In addition to being a fine golfer who is expected to contend for more major titles as well as challenge for the No. 1 ranking, Justin Thomas has provided an excellent public service by giving some optimistic yet cautious updates on the status of Tiger Woods, his friend and neighbor.
The latest came via the “No Laying Up” podcast last week in which Thomas, 28, disclosed that he visits Woods regularly during his off weeks, bringing his puppy to play with Woods’ dog while visiting with Tiger’s son, Charlie.
“[Tiger is] still his sarcastic a–hole self, so nothing’s really changed there,” Thomas laughed. “So I’m glad to see he’s as chipper as always.”
Whether Woods is ever a competitive golfer again is up to interpretations some nine months after the serious auto accident he endured in February, causing injuries to his right leg and foot.
Thomas, like anyone who is close to Woods or in his circle, is careful about what he says, cognizant of the very private nature that Woods has embraced throughout his career.
And yet it is difficult to imagine Thomas — a 14-time PGA Tour winner including the 2017 PGA Championship — spouting his opinions about Woods without feeling he had some sort of nod to be able to do so. That should be viewed as a positive. Woods is allowing some information about his situation — which he has not publicly addressed other than a social media post and a brief interview with Golf Digest in April — to get out. In September, Steve Stricker was the first to even hint out loud that Woods would return to competitive golf, saying “his ongoing rehabilitation to try to get better and try to play golf again, and that is going well. He’s progressing, he’s doing well, things are moving in the right direction.”
With such little information, you have to read between the lines. Thomas, for example, was asked about a potential Woods comeback.
Thomas: “I don’t know. I know he’s going to try. I don’t see him ever playing if he can’t play well. He doesn’t strike me as a guy that’s going to play at home shooting a bunch of 75s and 76s and he’s like, ‘All right, I’m gonna go give Augusta a try this year.’ That’s just not gonna be him.”
Interpreting those words: Thomas believing Woods will try is a great sign; the fact that he’s hedging by saying he can’t see him doing it if Tiger is shooting in the mid-70s seems pretty obvious: Woods is not going to come back and settle for being mediocre. Thomas could easily be suggesting he sees the days of Tiger shooting low scores a good bit off, which only seems realistic.
Thomas: “But at the same time, I know how determined he is. I know he’s gonna want to at least to try to give something again. Obviously, I hope he does. But at the same time, as long as he can be a normal dad again, that’s the No. 1 priority and the rest is a bonus.”
Interpreting those words: Thomas hit on the point that is most important of all — Woods’ quality of life. It’s quite fair to say Woods is fortunate to have survived such a horrific crash. The fact that he is now up and about is a great sign. Thomas is allowing for the possibility that the most favorable outcome is simply leading a normal life. A golf career is the least of Woods’ concerns. And yet, Thomas acknowledges the trademark determination that Woods has always possessed.
Thomas: “It’s ‘Groundhog Day’ — every day is exactly the same for him.”
Interpreting those words: You can take that in a lot of different ways. It sounds ominous, that perhaps his rehabilitation has hit a wall and that Woods is at a point where he cannot do any more. Or, you can take that to mean Woods is being held back, that he wants to push beyond where he is and his doctors are telling him to be patient.
Woods made a career of fighting beyond boundaries. Only in recent years has he learned to heed those warnings. He didn’t overdo it with his return from spinal fusion surgery. He knows it would make no sense to do so now. At least, that is one potential way to look at it.
The photos of him last month standing unaided while watching Charlie play in a junior tournament were a good sign. That he had been cleared to walk without any assistive devices naturally led to speculation about whether or not he could begin pitching or chipping or hitting any shots.
And there appears to be growing sentiment that he will be in the Bahamas in two weeks for the Hero World Challenge. A navigational tracking app saw that his yacht, Privacy, had made the journey from South Florida to the marina near Nassau where he keeps it. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Woods could be going there for Thanksgiving. He could be going there for other promotional or commercial endeavors. But he could also be going there for his tournament.
Keep in mind, the Hero wasn’t played last year. The Genesis Invitational, run by Woods’ foundation, was played in February without spectators. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Woods’ annual Tiger Jam in Las Vegas was canceled each of the past two years. Those are huge moneymakers for his foundation that, like many other entities, have been hurt by the pandemic.
Hero, the title sponsor of his Bahamas tournament, would undoubtedly love to have Woods in attendance simply for the boost it will bring to the brand and the attention focused on the tournament. And that only helps Woods’ foundation raise funds. That is important to him. But so is staying as private as possible.
A new fall look?
The PGA Tour is contemplating several changes to its fall schedule that would include some big-money, guaranteed appearance events while possibly altering the way FedEx Cup points are awarded.
Both the Associated Press and Golfweek have reported that a plan that would include four to six no-cut events would likely be played overseas, and not only include hefty prize money for all who participate, but appearance fees as well.
