AUSTIN, Texas – One shot into the match, Jordan Spieth already was in a golf cart being driven back to the tee.

It took three holes before Patrick Reed had to putt.

The most anticipated match turned into a sloppy affair Friday when Spieth hit one shot out-of-bounds, two shots into a hazard and three times gave away a chance to win the hole by three-putting.

And right when it looked as though Spieth might still have a chance, Reed buried him with a 40-foot birdie putt from behind the 17th green for a 2-and-1 victory in the Dell Technologies Match Play that sent Reed into the weekend and Spieth searching for answers.

“I don’t think it would have been that tough to beat me today,” Spieth said.

Reed was tough enough when it mattered. He seized control with the prettiest shot of the match, a knockdown wedge into the wind that grazed the front edge of the cup on the 13th for a 2-up lead. He ended it with a putt that looked as though it might go 8 feet by until the hole got in the way.

“Just happened to be the perfect line,” Reed said. “Thank God, because that thing was moving.”

Reed is among 16 players who won their group on Friday at Austin Country Club and advanced to single-elimination on the weekend, all of them from matches away from a World Golf Championships title.

That group includes Justin Thomas, at No. 2 the top seed remaining, who can go to No. 1 in the world by winning.

It doesn’t include Dustin Johnson, the defending champion who played so poorly that none of the three matches he lost made it to the 18th hole. Johnson left the gallery with one parting shot, a 489-yard drive that would be the longest in PGA Tour history except that stats from Match Play are not official.

Rory McIlroy had a chance to advance except that he was beaten soundly by Brian Harman.

And it doesn’t include Spieth, who now has gone seven tournaments since his last top 10.

“I’m human and I’m realistic that based on the way the year’s gone … it’s been kind of a trying time for me, especially on and round the greens,” Spieth said. “Stuff I took for granted in setup and pace control and all that kind of stuff … has been a little bit more difficult. And I’ve been trying to figure out how to get back to that level, and I’ve been trying different things.”

Thomas and Sergio Garcia (No. 7) were the only top-10 seeds to advance to the fourth round. Thomas had the easiest time, a 7-and-5 victory over Francesco Molinari. Asked how he felt going into the weekend, Thomas replied, “The same as the other 16 guys. We all start at the same place.”

Phil Mickelson was eliminated when Charles Howell III, who beat Lefty on Wednesday, completed a 3-0 mark in group play by beating Satoshi Kodaira.

Howell and Ian Poulter, who swept his matches when Kevin Chappell conceded at the turn with a back injury, still have a chance to earn a spot in the Masters by getting into the top 50 at the end of the week. They both need to win at least one more match.

Paul Casey might have had the toughest day: He lost twice.

Casey only had to halve his match to advance for the third time in four years. He lost to Matt Fitzpatrick, and even then had a chance to win his group if the other match was halved. Instead, Kyle Stanley made an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win, and then he beat Casey on the second hole of a playoff.

Tyrrell Hatton also was forced into a playoff, and he beat Brendan Steele on the first extra hole.

The tightest match was Alex Noren and Tony Finau, one of four matches between players who had not lost all week. Finau won three straight holes on the back nine to take a 1-up lead, only to lose the 14th with a bogey. With the match all square, Noren made a 10-foot birdie at the 17th to go 1 up, and then holed a 15-foot par putt on the final hole to avoid going to a playoff with Finau.

Noren now has won seven of his last eight matches in his event, his only loss coming to Johnson in the quarterfinals last year.

Garcia won on the 17th hole against Xander Schauffele and won his group for the first time since it switched to pool play in 2014. He also becomes the home favourite from living part-time in Austin, where his wife gave birth to their first child last week.

Si Woo Kim outlasted Webb Simpson on the 18th hole to advance.

Matt Kuchar made a hole-in-one in a 6-and-4 victory over Ross Fisher to advance to the weekend for the second time in three years.

Vubba Watson birdied his last two holes to earn a halve against Julian Suri and avoid a playoff. Watson next faces Harman, a match of Georgia lefties.

Louis Oosthuizen beat Jason Day with two clutch putts, and then won the group with a 12-foot par putt in a playoff to beat Jason Dufner. This is the third time in four years that Oosthuizen has reached the weekend.

Kevin Kisner, a 4-and-3 winner over Johnson, figured he was headed for a playoff when Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., took a 1-up lead on the 18th over Bernd Wiesberger. But then Wiesberger holed a 20-foot putt for birdie, Hadwin missed his par putt from 12 feet and Kisner won the group.

