Round 3 tee times at the 2011 Farmers Insurance Open

( All times Eastern )

Torrey Pines (South Course) Tee #1
12:50 pm Haas, Bill Kim, Anthony Jacobson, Fredrik
12:40 pm Watson, Bubba Fowler, Rickie Mickelson, Phil
12:30 pm Daly, John Mahan, Hunter Crane, Ben
12:20 pm Davis, Brian Kirk, Chris Johnson, Dustin
12:10 pm Sutherland, Kevin Vegas, Jhonattan Woods, Tiger
12:00 pm Steele, Brendan Ridings, Tag Mayfair, Billy
11:50 am Prugh, Alex Howell III, Charles Leishman, Marc
11:40 am Villegas, Camilo Perez, Pat Holmes, J.B.
11:30 am Adams, Blake Snedeker, Brandt Teater, Josh
11:20 am Lovemark, Jamie Thompson, Michael Gates, Bobby
11:10 am Johnson, Richard S. Walker, Jimmy Yang, Y.E.
11:00 am Glover, Lucas Cink, Stewart Stanley, Kyle
10:50 am Jobe, Brandt Miller, Zack Woodland, Gary
10:40 am Duval, David Jones, Matt Kang, Sunghoon

Torrey Pines (South Course) Tee #10
10:40 am Martin, Ben Haas, Hunter Durant, Joe
10:50 am Points, D.A. Goydos, Paul Sabbatini, Rory
11:00 am Mathis, David Gutschewski, Scott Couch, Chris
11:10 am Piller, Martin Bowditch, Steven Paolucci, Anthony
11:20 am Choi, K.J. Bradley, Keegan Gomez, Fabian
11:30 am Stankowski, Paul Levin, Spencer Gillis, Tom
11:40 am Weir, Mike Lunde, Bill Rose, Justin
11:50 am Tringale, Cameron Herron, Tim Matteson, Troy
12:00 pm Brigman, D.J. Cabrera, Angel Singh, Vijay
12:10 pm Gore, Jason Chalmers, Greg Willis, Garrett
12:20 pm Henry, J.J. Watney, Nick Pettersson, Carl
12:30 pm Appleby, Stuart Reavie, Chez
12:40 pm Wi, Charlie Lyle, Jarrod

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The new Tiger may not be so bad after all

SAN DIEGO (AP) — It began, as it usually does, on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, in a place Tiger Woods holds dear.

A perfect way to start the season. A perfect time to start anew.

The day before, Woods had declared his head to be as clear as the brilliant blue Southern California sky. Now, as Rocco Mediate finished off a nasty 3-putt on the 7th green, Woods pondered the only issue that seemed to be bothering him on this day.

"Why does Roc still have that vest on?" he asked. "It's like a winter jacket or something."

It certainly wasn't to ward off the cold on the north course at Torrey Pines. The substantial crowds following Woods and the man who gave him a memorable run at the 2008 U.S. Open here were so sunbaked in 75-degree weather they could work up little more than polite applause anytime Woods did something to remind them of the legend he once was.

The last time he played here he won an epic Open on one leg, then hugged his wife and kids in one of those special moments you see every so often in sports. Nothing seemed impossible then for the world's greatest player as he collected his 14th major championship trophy and continued his inexorable run for the record of 18 held by Jack Nicklaus.

So much has changed in 19 months. The wife is gone and, for a long time, so was his game. The player who once only had to find the first tee to win, could barely find a fairway and went without a victory for the first time in his remarkable pro career.

If Thursday was any indication, there are signs that drought may not last long.

His scorecard said 69. The look on his face said satisfaction with a first step well taken.

"I thought I hit the ball well all day," Woods said. "I hit a couple loose shots but I knew what I did wrong and they were easy fixes."

That by itself is progress for Woods, who was so frustrated with his game last year that he changed his swing coaches and his swing. It started coming together for him in December at his own tournament, and the weeks of practice since helped him trust the changes even more.

Woods was long and relatively straight off the tee, even if the official stats that show him hitting just five of 14 fairways on the tight course might indicate otherwise. He also putted reasonably well, though an 18-footer for birdie he left just short on the final hole left him muttering to himself.

Woods walked off the final green five shots back of Sunghoon Kang, but that was hardly cause for worry. He's won at Torrey Pines seven times as a pro, after all, coming from five or more shots off the pace in the first round to win four of them.

