Abbotsford, B.C.,’s Nick Taylor, who became a first-time PGA Tour event winner in 2014, paid a visit to Chilliwack Golf Club during the Tour’s off season for the Nick Taylor Challenge.

What is the Nick Taylor Challenge you ask? Well, anyone who wanted to challenge Nick to a contest could come out to the club and test their skills against the former Team Canada member.

Contestants had the option to challenge him to a putting, chipping or full swing contest. Anyone who beat Nick in the first challenge moved on to Round 2, where Nick got to decide what shot to hit. Check out the fiery competition in this video.

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Callaway’s Odyssey Golf brand has announced a new line of putters called Odyssey Works, which will be available nationwide starting January 30, 2015 at an introductory cost of $179.99.

Odyssey Works putters combine a new Fusion RX insert with the company’s major-winning Versa alignment, and Tour-proven head shapes like the #1 Wide and the #7. Odyssey also revealed a new head shape, the 2-Ball Fang. It is the company’s most accurate 2-Ball of all time.

For more information, visit www.odysseygolf.com/odyssey-works.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Hunter Mahan is a Californian and predictable when it comes to his PGA Tour schedule on the West Coast. He has played Torrey Pines, Pebble Beach and Riviera every year dating to 2007, a streak that probably will end.

Mahan’s wife, Kandi, is expecting their second child in the middle of that stretch. He knew he could count on the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. After that, it’s up in the air. His plan is to not have one.

“I’m just going to play my schedule and make adjustments from there,” Mahan said. “It’s too hard to figure out.”

He is scheduled to play the Phoenix Open, Farmers Insurance Open, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Northern Trust Open. He is not expecting to play them all.

“Whenever the baby falls is where he’s going to fall,” Mahan said.

Give him a choice, and the one tournament he would hate to miss is Riviera.

“I love that place. I love that golf course,” Mahan said. “It’s the end of a four-week stretch. It’s the one tournament I want to be in good shape. I enjoy it and really want to win there.”

But baby comes first. Remember, Mahan was leading the 2013 RBC Canadian Open when he left after 36 holes because his wife went into labour.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – David Duval is joining Golf Channel as a studio analyst for some of the biggest tournaments, giving him a voice in the game at a time he can no longer rely on his health.

He will make his debut in two weeks at the Humana Challenge, where he shot 59 in the final round 15 years ago during his rise to No. 1 in the world.

Duval said Tuesday he does not consider this a step toward retirement from the PGA Tour. The 2001 British Open champion has been coping with injuries the better part of the last decade and has not had a full-exempt card on tour since 2011.

“It’s a way to be involved in the game I love so much and to learn another facet of it,” Duval said from his home in Denver. “I think I can be a voice of the players, too, because it’s a current voice. Let’s see what happens and where it goes.”

The Golf Channel schedule should allow him to remain active for the few tournaments he can enter on his limited past champion’s status and whatever exemptions he is offered. He plans to play the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am next month.

Still, this represents a big transition for a player who once was one of the strongest rivals to Tiger Woods at his peak.

Duval did some TV work at the U.S. Open in 2012 at Olympic Club and has dabbled in television at some of the majors, along with the BMW Championship last year when it was held in Denver. Golf Channel plans to use him as a studio analyst for its pregame and postgame shows with Brandel Chamblee for the majors, World Golf Championships, FedEx Cup playoffs, The Players Championship, Florida swing and Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup.

“As a former world No. 1 and a major champion, he brings so much added perspective to this team,” Golf Channel executive producer Molly Solomon said. “He makes the team stronger. We’ve been talking to him for a year about this. We found we could create a schedule where he could continue to play.”

Duval is regarded as introspective and well-read, and at times self-deprecating.

“Most of all, I value his candor,” Solomon said. “Thoughtful conversation about golf is compelling television.”

Duval’s last victory was the Dunlop Phoenix in 2001, the year he won the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. His game took a mysterious turn for the worse a few years later with a series of injuries, a drop in confidence and a run of swing coaches. He pledged last year that he would stop asking for exemptions, and while he said it was important to honor that commitment, he made it on the assumption he would be in good health.

He spent the second half of last year coping with a strain in his right elbow that led him to withdraw three times.

