Beau Hossler vowed even before the Palmer Cup matches began that he wouldn’t be looking ahead to his title defense in August’s Western Amateur. Both competitions are being played at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove.

The Palmer Cup is a 19-year old team event pitting the college stars of the U.S. against their counterparts from Europe. The Western Amateur is 112 years old and has been won by some of golf’s greatest names – Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Curtis Strange, Ben Crenshaw, Jack Nicklaus. Very few have won it back-to-back (the last was Justin Leonard in 1992-93), and Hossler has a chance to do that.

Still, the Western Amateur is more than a month away and Hossler has not only Sunday’s conclusion of the Palmer Cup but also next week’s U.S. Open before his title defense at Rich Harvest.

“One of the goals I’d set at the beginning of the year was to be here competing for my country,’’ said Hossler. “You know you’ve had a solid year if you make the Palmer Cup team. It’s a huge honor to play in this tournament. I’m not at all preparing for the Western.’’

And that showed on Saturday – a huge day for Hossler’s U.S. squad that was battered by the Europeans last year in England.

Hossler, from the University of Texas, had to stay focused. Trailing most of the match, he drilled the last putt of the day – a 12-footer for birdie – to take a 1-up victory over Austria’s Matthias Schwab and help the U.S. to a 13 ½-6 ½ lead. Hossler needed birdies on the last two holes to pull out the win and he was swarmed by his teammates after the last putt dropped.

Ten singles matches remain on Sunday, the first of which tees off at 8 a.m., and the U.S. needs just three wins to re-claim the cup. The U.S. leads the series 9-8-1.

The Europeans trailed 6-4 after Friday’s fourball and alternate shot matches and had little to cheer about on Saturday. Their brightest moment came in the first match where Thomas Detry, a Belgium native who was part of the University of Illinois’ NCAA semifinalists, demolished Georgia’s Lee McCoy 5 and 4.

After that Europe won only one of the remaining nine matches. Highlighting the U.S. charge was Georgia Tech’s Ollie Schniederjans, who took out Jon Rahm 2 and 1. Rahm, from Spain and Arizona State, is No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. McCoy is No. 5, Hossler No. 6, Detry No. 11 and Schniederjans No. 13.

Just two weeks ago Thomas Detry was on the popular side, a key player in the University of Illinois’ drive to the semifinals of the NCAA golf tournament in Florida.

Now, as a member of the European team in the Palmer Cup matches at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, he’s trying to do in the U.S. squad. Last year the native of Belgium did a good job of it, winning three of his four matches as the European college stars won handily in England.

In Friday’s opening fourball matches at Rich Harvest, however. Detry and partner Jon Rahm, an Arizona State player from Spain, were crushed 4 and 3 by Americans Lee McCoy, of Georgia, and Ollie Schniederjans of Georgia Tech in a match that started 40 minutes late because of lightning in the area.

Detry had better luck against the same opponents in the afternoon alternate shot matches with a new partner in Adrian Meronk, the first player from Poland to compete in the 19-year old Palmer Cup. They won 4 and 3 and helped the Europeans cut a 4-1 deficit after the morning matches. The U.S. leads 6-4 heading into the last two days of singles matches. They start at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

“This is a big deal,’’ said Detry. “I’m very honored to be playing in the Palmer Cup. Last year was so much fun. Here it’s a different feeling.’’

The Palmer Cup was founded by Arnold Palmer in 1997, and he was on hand for the opening ceremony and first tee shots on Saturday

Friday’s matches started the latest in a series of big events at Rich Harvest. The Western Amateur will be played there in August, the LPGA International Crown in 2016 and the NCAA Championships in 2018.

“I love the golf course,’’ said Detry. “Jerry Rich did a great job designing it. Some didn’t like it, but it’s straight-forward course and a good challenge.’’

Detry was on the Illini team that won an NCAA regional tournament at Rich Harvest in 2014 but he didn’t try to qualify for next week’s U.S. Open and will skip the Western Amateur to compete in Europe after the Palmer Cup is over. He’ll enter his senior year at Illinois in the fall.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Hinsdale’s Jeff Sluman made a run at the title in the final round of the 76th Senior PGA Championship on Sunday. After making five birdies in his first 10 holes Sluman even thought he had a chance to catch front-runner Colin Montgomerie.

“I just played excellent golf, which you have to do here,’’ said Sluman. “I certainly knew I was climbing the leaderboard. It’s a tough golf course, and you know there’s not going to be many people under par so – unless I’m a total idiot –I had to figure maybe I had an outside chance.’’

