis Cup, the event that matches the top women amateurs from Great Britain against those from the United States.

  This year's Walker Cup will be played at the National Golf Links of America on Sept. 7-8.

  The 2015 event will be played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, and the 2017 venue will be Los Angeles Country Club.

  The Walker Cup is contested between teams of 10 players from Great Britain and Ireland and the United States. It is played over two days with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes matches.

  Great Britain and Ireland holds the Walker Cup after defeating the U.S., 14-12, at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in 2011, but the Americans hold a commanding 34-8-1 lead in the series.

  --Ken Venturi teamed with Pat Summerall to form one of the most respected broadcast teams in sports in the 18th hole tower for CBS Sports at PGA Tour events for more than a decade in the 1980s and '90s.

  Venturi, who impacted the game of golf on the course and in the broadcast booth, died last week at the age of 82 in Ranch Mirage, Calif., only 11 days after he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

  His death came a month and a day after the death of Summerall, also at the age of 82.

  Venturi, who won the 1964 U.S. Open and later became one of the best commentators in the game for CBS over 35 years until 2002, had been hospitalized for two months because of a spinal infection, pneumonia and an intestinal infection.

  "He was a deeply principled man with a dynamic presence; he just exuded class," said Jim Nantz, his partner in the CBS booth for several years after taking over for Summerall. "Through his competitive days and unequalled broadcasting career, Kenny became a human bridge connecting everyone from Sarazen, Nelson and Hogan to the greatest players of today's generation.

  "Kenny faced many adversities in his life and always found a way to win."

  Venturi's greatest moment as a golfer came when he captured the 1964 Open at Congressional, despite nearly collapsing because of exhaustion, dehydration and heat stroke in temperatures that surpassed 100 degrees.

  It was the last time the national championship was determined by a 36-hole marathon Sunday, and a doctor told Venturi between rounds that he was putting his life in danger, but Venturi went back out anyway and came from two strokes back to win his only major title with scores of 66-70.

  "I dropped my putter and I raised my arms up to the sky," said Venturi, who was so weak that playing partner Raymond Floyd had to retrieve his ball from the hole after his final putt. "I said, 'My God, I've won the Open.' The applause was deafening. It was like thunder coming out there.

  "I felt this hand on me, and it was Raymond Floyd handing me the ball. I looked at him, and he had tears streaming down his face."

  Sports Illustrated selected Venturi as Sportsman of the Year in 1964.

  Venturi, who graduated from San Jose State and spent part of his U.S. Army stint in Korea, was born in San Francisco and turned to golf at 13 because it was a solitary sport after a teacher told his mother that his case of stammering was incurable.

  Following a brilliant amateur career, which included California Amateur Championships in 1951 and 1956 plus three San Francisco Amateur Championships, he turned pro in 1956. He also posted the highest finish in the Masters by an amateur, losing a four-stroke lead by shooting a closing 80 in windy conditions to wind up second behind Jack Burke Jr. in 1956.

  Venturi claimed the first of his 14 PGA Tour victories in the 1957 St. Paul Invitational and his last in the 1966 Lucky International at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, where he learned to play the game.

  Forced to retire in 1967 after he was diagnosed with carpel tunnel syndrome in both wrists, Venturi forged a distinguished career in the broadcast booth.

  Venturi is survived by his wife, Kathleen, and two sons, Matthew and Tim, who represented him at his Hall of Fame induction.

  --The European Tour, which lost several events in Europe in recent years during the worldwide economic downturn, announced that the Made in Denmark tournament will be played for the first time on Aug. 14-17, 2014, at Himmerland Golf and Spa Resort in Farso, Denmark.

  "It's fantastic news for the tour and the country that we're having a new tournament in Denmark next year," said Danish golf star Thomas Bjorn, who has won 13 times on the European Tour. "I think Himmerland will be a perfect venue, and I hope the Danish golf fans will come along and support the tournament in good numbers.

  "With Thorbjorn (Olesen) playing so well and a lot good young amateurs coming through the ranks, it's a good time for Danish golf, and having a European Tour event in Denmark can only help grow the game even more.

  "My first win as a professional was the Himmerland Open on the Challenge Tour in 1995, so in many ways that's where it all began for me."

  Ian Poulter of England claimed the only previous Euro Tour event in Denmark, beating Colin Montgomerie of Scotland by one stroke in the 2003 Nordic Open at Simon's Golf Club in Humlebaek, near the capital city of Copenhagen.

  The new tournament will be played on the Backtee New Course at Himmerland, which measures 7,382 yards and plays to a par of 72.

  The Backtee New Course re-opened at the start of the year after a 2 million pound renovation program that included the re-sodding of all 18 greens and the re-shaping of every bunker.

  "This dream opportunity has now become a reality," said Lars Larsen, co-founder and owner of Himmerland. "Made in Denmark will focus partly on Danish golf, but also focus on Denmark as a golfing destination.

  "By working with a number of sponsors, Sport Event Denmark and other organizations across the North Jutland region, we will ensure that Danish design and innovation are both integral to the event marketing."

  Himmerland is Northern Europe's largest golf resort, offering two 18-hole courses, a nine-hole course and extensive practice facilities in the Nike Performance Centre.

  --Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium arrived in Kavarna, Bulgaria, last week all set to defend his title in the Volvo World Match Play Championship at a new venue, the Thracian Cliffs Golf and Beach Resort on the Black Sea.

  However, his clubs and the rest of his luggage didn't make it.

  Colsaerts was caught up in a strike at Brussels Airport, and apparently his luggage never got off the ground, so in desperation he turned to Twitter.

  "Does somebody know someone from Brussels Airport or SN Brussels Airlines to make possible that my people would have access to the luggage and take them back," he tweeted. "Somebody would then travel from Paris or Amsterdam to bring them to me! How can you be unlucky defending a world title."

  As a backup, he arranged for his mother to travel from Paris to Bulgaria with another set of clubs and some clothing.

  Colsaerts was on hand at the beginning of the week, but he was unable to get a head start on seeing the new venue for the tournament that might have given him an advantage over 11 players who arrived from Florida on a chartered jet after playing in the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

  That group included Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Geoff Ogilvy, Carl Pettersson, Bo Van Pelt and Henrik Stenson.

  Colsaerts' clubs were finally found in the Brussels airport, and his father, Patrick, brought them to Bulgaria on a private plane that arrived late Tuesday night, giving Colsaerts a chance to play the course with them the day before the tournament started.

  In his title defense, Colsaerts reached the quarterfinals before being ousted by eventual champion McDowell, 2 and 1, despite making a remarkable up-an-down for par on the 10th hole after his ball wound up in an open restroom near the green.

  --The Class of 2013 had barely been inducted in the World Golf Hall of Fame when commissioner Tim Finchem of the PGA Tour said there might be some changes with several parts of the process.

  Finchem has no direct influence of the day-to-day operation of the Hall of Fame. However, he has a seat on the board of the World Golf Foundation, which oversees the Hall of Fame.

  "I think it's timely to take a look at everything we're doing and take a fresh look," Finchem said. "We haven't done that in several years. The World Golf Foundation board is very open to change, and has indicated to the (Hall of Fame) staff that we want to."

  The induction ceremonies at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla., originally were held in the fall, but they were moved to May to coincide with the Players Championship, a short drive away at TPC Sawgrass.

  At the start of this year's ceremony, Hall of Fame members in attendance were introduced, but it was embarrassing that only eight were on hand, all of them women.

  The only male golfers in the audience were Blaine McCallister and John Cook, who both play on the Champions Tour.

  "Getting players to come back has always been a bit of a challenge over the years," Finchem said. "It does raise a question in my mind about whether this is the best time of the year to do it.

  "It was phenomenal ceremony, a compelling night. But if you do it this week or the week of a really big tournament, the golf interest is kind of split. There are three or four things we're looking at, and that's one of them."

  Finchem had to be persuaded to move the Hall of Fame induction ceremony to the week of the Players Championship because he feared it would take away from the tournament, but it appears the opposite has happened.

  There also was controversy this year over the inductions of Colin Montgomerie of Scotland, who never won a major championship, and Fred Couples, whose only major title came in the 1992 Masters.

  Finchem said the idea of having two voting ballots, one for PGA Tour players and one for international players, might be outdated. In addition, the minimum age of 40 years will be re-examined, he said.

  Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh have been inducted in recent years after turning 40 while continuing to play on the PGA Tour, another aspect of the Hall that has been questioned.

  The LPGA Tour has its own criteria, based on a point system, for players qualifying for the Hall of Fame.

IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Bell Bay Golf Club in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada.

• THE LAYOUT: Thomas McBroom, one of Canada's most noted designers, crafted 18 exceptional holes on Cape Breton Island with sweeping views of the Bras d'or Lake -- North America's majestic inland sea.

  Also in view across Bell Bay is Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic for Beautiful Mountain), the estate of Alexander Graham Bell, where the inventor of the telephone spent the latter part of his life and died in 1922.

  The Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site houses the largest collection of Bell artifacts and archives in the world.

  Bell Bay Golf Club, which plays to 7,037 yards from the back tees, has a course rating of 74.3 and a slope of 136. However, Bell Bay is eminently playable for all golfers, with a rating of 69.9 and a slope of 125 from the white tees.

  The season at opens in May and runs through October, weather permitting, at Bell Bay, which was voted best new course in Canada in 1998 and hosted the 2005 Canadian Amateur Championship in addition to the 2006 Canadian Club Champions Championship.

  GENERAL MANAGER: Michael Gillan.

  LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Bell Bay Golf Club received international recognition in 2001, when the Wayne Gretzky and Friends Invitational was held there and televised on the Golf Channel. NHL stars Gretzky, Brett Hull and Joe Sakic played a match against Mike Weir, the left-hander who won the 2003 Masters and is considered the best Canadian golfer of all-time.

  Every hole at Bell Bay is named for a ship that sailed the Seven Seas from Baddeck, which was settled by Scottish shipbuilders. The course starts with three strong par 4s, measuring 407, 415 and 433 yards from the back tees.

  The best of the opening threesome is No. 3, a 433-yard hole named for Scrapper, a legendary craft built at Bell's laboratories at Beinn Bhreagh. The hole gets its difficulty from the second shot, which is uphill from between 135 to 175 yards into the prevailing wind.

  No. 6 is the most challenging of the par 3s at 227 yards from the tips to a green guarded by seven bunkers. The hole is named for Typhoon, a 45-foot ketch that crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a then-record 15 days in 1920. The voyage was made even more remarkable because it was accomplished entirely under sail after the engine failed two hours into the trip.

  When you make the turn at Bell Bay, the best is yet to come, especially what the locals call "The Final Four." But before the golfer gets there, he must navigate No. 13, a 508-yard par 5 named for the brig Challenger, which was built in Baddeck in 1848 and lost at sea the following year on a journey from Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Boston. Like the ship, many golf balls find a watery grave in the lake that runs nearly the last half of the hole and guards the left side of the green.

