PHOENIX (AP) Jessica Korda had 240 yards to the front of the 15th green Thursday morning in the chilly first round of the Founders Cup. She reached for driver – and caddie Colin Cann didn’t stop her.

While she often hits driver off the deck at home in Florida, she hadn’t attempted it in competition.

”It’s just if my caddie has a heart attack or not,” Korda joked.

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The lanky American spared her looper’s ticker with a shot to 15 feet.

”I think the crowd enjoyed it more than I did, but I did think it was really cool,” said Korda, making her third start following offseason jaw surgery.

She settled for birdie on the par 5 – her fifth in the first six holes – after the eagle try lipped out.

”I was really upset, because I was like, `That would’ve been so cool,”’ Korda said. ”What did I do after that? Nothing. I didn’t do anything after that.”

She did make one more birdie at Desert Ridge, but closed with two of her three bogeys in a 3-under 69 that left her t..

PHOENIX (AP) Karine Icher and Chella Choi each shot 5-under 67 in chilly and windy conditions Thursday to share the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup.

Ariya Jutanugarn was a shot back with Inbee Park, Lizette Salas, Cydney Clanton, Mariajo Uribe and Hee Young Park in the event that honors the 13 women who founded the LPGA Tour in 1950.

Defending champion Anna Nordqvist and Jessica Korda topped the group at 69. Korda won three weeks ago in Thailand in her return from jaw surgery that corrected a severe overbite.

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Michelle Wie had a 70. She won in Singapore two weeks ago.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) 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.

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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.”

Each week is a little better for Woods, and Stenson saw the progre..

Fort Worth Star-TelegramChris Gouge was sitting in the warm Arizona sun while taking in the Giants late Sunday afternoon game against the Padres at Scottsdale Stadium. He wasn’t sitting in a seat in the stands, though, but rather on a blanket on the grass berm (aka, lawn) beyond the left field fence.
And the cost of the tickets for he and his wife? Roughly $100. For each one. That sounds like a lot for a spring training game but Gouge was satisfied. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything,’’ he said. “It’s been fantastic, this is exactly what I want.’’
Others on the berm didn’t pay that much but the prices still weren’t cheap. Tony Patch says he paid $45 apiece for his ticket through StubHub, but he at least caught a home run that landed right where he was sitting. “I knew what I was getting into so I don’t feel too bad about it,’’ he said happily.
Karen and Bill Parks also were happy to be on the berm, where they were shaded by a nearby tree. “We’ll take what we can get,’’ Karen Parks said…

Grant HalversonMuch has been said about “The Tiger Effect” after Woods' performance at last week's Valspar Championship, which became the focus of the sports world when Woods gave himself a chance to win on Sunday. A normally low-key tournament on the PGA Tour schedule commanded the same attention of a major championship thanks to Woods, this coming on the same day as the NCAA Tournament's Selection Show.
The question was, could Woods garner that same attention during the first two days of an actual tournament when he teed it up this week at Bay Hill, where he's won the Arnold Palmer Invitational eight times. He got off to a strong start on Thursday morning, opening with a first-round four-under 68 and positioning himself near the top of the leaderboard. Still, it's early, and once the tourney games tipped off, the last thing anyone would be thinking about is the first round of a golf tournament, even if it involved Woods. Well, anyone except North Carolina hea..

Consistency in golf means how you strike the ball. That’s what determines distance, accuracy, spin—the quality of your shots. In this video series from Golf Digest’s Chief Digital Instructor Michael Breed, you’ll learn the keys to making great contact from driver to putter.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Tiger Woods was out-of-bounds by inches and holed a 70-foot birdie putt , and he was only part of the entertainment Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Former PGA champion Jimmy Walker, who wasn’t even planning to be at Bay Hill until he mixed up the dates for a trip to Augusta National, holed a wedge from 132 yards for eagle on No. 18 that gave him a 5-under 67 and a one-shot lead over Woods, Patrick Reed and Byeong Hun An.

The action never stopped. The loudest cheers were around Woods.

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Woods returned to Bay Hill for the first time since his record eighth victory in 2013, and it was like he had never left. The gallery was enormous, especially with an unseasonable chill in the air, and he delivered a memorable show.

Last week at Innisbrook was the first time he broke par in the opening round since his return following a fourth back surgery. Thursday at Bay Hill was the first he broke 70. Each round seems to get a little better..

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) 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.

Article continues below …

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.”

Each week is a little better for Woods, and Stenson saw the progre..

If you're having a sh*t day, take heart. No matter what you're going through, at least you're not the pilot of this Russian plane, which just puked nine tons of gold, diamonds, and other very expensive shiny things all over the frozen wastes of Yakutia when it's cargo door just “fell” off mid-landing. Needless to say, spilling a bag of rice on your kitchen floor has nothing on this clusterf—k:
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According to local sources, police and secret service have blocked off the area and embarked on a desperate search, because let's be honest the kind of guy who ships $368 million dollars of gold bars into the vast nothingness of Russia is also the kind of guy who will cut your fingers off if you misplace even a single red cent of that money, let alone spill it all over some god-forsaken tundra. Then again, just take a look at this sick old bird and you'll see it's nobody's fault but the ..

David CannonWhiskey and golf. The two go together like, well, whiskey and golf, especially in Ireland and especially on the eve St. Paddy’s Day. So in honor of the holiday that drinks all others under the table, we decided to pair a few of our favorite Irish whiskies with a few of our favorite Irish golf courses, creating the ultimate Emerald Isle travel guide in the process. So kick off your spikes and belly up to the bar. The less said about the scorecard, the better, so let's just let the whiskey do the talking.
Jameson Caskmates IPA Edition
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Course Pairing: Cork Golf Club
Just up N25 from quaint Cork Golf Club lies Jameson’s sprawling whiskey utopia. And while you may think you know what to expect from the Irish whiskey giant, the Caskmates IPA Edition side-steps the predictable, finishing its straw-colored elixir in craft IPA barrels for a bright, hoppy flavor profile that’s perfect for the (excruciatingly eventual) coming of spring.
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