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Good Thursday morning, golf fans. Greetings from the frozen Northeast. The sun. The surf. All the golf in Hawaii is really just rubbing it in, isn’t it?

1. GWAA POYs

From a press release…”Scottie Scheffler, Lydia Ko and Steven Alker have been voted 2022 Players of the Year in their respective divisions by the Golf Writers Association of America.“

• “Ko, 25, voted Female Player of the Year, is the only golfer among the three to have been previously honored as a player of the year by the GWAA. She won in 2015. Scheffler (Male Player of the Year) and Alker (Senior Player of the Year) earned GWAA honors for the first time.”

• “Scheffler, 26, broke through for his first PGA Tour victory in February at the WM Phoenix Open and apparently enjoyed the taste of winning. He added victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (where he ascended to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking) and in April, won his first major championship at the Masters. He finished second to Rory McIlroy in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.”

• “Ko won three times in 2022, winning early (Gainbridge LPGA) and winning late (CME Group Tour Championship), bringing her LPGA victory total to 19. She was Rolex Player of the Year, won the Vare Trophy for low scoring average (68.99), and finished among the top 5 in putting, rounds under par, birdies and sub-par holes.”

2. Cancer-battling club pro to tee it up at Sony

The AP’s Doug Ferguson…”Michael Castillo comes from a rich heritage of golf in Hawaii, now the head pro at Kapalua and formerly president of the Aloha Section. He had reason to believe his hope of ever playing the Sony Open was long gone.”

• “But his assistants at Kapalua talked him into playing this year, mainly because the Aloha Section PGA Championship was at Poipu Bay, where he spent 12 years as the head pro.”

• “Never mind that he faced radiation in November for cancer that returned to his liver. Or that he was 60 and mostly competed in senior divisions. He can still putt great, and Castillo birdied the last hole to win by one.”

3. PGA Tour pros competing in Saudi International

Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch…“The PGA Tour’s reigning Rookie of the Year and a winner last season are among the players granted permission to compete at a controversial tournament in Saudi Arabia next month.”

• “While the Tour has declined to reveal the exact number or the names of those who requested releases for the PIF Saudi International, multiple sources have told Golfweek that Cameron Young, Lucas Herbert and Cameron Champ are among the members who obtained waivers to compete in Saudi Arabia. Three Korn Ferry Tour players also received releases.”

4. Matsuyama playing hurt?

Adam Woodard for Golfweek…“Hideki Matsuyama was a little surprised to win last year at the Sony Open in Hawaii.”

• “Despite the good vibes at Waialae Country Club following last year’s win, Matsuyama isn’t expecting too much this week in Honolulu.”

• “I been having a little trouble with my neck recently. I wasn’t able to practice as much as I can for the last couple months, but the game is trending going forward,” Matsuyama explained in his press conference on Tuesday. “So I can’t expect too much, but I’m really looking forward to this week.”

5. Judge denies LIV Golf request to delay hearing on discovery

Golf Channel’ Rex Hoggard…”A northern California U.S. District Court judge has denied a request to delay a hearing on discovery, setting up a showdown between attorneys for the PGA Tour and those representing the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and the fund’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan.”

• “Attorneys for Al-Rumayyan and the PIF had requested the hearing, which is scheduled for Friday in San Jose, Calif., be delayed to allow more time to sort out the complicated issues of discovery and a foreign sovereign wealth fund, which is the primary source of funding for LIV Golf.”

• “[The motions to compel] raise complex, sensitive, novel, and critically important issues of foreign sovereign immunity and international comity,” attorneys for PIF and Al-Rumayyan argued.

6. Trailer for PGA Tour Netflix doc arrives

PGATour.com staff…”A trailer released Wednesday revealed more details about the highly-anticipated Netflix docuseries that promises to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional golf.”

• “The series’ title (“Full Swing”), release date (Feb. 15) and its star-studded roster, including the surprise announcement of Rory McIlroy’s participation, were among the noteworthy items revealed in the clip, which also gave a taste of what viewers can expect to see in the series.”

• “McIlroy was not one of the names included when the series was first announced, but he appeared at the end of the trailer, sitting down in a chair as a producer shouted, “Quiet in the house! Action.”

• “If I want the game that I love to be played by future generations,” McIlroy says in Wednesday’s video, “the game needs to be pushed forward.”

• “Among the PGA TOUR players appearing with McIlroy in the show are Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sahith Theegala, Joel Dahmen and Mito Pereira. Also in the show are Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Joaquin Niemann and Ian Poulter.”

7. Zach on how Tiger can make Ryder Cup team

Dave Shedloski for Golf Digest…”Tiger Woods is a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team that will attempt to win in Europe for the first time in 30 years this September in Italy. Whether or not he is holding a golf club during that week is still to be determined.

• “U.S. captain Zach Johnson said on Wednesday at the Sony Open in Hawaii that he wouldn’t rule out selecting the 15-time major winner and recent World Golf Hall of Fame inductee to compete in the 44th Ryder Cup if he didn’t qualify for the team automatically. Qualifying, of course, is long shot given that there is no way of knowing just how much—or how well—Woods will compete this year as he continues his rehabilitation from the right leg injuries he suffered in an car accident almost two years ago in California.”

• “I would only contemplate having him on the team if he felt … if he was putting up some numbers and some scores, No. 1, showing some sign of being competitive. And then No. 2, that discussion would be had with the other guys that are a part of that team, and specifically him,” said Johnson, who served under Woods as a vice captain at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia, where Woods led the winning U.S. team as just the second playing captain in that event after Hale Irwin in the inaugural edition in 1994.

• “If there is anything I trust in Tiger Woods is that he’s extremely invested in this team and the future Cups. Extremely invested,” Johnson added. “I can’t speak to that enough. And then I think you would do anything and everything for the betterment of the team. I assume he would say—I don’t like making assumptions—but I’m confident that he would say, ‘Yeah, I can play, or no, I can’t.’”