In the end, though, a 3-under-par 69 was too little too late for Sluman, who climbed from a tie for 24th at the start of the final round into a tie for seventh. He wound up nine strokes behind champion Montgomerie, who also finished with a 69 and won by four strokes over Esteban Toledo. The only lower score in the final round was a 68 by Marco Dawson, who tied for ninth.

The Pete Dye Course proved too much for most of the stars of the 50-and-over circuit. As was the case at the end of the second and third rounds, only five were under par at the end of the fourth. Montgomerie was at 8-under 280 in becoming only the fifth player to successfully defend a Senior PGA title. The other four were Eddie Williams in the 1940s, Paul Runyan (1961-62), Sam Snead (1964-65 and again in 1972-73) and Hale Irwin who enjoyed a three-peat from 1996-98.

Montgomerie had a series of near-misses in major championships during a solid career on the European and PGA Tours but was an instant success since joining the Champions Tour last year. In addition to making the Senior PGA his first major title he also won the U.S. Senior Open. Next year he’ll defend his Senior PGA crown on the same course he won on last year – Harbor Shores in Michigan.

Toledo cut Montgomerie’s three-stroke lead at the start of the day to one twice on the front nine but Montgomerie answered with four of his six birdies for the day coming between holes eight and 12.

“It was a difficult position to be three ahead. There was no place to go but down,’’ said Montgomerie. “It was very tiring mentally but after 12 I felt safe.’’

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – The Senior PGA Championship has been played for 75 years and only four players have successfully defended a title. Colin Montgomerie could be the fifth on Sunday.

The Scotsman enjoyed a solid career on the European and PGA Tours but never won a major title. That changed when he joined the Champions Tour last year. His first major win came at the Senior PGA at Harbor Shores in Michigan and he followed that with a victory in the U.S. Senior Open.

Now a Senior PGA repeat is a distinct possibility as Montgomerie takes a three-stroke lead on German Bernhard Langer into the final round on the tricky Pete Dye Course. They were paired all four rounds at Harbor Shores but Langer didn’t get into the mix here until Saturday when he fired a 3-under-par 69.

“I thought he’d re-appear some time,’’ said Montgomerie. “He’s a very difficult man to dislodge and he’s a very good friend. We’ve had lots of good matches together and I look forward to playing with him again.’’

Montgomerie was the focal point of Saturday’s third round. He posted a 70, topped off by a three-foot birdie putt on the finishing hole, to hit the 54-hole stop at 5-under 211. That put him in position to join some select company.

Two of the four players who have defended Senior PGA titles were three-peat champions – Eddie Williams (1942,1945 and 1946 — the tourney wasn’t played during World War II) and Hale Irwin (1996-98). The other successful defenses were mounted by Paul Runyan (1961-62) and Sam Snead, who did it twice (1964-65 and 1972-73).

“There’s a long road to go – seven miles in walking terms,’’ said Montgomerie, “and the emotions go up and down like a roller coaster.’’

He’ll have to get by Langer again, and Langer created major excitement on Saturday. He holed a 7-iron shot from 162 yards for eagle at No. 8, then cruised in with a birdie-birdie finish.

Birdies and eagles have been hard to come by on the Pete Dye Course. Only one player was under par in Thursday’s first round and just five were in red numbers after the second, the fewest since 1986. Five were also under par after Round 3.

Scott Verplank, Esteban Toledo and Brian Henninger are one stroke behind Langer. Henninger was tied for the lead until he made triple bogey eight at the par-5 16th. He wasn’t the only one struggling. Reigning Encompass champion Tom Lehman, the 36-hole leader, shot 78 and dropped seven strokes off the pace and into a tie for 17th.

The two Chicago players in the field are further down the list. Hinsdale’s Jeff Sluman shot 73 and is tied for 24th and Lake Forest’s Chip Beck carded a 76 and is tied for 55th.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Scores were much higher than usual over the first two rounds of the 76th Senior PGA Championship at the Pete Dye Course, but not all the Champions Tour players were suffering.

Tom Lehman, who will defend his title in July’s Encompass Championship at North Shore in Glenview, claimed the 36-hole lead after posting a 5-under-par 67 on Friday and the two Chicago area players on the Champions circuit – Hinsdale’s Jeff Sluman and Lake Forest’s Chip Beck – made the cut in the second major championship of the year in the 50-and-over circuit.