  The last four holes are considered one of the best windups in Canadian golf.

  No. 15 is Perseverance, a daunting 463-yard par-4 with one of the smaller greens on the course. The hole was named for a brigantine built in 1845 that was later re-rigged as a schooner.

  The 16th hole is Argyle, named for a brig built in Baddeck that was given the name of a town in Scotland. This is the shortest par 4 on the course, at 365 yards, but perhaps most scenic, routed through a densely wooded corridor of trees that is especially impressive when the fall colors are in their glory.

  But the best at Bell Bay is saved for the absolute last. No. 17 is the signature hole, while No. 18 has the signature view.

  On the 182-yard, par-3 17th, called Banshee, the tee boxes are perched on a hillside and the shot must carry a spectacularly wooded ravine. Banshee was a female spirit in Gaelic folklore whose wailing warned the clan of danger. The cry is similar to that heard from golfers as their tee shots disappear into the ravine.

  The 18th hole is named for Bradalbane, a 101-foot barque that is believed to be the largest and best vessel built at Baddeck. It was instrumental in Rev. Norman MacLeod's expedition to New Zealand in 1857. There is a spectacular panoramic view overlooking the Bras d'or from the tee box on the 566-yard par-5 hole, and the prevailing wind from behind the golfer allows him to let out the sails with the driver.

  OTHERS COURSES IN THE AREA: For the perfect golf doubleheader, play Bell Bay and Highland Links in Ingonish Beach, a classic Stanley Thompson layout on the edge of Cape Breton Highland National Park. Highland Links was selected as the No. 1 course in Canada in 2000 by Score Golf magazine and has been rated one of the top 100 courses in the world several times by Golf magazine.

  Also worth the trip are Dundee Resort and Golf Course in West Bay, Le Portage Golf Club on the banks of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the Cabot Trail in Cheticamp, Passchendaele Golf Club in Reserve Mines, Lingan Golf and Country Club (established in 1895) in Sydney and Seaview Golf and Country Club in North Sydney.

  WHERE TO STAY: The Inverary Resort in Baddeck, known for its Celtic charm and lakeside boardwalk, offers stay-and-play packages for Bell Bay Golf Club, as do Glenghorm Beach Resort in Ingonish and Ceilidh Country Lodge in Baddeck.

  First-class lodging also can be found at Dundee Resort in West Bay, Castle Moffett in Baddeck, the Maritime Inn in Port Hawkesbury, Chanterelle Country Inn in Baddeck and Haddon Hall Resort Inn in Chester -- Nova Scotia's version of the French Riviera near Halifax, where many of the Titanic victims are buried.

  ON THE WEB: www.bellbaygolfclub.com

  THE LAST RESORT: World Golf Village, which features the King and Bear Course, and the Slammer and Squire Course, in St. Augustine, Fla.

  THE LAYOUT: At the top of the list for any golf vacation to Florida has to be the World Golf Village and Hall of Fame, located in St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States.

  Not only can golf fans browse through artifacts the greats of the game utilized in their diverse roads to glory, they also can play the two world-class courses on the property, named after four of those all-timers.

  The King and Bear Course, about three miles from the Hall of Fame, but still on land owned by the World Golf Village, is the only collaboration in golf course design by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, opening in 2000.

  Palmer and Nicklaus played a match that was televised for Shell's Wonderful World of Golf to mark the opening of the course, which also hosted the Champions Tour for the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in 2001 and 2002.

  The Slammer and Squire, named for Sam Snead and Gene Sazarzen, was designed by Bobby Weed, although he received input from those great champions, who were still alive when the course opened in 1998.

  The original course on the property, located a short walk from the Hall of Fame and the hotels on the property, the Slammer and Squire hosted the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in 1999, and also has been the venue for PGA Tour Qualifying School and Champions Tour Qualifying School.

  DIRECTOR OF GOLF: Jeff Hartman.

  LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: The King and Bear is the more challenging of the two courses, playing to 7,279 yards and a par of 72 from the back tees, with a course rating of 75.2 and a slope of 122.

  It is what the British would call a parkland course, with wide fairways (for which Nicklaus designs are known) on the front nine lined by loblolly trees. The more winding fairways on the back side are framed by 200-year-old live oaks.

  The 17 lakes that dot the King and Bear are lined by coquina rocks.

  "Arnold and I have varying styles on how we do golf courses," Nicklaus said. "(The King and Bear) reflects both of our styles."

  The course opens with two strong par-4s, measuring 426 and 435 yards respectively, but there are five sets of tees and plenty of room in the driving areas.

  Stay well clear of the water and sand all down the right side at No. 1, where the green is guarded by a large bunker complex. The water on the tee box at No. 2 should not come into play, and the shot to a green protected by three bunkers on the left is slightly uphill.

  The best par-5 on the course probably is No. 7, at dogleg that swings left and measures 573 yards, with a large lake on the left to deal with on the layup and the shot to the green.

  The front nine finishes with two more challenging par 4s, No. 3 and 1 in difficulty on that side, at 462 and 448 yards from the back, respectively. The eighth has water on both sides of the fairway and the ninth features a large lake all the way to the green.

  Palmer included No. 12, a 412-yard par 4, as one of his "Dream 18" in a Sports Illustrated article in 2006. Considered the signature hole on the King and Bear, it winds around a lake to the left to a green sitting on a small peninsula.

  No. 14 is a 200-yard par 3 with water and sand on the right, although there is bail-out room on the left, and it leads to a strong finish.

  Following three more exceptional par 4s at 360, 467 and 427 yards, the King and Bear finishes with a 563-yard par 5 devoid of water, although there are wetlands to swallow any shot that goes left of the bunker that runs the length of the hole on the left side.

  The par-72 Slammer and Squire Course, more of a user-friendly resort course even though both are eminently playable for golfers of all abilities, measures 6,939 from the tips, with a rating of 73.8 and a slope of 135.

  The course plays through native wetlands, hardwood hammock trees and old-growth pine trees.

  After a relatively straightforward start, the golfer reaches the No. 1-handicap hole on the course, with No. 4 a par 5 that measures 522 yards from the back tees. Water and sand run down the right side off the tee before the hole doglegs dramatically to the left to a green protected by water on three sides.

  The seventh is a 178-yard par 3 on which the water on the left must be carried from the back tees, with bunkers guarding both sides of an elevated green that requires an extra club.

  The front nine concludes with a 401-yard par 4 that plays back toward the Trophy Tower that sits atop the Hall of Fame, and although there is no water on the hole, there are eight bunkers to deal with from tee to green.

  The best hole on the back nine probably is the par-4, 442-yard 12th, which has a water hazard that cannot be seen from the fairway about 120 yards from the green. Collection areas on three sides of the green make it difficult to get up and down for par if you miss the putting surface.

  The finish is challenging, starting with the 576-yard, par-5 16th, the longest hole on the course with sand and water to deal with all the way to the green.

  The Slammer and Squire finishes with par 4s measuring 459 and 425 yards, respectively, both bending to the left. The penultimate hole has water on both sides as you approach the green, and the final green has a spectacular view of the Hall of Fame across the water.

  The fun isn't over when your round ends at the World Golf Village, because there are hands-on exhibits in the Hall of Fame, which features "Shanks for the Memories," an exhibition dedicated to comedian Bob Hope's career and love of golf.

  In addition to the largest PGA Tour merchandise shop in the world, on the property is Caddyshack Restaurant, owned by the Murray brothers, which is a tribute to Bill Murray's role of assistant course superintendent Carl Spackler in the movie "Caddyshack."

  If you don't have time for a round of golf, you can still play the 18-hole natural grass putting course, take a shot to an island green on the 132-yard Challenge Hole reminiscent of No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass or watch a movie in the IMAX Theatre.

  As Gary Player, World Golf Hall of Fame Global Ambassador, says in TV commercials for the Hall: "For the love of golf, go."

  OTHER COURSES IN THE AREA: The World Golf Village and Hall of Fame are only about a 20-minute drive from TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, home of the PGA, Champions and Nationwide tours. On the property are Pete Dye's Valley Course and the Stadium Course, with its infamous island 17th green, site of the Players Championship every May.

  Also in the area are Royal St. Augustine Golf and Country Club, St. Augustine Shores Golf Club, the Golf Club at South Hampton in St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Golf and Country Club at Sawgrass, St. John's Golf and Country Club in St. Augustine, the Ocean Course designed by Jack Nicklaus at Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, Queens Harbour Yacht and Country Club in Jacksonville, Magnolia Point Golf and Country Club in Green Cove Springs, and Eagle Harbor Golf Club in Orange Park.

  About an hour's drive south on Interstate 95 in Daytona Beach is LPGA International, home of the LPGA Tour, with the Legends Course, designed by Arthur Hills, and the Champions Course, designed by Rees Jones.

  WHERE TO STAY: Stay on the grounds of the World Golf Village at the Renaissance Resort, the Comfort Suites, Laterra Resort and Spa or the Grande Villas, which all offer golf packages for the Slammer and the Squire, and the King and the Bear.

  Historic St. Augustine is the oldest European settlement in the United States, first visited by Ponce de Leon in 1513, and there are numerous hotels and B&Bs in and around the city. Among the best are the Bayfront Marin House, the Casablanca Inn on the Bay, Casa Monica Hotel, the Bayfront Westcott House, St. George Inn, Our House Bed and Breakfast, Alexander Homestead Bed and Breakfast, the Pirate Haus Inn and the Carriage Way B&B.

  In Ponte Vedra Beach are the Sawgrass Marriott Resort and Beach Club, Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, the Lodge and Club at Ponte Vedra Beach, the Hilton Garden Inn and the Fig Tree Inn B&B.

  Golf resorts in the area include the Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast and Amelia Island Plantation.

  ON THE WEB: www.golfwgv.com

The Sports Xchange's 2013 PGA Tour rankings, selected by TSX Golf Staff, based on 2012-2013 performance.

• 1. Tiger Woods, United States -- Following his fourth victory in seven stroke-play events on the PGA Tour this season at the Players Championship, Woods began his two-week break by heading for Las Vegas, where he hosted Tiger Jam 15 at Mandalay Bay Events Center. Kid Rock was the star attraction, following another rock musician, Uncle Kracker, to the stage. Tiger Jam raised in the neighborhood of $14 million in its first 14 editions, with the proceeds going to the college-access programs sponsored by the Tiger Woods Foundation. ... Tiger also made it official last week that he will defend his title next week in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, where he has won five times. In announcing that he would play in the tournament for the 14th time, he said that what makes winning the event extra special is that it is hosted by Jack Nicklaus, his idol since he posted the Golden Bear's accomplishments on his bedroom wall as a kid growing up in Cypress, Calif. ... Some people are starting to compare Woods' season to his epic 2000 campaign, when he claimed nine titles, as he has reached four earlier than he did in that or any other season. His fourth title that year came at the U.S. Open in June, but what made that season so remarkable was that he captured the last three major titles, part of a run in which he won six times in eight events beginning with the Memorial. Of course, Woods came back the following year and captured the Masters to complete what became known as the Tiger Slam.