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – Corey Conners continues to make a name for himself.

The 26-year-old Listowel, Ont., native put up a scorching nine-birdie effort en route to an opening-round 64, one stroke off the lead held by American Brice Garnett. In his 66th career round on the PGA TOUR, Thursday’s round marked his career-low, bettering his previous-best 66 (-4), which he posted in the second round of the 2018 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Conners, a Team Canada program graduate, is in chase of the outright lead for a second time in three weeks—he held the first, second and third-round leads at the Valspar Championship  after coming into that week as third alternate.

In his rookie season on the PGA TOUR, Conners has made 10 cuts in 11 events. He’ll tee off at 12:50 p.m. in Friday’s second round.

We see you, @coreconn! ??

He's knocking at the door again with an opening 8-under 64 to grab 2nd place early on at the @CoralesChamp ?? pic.twitter.com/0lphySWrsU

— RBC Canadian Open (@RBCCanadianOpen) March 22, 2018

Garnett was 10 shots better than his opening round at Punta Cana last year, when it was a Web.com Tour event. He shot 73-67 and missed the cut.

“I think last year I just kind of approached the golf course wrong,” Garnett said of the generous fairways on the resort course. “To me, this is a second shot golf course. Everybody’s in play off the tee and it comes down to a putting competition.”

Jonathan Byrd was in a large group at 66, while former Puerto Rico Open winner George McNeill was among those at 67.

AUSTIN, Texas – Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed enjoy few things more than trying to beat each other, and that’s when they are partners. The stakes are even higher in the Dell Technologies Match Play.

Win or go home.

Spieth and Reed did their part Thursday by winning their matches for a second straight day to set up a showdown on the skirts of Hill Country in Texas. They play Friday to determine who wins the group and advances to the weekend of this World Golf Championship.

Reed fired the first shot when asked what made Spieth a good opponent in match play.

“I don’t know. My back still hurts from the last Ryder Cup,” he said with a laugh, alluding to the way he carried Spieth in their partnership at Hazeltine to a 2-1-1 record in team play during a rare American victory.

Spieth dodged trouble early against Li Haotong, who missed putts inside 8 feet on two of the opening three holes, won the second hole when Spieth hit into the hazard and thought he won the fourth hole until Spieth matched his birdie by chipping in from short of the green.

Spieth never trailed and pulled away with a savvy play on the par-4 13th over the water and into the wind. He hit driver well to the right toward the gallery, which gave him a clear look at the green without having to hit over any of the lake. His pitch-and-run settled a foot away for birdie and a 2-up lead, and Spieth closed him out, 4 and 2.

Right behind was Reed in his match against Charl Schwartzel, and the South African was 2 up at the turn until Reed won the next two holes to set up a tight finish. Schwartzel stayed 1 down when he missed a 5-foot par putt on the 17th. Needing a birdie on the 18th to halve, Schwartzel could only watch as Reed hit a wedge that nearly went in and stopped a few inches away.

Reed and Spieth are 7-2-2 as partners in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. They are 1-1 in PGA Tour playoffs, with Reed hitting through the greens to short birdie range when he won the Wyndham Championship in 2013, and Spieth returning the favour in 2015 at Innisbrook by winning a playoff with a 30-foot putt.

They don’t have much of a relationship except in team competitions, and even then it’s unusual.

“Because we’re so competitive with each other within our own pairing at the Ryder Cup, we want to outdo each other. That’s what makes us successful,” Spieth said. “Tiger says it’s a phenomenon. It’s not something that he’s used to seeing in those team events. Normally you’re working together. But we want to beat each other every time. In alternate shot, if we don’t win a hole, I want it to be his fault and he wants it to be my fault.

“We’ve almost played every single match we’ve been involved in together against each other,” he said. “We just happen to be wearing the same colours.”

Reed and Spieth have advanced out of group play just once, both in 2016 at Austin Country Club, and both lost fourth-round matches.

“He’s not going to give you holes,” Reed said. “You have to go and play some good golf. And that’s what it’s going to down to. Because I plan on not giving him any holes.”

That isn’t the only match between undefeated players this week.

Alex Noren of Sweden had another easy time, beating Thomas Pieters in 14 holes, and won for the sixth time in his last seven matches. He faces Tony Finau, who dispatched of Kevin Na to win his second straight match.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson will effectively play a practice round Friday. A year after the world’s No. 1 player couldn’t be beaten, Johnson couldn’t beat anybody. He lost to Bernd Wiesberger on Wednesday, and fell behind early in a 4-and-3 loss to Adam Hadwin on Thursday.

Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson still have life.

McIlroy had an easy time beating Jhonattan Vegas, while Brian Harman knocked out Peter Uihlein in the other match in their group. Harman will win the group if he beats McIlroy on Friday; McIlroy has to win to have any chance of making it to the weekend.

“At least I’ve given myself a chance to progress,” he said.

Mickelson, who lost to Charles Howell III in the opening round, rallied from 4 down after eight holes and won the last three holes to beat Satoshi Kodaira. Mickelson still needs Howell, who won against on Thursday, to lose a match.

AUSTIN, Texas – Rory McIlroy put together another flawless back nine, running off five straight birdies.

This time, it wasn’t enough.

Former U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein built a 5-up lead against McIlroy and held off his late charge with enough key shots of his own in a 2-and-1 victory, one of several surprises Wednesday in the opening session of the Dell Technologies Match Play.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson hit two shots out-of-bounds on the same hole, another tee shot in the hazard and couldn’t make the putts that he couldn’t afford to miss on the back nine. He wound up losing on the 17th hole to Bernd Wiesberger.

Adam Hadwin was 1 down on the 17th green and could only watch as Kisner stood over a 10-foot putt for the win. Kisner missed, then missed the 4-foot par putt to lose the hole, and they each made par on the 18th for the halve.

Justin Thomas also got a scare, mainly because his opponent had to putt with a sand wedge over the last 12 holes.

McIlroy was coming off a victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational just three days ago, when he birdied five of his last six holes to win by three shots.

“I felt it was going to go two different ways,” Uihlein said. “When a guy comes off a win, next week out they’re either a little flat or still as hot as can be and they’re just going to blitz it.”

McIlroy was a little of both. He had a bogey, a double bogey and no birdies as Uihlein raced out to a 5-up lead through 10 holes. McIlroy began his run of five straight birdies on No. 12, and it might have been enough had Uihlein not matched him with a birdie at the 12th and another one on the 13th, when he laid up into the wind on the short par 4 over water and stuffed a wedge into 5 feet.

“I made him earn it at least,” McIlroy said. “I just came away a little fat. I didn’t really necessarily play badly. He didn’t make a bogey all day, so it was hard to sort of claw my way back.”

McIlroy, along with Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Tommy Fleetwood, now have to do some serious clawing to win their groups. All of them lost the opening match in their four-man groups and will need some help to advance to the weekend.

In the two years this round-robin format has been used, only four players have lost on Wednesday and won their group.

One of them was Johnson two years ago.

The world’s No. 1 player lost his first lead by driving into the hazard, another 1-up lead with he drove out-of-bounds twice on the par-5 sixth hole, and he was in serious trouble when his tee shot on the par-3 11th hit off the rocks guarding the green and into the lake, falling 2 down.

“I thought it was the easiest game I could have,” Wiesberger said. “I’m the underdog playing the defending championship. Just go out there and see what happens.”

Plenty happened on the first day as the 18-hole matches lived up to their fickle reputation.

Thomas, who had his wisdom teeth pulled two weeks ago and now is recovering from strep throat, built a 3-up lead that looked even larger when Luke List, whom Thomas beat in a playoff to win the Honda Classic, swung his putter into the hedges after losing the hole at No. 7.

Except those weren’t hedges.

“Turned out to be a wall,” List said.

It bent the grip of his putter enough that he could no longer use the damaged club in the round. List putted with the leading edge of his sand wedge, and he fought back to take Thomas to the 18th hole.

“When he started putted with the wedge, I knew that it would hopefully make it easier on me,” Thomas said. “But it didn’t.”

Jordan Spieth won his opening match over Charl Schwartzel by winning three straight holes to build a 3-up lead through 14 and holding on for a 2-and-1 victory. Spieth again missed a few short putts early in the round when he could have seized control.

The match ended with a peculiar twist. Schwartzel missed his birdie putt on No. 17, meaning Spieth had two putts from 5 feet to win the match. Schwartzel made him hit both putts, the second one from just over 2 feet.

“I missed some shorties to start the round. I don’t hold that against Charl,” Spieth said. “I didn’t enjoy hitting that second putt, and that’s the point.”