Most of the other 153 starters, however, were confounded by the six-year old Dye design that is hosting the event for the first time. Lehman, though, hit the halfway point in the tournament a 4-under 140. Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, Lehman’s playing partner n the first two rounds and the tourney’s defending champion, is one stroke back

“It’s an incredibly beautiful place,’’ said Lehman, “and an amazing location to have this tournament. What Pete Dye does, more than anything, is challenge you mentally. He forces you to be patient.’’

Beck learned that lesson. He soared to 9-over-par for the tournament after his first nine on Saturday but played his last nine in 4-under-par 32 that included an eagle on the last hole. That put him at 5-over 149 for the first two rounds, which was well inside the cut line. Sluman, who matched Beck’s 73 on Friday, is two strokes better entering Saturday’s third round.

Lehman made five of his six birdies on the back nine to offset his lone bogey at No. 14. He posted a 32 on the back side.

Jim Billiter, a 10-year assistant pro at the Merit Club in Libertyville, won the 64th Illinois PGA Match Play Championship on Monday, climaxing a week in which nothing went as expected at Kemper Lakes in Long Grove.

The first major tournament of the Chicago season figured to be another duel between Curtis Malm, the head pro at White Eagle in Naperville who was bidding for his fourth straight title, and Medinah teaching pro Travis Johns, last year’s IPGA Player of the Year. Both were eliminated on Wednesday, when Billiter beat Johns and Malm was ousted by Scott Baines, an assistant at Chicago’s Bryn Mawr club.

In fact, none of the top seven seeded players qualified for Thursday’s morning semifinals in which Billiter beat Simon Allan, head pro at Prestwick in Frankfort, and Brian Brodell, new teaching pro at Mistwood in Romeoville, survived a 19-hole match with Kyle Bauer, head pro at Glen View Club.

The Billiter-Brodell final also had a surprise ending on the winner’s 29th birthday. The end came on the third hole of a sudden death playoff that began when Billiter put his 8-iron tee shot in the water on a 171-yard par-3.

That put Brodell in a good spot to close out the match, but he couldn’t do it. His 7-iron tee shot bounded over the green and into thick rough.

“When I shanked it in the water I thought it was over,’’ admitted Billiter, “but then when I saw him hit it long I knew I still had a chance because he had a real delicate shot.’’

Billiter put a 90-yard shot from the drop area to six feet of the cup, then watched Brodell chunk his first chip shot and run his second four feet past the cup. Billiter holed his put for bogey, and that was good enough to win the match after Brodell missed.

“A sad way to end it,’’ said Brodell, who came to Mistwood last September to work with the club’s junior programs after serving as assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s teams at Purdue University. “I hit the same club on that hole as I did in the morning match, the wind was the same and I expected a two-putt uphill and the match was mine. Then all of a sudden my shot flew long and I had one bad chip.’’

Billiter won the Illinois PGA Assistants Match Play Championship last year, which had been his biggest win prior to Thursday. He won the first two holes against Brodell but lost the lead six holes later and needed to sink an eight-foot birdie putt on the last hole of regulation to force the playoff.

Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman won the traditional Par-3 Contest that precedes the Masters tournament on Wednesday. That’s not necessarily a good thing, because players consider winning the Par-3 a bad omen. No Par-3 winner has ever gone on to win the Masters.

In Streelman’s case, though, things might turn out differently. He didn’t take his participation in the Par-3 lightly.

His thought process started in December of 2013. That’s when Streelman and wife Courtney were expecting their first child. Daughter Sophia was born more than a month early after Courtney underwent a difficult, worrisome pregnancy.

“That changed a lot of the ways I see children,’’ Streelman told ESPN.com. “I have an entirely new appreciation for what parents with children having tough times are going through.’’

The Par-3 is a fun event, and players frequently use family members or friends as their caddies. Streelman’s father was on his bag in in his first Par-3 experience in 2012. His mother got the call in 2013 and his father-in-law last year.

Still moved by Sophia’s struggles at birth Streelman contacted the Make-A-Wish Foundation after securing another Masters berth by virtue of his win in the PGA Tour’s tournament in Hartford, Ct., last year. He asked if any of its patients wanted to attend the Masters and Ethan Couch, the 13-year-old son of a former golf professional in Canada, was anxious to have the opportunity.

Couch was diagnosed with a brain tumor that’s benign, but inoperable, two years ago. How it will affect the rest of his life is uncertain. He’ll undergo an MRI next week.

With Ethan carrying his bag Streelman went around the nine-hole short course at Augusta National in 5-under-par, which left him in a tie with Camilo Villegas for the top spot. They went to a sudden death playoff, which Streelman won on the third extra hole to make Couch’s day all the more special.