  2. Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland -- After taking a week off, McIlroy hopes to find some consistency in his game this week when he plays in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club, outside London. He has had some solid results of late, finishing in the top 10 four times in his last six tournaments on the PGA Tour, but he has yet to put everything together with his new Nike clubs and some changes to his swing. ... Rory, who announced last week that he is leaving Horizon Sports Management and starting his own firm, played in the flagship event of the European Tour five times previously, but has only one top-10 finish and has missed the cut twice, including last year at 74-79--153. That was part of a slump in which he missed the weekend in three consecutive tournaments and four of five before he heated up later in the year to win three times and claim the No. 1 spot in the World Golf Rankings. His best finish on the famed West Course at Wentworth was solo fifth in 2009, when he shot 7-under-par 65 in the third round. He finished at 10 under that year, but he is a cumulative 24 over in his other four appearances in the tournament. ... The numbers indicate that McIlroy might not be far away from his late-2012 form, as he ranks 16th in total driving (a combination of distance and accuracy), fifth in green in regulation at 71.33 percent and is third in the all-around category, a combination of eight major statistics. However, he must get better on the greens, as he ranks 108th at 29.28 putts per round and 94th in strokes gained-putting at plus-.004.

  3. Brandt Snedeker, United States -- Snedeker, who has played 10 times this season despite missing a month and a half because of a strained intercostal muscle, is taking two weeks off before returning to the PGA Tour next week for the Memorial Tournament. Despite spending time on the sideline, he still ranks second in the FedEx Cup point standings behind Tiger Woods and second to Woods on the money list with $3,388,064. ... Sneds, who captured the 2012 FedEx Cup by claiming the Tour Championship last September, picked up right where he left off at the start of this season and seemed headed for an even bigger year before being injured. He finished in the top three in four of his first five tournaments, including his sixth PGA Tour victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, but struggled once he returned to health. Snedeker missed the cut in his first two tournaments back before returning to form since by tying for sixth in the Masters and tying for eighth in the Players Championship. ... Snedeker has done it this season by playing well in all phases of the game, which has put him fifth in the all-around ranking, a compilation of eight major statistical categories. He ranks 10th in driving accuracy at 69.39 percent, 13th in greens in regulation at 69.84 percent and 16th in strokes gained putting at plus-.604. Snedeker leads the PGA Tour in birdie average at 4.66 per 18 holes, is fifth in scoring average at 69.823 and is 10th in scrambling, getting up-and-down for par 65.26 percent of the time.

  4. Adam Scott, Australia -- Having made the most of his abbreviated schedule this season with three top-10 finishes in five stroke-play tournaments, including his first major victory in the Masters, Scott is taking what is a short break for him, two weeks. He is skipping the two events in Texas, even though he captured the 2008 Byron Nelson Championship and has claimed three of his nine PGA Tour titles in the Lone Star State. He's returning next week for the Memorial Tournament. ... Scott was able to get away for three weeks after winning at Augusta National, but he said he still worked hard on his game, and he didn't seem to have a real letdown when he tied for 19th in the Players Championship. A 3-over-par 75 in the third round kept him from another top-10 finish, but he wound up in the top 25 for the fourth time this season. ... Scott has not returned to Australia since becoming the first player from Down Under to claim the Green Jacket, and it figures to be a madhouse whenever he does. His mentor, Greg Norman, has said that there will be even more pressure for Scott to play in top Australian events, the first of which is the Perth International in October. In the final weeks of the year are the Australian Open, which he won in 2009, the Australian PGA Championship and the Talisker Australian Masters, of which he is the defending champion. Scott usually plays in two of the three, but it will be more difficult for him to pass on any of them this year.

  5. Phil Mickelson, United States -- The schedule page at philmickelson.com still does not show when Lefty will play next, although he did commit last week to play in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Castle Stuart Golf Links in July, a week before the 142nd Open Championship not far away at Muirfield. He has said often that he likes to play a week ahead of major championships because he feels rusty in the Grand Slam events on Thursday if he does not. It will be his 11th appearance in the Scottish Open, and he came closest to winning it when he was beaten in a playoff by Gregory Havret of France in 2007. ... Mickelson is not in the field this week for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, even though he has played in the tournament 14 times previously and won it in 2007. He could play the following week in the Memorial for the 14th time. Last year, he withdrew after shooting 79 at Muirfield Village because he was exhausted. That came during a stretch in which he played four tournaments in five weeks and squeezed in a trip to Paris to celebrate the 40th birthday of his wife, Amy. His last chance to tee it up before the U.S. Open would come the following week in the FedEx St. Jude Classic, but he has played only twice at TPC Southwind, in 2001 and 2009. ... Mickelson, who captured the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February and also finished third in the WGC-Cadillac Championship and the Wells Fargo Championship, needs something to regain momentum after missing the cut in the Players Championship.

  6. Dustin Johnson, United States -- Once again hit by the injury bug, Johnson withdrew early last week from the HP Byron Nelson Championship because of a back injury that caused with to pull out of the Players Championship after he opened with a 2-over-par 74. That came a week after he could not play in the Wells Fargo Championship because of a wrist injury. It was the fourth consecutive tournament from which he withdrew, as he also pulled out of the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea because of the political unrest in the region. ... Johnson posted a message on Twitter that he had inflammation in his facet joints, but he hoped that rest and daily therapy would permit him to play this week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He has played in the tournament only once before, in 2009, when he finished in a tie for 74th after making the cut on Friday by shooting 1-under-par 69, but then missed the secondary cut a day later when he posted a 72. ... DJ missed nearly three months last year, when he admittedly came back too soon from offseason knee surgery, which led to lower back problems. Once he got healthy, he captured the FedEx St. Jude Classic in June and he appeared to be primed for a big season this year when he won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. It seems that all he has to do is stay healthy for his immense talent to take him to the top of the charts, but he has been unable to do that in the past two years.

  7. Luke Donald, England -- Donald was in London last week to receive his MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) award from Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. He is sticking around for the BMW PGA Championship, which he has won each of the last two years. Perhaps returning to a venue in which he has had great success is what he needs after not being much of a factor this season, even though he has not played badly, finishing in the top 25 in six of his seven events on the PGA Tour. His only top-10 finishes, a tie for fourth in the Tampa Bay Championship and a tie for third in the RBC Heritage, came in his last four events, so he could be ready to bust out. ... Donald posted four scores in the 60s last year on the West Course to claim a four-stroke victory over Paul Lawrie and Justin Rose. A year earlier, he opened with a 7-under-par 64 and was near the lead all the way before sinking a seven-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat Lee Westwood, from whom he took over the No. 1 spot in the World Golf Rankings. Luke has three other top-10 finishes at Wentworth in eight appearances, including a tie for second in 2010, one stroke behind Simon Khan, and a tie for third in 2008, two shots out of the playoff in which Miguel Angel Jimenez defeated Oliver Wilson. ... Donald, who also will play in the Memorial next week, ranks fourth in scrambling on the PGA Tour, getting up and down 67.47 percent of the time, but that's because his iron play hasn't been up to his standards. He has hit the green in regulation only 61.57 percent of the time, which ranks 170th.

  8. Matt Kuchar, United States -- Normally a top-10 machine, Kuchar has finished outside of the top 30 in each of his last three tournaments, including a tie for 33rd last week in the HP Byron Nelson Championship. He has not been at his best since before he shot 1-over-par 73 in the final round to tie for eighth in the Masters, his fourth top-10 finish of the season and 33rd in the last three-plus seasons, the most on the PGA Tour in that span. ... Kooch is staying in Texas this week and will tee it up in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial for the seventh consecutive year, even though he has finished in the top 10 only when he finished solo ninth in 2008. He posted his lowest round at Colonial that year, shooting 6-under-par 64 in the second round. Kuchar, who might not play again until the U.S. Open in three weeks, has broken 70 at least twice in all of his appearances at Colonial, but simply has not been able to go low enough. ... Kuchar, searching for the form that took him to the title in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship earlier this year, posted bookend rounds of 1-under-par 69 last week at TPC Las Colinas, but he simply did not make enough birdies. He seemed primed for a big week when he birdied two of his first four holes after starting on the back nine on Thursday, but he could manage only one more, at No. 7, the rest of the day. The highlight of his week was holing a 17-foot eagle putt on the same seventh hole while shooting 70 in round three, but he could record only 10 birdies in 72 holes.

  9. Keegan Bradley, United States -- Bradley shot a tournament-record 10-under-par 60 in the first round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship last week and seemed headed for his fourth PGA Tour victory after three rounds. However, he struggled to a 72 in the final round in windy conditions, faded down the stretch and finished second, two strokes behind winner Sang-Moon Bae of South Korea. Disappointing as it was, Keegan posted his sixth top-10 finish of the season, the most on the circuit. ... According to the schedule page at keeganbradley.com, he is going to take a week off before playing in the Memorial Tournament for the third time, having missed the cut in his first two appearances. Keegan has to figure out how to play Jack Nicklaus' course because he ranks fifth in the United States standings for the Presidents Cup, which will be played at Muirfield Village in September. The Memorial will be his final tournament before the U.S. Open at Merion. ... On Sunday at TPC Las Colinas, where winds gusted to 40 mph, Bradley did not post his only birdie until he sank a 17-foot putt on the 15th hole to tie Bae for the lead after falling behind earlier by four strokes. However, after Bae holed a five-foot birdie putt on the next hole, and Bradley's birdie try from four feet lipped out. Bradley fell two strokes back and virtually was finished after making a bogey at No. 17. He recorded 10 birdies, an eagle and two bogeys in the first round and was trying to become the first wire-to-wire winner in the tournament since Tom Watson in 1980.

  10. Webb Simpson, United States -- Simpson left TPC Sawgrass feeling good about his game as he heads toward his title defense at the U.S. Open in three weeks after posting easily his best finish in the Players Championship, a tie for 15th. That came after he recently lost in a playoff to Graeme McDowell in the RBC Heritage, and he claims his game is in better shape than it was before the second major of 2012, which he captured at the Olympic Club. ... He had yet to commit to the Memorial Tournament next week as of the weekend, but he has played in the tournament each of the last four years, with his best finish a tie for seventh in 2011. Expect a strong field of American and international players at Muirfield Village, where the Presidents Cup will be played in October, and Simpson certainly figures to be on the U.S. team because he ranks seventh in the point standings. Webb has made two team appearances as a pro, in the Ryder Cup last year at Medinah and the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in 2011, after playing in the Walker Cup and Palmer Cup as an amateur. ... Simpson said on U.S. Open media day that Merion, where he will defend his title, might be his favorite course. He played the course in the 2004 U.S. Amateur, when he lost in the first round of match play, and also in corporate outings. Last week, he posted a message on Twitter that he was playing another classic course outside of Philadelphia, Aronimink Golf Club.