Charles Howell III birdied the 12th and 13th holes to go 3 up on Mickelson, who made only one birdie in 16 holes. Mickelson lost his opening match for the first time since John Cook beat him in 2002 at La Costa.

Mickelson, McIlroy and Johnson can’t afford another loss, and even that might not be enough to reach the knockout stage on the weekend.

Six of the matches were halved, and three of them felt like victories.

Zach Johnson was 4 down after 14 holes against Matt Kuchar when the two-time major champion birdied the final four holes for a draw.

Keegan Bradley was 2 up with three to play against 2017 finalist Jon Rahm when he bogeyed two of the last three holes in a match that ended in a tie.

Pat Perez rallied from 3 down with seven holes remaining to halve with Si Woo Kim.

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – David Hearn is going to make his debut at Augusta National in two weeks.

Unfortunately for the 38-year-old, it won’t be on the course. Instead it was announced by TSN that Hearn would be joining the broadcast booth for this year, providing unique insights that only a longtime PGA Tour player could provide.

He said Wednesday before teeing it up at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship that this opportunity was an exciting one, but it’s sparked a bit of a fire in Hearn as well.

“It’s probably a bit more motivating to be asked to do something like that, versus anything else. To keep working on my game and to try to get (to the Masters) without having to get there with media,” said Hearn with a smile.

Hearn is playing this week in the Dominican Republic, an opposite-field event to the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship (Mike Weir and Corey Conners are the other two Canadians in the field), his eighth event of the 2017-18 PGA Tour season.

The native of Brantford, Ont. finished 128th on the FedEx Cup standings a year ago, just missing out on early full status for this season. He said at the end of last year he wasn’t going to mind taking a little time at home with his growing family (he and his wife had their third child in early 2017) but now that the season has begun to chug along and he hasn’t had the results he’s wanted – missing his last three cuts in a row – he’s getting anxious to get back into a more regular routine of tournaments.

“I think I’m ready to go,” he said with a laugh Wednesday.

He admitted he didn’t play well on the west coast in the events that he did get into, but he’s motivated to get going through this key part of the season.

“I’m rested and ready,” he said. “Hopefully I can put together a good week this week and roll it into another good one.”

Hearn played every PGA Tour season since 2011 before falling out of the top 125 on the FedEx Cup last year. His best year was 2015 when he finished 55th. That was the year he finished third at the RBC Canadian Open, playing in the final group on Sunday at Glen Abbey Golf Club.

He said this year has made him realize, despite his veteran status, that every event is an important one.

“Maybe in past years when I have had access to every event all year long… you take it for granted a little bit,” he said. “But, given this year, my schedule is going to be a little more limited so each event I get in, I have to be prepared and ready to go.”

The Corales Golf Course is set to measure 7,600 yards this week, and more than 4,000 of those yards will come on the back nine – with two par fives tipping out longer than 620 yards.

He said length is definitely a factor this week, but the unpredictable tropical winds will also play into the scoring.

“A lot will depend on how the wind blows and how tricky they want to make those pin placements,” said Hearn. “There is enough length on this golf course that it’s going to be hard to make a lot of birdies hitting long irons into the greens.”

Hearn will be paired with 2012 RBC Canadian Open winner Scott Piercy and two-time major champion John Daly for the first two rounds of the tournament.

And although a win won’t get Hearn into this year’s Masters as a player, he’s hoping a solid finish will spur him on to get into the tournament itself in 2019.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Tiger Woods put on a Sunday charge at Bay Hill that looked all too familiar.

One swing changed everything at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Coming off three birdies and two pars saves that brought him to within one shot of the lead, Woods hammered a tee shot so far left on the par-5 16th hole that it went over the fence, into a backyard and out-of-bounds.

A birdie or better turned into a bogey, and ultimately it didn’t matter when Rory McIlroy closed with five birdies in his last six holes to win. Woods made bogey from the bunker on the next hole and had to make a 12-foot par putt on the final hole for a 3-under 69 to finish eight shots behind.

The margin didn’t reflect the anticipation that Woods might win in his remarkable return from a fourth back surgery.

It was the second straight Sunday that Woods got within one shot of the lead on the back nine. His next stop is the Masters, which Woods has missed three times in the last four years and will be among the favourites at Augusta National for the first time in five years.

Woods was bothered more by the mental mistake than the swing on the 16th hole.

“I was caught. I didn’t decide what I was going to do,” Woods said. “That’s on me for not committing.”

