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.”

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.

MADISON, Wis. – Steve Stricker has had surgery on a bulging disk in his lower back to alleviate recurring issues in his hip area.

Mario Tiziani, Stricker’s brother-in-law and agent, says the one-hour surgery Tuesday was successful and that Stricker will be away from golf for at least eight weeks.

The 12-time tour winner won’t be missing much. Stricker already plays a reduced schedule, and he was not likely to play in 2015 until the Florida swing.

The 47-year-old Stricker rested for nearly four months before playing the Hero World Challenge and Franklin Templeton Shootout. While he felt good, tests showed Stricker would continue to have problems with his hip and quadriceps without surgery.

Here’s a new tradition unlike any other – the race to see if the Masters can keep its field under 100 players by April.

For the fourth time in the last five years, at least 90 players already have qualified for the Masters at the end of the year with three months of opportunities remaining before the field is set. Each time, Augusta National managed to achieve its objective of keeping the number of competitors in double digits.

By far the smallest field of the four majors, the Masters has not had more than 100 players since 1966.

That’s what Augusta National prefers. Club chairmen have talked about a small field creating a better experience. Remember, the original name of the Masters was the Augusta National Invitation Tournament.

But if the last eight months were any indication, this could be the closest call yet.

Of the 90 players who are eligible and expected to compete, 17 earned invitations by winning PGA Tour events that award full FedEx Cup points. That’s up from 12 a year ago, a reminder not only that winning is difficult for everyone but that the PGA Tour is stronger and deeper than ever.

There are 13 chances for players not already in the Masters to win a full PGA Tour event and get in. And because the Match Play Championship has been moved from its traditional late February slot, top international players such as Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson and Adam Scott are not expected to play much (if at all) before the Florida swing.

The other way to qualify is to move into the top 50 in the world ranking published on March 30. Among those on the outside is Canada’s Graham DeLaet (No. 57) and 2013 RBC Canadian Open champion, Brandt Snedeker (No. 58) from the PGA Tour. Tommy Fleetwood (51), Alexander Levy (53),  and Francesco Molinari (55) are also outside the top 50, though they will face some of the European Tour’s stronger fields during the Middle East swing.

Also, the Masters had created a new spot for the winner of the Latin America Amateur Championship, to be played in January in Argentina.

Team Canada’s Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont. earned a spot by virtue of finishing runner up at the 2014 U.S. Amateur Championship.

Mike Weir has a lifetime exemption as a past champion.

A year ago, 90 players were eligible after the first cutoff in December. Seven players not already eligible won PGA Tour events, and Stephen Gallacher was added from the world ranking. Then again, one spot was reduced when Tiger Woods had back surgery a week before the Masters.

This year? Stay tuned. It starts with the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, a field that includes four players who won before last year’s Masters – Scott Stallings, Matt Every, Steven Bowditch and Matt Jones – and are not yet eligible at Augusta.

GOLD COAST, Australia – Former Masters champion Adam Scott has picked Mike Kerr to be his next caddie.

Kerr worked the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship for Scott, and then was offered the job. Scott had been trying out different caddies since parting with Steve Williams at the end of the FedEx Cup.

Scott had received more than 100 offers. That is not surprising given that he is a top player with a congenial personality and limited schedule.

Kerr is from Zimbabwe. He previously worked for Ernie Els, Lee Westwood and most recently Thorbjorn Olesen.

Scott is not expected to play again until the Honda Classic in late February of 2015.

The idea that the PGA Tour calendar is too full depends on how you look at the calendar.

In this new world of the wraparound season, it seems as though golf never ends. There was a three-week break between the end of one season (Tour Championship) and the start of another (Frys.com Open). And then the PGA Tour takes a seven-week break before resuming the new season in Kapalua.

But is that much different from 10 years ago?

The PGA Tour had 44 consecutive weeks of golf in 2004 from Jan. 8 at Kapalua until Nov. 7 at the Tour Championship. That schedule included three tournaments held the same week as World Golf Championships, the B.C. Open opposite the British Open and the Texas Open the same week as the Ryder Cup.

The tour had 43 weeks of golf in 2014, with the three-week break built around the Ryder Cup in the early fall and the final tournament Nov. 16 in Mexico. And there were only three opposite-field events the same week as three WGCs (Doral, Firestone, Shanghai).

