PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) Corey Conners knew Tiger Woods had finished his second round at Innisbrook because he couldn’t see him. He was only about 50 yards from the ninth green, but there were too many fans covering every inch of grass, packed in a dozen deep because of Woods.

Woods brought the Valspar Championship to life Friday with his best round of a comeback that is building momentum toward the Masters.

Conners was happy to play a quiet round in the afternoon and wind up with the lead.

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The Canadian rookie ran off three birdies before a careless error set him back, and he finished with a 2-under 69 for a two-shot lead going into the weekend. Right on his heels was Woods, who kept a clean card until his final hole and shot 68.

Conners was on the putting green when Woods and his entourage – officials, security, media and stragglers – walked along the edge of the green, in front of another group waiting to tee off on No. 1 and toward the scoring area.

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PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) Tiger Woods put his name on the leaderboard again, and this time it stayed there.

Woods looked sharper as the gallery got louder. He made four birdies, got a few good bounces and kept a clean card at Innisbrook until the last hole for a 3-under 68 that gave him a share of the early lead Friday at the Valspar Championship.

Paul Casey and Brandt Snedeker also had 68s, while Ryan Palmer had a 66 to share the lead at 4-under 138.

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”I don’t think this will be leading, but at least I’m there with a chance going into the weekend,” Woods said. ”Today was a good day.”

Masters champion Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy were among those playing in the afternoon.

Woods also got his name high on the leaderboard when he first returned from his fourth back surgery in the Bahamas, an unofficial event with an 18-man field before as sparse of a gallery as will ever see him play. That didn’t last long.

This looked as though it could.

Woods has been s..

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) Tiger Woods put his name on the leaderboard again, and this time it stayed there.

Woods made four birdies, got a few good bounces and kept a clean card until the last hole Friday for a 3-under 68 that gave him a share of the early lead at the Valspar Championship. Paul Casey and Brandt Snedeker also had 68s and were at 4-under 138.

To be determined was whether Woods remained part of the lead by the end of the second round, where the weather was warmer and the wind more manageable. But it was clear after two rounds at a tournament he had never played that his comeback is gaining momentum.

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Woods lost a wedge in the wind on his final hole at No. 9 and missed a 6-foot par putt.

Michael ReavesAfter an opening-round one-under 70 that featured some electrifying, vintage Tiger Woods moments at the Valspar Championship, it was still difficult to claim Woods was “back”, like “back-back”. Yes, we beat that phrase into the ground, but with the flashes of brilliance he's shown during the early stages of this comeback, it's hard not to. On Friday, the “Is he back?” game officially reached its peak, as Woods mounted a second-round charge that launched him into the solo lead on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook.
RELATED: Tiger Woods jumps to the top of the Valspar leader board with impressive second round
Naturally, this sent Golf Twitter into DEFCON 1 mode, effectively burning itself to the ground before Woods reached the clubhouse. Things were getting interesting when he made the turn in two-under 33, but things got REALLY interesting when he added birdies at the par-4 second and par-5 fourth, putting him alone atop the board. It got so out of control that ..

NEW DELHI (AP) Emiliano Grillo took a four-stroke lead at the Indian Open after shooting 4-under 68 on Friday.

The Argentine had five birdies and a bogey, lowering his total to 11-under 133 for the tournament.

Shubhankar Sharma, who three days ago received a special invitation to play at the Masters, made a charge with an 8-under 64 – the best round of the day. He had nine birdies, including six on the last nine holes. His only bogey came on the par-4 seventh.

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Sharma was 5 over after his first nine holes on Thursday.

Pablo Larrazabal (71) and Andrew Johnston (66) were tied for third at 6 under, one stroke behind Sharma.

Al BelloMuhammad Wilkerson's roller coaster ride of a career on the New York Jets finally came to an end last week. Sure, he had his moments, like a breakout third season that saw him amass 10.5 sacks, 43 tackles, two forced fumbles and an interception. He topped that in 2015 with a career-high 12 sacks, which earned him a massive five-year, $86 million contract. The fact that the team just cut ties with the defensive tackle should tell you all you need to know about what happened after he inked that deal.
Whether it be his really bad habit of showing up late to meetings or just flat out underperforming on the field, his last two seasons are deserving of plenty of criticism. But New York Daily News Jets beat writer Manish Mehta, a noted rat/snake combination of a reporter, took it one step too far on Wednesday, implying that Wilkerson has “issues with alcohol” in a Tweet about one of his possible landing spots this off-season:
https://twitter.com/MMehtaNYDN/status/9718981035058503..

We're now nearly two weeks removed from the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, and unfortunately, most of the proceedings will be largely forgotten. That could be due to a lackluster showing from America (a distant fourth place in the medal count) or because the Winter games are never on par with the Summer games. Let's be honest here, chances are we'll all remember Michael Phelps' performances more than any of Apolo Ohno's.
However, one thing the Winter athletes do just as well as Summer athletes is the sex, evidenced by the record number of condoms in PyeongChang this year. The condom thing is always a fun headline leading into the games, but what we really want to know is which country is doing the bestest, mostest sex-having. Obviously, we are kidding, because we're not that creepy… BUT, in case you did want to know, we may finally have confirmation from Deadspin Olympics correspondent Hannah Keyser, who said the Holland House was the place to be during game..

It was a little chilly Friday morning in the Tampa area when Tony Finau teed off at 7:45 a.m. for the second round of the Valspar Championship. Needing a little extra warmth, Finau slipped on a hoodie. And a pretty sweet on at that. Have a look:
FacebookPinterestFacebookPinterestFacebookPinterestRELATED: Tony Finau's son has ALL the dance moves
No, this shouldn't be a big deal, but in the often stuffy world of golf style — “Ben Hogan is rolling over in his grave!” — this was a bold wardrobe choice. Although, not quite as bold as the outrageous purple and gold shoes he wore in honor of Kobe Bryant last summer. . .
Finau's fashion statement was forward-thinking, but he's not the first to rock a hoodie on the PGA Tour. We believe that honor goes to Morgan Hoffmann at the 2016 Safeway Open. A true trailblazer.
In any event, Mark Zuckerberg will be disappointed to know that Finau took the hoodie off on his fourth hole of the day, which he birdied to get off to a quick ..

Shane Ryan bring you an interesting mix of big names and rank-and-file players who have the best senses of humor in men's pro golf

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) Tiger Woods moved spectators and a TV truck, and then warned everybody in earshot.

He had no idea what was going to happen with his ball sitting near an oak tree at the par-4 16th.

It turned out to be one of his best shots of the day, a low-running wedge from slippery, fallen leaves that could have broken his club and a few fingers.

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It ended up just short of the green , Woods followed with a chip shot to 3 feet that saved par and provided one of the top highlights from the opening round at the Valspar Championship on a blustery Thursday.

It also helped Woods finish at 1-under 70 and three shots back of first-round leader Corey Conners.

”It didn’t feel very good,” said Woods, who let go of the club as it started to wrap about the tree trunk. ”I moved all the people even and warned them in case the club breaks and gets over there. I pitched it up the hill and came out nicely.”

More like perfectly.

Woods was nearly as good with hi..