NEW YORK – Dustin Johnson says in a magazine interview that cocaine is not the reason he chose to sit out the last six months to get his life in order.

“I did not have a problem,” Johnson told Sports Illustrated when asked about cocaine. “It’s just something I’m not going to get into. I have issues. But that’s not the issue.”

Johnson said in August that he was taking a leave of absence from the PGA Tour to seek professional help for what he called “personal challenges.” Golf.com reported that he had failed a drug test for the third and time and had been suspended. The PGA Tour denied he had been suspended.

The interview was the first for Johnson since he took his leave of absence. He missed the final major, the FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup. He is not expected to return until his fiancé, Paulina Gretzky, has their first child. She is due within the next month.

Johnson is an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour.

He said he didn’t go to rehab during his break from golf, instead hiring a team of experts, such as a life coach, to help him understand how to get the most out of his talent. Johnson is regarded as one of the best American players and the most athletic.

He said he learned he didn’t handle stress the right way.

“My way of getting rid of it was drinking or partying,” he told the magazine. “Yeah, that might work for that day or the next week, but eventually everything keeps piling up.”

Johnson said he has gone months without vodka, which had been his vice. He put down $1,000 in a bet with his prospective father-in-law, hockey great Wayne Gretzky, and other members of Sherwood Country Club to see who could go through January without drinking.

“I don’t miss waking up with a hangover, and I didn’t drink very often,” he said. “It was just when I did it was a little too much.”

Johnson is said to have a course-record 61 at Sherwood in Thousand Oaks, California – twice in three days – and Gretzky said he senses that the 30-year-old from South Carolina is eager to return to golf and realize his potential. Johnson said he is trying to simplify his life, especially with a baby on the way.

“Over these past four or five months I’ve really grown up, and I am starting to become the person I want my kids to look up to,” he said.

OTTAWA – PGA Tour Canada and Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services announced Wednesday a new name for the Ottawa-based PGA Tour Canada event, the National Capital Open to Support Our Troops. The Tournament is set to take place August 17-23 at Hylands Golf Club in Ottawa.

After being played as the Forces & Families Open in 2014, the National Capital Open to Support Our Troops will aim to engage the entire National Capital Region not only during Tournament week but year-round. Like all PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour events, the National Capital Open to Support our Troops will focus on having a significant community impact with an emphasis on charity.

“The Ottawa area has such a strong golf community, and we want to do everything we can to make sure the National Capital Open to Support Our Troops becomes an integral part of that community,” said PGA Tour Canada President Jeff Monday. “With the support of Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services, we’re confident this event will continue to grow and make a strong impact in the community.”

The Tournament will once again bring world-class golf to the Nation’s Capital as PGA Tour Canada players look to make the next step on the path to the PGA Tour. With the top five players on the season-ending Order of Merit earning status on the Web.com Tour, PGA Tour Canada players can make progress towards playing on the PGA Tour, just as Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. did in going from PGA Tour Canada in 2013 to the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour in 2014.

Former PGA Tour member and Ottawa native Brad Fritsch will return as the event’s Ambassador of Golf after lending his support to the event in its inaugural year. Fritsch is coming off an impressive seven-stroke victory at the Web.com Tour’s Qualifying School, where he earned exempt status for the 2015 season and will be looking to continue his solid play that included two top-10 finishes in his last three starts of the 2013-14 PGA Tour campaign.

Doug Langton, Associate Director General, Canadian Forces Morale & Welfare Services, will serve as the Tournament Director, replacing John Randolph, who helped launch the event in 2014. Randolph will continue to support the troops, concentrating his efforts with Forces & Families in the Greater Toronto Area.

“On behalf of PGA Tour Canada and everyone who was involved with the event last year, I would like to thank John Randolph and Forces & Families for their efforts in launching this event in 2014,” said Monday. “Doug and his team have been involved in a support role with the Tournament since day one and we are extremely confident in their abilities to expand the event’s profile and impact.”

The event will continue to support the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces, part of a greater relationship between PGA Tour Canada the Canadian Armed Forces that sees active members of the military and their families enjoy complimentary access to PGA Tour Canada events, as well as clinics from PGA Tour Canada players.

