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Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as we turn our attention to the Fortinet Championship with the Ryder Cup right around the corner.

1. Tiger sighting

Mike Hall for Golf Monthly…”Tiger Woods appears to be stepping up his latest preparations for a comeback after being filmed hitting one-handed chips on the driving range at Liberty National in New Jersey.”

• “Woods’ appearance, alongside Will Zalatoris, who is recovering from back surgery, and Rickie Fowler, came ahead of the Nexus Cup, which benefits his foundation. It was also accompanied by a live Q&A session broadcast on Instagram by golf brand Eastside Golf, and will encourage fans who hope to see him back in action sooner rather than later.”

• “The 47-year-old has only made two competitive starts in 2023, with the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in February and the Masters two months later.”

2. Tiger Woods left totally confused by Rickie Fowler’s putter during Liberty National clinic

Our Matt Vincenzi…“During the clinic, Woods took Fowler’s Odyssey Jailbird out of the back and began to question him on his putting technique.”

• “I never thought we’d hear the day where Tiger Woods asked for a putting lesson,” the host quipped to the crowd.

• “Woods messed around with the Jailbird, taking some strokes with the putter.”

• “How do you take the putter back? I can’t get the head to move,” Woods asked.

• “I just don’t think about it.” Fowler replied.

• “Woods: “So where are your feet? What takes the clubhead back? I can’t move it.”

• “Fowler: “I wanted to quiet down the left side throughout the strike.”

• “Woods: “Why would you want to do that?”

• “Fowler: “It calms my hands down to where I didn’t get ‘handsy’”.

• “Woods: “I understand, I got it.”

3. No Tour, LIV, PIF officials to attend Senate hearing

Rex Hoggard…”Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) will continue his examination of Saudi Arabia’s move into professional golf and other U.S.-based investments through its Public Investment Fund, in a hearing scheduled for Wednesday in Washington D.C.”

• “The hearing, dubbed the “PGA Tour-LIV Deal: Examining the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund’s Investments in the United States,” follows a similar hearing in July when Tour officials were questioned about the circuit’s framework agreement with the PIF.”

• “Wednesday’s hearing will feature testimony from Benjamin Freeman, the director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft; Brian Murphy, the managing director of Logically AI Inc.; and Joey Shea with Human Rights Watch.”

• “No officials from the Tour, the PIF or LIV Golf are scheduled to testify at the hearing.”

4. New No. 1

LPGA report…”Twenty-year-old Ruoning Yin has reached No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for the first time in her young career, according to the latest Rankings update. She becomes the 18th different player to reach No. 1 in the world and, for the first time in the history of the Rolex Rankings, the fifth-different player to hold the position in the same calendar year. In both 2022 and 2017, four different players held the No. 1 spot, which was the previous record.”

• “Yin is the second player from the People’s Republic of China to get to No. 1 since the inception of the Rolex Rankings in 2006. She joins Shanshan Feng, who was No. 1 for 23 weeks from November 13, 2017 until April 22, 2018.”

5. U.S. national team coach selected

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”The USGA is making major progress with its national development program.”

• “A week after it was announced that a team of three junior girls would represent the U.S. at next month’s World Junior Girls Championship in Canada, Golf Channel has learned that a significant hire has been made.”

• “Chris Zambri has been tabbed as the U.S. National Development Team’s head coach.

• “I heard about the opportunity, and it sounded fascinating to me,” Zambri told Golf Channel on Monday. “If there was one thing from coaching in college that I loved more than other things was player development and trying to really dive in on that side of the game, so this sounded like the things that I loved the most about coaching x5. … My family and I are really excited about this opportunity.”

6. Zach not concerned with potential rust

AP report…”U.S. captain Zach Johnson is not concerned about competitive rust.”

• “I’m confident that the guys know what they’re doing,” Johnson said in Italy when nine of the 12 Americans had practice sessions at Marco Simone. “Number two, there is a tournament and some of the guys are playing in Napa, in California. So you can prepare and play if you want. That’s an option.

7. Tiger to amateur golfers: Don’t watch YouTube

Madison Williams for SI…”Tiger Woods answered various questions during his appearance at his foundation’s annual event, the Nexus Cup, on Tuesday at Liberty National, resulting in some golden responses.

• “One of the questions, which many golfers probably want to know the answer to, was what was one tip Woods would give to an amateur golfer. This sparked a hilarious, simple and not-safe-for-work response from the 15-time major winner.”

• “Don’t watch f—— YouTube,” Woods said as the crowd laughed.He then said the second tip he would offer would be to “go hit balls.”

8. How mixed Grant Thornton event will be played

Dan DeLuca for Naples Daily News…”The Grant Thornton Invitational will consist of three distinct playing formats when the mixed-team golf event debuts this December in Naples as part of the Challenge Season.

• Here’s a look at the three playing formats the Grant Thornton will employ.

• Friday, Dec. 8: Scramble format

• In this round, each player hits a tee shot and then the team selects the ball to be used for the next stroke. From there, both players hit their next shots from that spot. This process continues until the ball is holed.

• Saturday, Dec. 9: Foursome (alternate shot) format

• This is the most traditional of the three days, adhering to a format that is consistently featured in both the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup. Each team’s players alternate hitting shots with the same ball until the ball is holed. One player will tee off on the odd-numbered holes, and the other tees off on the even-numbered holes.

• Sunday, Dec. 10: Modified Four-Ball format

• This final round will feature a format new to team play and a twist on traditional Four-Ball. In the modified format, both players tee off, and then they switch balls for their second shots and play that same ball until it is holed. The lower score of the partners is then counted as the team score for the hole.

9. Fortinet photos

• Check out all of our galleries from this week’s Tour event!