HONOLULU – The PGA Tour already has banned the caddie races on the infamous par-3 16th hole at the Phoenix Open. Next on the taboo list: tossing items to fans in the grandstands at golf’s rowdiest hole.

A notice was posted in the locker room Tuesday at Waialae that said, “At this year’s Waste Management Phoenix open, for fan safety reasons, players and caddies are prohibited from throwing, kicking or otherwise propelling items into the crowd on the 16th hole.”

Someone wrote on the top of the notice, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”

Um, no.

Players won’t be able to claim ignorance. Andy Pazder, the tour’s chief of operations, said the notice would be posted at the TPC Scottsdale, in the tent on the tee boxes before a player starts his round and even on the electronic scoreboard on the 16 hole.

How it gets enforced is another matter. Pazder made a small clarification by using the word “indiscriminately” throwing objects. In recent years, Rickie Fowler has tossed hats into the grandstand and Bubba Watson is becoming famous for the swag he throws into the bleachers. What first got the tour’s attention was Padraig Harrington kicking a football into the stands. That’s now forbidden.

Pazder said a direct handoff is fine.

“If a player is going by handing them out or flipping them to someone in the first row, that’s fine,” he said. “But not going by throwing things like a Frisbee.”

At issue was safety, much like how the NFL bans players from heaving a football into the stands after a touchdown.

“A fan in public seating in a mad scramble to get a hat is going to hurt himself, or land on top of another person,” he said. “I would say to the players, `Think about the liability.'”

Pazder said he has talked to Watson, among other players, and didn’t receive too much pushback. But as the handwritten addition to the notice indicated, he’s aware the tour will get criticized as the “No Fun Police.”

As if the Phoenix Open isn’t rowdy enough, Tiger Woods is playing the tournament Jan. 29-Feb. 1 for the first time since 2001.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – No one in the winners-only field at Kapalua has been more successful on Monday than Patrick Reed.

Instead of honing his game in the minor leagues before earning a card, Reed tried to Monday qualify into PGA Tour events. He made it six times out of eight tries, an astounding rate of success. Only this day was different.

Reed didn’t get into a PGA Tour event on Monday. He won a PGA Tour event.

“I felt like this win was more like the Mondays, because not only was it Monday, it was 18 holes,” Reed said after his playoff victory over Jimmy Walker in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. “It was pretty bunched, so you just had to go out and go low. And luckily, we were able to do that.”

He did his most important work at Kapalua over the final four holes in regulation, and it wasn’t exactly bunched up at the moment. In fact, Reed was thinking more about trying to finish second when he stood on the 15th tee four shots behind Walker.

“I thought my chances were slim,” Reed said. “So I was just thinking to myself, `Let’s try to birdie three of the last four and get ourselves a chance to secure second alone, and give ourselves a chance – just maybe.”

The 24-year-old Reed did better than that. He two-putted the par-5 15th for a birdie. In the final group behind him, Walker began losing his lead when a 4-iron off the tee at the reachable par-4 14th sailed right into a bunker and led to bogey. And then, Reed holed out with a wedge from 80 yards for eagle on the 16th.

Just like that, he was tied with Walker at 21-under.

“I walked to 17 tee and I heard that Jimmy was at 21 (under) as well,” Reed said. “I was like, `Oh, wow.'”

He still had work left. Reed three-putted from 100 feet just off the 17th green, missing a 4-foot par putt to fall one shot behind. Again, he figured a birdie was mandatory to at least have a chance. He took care of that with a two-putt from 80 feet to close at 6-under 67.

Walker, tied for the lead with Hideki Matsuyama at the start of the final round, would take only one shot back – the 4-iron into the bunker on the 14th. From there, he caught it too cleanly and sailed the green, and when he missed a short par putt, he ended his streak of 32 straight holes without a bogey.

Equally critical to Walker was making birdies, and those were elusive. He had built a three-shot lead over Matsuyama by running off three straight around the turn, and he was still three clear over the 22-year-old from Japan going to the 14th. Walker twice missed birdie putts inside 10 feet. And when he needed a birdie on the 18th to win in regulation, his chip came out soft and he missed an 18-foot attempt for a 69 to join Reed at 21-under 271.