“Our top priority is to engage the Ottawa community and grow the National Capital Open to Support Our Troops into one of the top events in the region moving forward,” said Langton. “A PGA Tour Canada event is a tremendous vehicle to raise support and awareness for the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces and to drive economic activity in the area, and we look forward to seeing this event grow in 2015 and beyond.”

In last year’s inaugural National Capital Open to Support Our Troops, 30-year old Greg Machtaler became the first Canadian to win on PGA Tour Canada in 2014, draining a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole to capture his first PGA Tour Canada win by a single shot.

The European Tour has served up final-day turnarounds at the South African Open and the Abu Dhabi Championship to make for a compelling start to the 2015 season.

History suggests the tight finishes and drama will continue at the Qatar Masters starting Wednesday.

Spanish star Sergio Garcia has been at the center of dramatic finales in Doha over the past two years, losing out to Chris Wood’s 72nd-hole eagle in 2013 but returning in 2014 to win a playoff with Mikko Ilonen after shooting a closing 65.

Garcia is back for the second leg of the desert swing for his 2015 debut, meaning he is behind the likes of Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson – fellow members of the world’s top six who both got competitive action in Abu Dhabi last week and will also play in Qatar.

While Stenson missed the cut in Abu Dhabi, Rose recovered from a scrappy first 18 holes to post rounds of 69, 69 and 65 for a 12th-place finish and show he is finding his form after extended time off over Christmas.

“I’m here these two weeks to obviously compete as best I can but also to get a read of where my game is,” Rose told The Associated Press. “I felt I made rapid improvements as the week went on. I’ll be more competitive (in Qatar), for sure. I’m going there with a bit of confidence now.”

Rose plays on the PGA Tour but has chosen to play his opening events of the year on the European Tour to get some points stored up in the Race to Dubai.

The No. 5-ranked Englishman is looking for his first win since back-to-back victories last summer, at the Quicken Loans National and the Scottish Open.

Top-ranked Rory McIlroy is taking a week off ahead of the Dubai Desert Classic, as is U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer, who blew a 10-shot lead during the final round in Abu Dhabi to lose to France’s Gary Stal. It’s been an early-year theme on the European Tour, with Andy Sullivan coming from seven shots back in the final round to win in South Africa the week before.

Stal arrives in Doha ranked a career-high No. 103 and still wondering how he managed to claw back the big deficit to Kaymer to claim his first title on the European Tour.

French golf is on the rise, with Victor Dubuisson a member of Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning team last year and Alexander Levy winning twice in 2014.

“It’s just one (player) pulling the other, basically,” Stal said of the French resurgence. “Hopefully, it will be more after me – or more for me.”

Stal is one of 14 Frenchmen in the field for the $2.5 million event.

After a very successful 2014 season earning his first PGA Tour win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and placing in the top 10 six times, Matt Every’s second tournament of the year ended abruptly in the second round at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

During the first round, he bent his 4-iron playing a shot from behind a tree and forgot to take it back out of his bag before the second round.

When he began his second round with the non-conforming club, he was subject to penalty for carrying the club.  Under Rule 4-1 the player’s club must conform with this Rule and the provisions, specifications and interpretations set forth in Appendix II (Design of Clubs).

*PENALTY FOR CARRYING, BUT NOT MAKING STROKE
WITH, CLUB OR CLUBS IN BREACH OF RULE 4-1 or 4-2:

Stroke play – Two strokes for each hole at which any breach occurred;
maximum penalty per round – Four strokes (two strokes at each of the first
two holes at which any breach occurred).

Every subsequently used the club on the 18^th (his ninth hole of the day) and called over a PGA Tour rules official as he realized he might have breached the rules.

“He asked for a second opinion on the bend,” PGA TOUR rules official John Mutch said. “The bend in this club was about 10 inches up from the neck. It was substantial.”

The penalty for using a non-conforming club during the stipulated round is disqualification which is outlined in the penalty statement in Rule 4-1 and 4-2 below:

PENALTY FOR MAKING STROKE WITH CLUB IN BREACH
OF RULE 4-1 or 4-2: Disqualification

Due to an equipment infraction, Matt Every was disqualified from the @SonyOpen during Friday’s second round. @PGATOUR

— PGA TOUR Media (@PGATOURmedia) January 17, 2015

Frustrated with what transpired, this is where Every’s club ended up.

(Getty Images; D.J. Piehowski/PGA TOUR)

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CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – Tiger Woods has another reason not to like cameras – it cost him a tooth.