“I just wanted to open the door to someone, and hopefully give him a great day after going through some rough times,’’ said Streelman. “This isn’t about me. It’s about giving back. It’s about using that opportunity that I have to make someone’s wish come true.’’

Streelman, 36, was born in Winfield, developed his golf skills primarily at Cantigny in Wheaton, graduated from Wheaton-Warrenville South High School in 1997 and Duke University 2001. He has two wins since earning his PGA Tour card in 2008.

Though he lost to Streelman in the playoff, the day was special for Villegas as well. He made two holes-in-one in his first eight holes of the Par-3 competition. Six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus, now 75, also made a hole-in-one. He’s been playing at Augusta National since the 1960s but never had an ace there until Wednesday, and he somewhat predicted it in a television interview before his round.

The Illinois PGA, in an effort to stimulate more entries in its biggest annual tournament, announced major changes in the Illinois Open on Friday.

For the first time the finals in the 65-year old tournament will be played at two sites – Royal Melbourne in Long Grove and Hawthorn Woods Country Club. The field will also be expanded, from 156 to 258 players and the qualifiers for the final round of the 54-hole event will grow from 50 plus ties to 70 plus ties.

IPGA executive director Michael Miller used the opening day of the 32nd annual Chicago Golf Show at Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont to make the long-anticipated announcement.

The tourney will remain a Monday-Wednesday event, with both courses being used for the first two rounds, on July 20 and 21. The final round will be at Royal Melbourne on July 22.

Qualifying sessions for non-exempt players have been scheduled at seven locations, but only one outside of the Chicago area. That one is June 17 at Bloomington Country Club. Other qualifiers are June 4 at Royal Hawk in St. Charles, June 8 at Glencoe, June 11 at Turnberry in Lakewood, June 17 at Balmoral Woods in Crete, June 25 at Willow Crest in Oak Brook and June 29 at Elgin Country Club.

As was the case with last year’s championship site, The Glen Club in Glenview, both Hawthorn Woods and Royal Melbourne are managed by Northbrook-based KemperSports, one of the nation’s most prominent golf management companies. The Glen Club had hosted the event a record nine times, the first coming in 1991.

Unlike The Glen Club, both Hawthorn Woods and Royal Melbourne are private facilities. Hawthorn Woods, an Arnold Palmer design that opened in 2006, hosted the Illinois Open from 2008-11. Royal Melbourne, a Greg Norman design that made its debut in 1992, hosted the Illinois PGA Championship in 2003 and 2004.

OCALA, FL. – The first event of the LPGA’s 66th season wasn’t held very far from the site of the circuit’s very first tournament, in 1950. That one was at Palma Cella Country Club in Tampa.

The 2015 debut also wasn’t far from the organization’s headquarters. It was played at Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club, a beautiful facility nestled in the horse country of northwestern Florida. It’s about 100 miles from Palma Cella and it’s not much further to LPGA headquarters in Daytona Beach.

This season opener, though, was an indication of how far the LPGA has come, and the inaugural Coates Championship could trigger the biggest year yet for the premier women’s circuit.

The event drew great crowds, and organizers had no problem recruiting over 850 volunteers to help in putting the tournament on. The competition was excellent, as well. South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi captured her eighth win on the LPGA Tour, shooting a final round 68 to finish at 16 under par 272 and one better than 17-year old sensation Lydia Ko, Jessica Korda and Ha Na Jang.

That gave Choi the $225,000 top prize. Ko, though, gave the tournament a place in history. Her second-place finish in the Coates Championship boosted her to No. 1 in the Rolex World Rankings. That made Ko the youngest golfer — male or female — to reach No. 1.

LPGA commissioner Mike Whan called the whole Golden Ocala experience “impressive.”

“We could not be happier with the response we received,” said Whan. “The spectator support has been among the best on the LPGA Tour.”

This LPGA opener represented a departure from recent years, when the circuit usually played its first tournament outside of the U.S. (Four of this year’s first five events, though, will still be beyond U.S. borders – in the Bahamas, Australia, Thailand and Singapore).

The Coates Championship at Golden Ocala didn’t have the traditional Thursday-Sunday run. This one started on Wednesday and concluded on Saturday to avoid a conflict with the Super Bowl.

Coates also wasn’t your usual golf tournament sponsor. It’s a golf equipment manufacturer that is new to the market. Mollie and Randall Coates are Golden Ocala members who entered the golf business only recently. After several years of planning the Coates introduced their products at the 62nd PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando a week before hosting their tournament.