Walker had the advantage in the playoff on the downhill, scenic par-5 18th, but not for long. Reed couldn’t get near the green after driving into the rough, while Walker left his 3-wood well out to the right, not far from his chip in regulation. This one came out hot and over the green. He chipped back to 6 feet for a par putt, only he picked up his coin when Reed drained an 18-footer for birdie and the win.

“It was there for me to win,” Walker said. “It was a bummer I didn’t close the door on it.”

Reed has been doing that with regularity since he joined the PGA Tour in 2013. He won in Greensboro in a playoff over Jordan Spieth. He went wire-to-wire at the Humana Challenge last year, and beat back a strong field at Doral. This was his fourth career victory, putting him in elite company.

Only four other players in the last quarter-century have won four PGA Tour titles before turning 25 – Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Reed is still not “top five in the world” – a comment he made after his win at Doral and one that follows him now. He moved to a career-best No. 14, which marks progress and potential.

“Everyone is trying to get to the best in the world,” Reed said. “But that’s going to take a long time. It’s nothing that happens overnight.”

The lone Canadian in the field this week was Nick Taylor. The Abbotsford, B.C., native finished tied for 29th at 6-under par 286.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Jimmy Walker and Hideki Matsuyama are tied for the lead going into the final round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Matsuyama matched the best score of the week Sunday with a 7-under 66. He made three straight birdies on the front nine and back nine, and closed with a delicate pitch down the slope to 2 feet for birdie on the par-5 18th.

Walker began to pull away with five birdies in 10 holes. But he didn’t make another birdie until a 4-foot putt on the last hole for a 67. They were tied at 17-under 202.

Bae Sang-Moon (69) and Patrick Reed (68) were two shots behind. Defending champion Zach Johnson, among four players tied for the lead, stumbled to a 73 and was six shots behind.

Canada’s Nick Taylor has a share of 27th after a 1-under 72 Sunday. The Abbosford, B.C. native is heading into the final round 5-under par.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – The first PGA Tour event of the year in Hawaii hardly resembles a working vacation.

Zach Johnson putted for birdie on every hole, the fifth time in his career that he didn’t miss a green in regulation. Jimmy Walker got in the mix with five birdies in eight holes. Russell Henley and Bae Sang-Moon held their own on another gorgeous day at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

They were part of a four-way tie for the lead Saturday, the largest log jam at the 36-hole mark in the 17 years this winners-only event has been played at Kapalua.

Geoff Ogilvy wasn’t part of the mix, though he might have seen this coming when he spoke earlier in the week about the first PGA Tour event of the year.

“There’s a little bit of rust going on, less than there used to be,” Ogilvy said. “I think in the good old days … they hadn’t hit a shot in a few months and they’d show up and shank their first three shots on the range. They would just cruise into the year, basically. I think that happens a lot less these days.”

There’s not much evidence of it now.

Along with that four-way tie for the lead, 10 players were within two shots of the lead going into the third round, and half of the 34-man field within five shots.

Johnson gets the most attention as the defending champion, hopeful of joining the Aussie duo of Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby as the only back-to-back winners at Kapalua (Appleby won three in a row). He made seven birdies in his round of 6-under 67 and was the first to reach 11-under 135.

Walker, a winner last year on Oahu, was the only player to reach 12 under until confusion over the wind and a little indecision cost him a three-putt bogey on the 17th. He wound up with a 68. Henley recovered from a sluggish start for a 70, while Bae played bogey-free – and birdie-free over the last eight holes – for a 69.

“I think it’s so competitive,” Henley said. “I think the way guys look at it now, it’s a great opportunity to have a good finish and get off to a great start, if not win.”

Johnson got off to a great start last year when he won, his only victory of 2014.

His only bogey on another benign day above the blue Pacific was a three-putt on the eighth hole. He birdied all the par 5s, though the last one required a little more work. Johnson popped up his drive, which still went 294 yards because of the 150-foot drop from the tee to the fairway. He had to pound a 3-wood to get beyond the neck of the fairway, and then he flew his third shot beyond the flag.

Shots like that used to roll off the back of the green. In soft conditions, this one stayed, and Johnson made a 15-foot birdie putt.

“I had a full shot,” Johnson said. “At the same time, usually you’ve got to play 15 yards from the hole. That’s strange and rare, but that’s the way it is. We played a little early today. The ball just didn’t release. You have to pay attention there. As we get more wind the next couple days, I think this place will dry out.”