A vintage Sunday charge.@TigerWoods is 3 under thru four holes on the back nine. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/0aePOvXVrC

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 18, 2018

The 16th hole was playing shorter than usual at 496 yards with firm fairways. Woods didn’t hit the fairway the previous three rounds and still made birdie. He said his options were a driver that he could shape between the left rough and the bunkers on the right, or pound a driver over the bunkers, or simply hit a 3-wood down the fairway and have no more than an 8-iron into the green.

He opted for driver, and then couldn’t decide whether to shape the shot or blast it.

He blasted it, all right.

Woods watched it sail to the left and hung his head when he received the signal that it was out-of-bounds. He drilled the next tee shot 358 yards down the middle, hit wedge to 25 feet and missed the par putt.

“It’s not that hard of a hole,” Woods said. “I wasn’t committed to either one of the three shots I was supposed to hit.

Woods won all eight of his titles at the Arnold Palmer Invitational playing in the final group. He was five shots behind going into the final round, though he had nine players – including three major champions – in front of him.

He began creeping up on the leaders with birdies on the par 5s on the front. He was four shots behind going to the back nine when he began his run with five one-putts in five holes, three of them for birdie. When he made it from 15 feet on the fringe, he was one shot behind and the enormous crowd could be heard everywhere on the course.

Woods still had plenty of work left, and he knew it.

“Even though I got up there, I knew I had to keep making birdies. Those guys had so many holes behind me,” Woods said. “I got to 16 and figured I’ve got to play the last three in 3 under to have a chance. Even that wouldn’t be good enough the way Rory is playing back there.”

Moments after Woods’ tee shot when out-of-bounds, McIlroy made birdie putts of 15 feet on No. 13 and 20 feet on No. 14, and if that wasn’t enough, he chipped in from 40 feet on the 15th to start pulling away.

One thing was clear during the Florida swing. That red shirt on Sunday is back in vogue.

Woods finished 12th at the Honda Classic, was a runner-up in his first time playing the Valspar Championship and tied for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

“If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year that I would have had a chance to win two golf tournaments, I would have taken that in a heartbeat,” he said.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Henrik Stenson had a hot putter, a much quieter crowd and a one-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

One week after Stenson returned from his winter break and spent two days with Tiger Woods and his raucous crowds, he made birdie on half of the holes at Bay Hill for an 8-under 64, his lowest round ever on the course the King built.

PGA Tour rookies Aaron Wise and Talor Gooch each had 65. Wise missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole.

Woods again brought out big crowds in the unseasonable chill Thursday morning and gave them quite a show. He hit a tee shot that was out-of-bounds by inches. He atoned for that with a 70-foot birdie putt. And he wound up with a 68, his best opening round since he returned this year from a fourth back surgery.

“I feel like I’m not really thinking as much around the golf course,” Woods said. “I can just see and feel it and go.”

WOW!!! ?@TigerWoods from 71 feet …#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/xO7XWJVv9p

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 15, 2018

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., was tied for 48th after shooting an even-par 72. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was 2-over 74 and tied for 86th.

Each week is a little better for Woods, and Stenson saw the progress last week. The 41-year-old Swede typically takes a month off between the Middle East swing and the Florida swing, and he returned last week to a grouping of Woods and Jordan Spieth. That didn’t bother him as much as his poor putting.

Bay Hill provided a change in both areas.

“It’s great to see him back competing, but it was a little loud out there last week,” Stenson said. “But that comes with the excitement of having him back and seeing him play well, so I thought it was great. … I guess it’s nice to get a little bit of a breather at times, though.”

It really helps to be putting well, especially on pure greens at Bay Hill that already had a yellow hue to them. He spent the weekend at home in Orlando working with Phil Kenyon, his putting coach, and it seemed to help. Stenson took only 20 putts, tying his personal best for fewest putts in a round on the PGA Tour.

He ran off five straight birdies around the turn, and he followed his lone bogey at the par-3 14th with two birdies and a 10-foot par save.

Woods had no complaints, and about the only thing that went wrong – except for the tee shot on No. 3 that went OB – was his prediction before he left Bay Hill. He was happy with anything in the 60s and said, “There won’t be a lot of rounds out there that will be in the 60s. The golf course is playing difficult.”

There were 13 more rounds in the 60s in the afternoon, including Ernie Els and Rory McIlroy at 69.

Only one of them was pleased with it. Els, who has gone more than a year since his last finish in the top 30, dropped only one shot, on the opening hole. McIlroy had five birdies through 10 holes and then hit out-of-bounds on the 18th hole for a double bogey.