The big launching came at the LPGA season opener – and that was most appropriate. Coates Golf is producing clubs made strictly for women. Other companies have offered “women’s clubs’’ over the years but not like the slick black ones that Coates put on the market. Theirs aren’t men’s clubs with adjustments made for women. This club-maker is all about producing equipment strictly for women.

Coates clubs, understandably, haven’t caught on with the top players yet. Only Alexandria Jacobsen, who lives in Palm City, FL., and got into the tournament on a sponsor’s exemption, played their clubs in the LPGA opener. But women golfers will learn about Coates clubs quickly, now. The company isn’t just sponsoring this one tournament. Coates has signed on to sponsor LPGA events for two more years.

The company has a full line of its sleek black and golf-colored clubs available along with bags, towels, gloves and hats. A full apparel line is expected to be offered in the fall.

For its first tournament Coates chose an interesting place that has more advantages than just being close to home. Golden Ocala’s 6,541-yard par-72 course was designed by well-regarded Florida architect Ron Garl. His creation includes eight tribute holes, three of which are patterned after holes at Augusta National – the Georgia site of the Masters every April.

Garl’s other tribute holes were patterned after holes at St. Andrews, Royal Troon, Muirfield and Baltusrol. Golden Ocala also has a 10-acre short game area and two practice holes in addition to its spacious driving range. It wasn’t exactly a mystery to the 120 LPGA players who showed up. Golden Ocala was the site of the Golden Flake Classic, a stop on the LPGA’s Futures Tour 20 years ago. Australian Karrie Webb made that event her first professional victory, and she was also in the field for the Coates Championship.

The field had other noteworthy players in the $1.5 million tournament, since 19 of the top 20 in the Rolex Rankings, nine of the top 10 on the 2014 money list and 28 of last year’s tournament champions competed in the Coates Championship.

Of more historical note, the LPGA had two African American players in one tournament for the first time since 1971 when Cheyenne Woods and Sadena Parks earned places on the tee sheet. Woods, nephew of Tiger Woods, made her debut as an LPGA member. She earned playing privileges at last fall’s Qualifying School. Park earned her privileges off her play on the Symetra Tour in 2014.

Though several others have played in tournaments on sponsor exemptions over the years, Woods and Parks are only the fifth and sixth African American players in the history of the LPGA. The first was the great tennis player, Althea Gibson, who competed on the golf circuit from 1964-71. Renee Powell had the longest such run, from 1967-80 and LaRee Sugg was on the circuit for two stints, from 1995-97 and 2000-01. Prior to Woods and Parks and last African American woman to play as an LPGA qualifier was Shasta Averyhardt in 2011.

The Coates Championship was the first of 34 tournaments on the LPGA schedule. The circuit will have a record 390 hours of television coverage on NBC and The Golf Channel.

WINDERMERE, FL. – Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf figured to be the most noteworthy event in the sport last week. Now, maybe it wasn’t.

Woods played hurt, and tied for last in his Hero World Challenge at Isleworth. Just an hour away his niece, Cheyenne Woods, earned her playing privileges on the LPGA Tour in the Qualifying School’s 90-hole elimination in Daytona Beach. She’ll be a focal point on the women’s circuit at times next season.

And that’s not all that may have overshadowed the Tiger return. Jordan Spieth’s victory at Isleworth was astounding — a 10-shot win on the heels of his six-shot victory in last week’s Australian Open.

And that still wasn’t all. John Daly announced his engagement, then won his first tournament in 10 years at the Beko Classic in Turkey. Padraig Harrington, whose world ranking had dropped to No. 385, won his first tournament since the 2008 PGA Championship by taking the Bank BRI Indonesia Open and English golfer Danny Willett overtook Luke Donald in the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa.

Still, that was a great showing by Donald — on his 37th birthday after his world ranking had dropped to No. 37. Donald shot 63 in the third round and was the 54-hole leader before struggling to a 73 in the final round. His strong showing came shortly after he announced he’s working again with Pat Goss, his college coach at Northwestern.

As for Woods, at least he’s playing again — and healthy. That suggests he’ll be a factor during the rest of the 2014-15 season.

When Woods hosted his World Challenge in 2013 he was the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world. A lot has changed since then for the player whose success, many claim, is critical to the growth of the game.

Woods lost the title of his own charity tournament in a playoff with Zach Johnson a year ago, when the event was played in California, and his year went downhill from there. This year the main storyline of the World Challenge figured to be Woods more than the competition. Could he come back again after all that happened?