A move to television, whether that becomes a full-time job or allows him to talk and play, was intriguing to him.

“It gives you a new perspective,” he said. “We’re constantly told this as players, but you realize it even that much more how much TV people are partners. The hours the folks put in is staggering. There are long days and lots of homework and preparation that you don’t think about when you’re playing. It’s exciting and fun to do this now.”

Carlsbad, Calif.  – TaylorMade has announced the contract extension of LPGA player and longtime brand ambassador, Paula Creamer. Creamer, who first signed with TaylorMade shortly after turning professional in 2005, will continue to play TaylorMade metalwoods and irons as well as adidas Golf footwear, apparel and accessories.

Creamer, who has 10 career victories on the LPGA Tour, turned professional in 2005 after a remarkable amateur career that saw her win 19 national tournaments, 11 of those coming in American Junior Golf Association events. In her first year on the LPGA Tour, Creamer won the Sybase Classic, becoming the youngest winner of a multiple-round tournament in LPGA history up until that time. Two months later, Creamer won the Evian Masters by a resounding 8 strokes. Her performance in 2005 earned her LPGA Rookie of the Year honors as well as a coveted spot on the U.S. Solheim Cup Team, becoming the youngest player to do so. Since then, she has finished in the top 15 of the Women’s World Golf Rankings every year.

Creamer by the Numbers:

• 10 career LPGA Tour victories
• 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion
• 94 top-ten finishes
• 5 Solheim Cup appearances
• 2005 LPGA Rookie of the Year

“Since turning professional in 2005, Paula’s been an exemplary ambassador for our brands and the game of golf; an ideal role model for the next generation,” said Chuck Presto, Senior Vice President, Global Sports Marketing. “Her resounding popularity is indicative of not only of her performance on the course, but her engaging and genuine personality off of it. We’re proud to have Paula in the TaylorMade family.”

For more information on TaylorMade and adidas Golf equipment, apparel or Tour staff players, visit TaylorMadeGolf.ca.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Predictions are a dangerous business, especially in golf.

How many could have guessed that Tiger Woods, No. 1 in the world and coming off a five-win season, would play in only nine tournaments, finish only four of them and plunge to No. 32 in the world because of injuries?

Or that Bubba Watson, who had gone 38 events without winning, would finish 2014 as highest-ranked American?

Or that Nick Taylor would become the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour event in five years.

Instead, the start of a new year at Kapalua allows a look into the future – not what will happen, but at five highly anticipated events.

THE MASTERS:

Already the highlight of any year, this will be the first time since 1991 that a player showed up at Augusta National with a chance to complete the career Grand Slam. That was Lee Trevino. And it wasn’t much of a chance. Trevino was 51, and he never seriously contended at Masters.

Rory McIlroy is 25.

Not only has Boy Wonder captured the last two majors, he probably should have had a green jacket by now. He had a four-shot lead going into the final round in 2011 before he imploded into a series of blunders on his way to an 80.

The only potential distraction is his day in court over a lawsuit involving his former management company. The trial is scheduled for February.

If history is any indication, don’t read too much into his form during the road to the Masters. The last time one player faced so much scrutiny at the Masters was Woods in 2001 when he was going for an unprecedented sweep. Woods heard whispers that he was in a slump because he went six straight tournaments without winning at the start of the year. Woods then ran off three straight victories, culminating with another green jacket and his place in history.

THE U.S. OPEN:

There are more compelling elements at the U.S. Open than the Masters. But the U.S. Open doesn’t whet the public’s appetite in the cold of winter with the Masters commercial that made you wish April could get here tomorrow.

This year delivers back-to-back majors where someone can join the most elite group in golf with a career Grand Slam – McIlroy at the Masters, Phil Mickelson at the U.S. Open. Mickelson already had one crack at it last year at Pinehurst No. 2 and he never broke par. Lefty is in great shape physically – the public will get its first look at him in two weeks – and even at 44, he believes he will have multiple chances.

His next one will be a course no one knows. The U.S. Open goes to Chambers Bay outside Seattle, an expansive, links-looking course that hosted the 2010 U.S. Amateur but nothing of significance at the professional level.