Woods made a surprise visit to Italy on Monday to watch girlfriend Lindsey Vonn capture her record 63rd World Cup title. The photo that generated all the buzz was Woods missing his front tooth.

The culprit, according to his agent, was a camera.

“During a crush of photographers as the awards podium at the World Cup event in Italy, a media member with a shoulder-mounted video camera pushed and surged toward the stage, turned and hit Tiger Woods in the mouth,” Mark Steinberg of Excel Sports said in an email. “Woods’ tooth was knocked out by the incident.”

Woods had been wearing a scarf with a skeleton pattern over the lower part of his face, sunglasses and a stocking cap. The photo was taken when the scarf was lowered.

Steinberg was traveling and did not say when Woods would have the tooth replaced. Golf’s biggest – and most photographed – star returns to competition next week in the Phoenix Open, and his smile is sure to produce a stream of shutters from the cameras.

Woods has a long history with cameras, often frustrated when shutters go off in the middle of his swing. One notable episode came during the Skins Game in 2002 when a corporate photographer clicked his camera as Woods was hitting a shot from the bunker on the final hole. His former caddie, Steve Williams, took the camera and set it on a steep bank of a pond so that it tumbled into the water.

Another time, Woods was on the verge of his first bogey-free tournament at a World Golf Championship in Ireland when a camera clicked at the top of his tee shot. He made bogey, but still won.

With an impressive list of accomplishments as an amateur under his belt, Taylor Pendrith is now setting his sights on similar success as a professional golfer.

The 23-year-old Kent State University graduate has come a long way from his high school days, when as an all around athlete, he had thoughts of pursuing a career in another sport.

“Starting out in high school, I was better in baseball than hockey or golf; and thought about even playing college ball,” admitted Pendrith, who attended Bayview Secondary in Richmond Hill, Ont.

“But in grade 11, I started playing in more golf tournaments and did well in those; and that’s when I started to focus more time on golf,” Pendrith explained. “Also, I like the part where golf is an individual sport and your results depend on you.”

According to his former schoolmate from Bayview Secondary, Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Pendrith made the right decision to pursue golf.

“He was someone who played every sport well and I didn’t know how seriously he would take golf; but it’s awesome to see how far he’s come and I think he’s got a bright future ahead as a golfer,” said Lee-Bentham, who is entering her fourth year on the LPGA Tour.

Despite his best efforts in high school, Pendrith was not highly recruited by U.S. universities and even took one year off after his graduation to refine his game.

Eventually, he was offered a scholarship to Kent State University where he would go on to make the most of the opportunity. Combined with support from Golf Canada’s national team program, the Kent State golfer would go on put up an impressive list of accomplishments.

Among his many achievements, Pendrith captured the Monroe Invitational Championship and the Porter Cup.

Winning the Porter Cup put his name among elite company, as notable champions who have hoisted the prestigious trophy include former world No. 1 David Duval, current PGA superstar, Phil Mickelson, and many others.

“I looked at the past winners prior to the event and noticed that some have become very accomplished professional golfers,” said Pendrith.

Another eye opening experience came last July at the RBC Canadian Open, when as an amateur Pendrith shot a five-under 65 in his opening round to sit tied for third.

“It was nice seeing my name on the leaderboard. I was going out there preparing for it like any other tournament. I wasn’t even thinking about making the cut. I was just trying to play as well as I possibly could,” recalled the 6 foot 1 inch golfer.

Pendrith would go on to shoot under par three out of the four rounds and finish at 3-under par to earn the tournament’s Gary Cowan award as low amateur.

Gary Cowan and Taylor Pendrith (Golf Canada/ Bernard Brault)

Canadian national team head coach, Derek Ingram, had nothing but praise for Pendrith after his stellar performance.

“Taylor was fantastic out there. It was a great experience for him and great confidence builder to play on the big stage against the best players and have success,” said Ingram about Pendrith. “It’s definitely going to be a big advantage for him moving forward to have had this experience.”

Someone else who was impressed by Pendrith’s performance at the RBC Canadian Open was Kent State University alumni, Ben Curtis.

According to the 2003 U.S. Open Champion, Pendrith has the potential and the talent to compete on the PGA Tour.

