Cooper NeillAUSTIN, TX – SEPTEMBER 14: Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder enjoys the game from the sidelines as the Texas Longhorns host the Mississippi Rebels on September 14, 2013 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)Kevin Durant earned his share of scorn for departing the Oklahoma City Thunder two summers ago, but the 6'11 scoring machine is genuinely one of the good guys of the NBA. His charity helps build courts in at-risk neighborhoods, he's a spokesperson for a group advocating for after-school music programs and, after devastating tornados hit Oklahoma, Durant donated $1 million to the state's relief fund. (Plus, you'd leave OKC too if Russell Westbrook was your teammate.)
Durant continued his philanthropic efforts on Thursday, donating $3 million to the University of Texas, his alma matter.
“My time as a Longhorn helped build the foundation for who I am today as a player and a person, and the..

Sign up to stay up-to-date!

KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) Tiger Woods is playing twice in California over the next six week as he begins another comeback on the PGA Tour from back surgery.

Woods announced Thursday he will play the Farmers Insurance Open on Jan. 25 at Torrey Pines, the San Diego course where he has won eight times. That includes the 2008 U.S. Open, his 14th and most recent major.

He also says he will play the Genesis Open at Riviera in Los Angeles that starts Feb. 15. Riviera is where Woods played his first PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old amateur. He last played in 2006, though it now is back in play because the Tiger Woods Foundation runs the tournament.

Article continues below …

”I’m very excited to be back at Riviera,” Woods said. ”To be able to play in an event that I used to come to as an amateur, as a junior and now as the tournament host, that is on one of the most historic sites in all of golf, it’s a dream come true.”

The schedule is similar to the one last year when Woods was returning..

Officials get a pretty bad rap in every sport, especially with the overuse of replay, which has only made things infinitely worse, and their jobs infinitely harder. They can be difficult to defend at times, but not all of the criticism is warranted. Unless of course, one of them pulls a stunt like one we saw Wednesday in the Florida State vs. North Carolina game.
Late in the second half the Tar Heels trailed the 'Noles by three points and began a fast break, but it was halted by what appeared to be a bad pass to UNC guard Joel Berry. After watching the video, you'll see Berry never even had a chance to get to the pass because he was clearly being held by an FSU defender. When Berry went to discuss the missed call with official Ted Valentine, he was met with something usually only seen in a one-on-one game between two brothers both under the age of 10:
https://twitter.com/DHPIV/status/948730455553134592
Valentine, affectionately known as “TV Teddy”, literally turns his back on..

Very few sports movies that aren’t about boxing get nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category, let alone win the Oscar for it. “Chariots of Fire,’’ about two runners in the 1924 Olympics, is the last non-boxing sports film to take home that Best Picture award, way back in 1982.
The recently released “I, Tonya,’’ which opened in Los Angeles and New York last month and opens nationwide this weekend, deserves such a nomination, though. In fact, it already has been nominated for three Golden Globe awards including “best comedy or musical.’’ For good reason. “I, Tonya’’ makes you laugh frequently but also open your eyes in astonishment at what happens to the title character throughout the film.
The movie, naturally, is about the life of two-time Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding, who became infamous after the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan at the 1994 U.S. figure skating championship in Detroit. That created such a media frenzy – Kerrigan was on the cover of Time, Newswe..

KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) Ryan Armour arrived on Maui with enough time to soak up the perks of paradise before it was time to get to work.

He got in the car with his wife and two sons and took the road to Hana on the other side of the island from Kapalua. They followed the winding passage through a tropical rainforest and across nearly 60 bridges, some built a century ago, most with only one lane. The trip took nearly 12 hours door-to-door.

”It’s white knuckle,” Armour said. ”It’s scary.”

Article continues below …

He could have just as easily been describing the road he took to Kapalua for the winners-only Sentry Tournament of Champions.

That one began nearly 25 years ago when Armour was on the brink of winning the 1993 U.S. Junior Amateur. He was 2 up with two holes to play when his opponent birdied the last two holes and then won on the first extra hole with a par.

No shame there. His opponent was Tiger Woods, who won a record third straight title.

What followed for Armour ..

Meet Erin Alvey—country singer, southern bell, and certified Instagram golf lover:
LoadingView on Instagram
LoadingView on Instagram
According to social media, life for Alvey seems to be a balmy, Daisy Duke-approved affair, but when a massive storm system dumped several inches of snow on the, err, Florida-Georgia Line on Tuesday, she—just like every other self-respecting, slightly maladjusted golf nut on the East Coast—didn't let that stop her from getting out there working on the ol' swing…
LoadingView on Instagram
FacebookPinterestSo sure, it could use some work, but two quick things before you get carried away with the hip torsion analysis:
So could yours, and something tells us you don't have Alvey's looks going for you.
This is a woman who managed to get Chipper Jones into a music video, so you know she can do anything if she sets her mind to it (even if that means getting that handicap down into the single digits).

Over the last five holidays or so, the “tape dad's reaction to Christmas gift” has become a social media trope, but dammit if it doesn't get us every time. Hell, this device even made Alabama fans look human.
So when we saw the headline “Taking Dad to the Masters, his lifelong dream” floating on Reddit, we had a feeling it would elicit waterworks. And we were right:
LoadingView on Instagram
Truly a tradition unlike any other.
Although, while admittedly happy for this father-son duo, kind of puts a damper on the pair of steak knives we received under our Christmas tree. Up your game next year, Santa.
WATCH: THE LOOP VIDEOS

Dustin Johnson was playing the best golf of his career prior to his injury on the eve of the Masters. He now says it took him five months to get his game back

Michael Breed will create live and produced instructional content for all levels of players and throughout the Golf Digest brand.