And something else brand new for the U.S. Open – Joe Buck and Greg Norman will be calling the shots. This marks the debut of Fox Sports in major championship golf.

RETURN OF TIGER:

Woods hasn’t confirmed where he will start his 2015 campaign, but if there is one tournament to gauge his progress, mark down the Cadillac Championship at Doral.

Torrey Pines is always a good measure too – Woods, an eight-time champion at Torrey, missed the 54-hole cut last year in a sign of what was to come. But the international stars – McIlroy, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose – are not likely to be anywhere on the West Coast. For the first time, a true test for Woods is more than the golf course. It’s the field.

The first big gathering will be the Honda Classic, and while Woods was runner-up three years ago, he has never won at PGA National.

That’s what makes Doral such an interesting tournament as it relates to Woods. All the stars will be in Miami, and while Doral has undergone significant changes ever since Donald Trump bought it, Woods is a five-time winner on the Blue Monster.

RYDER CUP CAPTAIN:

America usually has a new Ryder Cup captain by now. Now it has a task force.

The next meeting of this illustrious group is not until the first week in February, and it’s anyone’s guess when it will select the 2016 captain for Hazeltine. Tom Watson didn’t work out in a loss last September in Scotland that was ugly on many levels. Fred Couples is popular with the players and 3-0 as captain in the Presidents Cup. Then again, it’s a little easier to beat an International team playing under a manufactured flag than a European team playing for its tour.

The pendulum was swinging toward the Americans before the fiasco at Gleneagles. The best thing the task force can do is not overthink this.

ST. ANDREWS:

It’s always a special year when golf’s oldest championship returns to St. Andrews, especially when it’s time to say goodbye. This year that honour belongs to Tom Watson, playing in his final British Open, the only man to claim the claret jug on five courses (but never St. Andrews).

And it’s a chance for Watson to be remembered for what he can do with a club in his hand on a links course, instead of driving a cart at Gleneagles.

TORONTO – The Golf Journalists Association of Canada [GJAC] has announced Adam Hadwin, Alena Sharp, Corey Conners and Brooke Henderson are the 2014 Players of the Year as voted by GJAC members across the country.

“We at GJAC are delighted to honour this remarkable foursome, and the runners up who in other years could have won handily,” said Hal Quinn, GJAC President. “The skill levels and accomplishments of the winners and all the nominees heralds a new and very promising era in Canadian golf.”

Adam Hadwin was named the Male Professional of the Year in a tight vote with Graham DeLaet and Nick Taylor. Hadwin won twice on the Web.com Tour, finished first on the Tour’s money list, and earned full status for the PGA Tour in 2014-15. He already has one top-10 finish this season. DeLaet, who earned over $2.6 million on the PGA Tour in 2014, is Canada’s highest-ranked pro golfer, while Taylor became the first Canadian in five years to win on the PGA Tour.

Alena Sharp was named the Female Professional of the Year for the second time in the past four years. Sharp had two top-20 finishes on the LPGA Tour in 2014 and was Canada’s highest-ranked female professional golfer, prior to Brooke Henderson turning professional in December.

Henderson was voted Female Amateur of the Year for the third year in a row. The 17-year-old vaulted to the top of the world amateur rankings with six tournament wins in 2014. Henderson was runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, and was low amateur with a T-10 finish in the U.S. Women’s Open.

Corey Conners is another repeat winner as Male Amateur of the Year for the second year in a row. Conners, a member of Canada’s national team, finished second at the U.S. Amateur earning a chance to participate in the 2015 Masters Tournament and the U.S. Open. Conners won three NCAA Division I individual titles in his graduating year from Kent St. University, and is Canada’s highest-ranked male amateur golfer.

RICHMOND HILL, Ont. – The Canadian Junior Golf Association (CJGA) has announced its 2015 national tournament schedule. Heading into their 23^rd year of operation, the CJGA will once again provide opportunities for junior golfers aged 5-19 right across Canada with 91 domestic events on the national schedule.

The CJGA Junior Tour (boys and girls aged 11-19) will have 59 events across Canada to participate in while the CJGA Linkster Tour (boys and girls aged 5-13) will have 36 events in four different provinces. New to the program in 2015 will be the addition of the Girls 14 & under division on the CJGA Junior Tour after completing a successful pilot in British Columbia in 2014.