  11. Justin Rose, England -- Following a missed cut in the Players Championship, his worst outing in what has been a solid start to his season on the PGA Tour, Rose took a week off before heading back to England for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the flagship event of the European Tour. Even though he has yet to claim a 2013 victory as he tries to extend his winning streak to four years on the U.S. circuit, he has three top-10 finishes and six top-25s in seven tournaments, including second behind Tiger Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. ... Rosy is playing in the BMW PGA Championship for the 10th time and has come close to winning the tournament twice. He opened with a 4-under-par 67 last year and was at par or better in all four rounds while finishing in a tie for second, four strokes behind Luke Donald. In 2007, he shot 66 to tie for the first-round lead with Paul Broadhurst, also of England, and was in the hunt all the way before losing in a playoff when Anders Hansen of Denmark beat him by holing a 25-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole. Rose got even with a tap-in birdie on the 72nd hole after a remarkable pitch shot, but he missed a 10-foot birdie putt that would have prolonged the playoff. ... Justin had not yet committed to the Memorial Tournament as of the weekend, but he is expected to return to the PGA Tour next week. He won the Memorial three years ago for the first of his four victories on the PGA Tour. He has played at Muirfield Village five consecutive years and eight of the last nine.

  12. Lee Westwood, England -- Westwood should have plenty of confidence this week as he heads home to England for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth with a string of strong performances on the PGA Tour fresh in his mind. He has finished in the top 10 in four consecutive events in his first year of living in the United States, including ties for eighth in both the Masters and the Players Championships, the two biggest events of the year to date. He made the move from England so he can concentrate on the three majors played here. ... Lee is playing in the flagship event of the European Tour for the 19th consecutive year, and while he has never won it, he has come close twice. In 2000, he played the West Course at Wentworth in 65-68 on the weekend to tie for second, three shots behind Colin Montgomerie. Two years ago, he closed with 69-69-68 to catch Luke Donald, who had been leading since shooting 64 in the first round. Westwood actually took a two-stroke lead after 15 holes in the final round, but Donald caught him with a birdie-bogey exchange on the next hole. Then Luke took the title and the No. 1 spot in the World Golf Rankings with a seven-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole, where Westy hit his approach into the water. ... Westwood has shown improvement on his short game, ranking sixth on the PGA Tour in scrambling at 66.29 percent, but he must improve his average of 29.14 putts per round to start turning those close calls into victories, on both tours.

  13. Bubba Watson, United States -- With two weeks off following the Players Championship, perhaps Bubba can start to relax after the buildup to his title defense at the Masters and a possible letdown afterward. He has not played his best golf since tying for fourth in the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions and tying for ninth in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship earlier this season. After winning at Augusta last year, he had eighth finishes in the top 25 the rest of the year, including a tie for second in the Travelers Championship and a tie for fifth in the Tour Championship, but he has not found that form this year. ... Watson is playing in the Memorial Tournament next week, but Muirfield Village might not be the ideal place for him to find his game. In seven previous appearances, his best result were ties for 23rd in 2007 and 2009, and he has missed the cut twice, including last year at 75-74--149. He needs to figure out the course because he should be a prominent member of the United States team for the Presidents Cup in September at Muirfield Village. He's currently ranked 10th in the points standings. ... Bubba spoke out recently about fans calling in to report perceived violations by the pros during golf tournaments, and his opinion of it is not positive. He pointed out that it's happened to him twice, and both times the fans were wrong. Watson wanted to know where people got the phone number to call, saying he does not know it, and wondered if perhaps they might have had too much time on their hands.

  14. Steve Stricker, United States -- Even the Memorial Tournament, which Stricker won in 2011, apparently isn't enough to drag Stricker away from his home in Wisconsin in this season in which he is cutting back his schedule. As of this time, he's planning to play just 11 tournaments. He still has the rest of this week to commit to play Jack Nicklaus' tournament for the 14th time at Muirfield Village, which isn't that far away in Ohio, but there has been no indication that he is even considering it. ... Stricker's plan to play less seemed to pay off at first when he finished in the top five of his first three tournaments this year, including second to Dustin Johnson in the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions and second behind Tiger Woods in the WGC-Cadillac Championship. However, despite having at least one good round in each of his last three events, he has shown the rust of not playing competitively, tying for 38th in the Shell Houston Open, tying for 20th in the Masters and tying for 37th in the Players Championship. After posting four scores in the 60s while chasing Woods to the finish at Doral, he has broken 70 only twice in his last 12 rounds and is averaging 74.0 on Sunday. ... Stricker's numbers belie his recent struggles, as he ranks 14th on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy at 67.66 percent, third in greens in regulation at 71.93 percent and 14th in strokes gained putting at plus-.635, although he is not happy with his average of 29.05 putts per round.

  14. Hunter Mahan, United States -- After skipping the HP Byron Nelson Championship last week even though it wasn't that far from his home in Colleyville, Texas, Mahan will make the 30-minute drive to Fort Worth this week to play in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He will be able to sleep in his own bed as he seeks his second professional title in Texas, having won the Shell Houston Open for one of his two victories last season. However, that was the last of his five PGA Tour victories, and it came more than a year ago. ... Hunter has not fared well in the Dallas-area events on the PGA Tour, with only one top-10 finish in a total of 16 appearances. That was a tie for 10th at Colonial in 2011, when he followed rounds of 67-69-69 with an even-par 70 to finish a distant 10 strokes behind champion David Toms. He hasn't broken into the top 25 in any of his eight other appearances and missed the cut three times in a span of four years through 2010. His best score came in 2009, when he broke 70 in all four rounds to finish at 7 under par, but all that got him was a tie for 27th. ... Mahan slumped in the second half of last season and missed out on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, but after starting this year with a tie for 26th in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, he reeled off seven consecutive finishes in the top 25, including second to Matt Kuchar in his title defense at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Following a skid that lasted four tournaments, he got back on track with a tie for 19th in the Players Championship.

  16. Ernie Els, South Africa -- Even though he has missed the cut in three of his last five tournaments on the PGA Tour, including his last outing in the Players Championship, Els said he left TPC Sawgrass with the feeling that he is getting closer with his game. He added that Pete Dye's Stadium Course reveals any weakness, and because of that, he knows exactly what he needs to work on. Ernie also has some confidence because when he did reach the weekend, he tied for 13th in the Masters and tied for 15th in the Wells Fargo Championship, in addition to finishing second in the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters. ... Els is going to play for the 18th time this week in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, where he still owns a home and was on the design team that reworked the course a few years ago. He has missed the cut only twice in the tournament, in 1992 and 2008, and last year tied for seventh to record his seventh top-10 finish. Els has never won the tournament, but he finished solo second, one stroke behind Jose Maria Olazabal, in 1994; tied for second, two strokes behind Ian Woosnam, in 1997, and tied for second again the following year, one shot behind Colin Montgomerie. Els did win the World Match Play Championship a record seven times at Wentworth. ... According to the schedule at ernieels.com, the Big Easy will return to the PGA Tour next week, playing the Memorial Tournament for the 20th time. He has finished in the top 10 on six occasions at Muirfield Village, winning in 2004.

  17. Graeme McDowell, Northern Ireland -- Once he got past personal nemesis Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium in the quarterfinals, there was no stopping G-Mac, who came from behind to beat Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand, 2 and 1, to win the Volvo World Match Play Championship at Thracian Cliffs Golf Course in Kavarna, Bulgaria. It was the Irishman's second victory of the season, as he also captured the RBC Heritage in a playoff over Webb Simpson last month. ... McDowell will play on the European Tour again this week, teeing it up in the BMW PGA Championship for the 11th consecutive year. He has never finished in the top 10 at Wentworth. He tied for 13th in 2009, when he closed with 68-69. He has missed the cut in the flagship event of the Euro Tour four times, including each of the last two years. According to the schedule page at graememcdowell.com, that will be his final tournament before the U.S. Open in three weeks at Merion. ... McDowell beat Chris Wood of England, Stephen Gallacher of Scotland, Bo Van Pelt (the only American in the field), Colsaerts, Branden Grace of South Africa and Jaidee en route to his title in Bulgaria. Colsaerts had beaten him in the tournament each of the last two years, including in the 2012 final. McDowell, who took over the lead in the European Tour's Race to Dubai, was in danger of going 3 down to Jaidee in the final, but he sank a 12-foot putt to save par on the fifth hole. He was still 1 down at the turn before winning three of the next four holes to take command.

  18. Ian Poulter, England -- Probably the biggest surprise in the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria was that Poulter did not make it out of group play, losing to Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand in the first round, 3 and 2, before crashing out of the tournament the next day when he lost on the 18th hole to Thomas Aiken of South Africa. Poulter has been called the "King of Match Play" in Europe, and not only because of his Ryder Cup prowess. He captured the Volvo tournament in 2011 and the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in 2010. ... Poulter is staying in Europe this week for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, near London. He is playing in the flagship event of the European Tour for the 12th time, but he never fared very well in the tournament until the last two years. After missing the cut seven times in his first nine appearances on the famed West Course, he tied for 18th in 2011 and tied for 10th last year. He will skip the Memorial Tournament next week and return to the PGA Tour for the FedEx St. Jude Classic the week before the U.S. Open at Merion. ... Poulter rallied from two holes down against Aiken last week with birdies on the 15th and 16th hole to get even, but he missed a seven-foot par putt that would have sent the match to a playoff. The Englishman blew a chance to win the 13th when he three-putted to halve the hole, lipping out his four-footer for par. Poulter didn't use it as an excuse, but he was bothered by a stomach problem while losing in the first round to Jaidee.

