PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Two tournaments into his return following a wrist injury, U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka nearly suffered another setback.

All because of a golf cart.

Koepka waited until the last minute Thursday morning before deciding to tee off at The Players Championship, and he got around just fine with a 2-under 70 while playing alongside fellow power hitters Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson.

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”When I was going to the tee, I felt like I could still win the tournament,” Koepka said. ”If I don’t feel I can win, I’m not going to tee it up.”

Koepka was on the back of the range Wednesday, hitting what he described as ”punch, stinger 3-irons” that he would need from the tee on No. 18, when a cart appeared from behind a building and was driving some 15 yards in front of where players were hitting.

Koepka said the cart was right in his line, and the ball could have hit the driver, so he instinctively stopped.

”I mean, I unloaded everything,” ..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) The PGA Tour gave its premier tournament even more sizzle by putting Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler in the same group Thursday afternoon. For the undercard, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas played together in the morning.

None was anywhere near the lead at The Players Championship.

McIlroy was the only player from those two groups who managed to break par. He shot 1-under 71.

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The best golf – and there was plenty of it on an ideal opening round for scoring – was all around them.

Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson and Alex Noren set the pace early. Matt Kuchar, Chesson Hadley and Patrick Cantlay joined them late. All were at 66, part of the largest share of the lead in the opening round at the TPC Sawgrass, and the most players tied at the top at The Players in 40 years.

”If you’re on your game, this course suits you,” Kuchar said.

That’s been the story of the TPC Sawgrass over the years – a design that..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Dustin Johnson is using a new technique for his putting and he likes the results.

Frustrated over not seeing enough putts go in over the last three months, Johnson tried the ”AimPoint” method that some players use to help them read the greens. He opened with six birdies on the back nine, only once had a putt over 3 feet for par and wound up with a 6-under 66 to share the early lead at The Players Championship.

Alex Noren and Webb Simpson also were at 66 among the early starters Thursday.

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Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, playing together for the first time in nearly four years, were out in the afternoon when the light wind was a little stronger. Johnson and the early birds couldn’t ask for better scoring conditions at the TPC Sawgrass.

Johnson, whose No. 1 ranking is in jeopardy this week, made the putts he had been missing in Mexico and Riviera, at Augusta National and Hilton Head.

So he had one of his coaches, Allen Terrell..

Mike PowellBrazilians specialize in two things: Soccer—mythical, masterful, cosmically transcendent fútbol that makes exploding comets look like Stoke vs. Millwall—and sex—mythical, masterful, cosmically transcendent sex that makes exploding comets look like Trump and Stormy Daniels. Just ask World Cup-winning striker, present-day politician, and Brazilian national treasure Romario, who, when asked if he had any advice for 21-year-old Seleção striker Gabriel Jesus ahead of this summer's tournament, offered up this little nugget of wisdom:
“Have enough sex is one piece of advice – as is making the most you can of your days off.”
So, uhh, yeah, there you have it. Not exactly subtle, but if anyone knows, it's Romario, the last man to win the World Cup and the Golden Ball (the World Cup's MVP award) at the same tournament. Despite Romario's emphasis on, er, recharging, however, he also went on to explain that players must also concentrate on the match at hand (OK, makes..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — If you've ever attended a golf tournament, you'll quickly realize it can turn into a full day of exercising. Hoofing from hole to hole can become quite the chore, especially when it's hot and every hole is roped off, forcing you to take an even longer route. Next time you're at a tournament and think to complain, put yourself in the shoes of the Leibig brothers, who have attended the last 42 Players Championships. They don't park it in the stands at the 17th. They walk, walk and walk some more.
“We come all four rounds every year, we’ve not missed a round,” said George, 70. “We get here, we see the first tee shot probably, I would say 90-percent of the time the last 20 years.”
George and Joe, who said he was 29 but his brother corrected him and upped that to 61, were born in Somerville, NJ. George came to Florida in 1972 for his job at Prudential and has been here ever since, while Joe moved back to West Milford, NJ after living in Jac..

Follow along with the Golf Digest crew as Tiger Woods plays his first round at the 2018 Players Championship.

Remember when Phil Mickelson showed up to a Masters practice round rocking a checkered, button-down dress shirt? Well, apparently, it wasn't because Phil's polos had gotten lost in transit. On Thursday, menswear brand Mizzen+Main announced a partnership with the five-time major champ that will have Mickelson looking more formal at future tournaments.
“I was waiting to find the perfect apparel partner that allowed me to move from the board room to the golf course,” Mickelson says in a press release. Of course you were, Phil. Of course you were.
As part of the deal, Mickelson now owns a stake in the company. He will begin wearing Mizzen+Main at this week's Players Championship, and we're guessing Mizzen+Main are pretty pumped about their guy's Thursday-Friday pairing with Tiger Woods.
RELATED: Our picks to win the Players Championship
“A big part of why I’m so thrilled to partner with them is I know all my endorsement partners and the thousands of professionals t..

MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) The LPGA Tour has an official team event for the first time in its 69-year history.

The Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational starts next year, a 72-hole event at Midland Country Club in Michigan that will feature foursomes and fourballs. Still to be determined are how the two-player teams are formed.

It will be held July 17-20 in 2019 and offer a $2 million purse. The sponsorship deal with The Dow Chemical Company is five years.

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The format is similar to the Zurich Classic in New Orleans on the PGA Tour. LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan says ”players and fans have consistently asked about a team event.”

The LPGA Tour, founded in 1950, has had several unofficial team events, starting with the Hot Springs 4-Ball Invitational in the late 1950s.

Milan Hejduk scored 375 goals and won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche, which is apparently good enough to live slightly above the poverty line. Here's the house he is selling for $5.2 million in the Denver suburbs.
FacebookPinterest(Photos by VisuTour.com)
FacebookPinterestIt has all the standard trappings of the modern mansion — six bedrooms, walk-in closets, blah, blah . . .wait, did we mention the ice rink? It's in their house! Like, if you couldn't sleep, you could just go downstairs and wheel around on the ice for a few hours. Then again, if you scored 375 goals in the NHL and now have an ice rink at your house, you probably sleep fine because life seems to be working out pretty well.
FacebookPinterestAccording to the Denver Post, Hejduk is selling the house because his twin 14-year-old sons are likely to be leaving home soon to play junior hockey, and because the home rink for their current team, the Colorado Thunderbirds, is a bit of a schlep. “It's..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Ian Poulter has his eye on a cup in September, and it’s the one that doesn’t pay a dime.

Poulter certainly cares about the FedEx Cup, which starts with getting to the Tour Championship for a shot at the $10 million bonus. But he’ll be spending most of his summer at home in England playing on the European Tour, which will cost him in the FedEx Cup.

What matters is playing in the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2014. The Ryder Cup is the last week of September in France.

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”There’s an event late September which means a lot to me, and obviously I’m going to want to put myself in that position,” Poulter said. ”I’m going to base myself in Europe for the summer. I’ll come back and play U.S. Open, and I want to stay in that top 30, and I want to move up. But I’m not looking at it that I have to do it. I’ve put too much emphasis on that in the past trying to make push-and-runs to get in.”

It’s easy for Poulter to say it’s not impor..