There will be a number of events CJGA members can participate in throughout the season, including the Nike Golf Junior Series, an eight event series which will span the entire country, culminating in the Nike Golf Junior Championship, a winners-only event.

CJGA members also have the opportunity to qualify for a number of national and international events. On a national scope, the CJGA will have three major national events, CJGA PING Canadian Junior Match Play Championship, CJGA Mizuno National Golf Championship, and Nike Golf Junior Championship. Juniors will again have the opportunity to qualify for the Junior Canada Cup, a Ryder-Cup style event that is incorporated in the GOLFest Nova Scotia event schedule.

One special highlight on the CJGA Junior Tour will be the Cabot Links Junior Open to be held at the world renowned course Cabot Links in Cape Breton, NS. Juniors from across Canada will have the opportunity to participate in this open event and play Canada’s only authentic links course.

CJGA members will also be eligible for unmatched international competition in 2015 including Junior World Golf Championships (San Diego, CA), Euro Junior Golf Cup (St. Andrew’s Scotland), North America Cup (Ontario, Canada), LCS Nations Cup (San Diego, CA), (Veritas World Junior (Los Angeles, CA), Canadian International Junior Challenge (Ontario, Canada), and the Aaron Baddeley International Junior Championship (China) just to name a few.

“We continue to build the programming and event schedules across the country with the support of our members and sponsors,” said John Lawrence, Director of Tour Operations at the CJGA.  “Junior golfers in this country will have no shortage of opportunity for tournament competition this coming season and we’re excited about the prospects of another successful season both domestically and on the international stage.”

The CJGA will continue it’s partnership with the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) to conduct the co-sanctioned AJGA/CJGA Junior Championship in August. The event in 2015 will move to Horseshoe Resort (Highlands Course) in August.

“We are pleased the relationship with our American counterparts continues to grow as we can provide our members the opportunity to compete in an AJGA event on home soil and continue to earn valuable stars through our domestic events towards additional AJGA competitions” said Lawrence.

CJGA members will see an increase in the number of AJGA (PBE) Performance Star and Golfweek ranked events in 2015. All CJGA events will continue to be ranked on Junior Golf Scoreboard, as well as Golf Canada’s CN Future Links Order of Merit points, along with various provincial association merit points. Final event ranking & exemptions will be updated in the New Year.

Click here to view the 2015 schedule.

SYDNEY – Eight-time LPGA Tour winner Rachel Hetherington is returning to professional golf after a four-year retirement.

Australian Ladies Professional Golf said in a statement on Sunday that the 42-year-old Australian started working with a new coach, Randall Hollands Smith, last April.

Hetherington will play the Australian circuit, and hopes to compete in the Australian Ladies Masters and the Women’s Australian Open over the next two months.

She has no plans to return to the LPGA Tour, saying: “I would miss family and clients too much.”

The Australian won $5.7 million in prize money during her LPGA Tour career. Three of her titles came in playoffs over former No. 1 Annika Sorenstam.

Jack Nicklaus and Keegan Bradley are among seven judges for the fifth annual “Best Pee-Wee Golf Swing in the World” contest, in which parents can post to YouTube the swing of children 8 or under.

The deadline for submitting videos is Jan. 9.

Brendon Elliott, a PGA professional and founder of Little Linkster’s, LLC and Little Linksters Association for Junior Golf Development, is leading the panel of judges that also includes Frank Nobilo, former PGA of America president Allen Wronowski and swing instructor Chuck Evans.

“In our first two years, we were very excited to have such a successful launch of what we wanted to continue to grow into an annual showcase of what very young golfers are capable of doing,” Elliott said. “After last year, we knew we had something special, as almost 200 entries poured in from over 14 countries from around the world.”

Parents can upload a video not longer than 60 seconds to You Tube, and then share the link to the contest entry form on www.LittleLinksters.com. Prizes are awarded for kids under 3, and age groups 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8.

Last year, North York, Ont.’s Nathan Yoo took home finished runner-up in the age 7-8 category. His submission is below.