Coming off a runner-up finish at the Valspar Championship that raised expectations of a victory being closer than ever, Woods started and finished strong, with one mishap in the middle.

His drive on No. 3, his 12th hole of the round, sailed to the right and went off a cart path and toward the houses. Only when he reached the ball did Woods find it had rolled into the bottom of a mesh fence. It looked like it was in play, except the poles on the waist-high fence were the boundaries, and his ball was inches outside of them.

He went back to the tee, sprayed the next tee shot under a tree and made double bogey.

And then came the big finish – two birdies on the par 5s, including a bold flop shot from a tight lie over a bunker at No. 6, and the 70-foot putt he was hoping would be close. Woods immediately pressed his hand down, asking for the ball to slow down, and then watched it drop for a most unlikely birdie.

“I was trying to lag it down there and just make my par and get out of here,” he said. “It had to crash at the hole – which I’m not complaining – and it went in.”

He closed with a 12-foot putt to save par from the bunker.

Former PGA champion Jimmy Walker, Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau were at 67.

Walker was on the other side of the golf course finishing up at the same time as Woods. He holed a wedge from 132 yards on the 18th for an eagle, matching his best score at Bay Hill. It was especially gratifying because he wasn’t even planning to play this week.

He had a trip to Augusta National planned with some friends and club members and thought it was this weekend. Instead, it was meant to be Monday and Tuesday. Walker’s wife, Erin, has a horse-jumping show in West Palm Beach. The kids are with their grandparents skiing in Utah.

“I figured I might as well play,” Walker said.

He had two days at Augusta National, didn’t have a practice round at Bay Hill and felt right at home.

“It’s just golf,” he shrugged. “Just hit the shots. I’ve done so many Monday qualifiers earlier in my career where you never see the golf course. Sometimes it helps because you’re not overdoing it.”

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA – Presidents Cup and PGA TOUR officials today announced Ernie Els and Tiger Woods as captains of the International and U.S. Teams, respectively, for the 2019 Presidents Cup at The Royal Melbourne Golf Course in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. While both will be first-time captains at the event, the two are the most experienced captains in terms of Presidents Cup competition and were the primary figures in the 2003 event held in South Africa, where Woods and Els competed in a dramatic sudden-death playoff that ultimately ended in a tie and the two teams sharing the Cup.

Els has competed in the Presidents Cup eight times (1996, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013), tied for most by an International Team member. Woods, also an eight-time U.S. Presidents Cup Team member (1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013), holed the winning putt for the United States in 2009, 2011 and 2013 – the only player to clinch the Cup three times. Both Woods and Els served as captain’s assistants for their respective teams in 2017.

“Ernie Els and Tiger Woods have each been part of the fabric of the Presidents Cup as competitors and as ambassadors to the event,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “Ernie carries the flag for international golf as a legendary figure both on and off the golf course, while Tiger has been one of the most transcendent athletes the sport has ever seen. These two have served, and will continue to serve, as a bridge between past team members and captains who laid the foundation for the Presidents Cup and the stars of today who are embracing the hallmarks of the event – golf on a global stage, a love and passion for the game and the impact the Presidents Cup has in emerging markets and through charity.”

In addition to the announcement of the two captains, officials also unveiled minor changes to format requirements and eligibility for the 2019 Presidents Cup. Each player shall play a minimum of one match prior to the final-round singles matches. This is a change from past years where players were required to play twice during the same timeframe. Additionally, the top eight players for the International and U.S. Team standings will officially qualify following the completion of the 2019 TOUR Championship. Captains will later select four captains’ picks (at date to be determined) closer to the December 2019 event.

Els and Woods have combined for 97 PGA TOUR victories, including 20 World Golf Championships events and 18 major championship titles, with 59 additional wins internationally. Following the completion of the 34 matches at the 2003 Presidents Cup in South Africa, the score was tied at 17, which meant a sudden-death playoff between Els and Woods as selected by then-captains Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. With sunlight fading, both players made pars on the first playoff hole. With Woods in for par on the second playoff hole, Els knocked in his 12-footer to halve.  The two again traded dramatic par putts on the third playoff hole with darkness upon them. It was then decided to end the competition and declare the event a tie.