Walker completed a two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th by making a 6-footer into the grain to take the lead. He hammered his tee shot on the downhill 17th and, adjusting for the drop in elevation over the gorge in front of the 17th green, he figured it was an 8-iron from 170 yards.

The uncertainty was the wind, and not totally convinced of his club selection, he hit chunky and barely got onto the green. He three-putted from 70 feet for his only bogey, and then failed to birdie the 18th.

No matter. He was tied for the lead, in the final group going into Sunday’s third round. That wasn’t all that surprising.

Walker played in Asia in November, and then he played twice in Florida during December. So even though he took his family to Utah over Christmas, he arrived to Maui last week feeling ready to go.

Hideki Matsuyama and Charley Hoffman each shot 66 for the low rounds Saturday, leaving them in the group a shot out of the lead. Hoffman ran off seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch to share the lead, only to hit into the hazard on the 17th for a double bogey. He bounced backed with his seventh birdie of the back nine.

Hoffman was the last player to qualify for this winners-only event with a victory in Mexico in November.

“Second round of the year, just trying to get my feet wet,” Hoffman said. “Made a bunch of birdies, hit a lot of good shots, and one unfortunate swing. You can get away with a few bad swings out here, but not on the 17th hole.”

Canada’s Nick Taylor started the day with a share of 12th, but couldn’t pick up any ground Saturday after carding an even par 73. He dropped into a tie for 24th at 4-under.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Russell Henley found Kapalua to be a lot more fun the second time around.

Henley made four birdie putts outside 20 feet on his way to an 8-under 65 on Friday, giving him a one-shot lead over Bae Sang-Moon in the opening round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Henley made his debut last year in the winners-only event that starts the year and never broke 70. The Plantation Course offered up far better scores without the typical wind off the west coast of Maui.

And anytime that Henley feels good with the putter, the two-time winner on the PGA Tour can be dangerous.

“I kept the ball in front of me pretty decent today, and didn’t scare too many chances at bogey,” Henley said. “But my main thing was obviously I putted great and was seeing the lines today. If I can putt like that every day, I would probably have a few more wins.”

Bae kept his focus in so many ways.

He was in Honolulu practicing last week when he learned the South Korean government had denied an extension of his overseas travel permit. Bae has deferred his mandatory military service, and there are questions over how much time he spent at home during this deferral. He has hired a legal firm to sort out the problems, but he caused a stir back home when he was quoted as saying he would not being going back to South Korea. What he meant was that he was not required to be there while the law firm worked on it.

Inside the ropes, Bae looked as if nothing could bother him.

He opened with six birdies in eight holes, was slowed by a bogey on the 11th hole and picked up two more birdies for a 66.

“A little bit hard to focus on my game because I got a little trouble,” Bae said. “But I try to split things. But I don’t want to think about it, the other things on the course. So yeah, I think I did really good today. I really want to the next three days, also.”

Bae is all about a fresh start.

Kapalua still feels like the first tournament of the season, even though the 2014-15 season began in October at the Frys.com Open, which Bae won at Silverado.

“This is new year on calendar,” he said.

Most players have not competed in nearly two months, except those who were at the Hero World Challenge the first week of December or played overseas. Masters champion Bubba Watson played in Thailand to close out his best year ever, and he has been at Kapalua for the last week before his shots counted. He had a 70, a reasonable start, though he has yet to break 69 in 12 rounds on the Plantation Course.

This was the day to do it. It’s rare when the flags aren’t moving, though even a relatively calm day doesn’t make it that easy. The greens are among the largest, and the grain and slope can prove tricky even to the regulars in this winners-only event.

Henley set the pace. Bringing up the rear were Ben Crane and Kevin Stadler at 74, a nine-shot differential from first to worst in a 34-man field.

Jimmy Walker and Patrick Reed, who joined Watson as the only multiple winners on tour last year who are at Kapalua, led a group at 67 that included Scott Stallings, Robert Streb and Ben Martin, who chipped in for eagle on the 18th with a shot that would have gone 20 feet by the hole if it hadn’t banged into the pin.

Matt Kuchar, never far from the hunt, was among those at 68.

Canada’s Nick Taylor carded the first birdie of 2015 en route to a 69 that left him tied for 12th after the opening-round.

JUPITER, Fla. – The rowdiest event on the PGA Tour landed golf’s biggest attraction Friday when Tiger Woods said he would play the Phoenix Open for the first time in 14 years.