Is the new “fall start” any different from the old “fall finish?” Now it starts in California and goes to Las Vegas, Sea Island, two in Asia, one in Mississippi and Mexico. Ten years ago, the lineup after the majors included Hartford, Canada, Tampa and now-defunct tournaments at Disney and 84 Lumber. There also was a WGC thrown in the mix.

Go back even further. Twenty years ago, the PGA Tour schedule featured 43 consecutive weeks of tournaments. That was right about the time the WGCs were being discussed, and a decade before the FedEx Cup was even an idea.

The biggest change might be the golf that isn’t being played.

Back in 1994 when the Tour Championship ended (at Olympic Club – those were the days) on Oct. 30, there were six tournaments as part of the silly season. That included the Lincoln-Mercury at Kapalua, the Shark Shootout, Skins Game, JC Penney Mixed-Team Classic and the Diners Club Matches.

Either way, there was never a shortage of golf. That much hasn’t changed.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Bernhard and Jason Langer won the PNC Father-Son Challenge on Sunday, closing with a 13-under 59 for a two-stroke victory in the better-ball event.

The Langers finished at 23-under 123 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club’s Grande Lake Orlando.

Fourteen-year-old Jason jumped into the lineup Saturday when sister Christina withdrew because of back issues. He’s the youngest son to win the event, breaking the mark of 15 set by brother Stefan in 2005.

“It was an unbelievable, magical week, just like the whole year,” Bernhard Langer said. “Jason, I’ve been watching him play golf for several years now and he has played better the last two days than he has ever played in his whole life, under this kind of pressure. It’s unbelievable. … I am so proud of him.”

The Langers had six birdies and an eagle on the first seven holes. They added five more birdies on the back nine, the last on No. 18.

“Just to be out here, I was hoping for maybe a top 10, even a top five if I played really well, but nothing near like this,” Jason Langer said. “I was satisfied with the way I played. I made a few putts today and, as expected, he played really well. Yesterday, we were burning a lot of edges. We missed a few short ones we wish we’d have gotten back. Today, it was really good. I left them out there the first three holes, but he made up for it and he drained them. Those first three were so key today.”

Bernhard Langer earned $200,000.

Davis Love III and son Dru also shot a 59 to finish second.

“I think we both tried a little too hard. We get a little impatient,” Davis Love III said. “When you make a couple pars in a row, like any tournament, you feel like you’re getting behind. We did better today, obviously, than we did yesterday, but we stalled on 7, 8 and 9 both days. We both hit it well enough to win today, but the short game was just a little off.”

Curtis and Tom Strange tied for third with Vijay and Qass Singh at 20 under. The Stranges shot 62, and the Singhs had a 61.

Jack Nicklaus and son Jack II tied for 15th at 11 under after a 66.

“We had a lot of (birdie) opportunities, for sure,” Jack Nicklaus said. “We didn’t make much all week. When you are finishing where we did, you don’t make many putts. You make a lot of putts, you finish up. Any time I play, I want to be competitive and we just weren’t very competitive. I particularly, Jackie didn’t play too bad. Jackie played reasonable well.”

NAPLES, Fla. — Jason Day and Cameron Tringale overcame a slow start Saturday to win the Franklin Templeton Shootout by a shot.

Day and Tringale shot a 7-under 65 in the better-ball final round to finish at 32 under at Tiburon Golf Club. They each earned $335,000.

Leading by three shots going into the final round, they had just one birdie in the first eight holes before closing with six in their last nine.

“He hit a lot of good, clutch putts,” Day said about Tringale.

Day made 25-foot birdies putts on Nos. 10 and 12.

“Once I holed that putt, we started very well on the back nine,” Day said.

Day and Tringale opened with a 55 on Thursday in the scramble round and shot a 64 on Friday in modified alternate-shot play.

Matt Kuchar and Harris English, the 2013 winners, finished second after a 62. Kuchar just missed an eagle chip on No. 17.

“It came awfully close,” he said. “I thought it was in. It was hard looking at the sun, I wasn’t sure on the depth where the hole was but it had a great line and pretty good pace as well.”

English then hit his approach shot 2 feet from the cup on No. 18

“Just take dead aim, that’s what I did,” he said.

The teams of Billy Horschel-Ian Poulter and Keegan Bradley-Camilo Villegas tied for third at 29 under.

Saturday’s action included momentum swings, numerous ties for the lead and memorable shots off the green. At the same time Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly birdied eight of nine holes, Day and Tringale went birdieless on seven of their first eight holes, as did Graeme McDowell and Gary Woodland, who came into the day in second place.

