Fantasy Golf: My Vegas bets on the Shriners Open will make you rich! (Or not)

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) Tommy Fleetwood is leaving nothing to chance in his bid to become Europe’s top player for 2017.

Fleetwood holds a big lead in the Race to Dubai standings heading into the Turkish Airlines Open starting Thursday. He played the WGC-HSBC Champions in China last week and will also compete in the final two events of the European Tour season, in South Africa and Dubai.

The 26-year-old Englishman, who recently became a father for the first time, is the only realistic title contender to be playing the last four tournaments in the Race to Dubai.

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”Can you imagine if I had a week off and then lost by 20 grand ($26,500)? I can’t let that happen, really,” Fleetwood said Tuesday. ”If I don’t win it now, if somebody like Justin (Rose) or Sergio (Garcia) was to win an event, I can’t do anything about that. But if I had left it out of my control a little bit, then I’d have been quite unhappy with myself.

”It’s one of the biggest things you can a..

Tiger Woods still has more majors than comebacks.

But the gap is narrowing.

Woods said he will return to competition at the Hero World Challenge the week after Thanksgiving – an 18-man field in the Bahamas with no cut – just over seven months after fusion surgery. That was his fourth back surgery in a little more than two years, and that alone should be enough to temper expectations.

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This will be the 10th time that Woods has returned from an unscheduled break of two months or more, eight of them since winning his 14th major at Torrey Pines in the 2008 U.S. Open. And it will be the fifth time he returns since his last victory in August 2013 at the Bridgestone Invitational.

Should it be cause for celebration?

Of course.

A popular phrase in recent years is that golf needs Woods, but this is only true as it relates to his performance. Otherwise, it becomes a nostalgia tour, and the question facing Woods is whether he can handle being a ceremonial go..

There are a multitude of fear-inducing holes in golf, and playing the game itself presents plenty of nightmare scenarios and shots. But, with Halloween upon us, we'd be remiss in failing to mention the sport's most sinister aspect: those dreadful, uninvited thoughts that rear their ugly head. Golf is a mental game…a mental game that can spook the bejesus out of us. Here are the scariest thoughts in golf.
FacebookPinterestMark Runnacles/Getty ImagesRory McIlroy grabbing his back after a drive
Between soccer injuries and equipment-testing issues, the man has suffered enough. We just want to seem him play at full strength, dammit.
The pro watching your first tee shot
The de facto patriarch of the club. And if you fail in front of him, prepare to face eternal shame.
John Daly taking advantage of the relaxed dress code
We're all for the European Tour loosening restrictions on practice-round attire. As long as it doesn't spread to the senior circuit.
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Getty ImagesWe expect Tiger Woods to insist he's playing the Hero World Challenge because he believes he can win. Sportsbooks, however, aren't quite as bullish on the 14-time major champ.
On Tuesday, Sky Bet released a new list of Tiger prop bets for his return to competitive golf next month starting with installing him as a 50-to-1 underdog. Woods has the worst odds of anyone in the 18-man field (Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are co-favorites at 6/1).
Of course, this shouldn't be a surprise. Woods will be returning to golf after a nine-month layoff that included him undergoing a fourth back surgery. In fact, 50-to-1 odds actually seem somewhat generous for a man who has fallen to No. 1,180 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Anyway, here's the full list of Tiger prop bets for the event, which will take place in the Bahamas from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3:
Tiger will. . .
— Finish top 5 (including ties): 7/1
— Finish top 10 (including ties): 11/4
— Lead after Round 1 (i..

Not long ago, Alex Rodriguez was public enemy No. 1 in Major League Baseball. The former New York Yankee was suspended for the entire 2014 season due to his suspected connection to performance-enhancing drugs. It's the longest drug suspension and longest non-lifetime suspension in the history of baseball.
Flip on Fox twenty minutes before first pitch of Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday night and all of that will seem like ancient history. Rodriguez is one of the network's top baseball analysts, and has been universally praised for his innate knowledge, and love of the game. In just a few seasons on Fox, it's become clear that the man eats, sleeps, breathes, drinks and bathes in baseball. He's become so beloved that his name has been tossed around as the next potential manager of the Yankees. Oh, he's also dating Jennifer Lopez, who he's admitted is a billion times more famous than him. In other words, somehow, it's really good to be Alex Rodrigue..

We should know—we published it

Georgia Southern's Stephen Fisk can be happy with his 12-under 60 at the Princeville Makai Invitational, but it came so close to being a more historic round

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we’re sad to report the end of an undefeated streak. Never had this sleep mask I got from a JetBlue flight a few years back failed to produce some extra shuteye in times when I needed it — until I turned to it in Las Vegas and. . . no dice.
FacebookPinterestThe house always wins here in the battle over your well-being, but it was still a successful trip to the Vegas Strip to cover the inaugural Major Series of Putting. And it was a relaxing week with plenty of down time to recover, because it’s not like much else happened on the golf front. Oh, wait. EVERYTHING happened. From Tiger Woods' big announcement to a big injustice in high school golf to golf's greatest villain getting arrested, let’s (try to) discuss it all.
WE'RE BUYING
Tiger Woods: He’s back! Again! Woods announced he will return to competitive golf at the Hero World Challenge on Nov. 30. This is not that surprising considering the onslaught of social media swin..

Play it again, Tiger Woods.

For the second straight year, Woods will return from back surgery at his holiday tournament in the Bahamas the week after Thanksgiving.

Woods has not played since he withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic on Feb. 3 with back spasms. Two months later, he had his fourth back surgery in just over two years.

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Woods will be part of the 18-man field at the Hero World Challenge, which starts Nov. 30 at Albany Golf Club. While sponsor exemptions are limited to the top 50 in the world, Woods is exempt as the tournament host.

His latest procedure was a fusion surgery – the previous three were microdiscectomy surgeries – and Woods reported instant relief. He also said just one month ago at the Presidents Cup that he had no idea what his future held.

Doctors gave him clearance to practice without limitations about a week later, and Woods had been posting video on Twitter of a full swing with an iron, a driver and then his signature ..