Nothing is decided, and PGA Tour officials say it is still in the talking stages. But clearly it has gained some momentum. And while the timing is good in that it seems to be a way to combat the possibility of a rival golf endeavor (the Greg Norman-led, to-be-named league or the Premier Golf League), it seems such discussions had been taking place as a way to better compensate the top players.
The idea would also include some sort of system to protect such players on the FedEx Cup points list. This fall, there are nine events — the last one is this week’s RSM Classic — that make up the start to the 2021-22 season. They began two weeks after the Tour Championship, and many of the game’s top players have long lamented the fact that this is the time of year when they might possibly shut it down, only to resume in January and be well back in the standings.
Cameron Tringale has played in six events this fall and is 11th in FedEx points, giving himself a nice cushion when the new year begins. Maverick McNealy has played six times and is in 10th place. Nick Watney has played six times and is in 20th place.
Meanwhile Patrick Cantlay, who won the 2021 FedEx Cup, has yet to play an event this season and will wait until the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January.
Phil’s plans
After winning the Charles Schwab Championship for his fourth victory in just six PGA Tour Champions starts, Phil Mickelson is ready for a break — and still has plans for more glory on the PGA Tour.
Mickelson, 51, shot 65 on Sunday and didn’t make a bogey at Phoenix Country Club to join Jack Nicklaus as the only players in Champions history to win four of their first six starts.
It capped a satisfying year for Mickelson, who won twice on the Champions Tour but also captured the PGA Championship in May for his sixth major title and 45th PGA Tour win. He didn’t do much else on the regular Tour outside of that victory. Still, he appears poised to at least attempt to add to those totals.
“I’m hoping to use the opportunity to play and compete here [on the PGA Tour Champions] as a way to keep my game sharp and have a few special moments on the regular Tour like I had this year in May,” he said after his Charles Schwab victory. “If I could have a couple more of those, that’s really what motivates me to work hard, to get in the gym in the offseason, put in the time and the effort to have those special moments. I would love to have a couple more. And then these are great, too.”
Mickelson said he plans to take the rest of the year off. He did not disclose his schedule, and suggested he is unsure where he will play. However, he is the tournament host of the American Express Championship outside of Palm Springs, California, which is played the third week of January — his typical starting point.
Dan Wetzel is a senior writer focused on investigative reporting, news analysis and feature storytelling.
During college football’s Bowl Championship Series era, the sport’s opposition to an expanded, let alone expansive, playoff could be summarized in one colorful quote by then-Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee.
“They will wrench a playoff system out of my cold, dead hands,” Gee said in 2007.
We are happy to report that while college football does, indeed, have a playoff, Gee is still very much alive. The 81-year-old retired just this week after a second stint leading West Virginia University.
What is dead and buried, though, is college football’s staunch resistance to extending its postseason field. After decades of ignoring complaints and the promise of additional revenue to claim that just two teams was more than enough, plans to move from 12 participants to 16 were underway before last season’s inaugural 12-teamer even took place.
A once-static sport now moves at light speed, future implications be damned.
Fire. Ready. Aim.
So maybe the best bit of current news is that college football’s two ruling parties — the SEC and Big Ten — can’t agree on how the new 16-team field would be selected. It has led to a pause on playoff expansion.
Maybe, just maybe, it means no expansion will occur by 2026, as first planned, and college football can let the 12-team model cook a little to accurately assess what changes — if any — are even needed.
“We have a 12-team playoff, five conference champions,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said this week. “That could stay if we can’t agree.”
Good. After all, what’s the rush?
The 2025 season will play out with a 12-team format featuring automatic bids for five conference champions and seven at-large spots. Gone is last year’s clunky requirement that the top four seeds could go only to conference champs — elevating Boise State and Arizona State and unbalancing the field.
That alone was progress built on real-world experience. It should be instructive.
The SEC wants a 16-team model but with, as is currently the case, automatic bids going to the champions in the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and the best of the so-called Group of 6. The rest of the field would be at-large selections.
The Big Ten says it will not back such a proposal until the SEC agrees to play nine conference games (up from its current eight). Instead, it wants a 16-team system that gives four automatic bids apiece to the Big Ten and SEC, two each to the ACC and Big 12, one to the Group of 6 and then three at-large spots.
It’s been dubbed the “4-4-2-2-1-3” because college athletic leaders love ridiculous parlances almost as much as they love money.
While the ACC, Big 12 and others have offered opinions — mostly siding with the SEC — legislatively, the decision rests with the sport’s two big-dog conferences.
Right now, neither side is budging. A compromise might still be made, of course. The supposed deadline to set the 2026 system is Nov. 30. And Sankey actually says he prefers the nine-game SEC schedule, even if his coaches oppose it.
However, the possibility of the status quo standing for a bit longer remains.
What the Big Ten has proposed is a dramatic shift for a sport that has been bombarded with dramatic shifts — conference realignment, the transfer portal, NIL, revenue sharing, etc.