  19. Jason Dufner, United States -- Dufner was at his best only when he shot 3-under-par 67 in the third round last week in defense of his title at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. He could not break 70 in any of this other three rounds and wound up in a tie for 33rd, continuing his so-so play this season after breaking through for his first two PGA Tour victories last year at the age of 35. Since posting a tie for 20th in the Masters, when it appeared his game was coming around, he has been unable to crack the top 30 in his last four events. ... Duf is staying in the Dallas area this week for the Crowne Plaza Invitational, playing in the tournament for the fifth time. After missing the cut twice and tying for 59th in his first three appearances, he seemed to be headed for his third victory in four events last year at Colonial. After opening with round of 65-64-66, Dufner closed a 4-over-par 74 that included a double bogey and a triple bogey. He finished three strokes behind Zach Johnson in second, but the final margin was reduced when Johnson was assessed a two-stroke penalty for failing to re-mark his ball on the final green after moving it because it was in Dufner's line. This might be Dufner's final event before the U.S. Open. ... Duf opened with 70-70 last week at TPC Las Colinas, holing his second shot from 129 yards for an eagle on the first hole while closing on the front nine on Thursday. He was trying to break 70 in the final round for the first time in eight events this year, but he carded four bogeys in the first eight holes and finished with a 72.

  20. Zach Johnson, United States -- Coming off one of his better performances of the season, a tie for 19th in the Players Championship, Zach will try to find the best in his game when he plays this week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, which he has won two of the last three years. In fact, four of his nine PGA Tour victories have come in Texas, as he also captured the Valero Texas Open in 2008 and 2009. ... In 2010, Johnson posted four scores of 4-under-par 66 or better at Colonial, including 64-64 on the weekend, to win by three strokes over Brian Davis of England. After finishing fourth in his title defense, again posting four scores in the 60s capped by a 65, he started with rounds of 64-67-65 last year before a closing 72 was good enough to beat Jason Dufner by one shot. It seemed that Johnson was going to win by three, but he forgot to re-mark his ball before his final putt from five feet after moving his coin because it was in Dufner's line. He was assessed a two-stroke penalty, but still won for the first time since his victory two years earlier at Colonial. ... Johnson, who has committed to play next week in the Memorial Tournament, also won the John Deere Classic in July, making it the third time in his career that he won twice on the PGA Tour in one season. It could have been a mammoth year, because he barely missed in two other events, finishing second to Carl Pettersson in the RBC Heritage and tying for second behind Matt Kuchar in the Players Championship.

  Others receiving consideration: Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa; Nick Watney, United States; Rickie Fowler, United States; Bill Haas, United States; Charl Schwartzel, South Africa; Sergio Garcia, Spain; Carl Pettersson, Sweden; Bo Van Pelt, United States; Jason Day, Australia; John Merrick, United States; Charles Howell III, United States; Michael Thompson, United States; Martin Laird, Scotland; Angel Cabrera, Argentina; Kevin Streelman, United States; D.A. Points, United States; Billy Horschel, United States; David Lingmerth, Sweden; Sang-Moon Bae, South Korea.

Unfortunately for Jason Dufner, the most excitement he's caused this year came from what has become known as "Dufnering."

• Dufner, who had a breakthrough season last year on the PGA Tour at the age of 35, was making an appearance at youth community center in Dallas in late March when a staffer took a picture of him seemingly zoned out while sitting on the floor during a relaxation period.

  The staffer posted the picture on the Internet, and it went viral.

  "What can I say, I was tired, my back hurt from sitting on the floor, and we were talking about relaxation and focusing," Dufner said. "Just caught me at a perfect time. The funny thing about it is the photo taken represents how I act all the time. It was a sheer moment of Jason Dufner by whoever captured the moment for the 30 seconds I checked out."

  Since then, PGA Tour pros including Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Keegan Bradley, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Brandt Snedeker have posted pictures of themselves "Dufnering," and fans have done so, too.

  You can find them all on Twitter.

  Dufner said the best one he has seen is of "a guy who was on a transport plane in the military and they dropped the bottom part (of the plane) out and they were about 20,000 feet in the air and he was doing it right on the back end of the plane."

  After losing in a playoff to Bradley in the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, Dufner shed his journeyman status and became a star last year, starting when he captured the Zurich Classic of New Orleans by beating Ernie Els in a playoff.

  Then, after getting married, he came back a few weeks later to win the Byron Nelson Championship and seemed to be headed to another victory in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial before shooting 74 in the final round and finishing second behind Zach Johnson. He returns to the Fort Worth, Texas, event this week.

  Dufner capped his year by playing in the Ryder Cup, posting a 3-1 record, including a 4-and-2 victory over Peter Hanson of Sweden, one of only three United States victories in singles as the Europeans retained the trophy at Medinah.

  "I think a couple things happened," said Dufner, who is back at Colonial this week. "I was close to winning a major, the PGA, lost that in the playoff. After that, that gave me a lot of confidence to go out and play well no matter what the events were, if they were majors or global events or just PGA Tour events.

  "From a physical standpoint, I feel like I've really worked hard on my golf game. I've been very consistent with my practice, same focus on what I'm trying to get better at now for about 4 1/2 years. Same with the preparation. I'm diligent about having the same routine for about four years now.

  "And being consistent with that practice and that preparation has given me a lot of confidence that when I show up at events, I feel like I'm going to play good week in and week out no matter where I might be playing that week."

  Although Dufner has played well at times this year, his best golf came when he tied for ninth in both the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on the Middle East Swing of the European Tour in January.

  Dufner doesn't believe it's because he's trying to live up to expectations, his own or those of others, after last season.

  "I'm not sure," said Dufner, whose best finish on the PGA Tour this season is a tie for 12th in the WGC-Cadillac Championship. "I'm kind of going through it right now. Not much experience with it. I don't know. I don't feel like I've added any pressure on myself.

  "I've had some opportunities to play overseas. That put me a little bit behind because that cut my schedule here on the PGA Tour. I played in a lot of bad weather, wind. Got into a position where I wasn't really happy with where my golf swing was.

  "But I think I've turned the page and kind of going in the right direction."

  Dufner tied for 20th in the Masters and seemed headed toward a high finish at the Players Championship before shooting 80 in the final round to slide 49 spots to a tie for 62nd.

  Actually, that's been the story of his season, the Sunday blues. Dufner has been in position to contend or even win more than a few times before finishing badly.

  His final-round scoring average is 72.56, and he hasn't broken 70 on Sunday in eight tries on the PGA Tour this season.

  "I played pretty decent golf," said Dufner, who admits that putting is his least favorite part of the game, and it shows. He is averaging 29.46 putts per round. "I haven't had a realistic chance to win in any of the events I played this year.

  "Just one round kind of slips away shooting 74, 75, that kind of gets you behind the eight ball. But I've had a lot of good play. I feel like my game's coming around. I'm just trying to figure out how to put four good rounds together to score a good score for the week."

  Possibly all he needs is a little less "Dufnering" on Sundays.

  COMING UP

  PGA TOUR: Crowne Plaza Invitation at Colonial at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday through Sunday.

  TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EDT on CBS.

  LAST YEAR: Zach Johnson holed a five-foot putt for par to give him what appeared to be a three-stroke victory over Jason Dufner for his second title at Colonial in three years. However, Johnson forgot to re-mark his ball after moving it because his coin was in Dufner's line, and he was assessed a two-stroke penalty, leaving him with a one-stroke victory after a closing even-par 70. Johnson also won the John Deere Classic in July, giving him two victories in a season for the third time in his PGA Tour career. Dufner, a 35-year-old journeyman who had never won on the circuit before 2012, seemed to be headed for this third victory in four tournaments by opening with scores of 65-64-66 before closing with a 74 that included a double bogey and a triple bogey.

  CHAMPIONS TOUR: 74th Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Thursday through Sunday.

  TV: Thursday and Friday, noon-3 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.

  LAST YEAR: Roger Chapman of England built a nine-stroke lead early in the final round and held on to claim his first victory on the Champions Tour by two shots over John Cook at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Mich. The 53-year-old Chapman, who had only three professional victories previously, added the U.S. Senior Open less than a month later. In the Senior PGA, he built a five-stroke lead after 54 holes with rounds of 68-67-64 before closing with a 1-over-par 72, carding bogeys on three of the last five holes. Kenny Perry posted a tournament-record 62 in the final round, but all it got him was a tie for ninth, five strokes behind Chapman.

  LPGA TOUR: Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic at Ocean Club Golf Course in Paradise Island, Bahamas, Thursday through Sunday.

  TV: Thursday and Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

  LAST YEAR: This is the inaugural tournament and the first time an LPGA Tour event will be played in the Bahamas.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Jennifer Johnson started using what she called a "spaceship" putter this week, and it launched her into a higher orbit in the LPGA.

• Johnson shot her second straight round of 7-under 65 to capture her first tour victory at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic on Sunday.

  Johnson's four-day total of 21-under-par 267 on Magnolia Grove's Crossing Course was a tournament record and gave her a one-stroke victory over Jessica Korda and Pornanong Phatlum.

  Johnson had one top-10 finish in her LPGA career before Sunday -- an eighth-place showing in another Alabama tournament, the 2011 Navistar LPGA Classic in Prattville.

  "I was putting with kind of a traditional blade-style putter," Johnson said, "and I went to a Futura, which looks like a spaceship -- I call it the spaceship -- and it's just flowing better with my stroke, more like a pendulum, and it just feels good.

  "Before this week, I had experimented with more of a forward press, and it just doesn't fit my style of putting. So I worked with my coach on making it kind of more like a pendulum, and this new putter that I put in play really emphasizes that, and so I can stroke it easier and I don't have to work as hard to get it like rolling on line.

  "The putter has kind of been the missing link because I'm hitting the ball so well. And when they go in, it really helps score."

  Johnson birdied four of the final six holes on Sunday to win a shootout in which nine players bettered the tournament record of 17-under-par.

  "It was pretty intense for me," Johnson said. "I was telling my caddie, 'Man, I haven't seen that much tension on a golf course in a while.' And he's telling me, 'What? What's intense?' So he was trying to keep me loose, crack some jokes. ... It was like birdies after birdies, and you had to keep making them to keep up.

  "I'm a little shocked. I didn't even realize I shot 65. The whole back nine was kind of like a -- I don't know. I don't know what was happening."

  Third-round leader Chella Choi had one bogey in the first two rounds. But she turned the back nine into a free-for-all by bogeying back-to-back par-4s on the 11th and 12th holes. That dropped her to 18-under.

  Johnson was the first to get to 19-under down the stretch. She birdied from 12 feet on the par-3 14th hole, which played the toughest on the course on Sunday.

  Choi got it back together to join her at 19-under with a 15-foot birdie putt on 13.

  Phatlum, who carded a 9-under 63, birdied 17, second-round leader Korda birdied 15 and Jiyai Shin birdied 18 to finish at 63 all at about the same time to get to 19-under.

  Choi gave a fist pump on her birdie putt on the 15th, but the ball wiggled out, and she stayed at 19-under.

  Phatlum finished with three straight birdies to walk off the course at 20-under.

  Johnson pulled even with a birdie on the par-5 16th after leaving her eagle putt about a foot short.

  Despite having to take a free drop when she overshot the 16th and the ball rolled against the TV-camera tower, Korda stayed in contention by getting a birdie on the par-5 to join Johnson and Phatlum at 20-under.