Three hours into the tournament, there was a three-way tie at 25-under with nine teams within three shots. An hour later, six players were within a shot of the lead. With birdies from Nos. 9-13, Day and Tringale regained control.

(A previous version of the story incorrectly listed Kuchar’s near eagle chip as final hole instead of 17th hole.)

Mike Weir and Retief Goosen finished in last place with a score of -15 for the week.

NAPLES, Fla. — After a blistering first round with teammate Cameron Tringale, Jason Day thought if they could get to 25 under, that’s “pretty good scoring.”

That’s what they did.

Day and Tringale shot an 8-under 64 on Friday in modified alternate-shot play to reach 25-under 119 and increase their lead to three strokes in the Franklin Templeton Shootout.

Day and Tringale opened with a 17-under 55 on Thursday in the scramble round at Tiburon Golf Club. The event will close Saturday with better-ball play.

Graeme McDowell and Gary Woodland were second after a 63.

Defending champions Matt Kuchar and Harris English were third at 21-under after a 66.

Day was quite aware of how Kuchar and English did it in 2013.

“These guys played well last year, 34 under is a big margin,” Day said. “So this is the format that you need to play well. You need to play this format because it’s very quick to lose your lead.”

That almost happened.

Charles Howell III and Scott Verplank were 19 under after a 64. The teams if Keegan Bradley-Camilo Villegas (67), Billy Horschel-Ian Poulter (65) and Patrick Reed-Brandt Snedeker (65) were 18 under.

Snedeker, who shot a 10-under 62 in the alternate shot format with Davis Love III in 2012, had it going with Reed early. After a birdie on No. 10, they were 6 under for the day, 17 under for the tournament and one shot behind.

While they cooled, Day and Tringale took off and quickly built the lead back to five shots. They had an eagle on No. 6 and birdies on Nos. 3 and 8-10.

Tringale said he didn’t see a scoreboard until No. 10 but doesn’t really watch them, anyway. Day said he’s just the opposite.

“I think if there were more boards out there, I would probably be watching because I tend to watch a lot more scoreboards than Cameron,” Day said. “I like to know what I need to do. That may add some pressure.”

Day thinks players will scale back on their aggressiveness off the tee today in a chance to catch up.

“I would expect a lot of guys, even if your partner is in play, because it’s always better to have two balls in play than just one,” he said. “I would rather have two opportunities at birdies than just one.” McDowell said teams more than five or six shots behind the leaders will have a hard time catching up so he and Woodland are glad where they are.

“Two balls in play, you know, it means no one can hide,” he said. “That was kind of why I really feel like myself and Gary have a good shot tomorrow because we’re both really playing well tee to green.”

Woodland added their score could’ve been much better but they missed on four or five putts inside 10 feet that were straight up the hill. Their highlight was McDowell using his 58-degree wedge to hole out from 48 yards on No. 13.

Kuchar and English finished strong by going 4 under in the back nine. However, they’d have to go 13 under to match last year’s record mark.

Reed’s wife, Justine, watched some of the action as she recovers from a grand mal seizure Tuesday. The two shared a hug and kiss during the round.

“The doctor said everything was all clear so it was great to see her out here, it was awesome, taking a big weight off my shoulders,” Reed said.

Mike Weir and Retief Goosen were the only team to shoot over par (74) and dropped into last place at -10 for the week.

Jason Day et Cameron Tringale occupent toujours la tête du Franklin Templeton Shootout disputé selon la formule des coups alternés à l’issue de la deuxième ronde disputée vendredi sur les allées du Tiburon Golf Club , à Naples, en Floride.

Le duo Day-Tringale, qui a joué 64, détient présentement trois coups d’avance sur celui formé de Graeme McDowell et Gary Woodland, qui occupe le deuxième échelon à -22.

Les meneurs ont notamment calé six oiselets sur leurs huit premiers trous.

Matt Kuchar et Harris English, de leur côté, sont en troisième position à -21, un coup devant la paire Howell III-Verplank.

Les duos Bradley-Villegas, Horschel-Poulter et Reed-Snedeker, pour leur part, se partagent le cinquième échelon, un coup devant ceux composés de Leonard-Sabbatini et Palmer-Walker.

Samedi, les 12 équipes concluront le tournoi avec une ronde disputée selon la formule deux balles, meilleure balle.