"I feel comfortable here," he said.

With all the success Woods has had at Torrey Pines since his days in junior golf he should be. His mom was in the gallery, and if Woods needed to be reminded of happier times, Mediate was thrilled to be in his threesome.

"How good is this?" Mediate said on the 11th tee. "I'm just so excited to be out there I have to remind myself to slow down."

Woods may not be the No. 1 player in the world anymore, but he's still the No. 1 draw on the course and on television. The PGA Tour needs him to play well almost as badly as he needs to play well, and that he hasn't made a bogey this year had to give hope to both.

Not that the day was a total success. Woods surely had to fight an urge to correct the announcer on the first tee when he introduced him as a five-time champion instead of six, and he didn't manage to birdie any of the reachable par-5s.

And, despite his promise to promote a better image for the game, he let an expletive fly after hitting a shot out of a fairway bunker on his 17th hole into the rough short of the green.

Woods may not win this week, may not even be in contention when it really matters on Sunday. If he's judged a failure for that, it's because he was so great for so long that we expect him to do it every time.

But he's going to win this year, if only because his will to win is so great. He may even add to his collection of majors and, at the age of 35, begin to seriously threaten the Nicklaus record once again.

The old Tiger may be gone forever. But if his first day of a new season was any indication, the new one might not be too bad.

----=

Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org

Confidence, swagger growing for LA's JuninhoMickelson, Westwood paired at HSBC Champions

Venezuela's Chavez says he is no enemy of golf

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declared on Tuesday that he is no enemy of golf despite his concerns about elite golf courses on prime urban real estate in Caracas.

Chavez made the remark while congratulating Venezuelan golfer Jhonattan Vegas on his win in the Bob Hope Classic on Sunday in California.

"I'm not an enemy of golf. I'm not an enemy of any sport," Chavez said in a televised speech.

"What I've done is criticize that there are some rich guys in Caracas who have... golf courses and next to them the 'ranchos' are falling down," he said, referring to the simple brick homes clinging to hillsides that have been destroyed in recent landslides.

Chavez has suggested the land on Caracas golf courses could be better used as his government seeks to speed construction of public housing - a stance that has raised the possibility the courses could eventually be expropriated.

The president said he hoped to speak with Vegas soon by phone to congratulate him personally.

"He beat all the gringos," said Chavez, laughing. "Let's go, buddy."

The 26-year-old golfer, who came from a humble family in which his father was groundskeeper of a small course, became the first Venezuelan to win an event on the PGA Tour.

Chavez noted that Vegas is black, saying "he looks like (President Barack) Obama."

State television cut to segments of Vegas' successful performance, and Chavez joked "that's how I played golf" years ago in the president's hometown of Sabaneta.

Chavez noted that Vegas lives and plays in the United States, saying he represents Venezuela nevertheless "wherever he lives."

"We're going to practice golf here, too," Chavez said.

The leftist leader has previously called golf a pastime of the rich. His socialist government has closed six courses in recent years, all but one of them on land owned by the state oil company - including the course in eastern Venezuela where Vegas learned to play as a boy.

Vegas has said he hopes to give his sport a boost in Venezuela, where baseball has long been the undisputed favorite.

Chavez sought to separate Vegas' performance from the issue of golf courses in Caracas, where his government is trying to cope with a severe shortage of affordable housing.

The president said he opposes that "a group of very rich people" have a spread of golf courses "there in the heart of Caracas."

He said there is "almost no city in the world" that has golf courses within city limits as Caracas does.

However, Mexico City and Buenos Aires have golf course layouts within the city limits. Golf courses are also common features of many city parks in North America.

KC's Espinoza reflects on his World Cup experiencePlay washed out at Sony Open in Hawaii

Poulter says golf's rules need to be re-examined

RIFFA, Bahrain (AP) — Ian Poulter says the rules of golf need to be re-examined in order to avoid the kind of high-profile disqualifications the sport has seen in recent weeks.

Poulter said Wednesday ahead of the Volvo Golf Champions that "if you look at a number of the scenarios and situations that we've had in the last 12 months, I think a lot of rules certainly need to be re-looked at for sure."

Padraig Harrington was disqualified from last week's Abu Dhabi Golf Championships after he didn't replace his ball correctly when it moved after he picked up his marker.

Also this month, Camilo Villegas was disqualified from the Tournament of Champions after a rule violation.