  Johnson rolled in a 15-footer for a birdie on 17 to get clear of the clubhouse leader, Phatlum, by going to 21-under.

  "Before I hit my birdie putt on 17," Johnson said, "I saw that Pornanong was tied with me at 20, and I didn't want a playoff. So I was like, 'I'm going to make this thing.'"

  When Korda put her tee shot on the 17th into the greenside bunker, threw her pitch well over the hole and had her par putt wiggle past the right edge for a bogey, Johnson was two strokes clear of anyone on the course and safely on the 18th green.

  She two-putted to finish at 21-under, leaving Choi and Anna Nordqvist in need of birdies on the final two holes to force a playoff. Despite all the birdies dropped during the tournament, neither could do it.

  "It means a lot," said Johnson, who won $180,000. "Since I played my first tournament, I was 9, and when I was about 12 or 13, I wanted to play on the LPGA. So like nine years, this is kind of what I've worked for."

  Korda came back with a birdie on 18 to finish tied with Phatlum for second.

  Shin, 17-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn, Hall of Famer Karrie Webb, Nordqvist and Choi finished tied for fourth at 19-under.

  Jutanungarn was playing on a sponsor exemption. In five LPGA outings this season, her worst finish is still fourth.

  Defending champion Stacy Lewis, who shot herself back into contention with a 9-under 63 on Saturday, had a 5-under round Sunday and finished alone in ninth at 18-under. Last year, she won the tournament with a then-record 17-under 271, the score that tied for 10th this year, shot by Hee Kyung Seo and first-round leader Lexi Thompson.

MOBILE, Ala. - Jennifer Johnson shot her second straight round of 7-under 65 to capture her first tour victory at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic on Sunday.

• Johnson's four-day total of 21-under-par 267 on Magnolia Grove's Crossing Course was a tournament record and gave her a one-stroke victory over Jessica Korda and Pornanong Phatlum.

  Johnson had one top-10 finish in her LPGA career before Sunday - an eighth-place showing in another Alabama tournament, the 2011 Navistar LPGA Classic in Prattville.

  "I'm a little shocked," Johnson said. "The whole back nine, I didn't know what was happening."

  Third-round leader Chella Choi had one bogey in the first two rounds. But she turned the back nine into a free-for-all by bogeying back-to-back par-4s on the 11th and 12th holes. That dropped her to 18-under.

  Johnson was the first to get to 19-under down the stretch. She birdied from 12 feet on the par-3 14th hole, which played the toughest on the course Sunday.

  Choi got it back together to join her at 19-under with a 15-foot birdie putt on 13.

  Phatlum, who carded a 9-under 63, birdied 17, second-round leader Korda birdied 15 and Jiyai Shin birdied 18 to finish at 63 all at about the same time to get to 19-under.

  Choi gave a fist pump on her birdie putt on the 15th, but the ball wiggled out, and she stayed at 19-under.

  Phatlum finished with three straight birdies to walk off the course at 20-under.

  Johnson pulled even with a birdie on the par-5 16th after leaving her eagle putt about a foot short.

  Despite having to take a free drop when she overhit the 16th and the ball rolled against the TV-camera tower, Korda stayed in contention by getting a birdie the par-5 to join Johnson and Phatlum at 20-under.

  Johnson rolled in a 15-footer for a birdie on 17 to get clear of the clubhouse leader, Phatlum, by going to 21-under.

  "The birdie putt on 17, that's when I started thinking a little bit more about winning the tournament," Johnson said. "The putter has kind of been the missing link because I'm hitting the ball so well. And when they go in, it really helps score."

  When Korda put her tee shot on the 17th into the greenside bunker, threw her pitch well over the hole and had her par putt wiggle past the right edge for a bogey, Johnson was two strokes clear of anyone on the course and safely on the 18th green.

  She two-putted to finish at 21-under, leaving Choi and Anna Nordqvist in need of birdies on the final two holes to force a playoff.

  Despite all the birdies dropped during the tournament, neither could do it.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Anna Nordqvist wore a necklace on Saturday that read: Carpe Diem.

• Did she ever.

  Nordqvist fired a tournament record 11-under-par 61 in the third round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic on to launch herself into contention for her first victory since 2010.

  The Swedish golfer will enter the final round one shot behind leader Chella Choi, who is at 17-under 199 for the tournament after her second straight 66 on Saturday.

  Nordqvist is tied for second with Jessica Korda, the second-round leader who shot a 3-under 69.

  Sydnee Michaels' 10-under-par 62 of the second round lasted one day as the tournament record. Before this year, the tournament record had been 8-under, accomplished three times.

  In the third round, Nordqvist made 10 birdies, including holing out from the greenside bunker on No. 12, an eagle on the par-5 13th and a three-putt bogey on the par-3 14th.

  "It's just one of those days where you just feel like you can't miss," she said. "Today was a lot of fun. I started out with a couple birdies, hit a lot of good shots, and I think I missed one green. And then I made that bunker shot, and it was just like I couldn't stop smiling, couldn't stop laughing."

  Nordqvist was 1 over in the first round and shot a 6-under 66 in the second. On Saturday, she hit all 14 fairways, was on all but one green in regulation -- and holed out from the bunker on the one miss -- and used 26 putts to get through the round.

  "It's one of those days where you feel like all your hard work, and your patience is paying off," she said. "You look back in the day, you see yourself with a lot of confidence and know you can do it and believe in yourself."

  Choi put her second shot on the par-5 16th hole into the greenside bunker, but she got out for a birdie to get to 17 under and will take the lead into the final round for the first time in her LPGA career.

  Choi has a different approach this week -- she is scoreboard watching for the first time as she tries to match the top scorers throughout her rounds.

  The Korean golfer explained that before this week, watching as scores were posted made her nervous and would erode her confidence.

  "So like this week, I start watching the leaderboard. … Starting Thursday, every hole watching the leading score. So I think much better, mentally better, than before."

  Hall of Famer Karrie Webb is alone in fourth place at 15 under after a 3-under 69. Jennifer Johnson is another stroke back after turning in a 65, making her one of five players to shoot 7 under or better on Saturday.

  Stacy Lewis won the tournament last year with a record 17-under score. She gave herself a chance to repeat with a 9-under 63 on Saturday to get to 13-under, where she's tied with Michaels.

  The group at 12 under includes first-round leaders Lexi Thompson and Eun-Hee Ji, Nicole Castrale and Ariya Jutanungarn, a 17-year-old playing on a sponsor exemption.

  Korda had a bumpy third round. After shooting 3 under on the front nine, she bogeyed 11, where hitting her ball out of a divot aggravated the wrist injury she suffered in the LPGA LOTTE Championships on April 20.

  This is her first outing since that injury.

  She followed the bogey with a double-bogey on No. 12. But she bounced back with a birdie on the 13th, and she set up an eagle on the 16th with a massive tee shot to get back to 16 under.

  "I think they said I hit it 325 (yards)," she said. "And then I had a 6-iron in and I was 33 feet past the pin. (The putt) just went straight in the hole. I mean it was a left-to-right putt, and it was pretty."

  Lewis had six birdies in each of the first two rounds, but the 2012 Rolex Player of the Year was only 4 under for the tournament because of four bogeys and two double-bogeys.

  In the third round, Lewis didn't have any bogeys. But she did have nine birdies.

  Fifty-four golfers are at 5 under or better. Korda said they're all in contention.

  "What did Anna shoot today -- 11 under?" the 20-year-old from Bradenton, Fla., asked. "Anybody within 12 shots, I think, is still close."

MOBILE, Ala. -- For the second straight day, a golfer shot herself into contention at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic with a tournament-record round. And for the second straight day, a record-breaking performance wasn't enough to take the lead on Magnolia Grove's Crossings Course.

• On Saturday, Anna Nordqvist fired an 11-under-par 61. But Chella Choi is the third-round leader, coming in at 17-under 199.

  Nordqvist is one stroke back, tied for second with second-round leader Jessica Korda.

  Sydnee Michaels' 10-under-par 62 of the second round lasted one day as the tournament record. Before this year, the tournament record had been 8-under, accomplished three times.

  Choi got to 17 under for the tournament with her second straight 66 Saturday. Last year, Stacy Lewis won the tournament at 17 under. This is the first time that Choi has led entering the final round of an LPGA tournament.

  Hall of Famer Karrie Webb is alone in fourth place at 15 under after a 3-under 69. Jennifer Johnson is another stroke back after turning in a 65, making her one of five players to shoot 7 under or better on Saturday.

  Lewis gave herself a chance to repeat as the tournament champ with a 9-under 63 on Saturday to get to 13-under, where she's tied with Michaels.

  The group at 12 under includes first-round leaders Lexi Thompson and Eun-Hee Ji, Nicole Castrale and Ariya Jutanungarn, a 17-year-old playing on a sponsor exemption.

  In the third round, Nordqvist made 10 birdies, including holing out from the greenside bunker on No. 12, an eagle on the par-5 13th and a three-putt bogey on the par-3 14th. She birdied the third through seventh holes.

  "It's just one of those days where you just feel like you can't miss," she said. "Today was a lot of fun. I started out with a couple birdies, hit a lot of good shots, and I think I missed one green. And then I made that bunker shot, and it was just like I couldn't stop smiling, couldn't stop laughing."

  Korda had a bumpy 3-under 69 in the third round. After shooting 3 under on the front nine, she bogeyed 11, where hitting her ball out of a divot aggravated the wrist injury she suffered in the LPGA LOTTE Championships on April 20.

  This is her first outing since that injury.

  She followed the bogey with a double-bogey. But she bounced back with a birdie on the 13th and rolled in a 33-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole to get back to 16 under.

  Lewis had six birdies in each of the first two rounds of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic, but the 2012 Rolex Player of the Year was only 4 under for the tournament, thanks to four bogeys and two double-bogeys.

  In the third round, Lewis didn't have any bogeys. But she did have nine birdies.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Karrie Webb was just trying to keep up during the second round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic on Friday.

• Not necessarily with Sydnee Michaels, who broke the course record by two shots at Magnolia Grove, but with long-hitting playing partner Jessica Korda.

  Webb managed to stay with them. She trails Korda, the 36-hole leader, in the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic by one shot after 36 holes. Korda, a 20-year-old from Bradenton, Fla., shot a 7-under 65 in the afternoon and was at 13-under 131.

  Webb fired a 9-under 63 -- a score that would have broken the course record had not Michaels beat her to it in the morning.

  "When you're playing with Jess and Brittany (Lincicome)," Webb said, "if I hit a really good one, I'm 20 yards behind them. In certain parts of the golf course where they can carry parts that I can't, I'm 40 yards behind them. So I'm the little short one out there trying to keep up with the big girls."