Unfortunately, no definitive answer came from the Hero World Challenge. He was understandably rusty (as underscored by nine chunked chip shots during the course of the 72 holes), but Wood was also sick during most of the tournament — so sick, in fact, that he experienced vomiting and nausea on the course.

Still, he finished at even par and in a tie with Hunter Mahan for 17th in the star-studded 18-player field. If a sick Tiger can do that, what can a healthy one do down the road? Time will tell.

At least Woods wasn’t deflated by the slow start in his first tournament back.

“I made some progress. I hadn’t played in four months, and I’m in absolutely no pain,” said Woods. “That’s nice.”

What was even nicer Spieth’s record 26-under-par 262 performance. The score was a tournament record, and Spieth became the first wire-to-wire winner of Woods’ charity event.

“The best I’ve ever played, which is what I said in the Media Center in Sydney (after his win in the Australian Open),” said Spieth. “I played better this week.”

The flu-like symptoms that Woods experienced at Isleworth didn’t compare to what he went through since the World Challenge of 2013. He had back surgery on March 31 and tried to salvage the 2013-14 PGA Tour season but his attempt was futile. He was in too much pain.

During the season he played in only eight tournaments world-wide, and his best finish was a tie for 25th place. That’s why he entered this week’s newly-named Hero World Challenge with just a No. 24 world ranking.

Still, hopes were high for the game’s long-time No. 1 player who turns 39 on Dec. 30. The Challenge was his first competitive event since he limped off the Valhalla course in Louisville after missing the cut in the PGA Championship in August.

Since then Woods underwent extensive rehab on his back, rarely touching a golf club until the last few weeks. He dropped swing coach Sean Foley and named Chris Como his“swing consultant.’’ Together they’ve begun work on a swing change to accommodate his potentially vulnerable back.

There’s been one big positive for Woods recently, too. He landed his biggest endorsement contract since his fall from grace in the aftermath of the car crash in the Isleworth community here five years ago. Hero Moto Corp, a motorcycle manufacturer based in India, will pay Woods upwards of $6 million per year for the next four years as part of his latest endorsement deal.

Woods has never ridden a motorcycle, and said he doesn’t intend to, but he was photographed sitting on his new sponsor’s products this week. Hero will continue sponsorship of Woods’ World Challenge, which will be played in the Bahamas the next three years. Next year’s Challenge will be played at the luxury resort Albany, which is jointly owned by Woods, Ernie Els and the Tavistock Group — the developer of Isleworth. Els designed the course at Albany.

All looked good in the world of Tiger before the first ball was struck on the long, challenging Isleworth layout on Thursday. Woods looked lean and strong, suggesting he had lost weight during the rehab. He was in good spirits. The back, he said, felt fine. He said he had regained his explosiveness and just needed to hit more balls.

That became obvious as soon as it was time to compete. His first tee shot on Thursday went out of bounds. He made bogeys on his first two holes and added another on a par-5. That put him in a hole early and he never got out of it, shooting 77 in his first round back.

Patrick Reed and Woods were the first twosome off the tee in Round 2 and their games couldn’t have been much different. Reed was 8-under-par after 10 holes and envisioned shooting in the 50s. He settled for a course-record 63 and didn’t considered the disparity in scores — Woods improved to a 70 — as a cause for concern for his playing partner.

“His game seemed fine,” said Reed. “Of course he didn’t like the score he had. He had a couple loose shots out there, but he knows what he’s doing.”

Woods did admit that his latest swing change hasn’t fully kicked in yet.

“The good news is, I know the process,’’ said Woods. “I’ve
made changes before in my game, and it takes time.’’

Steve Stricker, like Woods, had been on rehab duty and was in his first competition in three months. He had 67 in the first round but struggled after that and was paired with Woods in the third round.

The hip that had troubled Stricker most of the 2013-14 season turned out to be a herniated disc in his back. He could sympathize with Woods’ plight.

“There’s a comfort level with this game, and if you don’t have that comfort it’s difficult to play,’’ said Stricker. “So, it’ll take some time, I’m sure…It’ll be a challenge for Tiger, but he’ll be fine.’’

Woods finished the third round with three straight birdies while posting a 69 — his best round of the week. On Sunday he avoided solo ownership of last place by shooting a 72 that pulled him into a tie with Mahan.

So, while there were some positives, Woods may not be seen in competition for awhile now. Without giving specifics he said his schedule for 2015 will be a bit different than in previous years and that he expected to be very busy beginning in the middle of the year.