• “Woods wasted no time dismissing fears that a neck strain that led to him missing the event at Bay Hill, where he’d won eight times, was a result of his back problems having flared up again.”

• “It’s not painful now,” reported the 14-time major winner, who, nonetheless, linked the injury to the spinal fusion surgery he underwent in April 2017. “It was getting to the point where it was affecting my set up, my backswing, my through swing. It was just gradually getting worse and that’s just because my lower back is fused. “The stress has to go somewhere if I don’t have movement, so it’s very important for me to keep pliable. I have to stay fit and I have to stay as loose as I possibly can for as long as I play out here.”

• Woods also states…”I have to be conscious that I can’t practice like I used to,” he said. “I can’t devote the hours I used to on every facet of my game. I have to pick 20 minutes here an hour there and focus on parts of my game. That’s how it is going to be going forward. I have to pick my days and I’ve got to pick my hours. On top of that, there are times I just can’t do it. I have to shut it down, just like I did last week. I had to shut it down to get ready for this week.”

Full piece.

• “On my way home from Toronto during the Canadian Open, I ran into Killen, whose story is every bit as compelling as the players he coaches. It was a random encounter at the Toronto airport, but I was compelled to introduce myself being hugely interested in his story. He’s a soft-spoken, Southern native with an overwhelming sense of confidence when he discusses golf mechanics. After a bit of small talk, we dug into his swing philosophies. I found myself dumbfounded with the ease in which he was able to explain body mechanics and clubface dynamics. That’s what the great teachers seemingly all have in common; their knowledge of the swing is ridiculously rich, but their ability to deliver the message simply and tailor it to the learning styles of each student is what breeds success.”

• “Although the attention on our golfing prodigies always seems to focus on the players, being a swing coach to those players at such a young age is far more unlikely than winning on the PGA Tour. Young teachers are at a disadvantage based on experience and time. So how can a strong, trusting relationship be built with someone so young? After all, information in regards to the golf swing, especially at that level, always just seems a bit more reliable coming from the mouth of say a 40- or 50-year-old guy who has made the rounds in golf academies, and/or was a successful player in his own right.”

• “Killen was just a skinny teenager who had the courage to speak up when his best friend’s father, Kenny Perry, was looking for something or someone to light the fire. With the burning passion of youth, Matt was the kid for the job. Most teenagers would have shied away from an intimidating situation like that. The saying, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” never seemed more appropriate.”

• “What’s Killen’s first point of focus when working with a top player?…”What’s gonna make them the most money?” Killen said.”

Full piece.

• “I would say a lot of people have found out that he was my putting coach this week. I had a lot of people [who] probably had no idea,” Thomas laughed.

• “Thomas explained he’s known Killen since he was 6 or 7 years old and characterized the duo’s relationship as more of a friendship than a business arrangement.”

• Thomas added…”He’s good at saying things in different ways,” Thomas said. “He can dumb it down for you as much as you want or get as technical as you want to try and help out.”

• “Champ, on the other hand, after missing two cuts in his last two starts, is going back to clubs that he played in the past after messing around with new equipment for much of 2019. Since his first PGA TOUR victory at the 2018 Sanderson Farms Championship, Champ has changed a lot of his equipment. He went from Ping iBlades with KBS Tour C-Taper irons to the new Ping Blueprint prototype irons with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts in 2019. He also changed into a new Ping G410 Plus driver with a longer shaft length, and while he’s played a Fujikura Pro Tour Spec 63 shaft for most of his professional career, Champ switched into an LA Golf Shafts prototype last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.”

• “For Champ, who’s ranked 94th in Strokes Gained Approach in 2019, it’s back to old faithfuls; Ping iBlades with KBS Tour C-Taper 130X shafts, and a Fujikura Pro Tour Spec 63 driver shaft at its original length.”

• “Cameron made a bunch of switches that were very positive,” Ping rep Kenton Oates told PGATOUR.COM. “I think they were good for him. But there’s value in — especially out here [on TOUR] — in what you’ve built and what you’ve done with [the equipment] you had. You can’t put a number on that. There’s no number on Trackman that says, ‘You hit a 6-iron to 20 feet at Sanderson Farms and made the putt for birdie to give you a three-shot lead.’ That you can’t value. So that’s always going to be in the back of your head, and that’s why this is going to be a positive move, just getting more back to a baseline of where he was at.”