The tournament starts Jan. 29 and ends on the Sunday of the Super Bowl, which also is in Phoenix.

Woods also announced on his website he will play the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines a week later. That was no surprise, for Woods has won there eight times as a pro, including his last major in the 2008 U.S. Open.

He has not played the Phoenix Open since 2001. And while Woods has made only three appearances at the TPC Scottsdale, he always generates news. Woods made an ace on the par-3 16th hole in 1997 and was showered with beer cups over the sheer emotion of the moment.

He was criticized in 1999 when he was permitted to let fans move a massive boulder in front of his ball after it had been declared a loose impediment. Also that year, a spectator who had been heckling Woods was found to have had a gun in his fanny pack.

In his most recent appearance in 2001, someone lobbed an orange onto the green while he was putting.

“It will be great to return to Phoenix,” Woods said on his website. “The crowds are amazing and always enthusiastic, and the 16th hole is pretty unique in golf.

This is the time Woods usually starts his PGA Tour season. Torrey Pines and Phoenix have switched spots on the calendar because the Phoenix Open prefers to end on Super Bowl Sunday. It is the biggest day at the tournament, with crowds estimated at over 500,000, is on Saturday.

Woods played only nine times worldwide last year because of surgery to his back and lingering issues. In his return after four months off, he tied for last in the Hero World Challenge in Orlando, Florida.

Woods is working with a new coach. He has slipped to a No. 34 ranking and he is still not guaranteed a spot in the first World Golf Championship of the year at Doral for the top 50 in the world.

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Nick Taylor is still reaping the benefits of being a winner on the PGA Tour.

A three-stroke victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship in November not only provided the Canadian with a nice payday and security on golf’s premier circuit, it also qualified him for this week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

So while people in his home country suffer through a January deep freeze, Taylor will be playing high level golf in balmy Hawaiian temperatures.

“(The victory) still hasn’t set in. Hopefully sooner rather than later,” Taylor, who was born in Winnipeg and grew up in Abbotsford, B.C., said Thursday. “But trying to figure things out in Maui is a good thing.”

Taylor earned US$720,000 for his 2014 victory, and, more importantly, a two-year playing card on the PGA Tour. He’s part of a group of six Canadians with status on the PGA Tour this year. Graham DeLaet, Mike Weir, David Hearn, Roger Sloan and Adam Hadwin are the others.

The victory wrapped up a whirlwind season for the 26-year-old. He started the year with a few starts on PGA Tour Canada, and then a number of tournaments on the Web.com Tour before earning his PGA Tour card.

“Everything that happened were good things, but it has been so exhausting. There will be some rust this first week or two, but in the long run, I needed some time off,” said Taylor, who returned to Abbotsford over Christmas. “This week is very relaxed, it’s the best-case scenario to start the season.”

The Tournament of Champions, which begins Friday at Kapalua’s Plantation Resort, features a small field of 34 golfers and no cut. Even if Taylor, the lone Canadian, finishes in last place, he’ll walk away with approximately $60,000.

It’s a far cry from the money he used to play for.

Taylor’s rise to the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour could be traced back to his success on PGA Tour Canada. It allowed him to jump to the Web.com Tour, then the main tour, very quickly.

PGA Tour Canada president Jeff Monday said Taylor’s victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship validated the model that was instigated when the PGA Tour took over the old Canadian Tour.

Monday said that PGA Tour Canada members always knew following a path like Taylor’s was a possibility, but to actually see it done just confirmed their beliefs.

“When you think about it, Nick was on PGA Tour Canada in September of 2013 and just over 13 months later, he’s winning on the PGA Tour,” he said. “When you step back from that for a second, you realize that’s pretty good stuff.”

Taylor, a former Team Canada member who was once ranked as the top male amateur golfer in the world, hasn’t let any of his recent success go to his head.

“Coming out as the No. 1-ranked amateur, there’s great expectations a lot of times and it’s hard to live up to them,” said Monday. “But everyone I’ve talked to says Nick hasn’t changed one bit.”

“He’s a quality young man, and anyone he meets he will influence them, including kids,” added Scott Simmons, the CEO of Golf Canada. “I would certainly call him a role model we could all be proud of.”

Taylor seemed ready for the challenge of being golf’s newest Canadian ambassador.

