This Week in Golf
Updated: 01/24/01
Tiger and Duval return to the desert

Start the music.

The PGA Tour season is starting for real, now that Tiger Woods is making his first full-field, regular time-zone appearance, at the Phoenix Open.

You could see the giant flakes of rust falling off his game at the Mercedes Championships two weeks ago. From what I hear, the rest of his kinks were ironed out with a thousand range balls and the close supervision of Butch Harmon.

Content Provided by Golfdigest.com

A Hawaiian breeze
Updated: 01/21/01
His third eagle in as many days got Brad Faxon on track Saturday and allowed him to keep his distance from Ernie Els and Tom Lehman in the Sony Open.

Els had a 65 and could have been much closer to the lead. But he missed birdie putts of under 10 feet on three of the last four holes.

Lehman didn't have as many close birdie putts as Els, but plodded and kept his position.

Content Provided by Golfdigest.com

Faxon wins Sony Open
Updated: 01/21/01
Final Tournament Update 1/21/01

Brad Faxon finished the 72nd hole at the Sony Open in Hawaii with an eagle to post a 5-under-par 65 today, 20-under-par 260 total for the tournament. Faxon managed to record one eagle in each of his four rounds this week in Honolulu. Dating back to the final round of last weeks Mercedes Championship he now has five straight rounds with one eagle per round. Faxon leads the PGA Tour in total eagles this season with six eagles.

Phoenix to include eight of the world's top 10 players
Updated: 01/20/01
Tiger Woods reportedly will announce today -- the deadline -- that he'll play in the Jan. 24-30 Phoenix Open.

With Woods, the Phoenix Open field will include eight of the top 10 golfers in the world, including Ernie Els (No. 2), Phil Mickelson (No. 3) and David Duval (No.4).

Willis goes from rags to riches
Updated: 01/19/01
Willis the first player since 1990 to win in his first PGA Tour event

HONOLULU (Jan. 17) -- Garrett Willis had modest goals for his first season on the PGA Tour.

He wanted to make enough money to keep his card and play well enough to get paired with past champions on the weekend -- maybe a Vijay Singh, someone Willis only played in practice rounds at one of the two U.S. Opens for which he qualified.

Content Provided by Golfdigest.com

Hawaiian punch--Sony Open at Waialae
Updated: 01/19/01
Brad Faxon knows how to finish off a round. "I thought I'd see more guys climbing the board," Faxon said. "I didn't think 10 under would be leading."

Content provided by Golfdigest.com.

Ernie proves he's no Tiger
Updated: 01/18/01
While Jim Furyk was overcoming a South African upstart named Rory Sabbatini, Ernie Els' promise of a more fiery attitude drowned

The waves were cresting at 15 feet off Honolua Bay on Friday night, so Ernie Els and his wife, Leizl, grabbed a handful of beers from the cooler at the Kapalua Plantation Course clubhouse, drove down to the point overlooking Molokai, and watched the surfers riding the biggest swell of the winter season. The Big Easy had opened a commanding four-stroke lead that day in the Mercedes Championships, and with Tiger Woods uncharacteristically off form this had become Els' tournament--and a chance to make an early statement about the 2001 season.

Content Provided by Golfdigest

Daly jackpot
Updated: 01/18/01

HONOLULU (Jan. 18) -- John Daly can't remember the last time he had a drink. He can't remember when his body felt this good. His face really went blank Thursday when asked the last time he shot a 64.

Content Provided by Golfdigest