• “…Several media members eventually fired back at those criticizing or laughing at Day’s expense, and Disneygate took on a life of its own.”

• “Day finally had a chance to weigh in during a Tuesday afternoon press conference at TPC Sawgrass, where he’s ready to go for the Players Championship after receiving four cortisone injections in and around his spine.”
• “That treatment took place last Thursday in Palm Beach, Fla., the day he withdrew at Bay Hill, and Day was instructed to walk around and stay active over the weekend.”
• “That’s why he was fine walking around a theme park with his family Friday, though he said he didn’t go on any of the rides.”

• Golf.com’s Luke Kerr-Dineen…”The list of new inductees to our Top 100 Teachers list was extraordinarily strong for 2019-2020. There were 16 in all, including the likes PGA of America President Suzy Whaley, Tony Finau’s golf coach Boyd Summerhays, and George Gankas, coach to highly-rated Oklahoma State amateur Matt Wolf.”

• “So this year, the Top 100 selection committee wanted to take the extra step of highlighting eight up-and-coming, digitally-minded young coaches and golf teachers to keep your eye on…”

• A few of the selections:…Erika Larkin…Trillium Rose…Corey Lundberg…Dan Carraher

While you’re at it, check out Golf’s full list of the Top 100 Teachers in America

• “From Sam Burns at the Honda Classic to Brandon Harkins at the Wells Fargo Championship to Mackenzie Hughes at the Players Championship to Joel Dahmen and Burgoon at the Quicken Loans to Shaun Norris at The Open to Austin Cook at the Northern Trust to Cody Gribble and Peter Malnati this year at the Genesis Open, Woods has seen no shortage of unfamiliar faces. Many of them were in high school or even grade school when he was dominating the game.”

• “Back then, Woods was not much for small talk on the golf course, especially among his so-called rivals. But these encounters have shown a softer side, as Woods is more willing to engage with his peers, recognizing that many of these younger players are truly ecstatic about the opportunity.”

• ‘”It was like a dream come true,” said Dahmen, 31, who is in his third full season on the PGA Tour and played with Woods during the third round of the Quicken Loans. “That night [prior] was kind of wild. Didn’t sleep well. Thought about what I was going to say to him. Should I come up with some jokes? I was kind of stunned, basically.”‘

• “TPC Sawgrass is greener thanks to the overseed of cool-season perennial ryegrass. But will it be more forgiving, or just a lot more interesting?

• “While no less testing thanks to Pete Dye’s intimidating design features, the change in hue has players believing that more length and aggressiveness will be necessary to contend in the first March Players Championship since 2007. At a golf course that lost some of its dramatic appeal during May playings, the change in vibe has players considering a more aggressive approach despite TPC Sawgrass’ ability to punish the presumptuous.”

• And this…”The primary unknown: just how much more players will attack a course known for showing no major biases by stout ball-striking, mastery of misses and a generally conservative approach. Early on, however, players sound freed up by the slightly softer feel and richer look of TPC Sawgrass.”

• Golf Digest’s Stephen Hennessey on a couple of DeChambeau-related charity auctions…”The proceeds go toward a charitable donation to the Bryson DeChambeau foundation, so your cash will be well-spent-and you’ll get to relieve Tucker of his duties for the day and carry the bag at Harbour Town.”

• “Oh, and you can also bid to play in the RBC Heritage pro-am alongside Bryson, with the proceeds directly benefiting Bryson’s newly formed foundation.”

• “The current bid to play with DeChambeau is $10,000, slightly less money than it would actually cost to pay for a spot in a PGA Tour pro-am, which is typically $15,000. But we expect that bid to go higher, as the auction was just announced. And the “value” of the spot in the RBC Heritage, is projected by CharityBuzz to be $50,000, so $10,000 is truly a value. The bid to caddie for DeChambeau is $4,000.”