  Michaels carded eight birdies and an eagle to eclipse the course record by two strokes with a 10-under 62. She is at 10 under for the tournament.

  Michaels had missed four straight cuts. Her best previous LPGA round was 7 under.

  "It feels so good to finally have a good round because I've been struggling the last few weeks and going through some swing changes," Michaels said. "And the week off last week, I just said, 'You know what? I'm just going to go back to what feels good.' So I hit a lot of balls and just kind of got back to where I was feeling good over the ball again. So it feels good to finally have a good round."

  Korda got a shock on the first hole.

  "We give Webby a hard time," Korda said. "She did outdrive me on the first hole today, and she's like, 'What's going on?' And I'm like, 'Did you work out last night?'"

  Korda's seven-birdie round came without a missed fairway. She played the four par-5 holes in 3 under. All of her birdies have come on par-4 and par-5 holes the first two days.

  Korda was playing in her first tournament since injuring her wrist in the LPGA Lotte Championship on April 20.

  "Honestly, right now it's Friday," Korda said, "so I think the tournament starts on the back nine on Sunday. So right now, it's great to have the lead, and I feel good. I'm healthy, somewhat, so I'm happy just to be here and playing right now."

  Webb stood at 1 over with six holes to go on Thursday. She was 4 under on the final six holes in the first round and 4 under on the final five holes on Friday.

  "I'm not sure the last time I had a bogey-free round," Webb said, "so I'm really happy about that. That's sort of been my problem. I have bogeys at the wrong time, and it really kills my momentum.

  "That's what happened yesterday. I turned at 2 under and then doubled (No.) 1 and bogeyed 2, and all of a sudden I'm at 1 over. I just was really happy to fight back yesterday to finish at 3 under, and I think that really carried over into today."

  Six players are at 10 under or better after two rounds..

  Chella Choi stands at 11 under. Two golfers from Thailand -- Pornanong Phatlum and Thidapa Suwannapura -- were tied with Michaels at 10 under.

  "My shot is really good and my distance is better than last year," said Choi, a Korean who likes playing in Mobile because she can drive from her home in Jacksonville, Fla. "I tried very hard on my putting because it's 80 percent putting, 20 percent shots. My shots are the same, but my putting is much better than before.

  "I don't make a lot of putts (in the previous) couple of tournaments. But today and yesterday, really good -- my putting. My confidence is better."

  First-round co-leader Lexi Thompson is at 9 under after a second-round 70 that included an eagle on the par-5 16th. Also at 9 under are Azahara Munoz, Ariya Jutanugarn and Mina Harigae.

  Munoz holed out from the 18th fairway for an eagle on her way to an 8-under 64.

  Jutanugarn, a 17-year-old playing on a sponsor exemption, has not finished worse than fourth in her four LPGA outings and had a 6-under 66.

Ken Venturi won only one major championship during his professional career -- the 1964 U.S. Open at Congressional in Bethesda, Md. He endured scorching temperatures and high humidity to come from two strokes back on the final day -- which included 36 holes -- to win the title.

• The former PGA Tour golfer won 14 PGA Tour events and retired in 1967. For the next 35 years, he wasn't far away from the greens as he enjoyed a long career as a broadcaster with CBS Sports. Venturi died Friday afternoon at the age of 82.

  Venturi was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame last week, but poor health prevented him from attending the ceremony in St. Augustine, Fla. He was inducted under the Lifetime Achievement category.

  Jim Nantz, who worked alongside Venturi for years, paid tribute to his partner at the ceremony.

  "You did it your way, Kenny. There will never be another one like you. Thank you for the ride. You have left a stamp not just on my career, Kenny, but on my soul."

  For his efforts at the 1964 U.S. Open, "Sports Illustrated" named Venturi its Sportsman of the Year.

  Venturi turned 82 on Wednesday.

  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Venturi had survived a bout with prostate cancer in 2000-01 and had quintuple heart bypass surgery in 2006.

  During his career on the course and in the broadcast booth, Venturi overcame more than his share of hurdles. He had a severe stutter, and suffered two heartbreaking losses in the Masters. A 1961 car accident left him with lingering injuries and he disappeared into a long, maddening, career-threatening slump, the Chronicle reported.

  But when his final putt dropped at the 1964 U.S. Open, Venturi was stunned.

  He raised his arms, mumbled, "Oh my God, I've won the Open!" and began crying when he saw tears streaming down the face of fellow competitor Raymond Floyd.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Sydnee Michaels broke the course record by two shots during the second round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic on Friday. But it's Jessica Korda who holds the lead at Magnolia Grove heading into the third round.

• Michaels shot even par in the first round, but put eight birdies and an eagle on her scorecard Friday for a 10-under-par 62.

  Korda shot a 7-under 65 to move to 13 under for the tournament. The 20-year-old from Bradenton, Fla., is one stroke ahead of Karrie Webb. Webb shot a 9-under-par 63 on Friday - a score that would have broken the course record, except Michaels beat her to it in the morning.

  Six players are at 10-under or better after two rounds. Stacy Lewis won last year's tournament at 17-under.

  Chella Choi stands at 11-under, with a pair of golfers from Thailand -- Pornanong Phatlum and Thidapa Suwannapura -- at 10-under.

  First-round co-leader Lexi Thompson is at 9-under after a second-round 70. An eagle on the par-5 16th got her under par on Friday.

  Thompson shared Thursday's lead with Eun-Hee Ji. Ji finished where she started at 7-under.

  Also at 9-under are Azahara Munoz, Ariya Jutanugarn and Mina Harigae.

  Munoz holed out from the 18th fairway for an eagle on her way to an 8-under 64.

  Jutanugarn is a 17-year-old playing on a sponsor exemption. She has not finished worse than fourth in her four LPGA outings and had a 6-under 66 in the second round.

  Korda's seven-birdie second round came without a missed fairway in her second straight bogey-free round. The long-hitter played the four par-5 holes in 3-under on Friday. All her birdies have come on par-4 and par-5 holes.

  Korda is in tournament competition for the first time since hurting her wrist while playing in the LPGA LOTTE Championship on April 20.

  "Honestly, right now it's Friday," Korda said, "so I think the tournament starts on the back nine on Sunday. So right now, it's great to have the lead, and I feel good. I'm healthy, somewhat, so I'm happy just to be here and playing right now."

  Webb had 25 putts in the second round. The Australian stood at 1-over with six holes to go in her first round on Thursday. She was 4-under over the final six holes on Thursday and 4-under over the final five holes on Friday.

  Michaels had missed four straight cuts. Her best previous LPGA round was 7-under.

  "It feels so good to finally have a good round because I've been struggling the last few weeks and going through some swing changes," Michaels said. "And the week off last week, I just said, 'You know what? I'm just going to go back to what feels good.' So I hit a lot of balls and just kind of got back to where I was feeling good over the ball again. So it feels good to finally have a good round."

  Lewis, the defending champion, was tied for 33rd after duplicating her 70 of the first round.

  Only golfers at even or better made the cut, which included 80 players.

MOBILE, Ala. - Magnolia Grove's Crossings Course gave up two rounds of 65 on Thursday - one in the morning to Lexi Thompson and one in the afternoon to Eun-Hee Ji.

• They share the first-round lead in the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic at 7-under-par, but 17 players shot 4-under or better.

  Thompson's 65 follows the 65 that the 18-year-old Floridian shot in the final round of last year's tournament, when her rally came up one stroke short to Stacy Lewis' winning tournament total of 17-under-par.

  "I definitely had it in mind," Thompson said of last year's closing round. "But, you know, it's a whole different year and a new day. I was just going to try to go out and make some birdies. I knew my game was good, so I was just going to try to keep that going.

  "It's very important to get off to a good start. I haven't had the best of first days, so to get this one under my belt at 7-under is really important. So I'm just going to try to do what I did today for the next three days and, hopefully, see where it goes."

  Ji, a South Korean who turned 27 on Monday, is seeking her first LPGA victory since the 2009 U.S. Women's Open. Her opening round in Mobile is her best score of the season by three shots. Her best finish this season has been tied for 37th.

  "I felt really good with my putting today," Ji said. "If I had 5- or 10-foot putts, I felt like I could make it. So I was really focused on it and I was really positive with my putter.

  "I just like a really fast green. This is really fast and in really good shape on the course. I just like it."

  A cool spring on the Gulf Coast left Magnolia Grove's rough short, and without much wind on Thursday, the course was left in a giving mood.

  Jessica Korda finished at 6-under 66 with a bogey-free round in her first action since hurting her right wrist during the LPGA LOTTE Championship on April 20.

  Jennifer Johnson holed out her fairway shot on the par-4 ninth for a round-ending eagle. The 67 is her lowest round of the season.

  Joining Johnson at 5-under are Nicole Castrale, Mina Harigae, Dewi Claire Schreefel, Thidapa Suwannapura, Hee Young Park and Chella Choi.

  Schreefel and Suwannapura played in the group with Ji as that threesome shot 17-under as a group.

  Nine players came in at 4-under 68 -- Sandra Gal, Beatriz Recari, Marcy Hart, Lauren Doughtie, Amelia Lewis, Vicky Hurst, Hee Kyung Seo, Dori Carter and Nicole Jeray.

  Defending tournament champion Stacy Lewis, who is ranked No. 2 in the world, opened with a 2-under 70 that included two bogeys and a double bogey on her final hole.

  "I didn't really have anything go right today," Lewis said. "I had one ball hit the sprinkler and go in the trees and one hit the cart path and go into the trees.

  "Just kind of got some bad breaks with lies and really just didn't have any bounces go my way. So I guess to shoot what I did was pretty good."

  On Thompson's final hole - the ninth, since she started the round on the 10th - she stuck her second shot on the par-4 about eight inches from the pin. She tapped in for a birdie that broke a tie for the early lead with Korda.

  "That was a good shot to end on," Thompson said.

  On Ji's final hole -- the 18th -- her birdie attempt stopped practically on the lip of the cup, keeping her from taking the outright lead into Friday's second round.

  Ji had to think for a moment to recall the last time she held the lead.

  "I can't remember," she said. "I think I was playing good in Rochester last year, but I finished second. But I was leading the third round, yeah."

  Both Thompson and Ji played the four par-5 holes in 3-under. Thompson averaged 295.5 yards per drive while Ji was at 262. But both hit 17 of the 18 greens in regulation. Ji needed 28 putts in the round. Thompson had 29.

  "I love the par-5s here," Thompson said. "I get to hit pretty much driver on every hole out here. So it's an advantage for me."

MOBILE, Ala. -- Lexi Thompson picked up where she left off in the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic.

• The 18-year-old Floridian shot a 7-under-par 65 in the tournament's first round on Thursday to match her final round in the 2012 event at Magnolia Grove and was tied for the lead with Eun-Hee Ji of South Korea.