“He’s a great example of a player who can attack every golf course just because of his length; and he’s got a good enough short game where he’s going to have a lot of chances of making birdies on any course,” said Curtis about Pendrith in an exclusive interview after his final round of the RBC Canadian Open.

“He’s obviously had a great career at Kent State.  He kept getting better and better each and every year and I think in a few years if not sooner we are going to see him out here on the PGA Tour,” Curtis added.

For his part, Pendrith was honoured to hear the words of encouragement from one of his role models.

“He was in the same boat that I’m in as he played four years at Kent. It’s great to hear those things about me from Ben. Obviously, I look up to him as he’s a Kent State guy and he’s gone on to do such great things on the PGA Tour, it’s truly inspiring to me,” said Pendrith.

“Eventually in a few years, hopefully, I will be playing full time on the PGA Tour against the best and having fun out there,” he added.

While his long term goal is to join Curtis on the PGA Tour, the talented young Canadian is aware of what his short term goals must be to get there.

“I plan on playing mini tour stuff at the beginning of the year and then go to PGA Tour Canada Q-School in April; hopefully by the end of the year I’ll be in a good position to get a Web.com card or get an exemption into the final stage,” said Pendrith who will be sponsored by Callaway and Hollas Golf Apparel.

Curtis was also eager to support the young Canadian with some words of wisdom as he prepares for the exciting journey ahead.

“Be patient because there’s going to be a lot of bumps along the road. It’s a lot more difficult to get on the PGA Tour then when I got out of college,” said the four time PGA Tour winner when asked what his advice would be for Pendrith.

“But I think in the future, he’s going to be just fine; he’s just got to stick to his game and don’t change who he is as a player and continue to attack.”

HONOLULU – At least Jimmy Walker is leaving Hawaii with one trophy.

Six days after losing a tournament on Maui he felt he should have won, Walker turned in a command performance Sunday on Oahu. He blew away the field with a 7-under 63 to win the Sony Open for the second straight year.

His fourth career victory was the most impressive of all. On a course that lends itself to a free-for-all, Walker shot 62-63 on the weekend and set a tournament record with a nine-shot victory. The previous record was seven shots, last set in 2000 by Paul Azinger.

Walker became the first repeat winner at the Sony Open since Ernie Els in 2004.

Scott Piercy closed with a 66 to finish alone in second. Matt Kuchar, who started the final round two shots out of the lead, didn’t make a birdie and shot 71 to tie for third with Harris English and Gary Woodland, who each had a 67. Kuchar ended his streak of 255 rounds on the PGA Tour with at least one birdie.

But this was Walker’s show, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. Walker had a three-shot lead with five holes to play at Kapalua last Monday when he wound up losing to Patrick Reed in a playoff at the Tournament of Champions. With a quick turnaround, he quickly put it behind him.

“I really wanted to finish out the day like I didn’t do last week,” Walker said.

He finished at 23-under 257.

The decisive moment came at the par-4 eighth hole. Walker and Kuchar both opened with seven straight pars, and Walker stuffed his approach to 3 feet for birdie. Kuchar pulled his tee shot into the royal palms, punched out short of the green and made bogey.

That two-shot swing gave Walker a four-shot lead, and he was on his way.

Walker made all seven of his birdies over the final 11 holes, and he couldn’t miss on the back nine. He took a total of 20 putts on the back nine at Waialae in the third and fourth rounds. And even with a big lead, he kept grinding away over putts he didn’t need to make.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont. carded a final-round 68 to tie for 51st at 5-under 275.

Roger Sloan finished alone in 67th at 1-under 279.

Nick Taylor tied for 68th at even-par 280.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Matias Dominguez closed with a 1-under 71 on Sunday to win the inaugural Latin American Amateur Championship, earning a spot at Augusta National in April as the first player from Chile at the Masters in more than 50 years.

After two bogeys on the last three holes, Dominguez won at Pilar Golf Club by one shot over Alejandro Tosti of Argentina, who also shot a 71.

Alvaro Ortiz, the brother of PGA Tour player Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, bogeyed the 18th for a 67 and finished two shots behind.

Dominguez, a senior at Texas Tech, finished at 11-under 277.

Along with a spot in the Masters, Dominguez is exempt into the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur, and the final stage of qualifying for the U.S. Open and British Open.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Gary Stal of France came from 10 shots behind to capitalize on an improbable meltdown by Martin Kaymer and win the Abu Dhabi Championship after a frantic final round on Sunday.