Ernie Els

Els is tied with Vijay Singh and Adam Scott with eight appearances in the event with an overall record of 20-18-2. He is tied for most all-time match appearances on the International Team in Presidents Cup history (40, Vijay Singh) and has won more matches than any other International Team member (20). The World Golf Hall of Fame member has 19 career PGA TOUR victories to his credit, including four major championships between the U.S. Open (1994, 1997) and The Open Championship (2002, 2012). The former world No. 1 and native South African has also made his mark internationally with 47 total victories spread across the European Tour and South African Tour, representing South Africa five times in the World Cup (1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2001) as well as nine times in the Alfred Dunhill Cup (1992-2000).

Els will be the sixth person to serve as a captain for the International Team (Nick Price – 2017, 2015, 2013; Greg Norman – 2011, 2009; Gary Player – 2007, 2005, 2003; Peter Thomson– 2000, 1998, 1996; David Graham – 1994).

“The Presidents Cup has provided me with many of the best memories of my career,” said Els.  “To be named captain of the team is an incredible honor. There is a fun and talented group of young players emerging from all across the globe for the International Team, and I am eager to accept the responsibility of building a winner when we face the United States at one of my favorite courses and cities in the world at Royal Melbourne. Tiger and I have had some great duels in the past, and I look forward to the challenge of going against my longtime friend yet again in 2019.”

Tiger Woods

Woods has a Presidents Cup record of 24-15-1 since his first appearance on the 1998 U.S. Team, and he is one of five players to go 5-0-0 during a single event (2009). His 24 matches won ranks second all-time to Phil Mickelson’s 26, and his six victories in singles matches is the most in the event’s history.

Woods will be the eighth player to captain the U.S. Team (Steve Stricker – 2017; Jay Haas – 2015; Fred Couples – 2013, 2011, 2009; Jack Nicklaus – 2007, 2005, 2003, 1998; Ken Venturi – 2000; Arnold Palmer – 1996; Hale Irwin – 1994).

“After working as a captain’s assistant for Steve in 2017, I realized that I wanted to captain the 2019 event at Royal Melbourne,” said Woods. “I’m proud to follow in the footsteps of past captains like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Ken Venturi, Fred Couples, Jay Haas and Steve Stricker. The core group of players on the U.S. Team have a lot of talent, enthusiasm and great team camaraderie. They are easy-going and fun to be around off the course, but extremely competitive inside the ropes. I have no doubt that Ernie will have the International Team ready to go in Melbourne, and I cannot think of a more fitting captain to carry the tradition of goodwill through competition than Ernie Els. The Sandbelt courses of Australia are some of my favorite in the world, and I’m looking forward to seeing Royal Melbourne again.”

The 2019 Presidents Cup will be held December 9-15, 2019, when it returns to the prestigious Royal Melbourne Golf Club. The return to Melbourne, Australia, will mark the third time in the biennial event’s 25-year history it has been held at the renowned Sandbelt course, as the event was previously held in Melbourne in 1998 and 2011, also at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

Melbourne also holds the distinction as the site of the lone International Team’s victory in 1998, which saw Peter Thomson’s International Team defeat Jack Nicklaus’ U.S. Team, 20.5 to 11.5.  In 2011, Fred Couples led the U.S. Team to a 19-15 win over Greg Norman and the Internationals. The 1998 event was also held in December, a date that traditionally works well with other golf tournaments held in Australia.

After holding the 54-hole lead at the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship Saturday night, Corey Conners let his mind wander.

Conners was in a position to become just the second rookie to win on Tour in the 2017-18 season – and the first Canadian since Adam Hadwin captured the same event last year – and a win for the first-year golfer would go a long way. He’d secure his Tour card for two years, he’d get into the Masters and there would be a US$1.1 million payday.

Those thoughts faded as Sunday’s round wore on. Conners shot his worst round of the week, a 6-over-par 77, and finished tied for 16th well back of Paul Casey’s winning mark of 10-under.

The 26-year-old from Listowel, Ont., is looking at the tournament as a stepping stone as his rookie season continues.

“I always believed that I could contend and get myself in the mix, but to have done it is awesome. I take a lot of confidence from that,” he said Monday from his home in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Conners almost didn’t make it into the field last week, listed as the third alternate because of his status on the PGA TOUR’s priority list.

After a few golfers withdrew, Conners got a call from the PGA TOUR last Monday saying he was in. As he teed off in the first round, he felt he was playing with nothing to lose.

He only got to play one practice round, but Conners – who has a degree in actuary mathematics, essentially the study and analysis of risk – didn’t mind.

“I just tried to take some good notes on how to tackle the course and I feel like it was pretty effective,” he said.