“It wasn’t until recently that people across the country recognized what I did on the PGA Tour. If people across the country are looking up to me now, it’s great. I’ll try to do my best,” he said.

Taylor’s goals for 2015 changed after his victory. He’s now free to choose his schedule without worry, and he’s gotten into a number of larger tournaments like the PGA Championship, which will be his first major as a professional.

He’s also got his eyes on the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“I need to slowly try to build up some world-ranking points, but that would be pretty amazing,” he said.

For now, Taylor is enjoying the moment. Seeing how far he’s come, he said it’s hard not to.

“I think for me, personally, I’m ahead of the game,” he said. “There’s so much luck involved, you never know when you’re going to win. It’s been a crazy few months and I’ve exceeded expectations so far.”

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Tim Clark plans a return to Torrey Pines, this time to compete with his long putter rather than to make a passionate protest of the rule to ban them.

Clark has accepted the new rule outlawing the anchored stroke required for the putter he has used the last 17 years. This is the last year before the rule goes into effect, and Clark isn’t about to waste it by tinkering with a new club or a new stroke. He wants to play good golf.

That said, he already is thinking about the change and he’s not willing to share his solution.

“I’ve got some pretty good ideas, but I’m not going to tell you just in case they try to ban those,” Clark said with a laugh. “But I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on it. I’m not as concerned as I was maybe at the start of last year because I think I’ve figured something out now and I’ll be fine. But I’m not going to spend my time practicing it now while I’m trying to play tournaments this year with what I’ve used.

“Once they tell me it’s done, then it’s done. Then it will be easier to change.”

He said he will stop at the Scotty Cameron putting studio in the San Diego area after the tournament to work on some putters that fit his ideas. Otherwise, he sees 2015 as a time to build on a year in which he won the RBC Canadian Open and lost in a playoff to Bubba Watson at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

Clark is starting his year at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions for the first time in four years. It’s a good spot to be, and even though he is among the shortest hitters in golf, the expansive Plantation Course at a par 73 doesn’t bother him.

Zach Johnson, not known for his length off the tee, won last year. Besides, Clark learned long ago to play to his strengths. Even though Watson could hit the ball some 80 yards longer, when they played a par 5 in a playoff at Shanghai, Watson didn’t think he had an advantage because of Clark’s short game.

Part of that short game is putting, and that part is about to go through a significant overhaul.

The USGA and R&A – and by extension, Golf Canada – proposed the new rule on anchored strokes at the end of 2012, and at a players’ meeting at Torrey Pines with the USGA a few months later, Clark showed up even though he wasn’t playing the tournament. He became the face of protest for the dignified manner in which he argued against banning a stroke that had been around for some 40 years, and for the damage it would cause for recreational players.

The PGA Tour took a stand against the rule, though it was adopted, anyway.

Clark said it affected his game at the start of last year until he realized the change was inevitable.

“Eventually, I realized you’ve got to stop worrying about it and just go out and play golf,” he said. “And I did that, and that’s probably why I was able to win in Canada. I didn’t have that worry in there. Like I say, my thought is to come out and be a better putter. Stop worrying about what’s happened and what’s going to happen and come out and be a better putter.”

Another past RBC Canadian Open champion, Carl Pettersson, also uses a long putter that he presses against his sternum. So does Adam Scott, a former No. 1 in the world, and Kevin Stadler. Others, such as Keegan Bradley, used a belly putter. Bradley switched to a conventional putter at the Hero World Challenge last month.

“I think the belly guys are going to find it pretty easy,” Geoff Ogilvy said. “But the guys who have split hands, like Stads, Scotty, Timmy, that’s different. That’s a big change. Putting attached from your belly and moving it away, it’s not that big of a change. You lose your security blanket, but it’s effectively the same stroke.”

Scott gets the most attention because he won the Masters – the first Masters champion with an anchored stroke – and because of his prominence. But he didn’t change until 2011. Clark made the switch when he was in college and hardly anyone was using the club known as a broom-handle putter.

For the last 17 years, he has not placed his hands together on the club. The left hand has been high on his chest, the right hand at his waist.

“In my case, I’ve never gone back and forth. I found something I felt comfortable with,” Clark said. “Obviously, there are weeks I putted terribly. It wasn’t a case of changing putters, it was a case of working on it.”

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.

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.