Poulter said, "I think there's no common sense involved with a number of the rules, so that needs to be addressed."

Finchem asks USGA for review of rulesConfidence, swagger growing for LA's Juninho

PGA Tour Confidential: Tiger and the Majors in 2011

Every week of the 2011 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors and join the conversation in the comments section below.

TIGER IN WINTER

Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I think we're obligated by law to discuss Tiger Woods at every roundtable. What do you see in 2011?

John Garrity, contributing writer, Sports Illustrated: He's 35, he's lost some clubhead speed and a lot of confidence but I see him bouncing back and winning tournaments. I think he starts picking up where he left.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: My fearless rumor-mongering on Twitter, which touched off an online jihad, resulted in Tiger's people admitting he got a cortisone shot in his ankle. We know he's had four surgeries, he's got an achilles problem, he's an old 35. If he's going to break down physically, that's going to compromise his ability to prepare. That's one of the great unknowns.

Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Tiger will win again. It's how he's built. That said, the landscape is deep and competitive. It'll be harder for him than ever before.

Anonymous Pro: I'm more concerned about his knee and achilles than his swing. Sean Foley will get him on a better swing path. What swing path wouldn't be better? He's going to be formidable tee-to-green again. After watching him make everything the last 12 years, I can't picture him forgetting how to putt. I also can't forget how lost he looked when he returned after the scandal.

Garrity: I agree but last year even with the worst possible scenario — his marriage and his life in tatters — he finished fourth in two majors. He's still one of the ten best players.

Van Sickle: Tiger came back after knee surgery talking about how great his knee felt. Maybe that wasn't a good thing for his swing.

Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Really, Tiger's credibility is zero. Anything he says about his body parts, his knee, his coach — we can't take what he says at face value. That should be one of our new year's resolutions.

Van Sickle: He'll get his ballstriking back. He's a range rat and he loves to learn and work on new stuff. No question he'll hit it better in 2011. We're going to see one of two stories this year: Holy cow, Tiger is back, or, what's wrong with Tiger's putting? Can he putt like the old Tiger? That will determine how successful he'll be.

Bamberger: I don't think Tiger's putting game will ever be anything like it was in 2000, or even 2008. There was no one in the history of golf, except possibly Ben Hogan, who became a better putter after the age of 35. I don't see Tiger winning majors anything like he did in the past with a balky putter.

Shipnuck: Here's the thing. There are only so many hours in a day. Does the fact that he putted poorly in 2010 mean his nerves are shot and he can't putt like he used to or did he merely neglect it? He can go back to work and get the reps he needs. I don't think Tiger is done as a great putter but he needs to show us he can still do it.

Van Sickle: Is it a better story if Tiger comes back and wins a major or comes back and doesn't win?

Shipnuck: Michael Vick helps to answer that question. Tiger lost a lot of fans but Vick was more reviled and hated than Tiger ever was and now people are rooting for Vick. It shows you the redemptive power of playing great. If Tiger gets off to a hot start and wins the Masters, that would captivate the sports world.

Hack: Speaking of which, Tiger hasn't won the Masters since '05. Phil has taken over Magnolia Lane.

Garrity: If Tiger comes back and finishes eighth and ninth place, that's not compelling. The Hogan-type scenario would be compelling if he comes back and starts losing major championships by missing four-footers — not a happy story but there would be a lot of drama.

Shipnuck: We all know the majors are a lot more fun when Tiger is on the leader board. It turns up the volume. Do we want him to slide into mediocrity? I don't think so.

Anonymous Pro: It doesn't matter. Whatever Tiger does will be a compelling story. He's Tiger Woods.

Tell us what you think: How do you think Tiger will fare in 2011? Will he make a comeback?

GRAND SHAM

Van Sickle: What excites you about this year's major championship sites — Congressional, Royal St. George's and Atlanta Athletic Club.

Shipnuck: Nothing. As good as the venues were in 2010, they're that bad in 2011. Congressional is boring. AAC is boring. The British Open in England is never as good as the British Open in Scotland.

Garrity: Visually, St. George's is probably the least memorable Open venue.

Bamberger: Bill Rogers, Sandy Lyle and Ben Curtis won there. It hasn't produced the greatest Open winners. Jack Nicklaus always said he likes the Open courses in descending order from north to south. In other words, from Scotland to England.

Shipnuck: They're not crappy courses, they're just not memorable. They're not much fun.