The league wants to stage multiple “play-in” games on conference championship weekend. The top two teams in the league would meet for the league title (as is currently the case), but the third- and fourth-place teams would play the fifth- and sixth-place teams to determine the other automatic bids.
Extend this out among all the conferences and you have up to a 26-team College Football Playoff (with 22 teams in a play-in situation). This would dramatically change the way the sport works — devaluing the stakes for nonconference games, for example. And some mediocre teams would essentially get a playoff bid — in the Big Ten’s case, the sixth seed last year was an Iowa team that finished 8-5.
Each conference would have more high-value inventory to sell to broadcast partners, but it’s not some enormous windfall. Likewise, four more first-round playoff games would need to find television slots and relevance.
Is anyone sure this is necessary? Do we need 16 at all, let alone with multibids?
In the 12-team format, the first round wasn’t particularly competitive — with a 19.3-point average margin of victory. It’s much like the first round of the NFL playoffs, designed mostly to make sure no true contender is left out.
Perhaps last year was an outlier. And maybe future games will be close. Or maybe they’ll be even more lopsided. Wouldn’t it be prudent to find out?
While there were complaints about the selection committee picking SMU and/or Indiana over Alabama, it wasn’t some egregious slight. Arguments will happen no matter how big the field. Besides, the Crimson Tide lost to two 6-6 teams last year. Expansion means a team with a similar résumé can cruise in.
Is that a good thing?
Whatever the decision, it is being made with little to no real-world data — pro or con. Letting a few 12-team fields play out, providing context and potentially unexpected consequences, sure wouldn’t hurt.
You don’t have to be Gordon Gee circa 2007 to favor letting this simmer and be studied before leaping toward another round of expansion.
Texas, with Heisman Trophy candidate Arch Manning set to take over as starting quarterback, is the preseason pick to win the Southeastern Conference championship.
The Longhorns received 96 of the 204 votes cast from media members covering the SEC media days this week to be crowned SEC champion on Dec. 6 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Georgia, with 44 votes, received the second-most votes.
If that scenario plays out, it would mean a rematch of the 2024 SEC championship game, which Georgia won in an overtime thriller. The SEC championship game pits the two teams with the best regular-season conference record against one another.
Since 1992, only 10 times has the predicted champion in the preseason poll gone on to win the SEC championship.
The 2024 SEC title game averaged 16.6 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, the fourth-largest audience on record for the game. The overtime win for Georgia, which peaked with 19.7 million viewers, delivered the largest audience of the college football season.
CHICAGO — NASCAR is pressing pause on its Chicago Street Race, answering at least one major question about its schedule for next season.
NASCAR raced on a street course in downtown Chicago on the first weekend in July each of the last three years. But it had a three-year contract with the city, leaving the future of the event in question.
Writing to Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday, race president Julie Giese said the plan is to explore the potential of a new event weekend with his office and other community leaders while also working on a more efficient course build and breakdown.
“Our goal is for the Chicago Street Race to return in 2027 with an event that further enhances the experience for residents and visitors alike, as we work together towards a new potential date, shorter build schedule, and additional tourism draws,” Giese wrote in her letter to Johnson.
Giese said NASCAR is keeping its Chicago Street Race office and plans to continue its community partnerships.
“We deeply value our relationship with the City of Chicago and remain steadfast in our commitment to being a good neighbor and partner,” she said in the letter.
NASCAR is replacing its Chicago stop with a street race in San Diego.
A message was left Friday seeking comment from Johnson’s office.
NASCAR’s Chicago weekend featured Xfinity and Cup Series races on a 12-turn, 2.2-mile course against the backdrop of Lake Michigan and Grant Park – to go along with a festival-like atmosphere with music and entertainment options.
The goal was an event that appealed to both a new audience in one of NASCAR’s most important regions and the most ardent racing fans. NASCAR used to race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, a 45-mile drive from downtown, but it pulled out after the 2019 season.
Johnson’s predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, was in charge when the three-year contract for the downtown weekend was finalized.
It wasn’t exactly a popular move in Chicago. Local businesses and residents were frustrated by the street closures in a heavily trafficked area for tourists in the summer. But organizers shrunk the construction schedule from 43 days in 2023 to 25 this year, winning over some of the race’s critics.
Drivers and their teams had some concerns about the course ahead of the first weekend. But the setup was widely praised by the time the third year rolled around – both the course and the ability to walk to the circuit from their downtown hotel.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson called Chicago “probably my favorite event in NASCAR each year.”
The racing in downtown Chicago has been dominated by Shane van Gisbergen, who won the Xfinity and Cup races this year from the pole. He also won in Chicago in his Cup debut in 2023 and last year’s Xfinity Series race.
“I love the track,” he said after this year’s Cup win. “It’s a cool place to come to. You feel a nice vibe. You feel a good vibe in the mornings walking to the track with the fans. It’s pretty unique like that.”