Kaymer looked like cruising to a fourth title in Abu Dhabi after making three birdies in his opening four holes to extend his six-stroke lead from overnight, only to drop six shots in seven holes around the turn.

The No. 357-ranked Stal pounced with six birdies from Nos. 4-11 and held himself together down the stretch, picking up another shot at the 16th to capture his first European Tour title. He shot a 7-under 65 for 19 under overall.

Kaymer shot 75 for 17 under and third place. Top-ranked Rory McIlroy had a 66 to finish second, a shot behind Stal.

HONOLULU – His left eye bruised and swollen shut, Australian golfer Robert Allenby is still shaking over a beating and robbery that left him unable to remember anything except being dumped in a gutter near a park of homeless people.

“You think … that happens in the movie, not real life,” Allenby told The Associated Press by phone Sunday. “I’m just happy to be alive.”

Allenby posted a photo to his private Facebook account showing a bloodied scrape on his forecast and the bridge of his nose. He said that came from being tossed from the trunk of a car. He said the bruise on his left eye must have come from being beaten in the car.

“I don’t know what they hit me with between the eyeballs, whether a fist or a baseball bat,” he said. “Whatever it was, it hurts.”

Allenby missed the Sony Open cut and then went to Amuse Wine Bar in Honolulu on Friday night with his caddie and a friend from Australia. He had been to the bar earlier in the week, thought it was a trendy spot and wanted to try the restaurant. Allenby remembers having dinner, a few glasses of red wine and that was about it.

Even after he returned to the bar on Saturday with police and watched tape from a surveillance camera that showed him leaving with four people, he doesn’t know who they were or even leaving the bar. Allenby said he has no recollection until getting kicked and prodded by homeless people searching for whatever he had left.

Allenby said his wallet, cash, driver’s license, PGA Tour badge and cellphone were taken. All he had on him in the gutter were two receipts, the American Express card to pay for dinner that he put loosely in his pockets and a watch.

He said the receipt showed that he paid for dinner at 10:06 p.m. Friday, and paid for the wine at 10:48. He said the restaurant closed at 11 p.m.

Allenby said he was checked out by the doctors, but he did not have a blood test to determine if he was drugged.

“I did ask to get a blood test, but they said it was probably out of your system,” he said.

The Honolulu Police Department did not return repeated calls. TV station KHON2 in Honolulu reported Saturday that the matter was being investigated as second-degree robbery.

The image of Allenby’s face, which he posted to Facebook, was a jarring image in the middle of a golf tournament. Webb Simpson ran into Allenby went he got back to the hotel last night.

“I could believe what happened to him,” Simpson said.

Allenby said surveillance cameras showed his friend Anthony Puntoriero talking to someone in the bar.

“I think that was a decoy, a distraction,” Allenby said. “I went to the bathroom, came out of the bathroom and was told that Anthony had left and was downstairs waiting for me. I go downstairs and then, bang! They knock me out and take me six or seven miles away.”

He said the tape showed one man put a hand on Allenby’s shoulder.

“I seriously don’t even remember meeting these people,” he said. “That’s what is weird. All I know is that I was walking very quietly with them and normal. It didn’t make any sense at all.”

Allenby said a homeless woman told him he was thrown out of the car, but the ordeal wasn’t over just yet. He said several homeless were “kicking me to see if I was alive, and then trying to steal everything else from me.”

He said a man who said he was in the Army came to his aid. Instead of calling an ambulance or the police, Allenby said he wanted to go back to the Kahala Resort at Waialae Country Club because “I just wanted to be in a safe place.”

Allenby said he called daughter Lily, who turned 13 on Saturday, and she was sobbing.

He said his body felt fine except for the swollen left eye and scrapes on his face. He was hoping to make his flight Sunday night to Los Angeles, and then he would decide if he was fit to play the Humana Challenge next week in La Quinta, California.

Allenby has 22 wins worldwide, including four on the PGA Tour, the last one in 2001. He has played in the Presidents Cup six times.

“I’m still shaking, still scared,” he said. “It’s just so surreal, just amazing. How does that happen to me? I went from one area where I could have died to another area where I got dumped and homeless people are trying to mug me even more. Sometimes we’re all naive. We only think this happens in the movies.”