  Last year's closing 65 left Thompson one stroke short of Stacy Lewis' winning tournament total of 17 under par.

  "I definitely had it in mind," Thompson said of 2012. "But, you know, it's a whole different year and a new day. I was just going to try to go out and make some birdies. I knew my game was good, so I was just going to try to keep that going.

  "It's very important to get off to a good start. I haven't had the best of first days, so to get this one under my belt at 7 under is really important. So I'm just going to try to do what I did today for the next three days and, hopefully, see where it goes."

  Thompson teed off in the morning and posted a round that included eight birdies and one bogey. Ji, a former U.S. Women's Open champion, had a bogey-free round with seven birdies in the afternoon.

  Jessica Korda was alone at 6-under 66 after a bogey-free round that included four birdies on par-4 and two on par-5 holes.

  In a group of seven players at 5-under 67 was Jennifer Johnson, who holed out her fairway shot on the par-4 ninth for a round-ending eagle. Johnson played her last seven holes in 5 under.

  Also at 5 under were Nicole Castrale, Mina Harigae, Dewi Claire Schreefel, Thidapa Suwannapura, Hee Young Park and Chella Choi.

  Lewis opened with a 2-under 70 that included two bogeys and a double bogey on her final hole, when she had to re-hit her tee shot.

  "I didn't really have anything go right today," the world's second-ranked player said. "I had one ball hit the sprinkler and go in the trees and one hit the cart path and go into the trees.

  "Just kind of got some bad breaks with lies and really just didn't have any bounces go my way. So I guess to shoot what I did was pretty good."

In 2011, Keegan Bradley ended an American drought of six majors without a victory by winning the PGA Championship.

• Last year, Bubba Watson captured the Masters and Webb Simpson claimed the U.S. Open title, and for each of the three, it was the first majors championship of his career.

  It might be Matt Kuchar's turn, perhaps as soon as next month in the U.S. Open at Merion.

  "I think the more comfortable you get winning tournaments -- I've now got five wins, and I'd like to continue that going," said the 34-year-old Kuchar, who is playing this week in the HP Byron Nelson Championship after a disappointing tie for 48th in his title defense at the Players Championship. "Majors are certainly on my radar. I think all of us try to peak for major championships. Everybody wants to get their game in the best shape possible for majors. ...

  "I would like to kind of be 'on' with regularity and play well week in and week out, and I felt like that was the best preparation and just continue playing well and let that carry into major championships and just keep the good play going."

  The upward turn of Kuchar's career since 2009 reads like a roadmap heading toward a major championship.

  Kuchar ended a seven-year, non-winning streak by capturing the 2009 Turning Stone Resort Championship during the Fall Series, and things took off from there.

  The following year, he captured the Barclays to open the PGA Tour playoffs for the FedEx Cup. He added a victory last year in the Players Championship and earlier this season in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where he beat defending champion Hunter Mahan in the final.

  Not only has he shown he can win the big tournaments, but he also leads the PGA Tour with 33 top-10 finishes in the past three-plus seasons.

  "I've always thought you were supposed to take the appropriate steps to get to the next level," said Kuchar, whose brilliant amateur career included a victory in the 1997 United States Amateur. "I've always thought that like in school, you kind of graduate elementary school, get to middle school, you graduate middle school and get to high school and then college, and those are the steps you take. You don't jump straight into college, and you don't jump straight into advanced-placement courses. You kind of take these little steps to get there.

  "I thought the same was applicable with golf. I felt like you kind of start playing well, you start top-10ing, you start having a lot of chances, and then you win a tournament. Then you start doing the same in bigger tournaments. You start having better and better results, and you take those steps and feel more and more comfortable in the big tournaments, majors included, and I feel like I've made the right progressions.

  "I've been pleased at kind of the trajectory of my career the last couple years."

  That Kuchar, who has been in or near the top 10 in the World Golf Rankings the last few years, has become a major player is no surprise to anyone who saw him play during a brilliant amateur career.

  After claiming the U.S. Amateur title at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club outside of Chicago, he earned the 1998 Haskins Award as college player of the year as a sophomore at Georgia Tech and finished as low amateur in the Masters and the U.S. Open that year.

  Kuchar earned six titles for the Yellow Jackets before his graduation in 2000 in business management, before he briefly took a job in finance to have something to fall back on, just in case.

  All it did was help him know what to do with his money once he turned pro.

  In 2001, he earned his PGA Tour card without going to qualifying school by making $572,669 in six tournaments, including a tie for second in the Texas Open at La Cantera and a tie for third in the Air Canada Championship.

  Kuchar broke through for his first victory on the circuit in the 2002 Honda Classic, and then ... almost nothing, for nearly seven years.

  "Golf is a difficult and humbling game," the 6-foot-4 Kuchar said of how it brought even a big man like him to his knees. "I think it's gotten the best of everybody at times. So it was at times very frustrating. I think it's one of those things, even when you're playing great, the game of golf can still bring you right back down and humble you pretty quickly. ...

  "Yeah, there were times I felt like I was going to have a hard time fighting my way back, and fortunately with my work with (instructor) Chris O'Connell, it's really been this upward climb where I feel like there's still a lot of improvements we can make. I feel like we've made a great deal of improvements, and I feel like there's still a lot of room to get better."

  Kuchar turned to O'Connell in 2006, when he also went back to what was then the Nationwide Tour (now the Web.com Tour) and relearned what it was like to compete and win. He captured the Henrio County Open and finished second in the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open and the Nationwide Tour Championship.

  It restored the upward momentum of his career, and he has reached new heights by finishing in the top 10 in majors five times in the past four seasons, including ties for third and eighth the past two years in the Masters.

  "I'm certainly looking forward to contending more in majors and hopefully getting my chance to win a couple," Kuchar said.

  Once he breaks through, it might be as simple as one-two-three.

PGA TOUR: HP Byron Nelson Championship at TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas in Irving, Texas, Thursday through Sunday.

• TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. EDT and 3-6 p.m. EDT on CBS.

  LAST YEAR: Jason Dufner holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole to claim his second PGA Tour victory by one stroke over 20-year veteran Dicky Pride, whose only victory on the circuit came in the 1994 St. Jude Classic. Dufner, then 35, posted four scores in the 60s to win for the second time in four weeks, having claimed his first victory in a playoff over Ernie Els at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Pride, then 42, also posted four scores in the 60s, matching Dufner's closing 3-under-par 67 by sinking a 13-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and a 22-footer for par on the final hole after hitting his tee shot into the water. J.J. Henry took the lead with a hole-in-one from 154 yards with a pitching wedge on the third hole and was one stroke ahead of playing partner Dufner on the 17th tee. However, Henry hit his tee shot over the green and eventually missed a four-foot putt to card a double-bogey 5 to close with a 68, leaving him in a tie for third.

  CHAMPIONS TOUR: 74th Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, May 23-26.

  TV: Thursday and Friday, noon-3 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.

  LAST YEAR: Roger Chapman of England built a nine-stroke lead early in the final round and held on to claim his first victory on the Champions Tour by two shots over John Cook at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Mich. The 53-year-old Chapman, who had only three professional victories previously, added the U.S. Senior Open less than a month later. In the Senior PGA, he built a five-stroke lead after 54 holes with rounds of 68-67-64 before closing with a 1-over-par 72, carding bogeys on three of the last five holes. Kenny Perry posted a tournament-record 62 in the final round, but all it got him was a tie for ninth, five strokes behind Chapman.

  LPGA TOUR: Mobile Bay LPGA Classic at the Crossings Course at Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Ala., May 16-19.

  TV: Thursday and Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 5-7 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

  LAST YEAR: Stacy Lewis held a five-stroke lead early on the final day, only to be caught by teenager Lexi Thompson. However, Lewis regained the lead with a birdie on the 16th green and claimed her third victory of the LPGA Tour with a two-putt par on the final hole to close out a 3-under-par 69. Thompson, who was 17 at the time, pushed Lewis all the way to the finish, closing with rounds of 66-65. Lewis, the only player in the field to record four scores in the 60s, hit her second shot at No. 15 into the water left of the green and carded her first bogey in 24 holes. That dropped her into a tie with Thompson, but Lewis, who has won five times since, bounced back with the birdie on the next hole after a brilliant chip shot, and she closed with two pars.

A day after two marshals disputed Tiger Woods' version of events from a controversy with Sergio Garcia at the Players Championship, two others came to the defense of the world's No. 1-ranked golfer.

• The issue stems from the second hole Saturday, with Garcia claiming Woods created a distraction by removing a club from his bag during Garcia's second shot, resulting in a poor shot that ultimately led to a bogey. Woods asserted he had been given the go-ahead that Garcia had already played his shot, but two marshals told Sports Illustrated on Monday that nothing had been said to Woods.

  On Tuesday, two other marshals said there had indeed been communication.

  "It is not true and definitely unfair to Tiger," marshal Brian Nedrich told the Florida Times-Union. "That's because I was the one Tiger heard say that Sergio had hit."

  According to Nedrich, he could barely see Garcia but saw a glimpse of him swinging followed by the ball in the air. Fellow marshal Lance Paczkowski couldn't see Garcia and told fans he had yet to hit. Nedrich said Woods had already taken his club out of his bag, but that the marshals did indeed tell him Garcia had played his shot.

  It's yet another version of the sequence of events, with Woods saying he was told Garcia had played his shot and then removed his club.

  "There was a lot going on, as usual, when Tiger plays," Nedrich told the paper. "Then, he's trying to have the concentration he needs to win a tournament. It's easy to get small details out of whack when things happen so fast. It was an unfortunate incident, and I don't think either player is to blame."

  "Tiger Woods did not lie," Paczkowski told the Times-Union. "Was there a small mistake in what he remembered? Yes. But I don't think it rises to the level of lying."

  The drama began when Woods pulled a 5-wood from his bag, iliciting applause from the crowd - and Garcia said the commotion resulted in his poor shot. SI.com reported that Garcia turned and glared in Woods' direction, and he later told NBC, "It's very simple. You have to pay attention to what's going on because the other guy is hitting. You do something when you're in the crowd, and the crowd is going to respond."

  On Monday, John North, the chief marshal for the first three holes, told SI.com: "Nothing was said to us, and we certainly said nothing to him. I was disappointed to hear him make those remarks. We're there to help the players and enhance the experience of the fans. He was saying what was good for him. It lacked character."

  Countered Nedrich: "It's disingenuous to suggest that Tiger is a liar because he got a minor detail wrong."

  "The comments from the marshals in today's (Times-Union) story definitively show that Tiger was telling the truth about being told Sergio had hit," said Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent, in a statement. "I hope this demonstrates to some reporters the importance of accuracy and not jumping to misplace conclusions."