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PGA TOUR REPORT
OB SPORTS GOLF & LEISURE
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WINTER 2014
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obsports.com
Woods had microdiscectomy sur-
gery for a pinched nerve several
weeks later. After attempting a pre-
mature return, Woods shut it down
after the PGA Championship.
Fully rested, Woods should be
pain-free for the first time in ages.
He'll be armed with a new coach,
Chris Como, an expert in biome-
chanics, who has worked with Aaron
Baddeley and Trevor Immelman.
Como will mold Tiger's swing
based on what Woods' 39-year-old
body can handle.
My prediction: Free of the second-
guessing and healthy again, look for
three wins for Woods, including the
British Open at St. Andrews.
PRESIDENTS CUP GUT-CHECK
The PGA Tour's answer to the
Ryder Cup has lost steam – and
maybe relevance – in the past 10
years. Not since Tiger
Woods and Ernie Els
dueled in a playoff in
2003 at South Africa's
Fancourt, in front of
U.S. Captain Jack Nick-
laus and the Internationals' chief,
Gary Player, has this event been as
riveting as a Ryder Cup.
It faces more challenges for 2015.
The event moves to Asia for the
first time, at Korea's Jack Nicklaus
Golf Club in Incheon City, but re-
sponse so far has been lukewarm.
Having Korea's Sang-moon Bae on
the team will help the local interest,
but the time difference (14 hours be-
tween Seoul and New York City)
could prove a deterrent for American
golf fans. So will the golf course, a
so-so recent vintage Nicklaus
design with wildly undulat-
ing greens that played host
to a couple of Champions
Tour events in 2010-'11. It's
not exactly Royal Melbourne.
The match will be contested Octo-
ber 8-11, in prime football season and
at the start of the baseball playoffs.
My prediction: Unless the Interna-
tionals can field a competitive team,
with players that feel like genuine ri-
vals to move the emotional needle,
the buzz factor will be very low for
the Presidents Cup.
SUITING RORY JUST FINE
Will Rory McIlroy be able to dupli-
cate his remarkable 2014 results in
the coming year? Former European
Ryder Cup Captain Bernard Gal-
lacher said in late October that McIl-
roy's Masters preparation may be
"badly affected" by an ongoing
legal dispute with his former
management company. I'll
venture to say that it will have
no effect on Rory's perform-
ance this coming year.
What's most awkward is how the
proceedings have affected his rela-
tionship with fellow Ulsterman
Graeme McDowell, yet by most ac-
counts, those fences are mended.
Right now, it all comes down to
money, and win or lose, Rory has
plenty of that. McIlroy managed to
overcome the rockiest of starts in
2014, from this his business manage-
ment woes, to his equipment change
to Nike, to the breakup of his mar-
riage plans with Caroline Wozniacki.
My prediction: He'll be fine.
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