Conners, who moved up 89 spots to No. 519 in the Official World Golf Ranking thanks to his finish, had a number of supporters last week in Tampa, Fla. Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum said he was impressed to see how Conners handled such a big moment so early in his career.

“There is no doubt he can take so much away from this experience and will be better for it,” Applebaum said.

A group from Conners’ home golf course in Listowel, about two hours from Toronto, flew down Saturday morning. Fellow Golf Canada team member (and fellow Kent State University alum) Taylor Pendrith also flew from Toronto to Tampa once it was confirmed Conners would be in the final group of the day.

Another Golf Canada and Kent State teammate, Mackenzie Hughes, had missed the cut Friday, but stuck around on the weekend. He was in the gallery Sunday to cheer on Conners, and, as a PGA Tour winner himself, said Conners has all the tools to eventually win as well.

“It doesn’t surprise me to see that Corey is good enough to win on the PGA TOUR? I knew that as soon as he got out here,” said Hughes. “But it probably takes him seeing that and being there to fully believe it. You always believe that you are (good enough), but until you put yourself there, around a lead, that’s when you fully grasp that you know you’re good enough.”

Conners said he received some words of encouragement from his fellow players and a lot of nice messages from his friends before teeing it up Sunday, calling the support “hard to describe.:

He admitted there wasn’t much for the crowd to cheer for Sunday as he made no birdies and didn’t recover from bogeys two of his first three holes, but what he learned this week will be invaluable moving forward.

“I was able to stay in the game pretty well. I was happy about that, but didn’t play like I wanted to,” he said of his round on Sunday.

“I’ll look back on the experience from the final round and just make sure I’m really focused the next time I’m in that position and make good decisions and commit to shots. It’s definitely an experience I’ll look back on in the future, and something I’ll get a lot of confidence from.”

Mike Weir has been inspiring Canadian junior golfers his entire career.

Now the former Masters champion and eight-time PGA TOUR winner will deliver the golf experience of a lifetime to four aspiring young golfers who will participate in the inaugural Major Champions Invitational.

Led by Sir Nick Faldo, the 2018 Major Champions Invitational invites Major champions to sponsor a team of junior golfers and provide the unforgettable experience of being mentored by world-class champions and renowned golf professionals.

The inaugural event will be played at Bella Collina, in Montverde, FL near Orlando from March 11-14. Teams consist of four (4) top-tier junior golfers (male or female) sponsored by a major champion, their sponsor or an affiliated non-profit organization.

For Weir, sponsoring juniors from his home and native land to play alongside competitors from around the globe was a natural extension of his commitment to help support and develop the next generation of golfers.

“I am excited to support this great event put on by Sir Nick Faldo and to give this experience to the next generation of Canadian golfers,” said the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member and recent inductee into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. “I hope these junior athletes will be exposed to lots of great talent and quality people in the golf world, all while raising funds for a great cause.”

Team Weir will include sponsored Canadians Jeevan Sihota, of Victoria, BC (13), Taylor Kehoe of Strathroy, Ont. (14) and Luca Cimoroni of Toronto (13) along with 14-year old Berlin Long of Lehi, Utah, the state where Weir currently resides.

The Major Champions Invitational is an extension event of the Faldo Series, whose mission is to provide global opportunities to young people through golf and help identify and nurture the next generation of champions.  Past participants of the Faldo Series include Rory McIlroy, Yani Tseng, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley.

Participating and/or represented Major Champions supporting the inaugural Major Champions Invitational include:

• Seve Ballesteros
• Tony Jacklin
• Jerry Pate
• Henrik Stenson
• Keegan Bradley
• Dustin Johnson
• Justin Rose
• Payne Stewart
• John Daly
• Nancy Lopez
• Adam Scott
• Tom Watson
• Nick Faldo
• Rory McIlroy
• Annika Sorenstam
• Mike Weir
• Jim Furyk
• Jack Nicklaus
• Jordan Spieth

Led by Faldo, a six-time Major winner who will be onsite all three days to host the junior participants, the legends of golf will share advice from years of experience at the highest level of the game.

All net proceeds will go toward the Faldo Trust for Tomorrow’s Children Inc., a U.S. 501c3 organization.

The Major Champions Invitational will also be featured in a one-hour special on CBS leading into Saturday’s coverage of the PGA Championship with a focus on players and their foundations giving back through the game of golf.

For more information visit www.majorchampionsinvitational.com.