Van Sickle: You can ask anyone, even golf writers, and I'll bet no one can name more than one hole at Congressional — probably the 17th, where Monty and Tom Lehman lost the U.S. Open in '97.

Anonymous Pro: All I remember about Congressional and Atlanta is that they had bad traffic and fans who didn't know much about golf.

Bamberger: Last year we had three great venues and we thought we'd get three great champions. Pebble Beach didn't really pan out, St. Andrews didn't really pan out and Whistling Straits was weird. This year, we've got bland venues so maybe it'll be the reverse.

Garrity: A bland venue doesn't necessarily mean a bland tournament.

Hack: There's always the Masters, guys. It's first. It's springtime. It's the same ballpark every year. It's Lambeau, Wrigley and the old Boston Garden rolled into one. Lots of ghosts among those loblolly pines. The other majors are hit and miss but I'm always excited for the Masters.

Shipnuck: I'm a West Coast guy, I hate being in sweltering, humid weather. Atlanta in August, are you kidding me? D.C. in June? It's not only uncomfortable, it affects the courses. They have to water the greens to keep them alive in the heat. So you get soft greens, spike marks.

Van Sickle: It's hard to get much farther south in England than St. George's, otherwise you're in France, so it could be warm there, too.

Garrity: We had a heat wave at the Open there last time.

Shipnuck: Actually, Vans, that's the best idea I've heard. Let's hold the Open in France. Better food, better lodging, prettier girls. It's a no-brainer.

Bamberger: Hold it, Alan. Then the course marshals would be French.

Shipnuck: Except for that, the idea has merit.

Tell us what you think: What do you think about this year's major venues? What are your favorite major courses?

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Finchem asks USGA for review of rules

SAN DIEGO (AP) — PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is asking the USGA to review the Rules of Golf after two prominent players were disqualified for rules violations that were reported after they signed their scorecards.

Television viewers called in violations by Camilo Villegas in Hawaii and Padraig Harrington in Abu Dhabi. They were assessed two-shot penalties, but because officials were notified after the round, the players were disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.

"I just think that there's a lot of discomfort with this whole situation and questions raised," Finchem said Tuesday.

He said he is to meet with the USGA executive committee next week at its annual meeting, and he has spoken with the European Tour, which he said has joined him in questioning the rule.

Finchem made it clear he is not asking that the penalty related to signing an incorrect card be changed.

He said he wants a "full and thorough review" of the rule, so golf officials can ask if there is a better way to penalize players. One suggestion is to assess the two-stroke penalty even after the card has been signed, provided the player was not aware he had broken a rule.

Regardless of the outcome, tours have a right to set their own rules for a tournament. Finchem, however, has not been in favor of the PGA Tour getting into the business of making rules. He prefers the USGA to handle that.

"I don't want to assume what our position would be on any piece of it," he said. "All I'm saying at this point is we ought to have an intelligent, thorough discussion of what we have today and what options might be available to us."

One suggestion is to simply add the penalty to a player's score when a violation is discovered and let him keep playing. That could lead to other problems, however. If a two-shot penalty on Friday is not discovered until Saturday, it's possible the adjusted score could affect which players make the cut.

Villegas reached over to tap down a divot as his ball was rolling back down a slope to that very spot. A TV viewer tried to reach tournament officials, but his e-mail didn't make its way to Kapalua until after Villegas had signed for a 72.

Harrington opened with a 65 at the Abu Dhabi Championship, one shot out of the lead. A TV viewer noticed that when replacing his ball on the green, the ball moved forward ever so slightly. Harrington later said he knew the ball nudged forward, but he felt it had rolled back to its original spot. He was disqualified the next day.

Finchem said he had been told that without HDTV, it could not be determined that Harrington's ball had moved.

"Now if you can't see the ball move in that kind of setting, are you really going to let that go to disqualification? I mean, there needs to be some common sense here maybe in terms of the way these things are," Finchem said. "So I don't know whether the rule will be changed. I don't know what timeframe the final decision will be made by the USGA.

"I feel comfortable given the quality of the people at the USGA today that if we can just get into a room and talk seriously about the options, we ought to be able to give this a very careful review."

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Kaymer builds five-shot lead over McIlroy in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Defending champion Martin Kaymer of Germany extended his lead at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship to five strokes over Rory McIlroy after shooting a 6-under 66 in the third round on Saturday.

Kaymer, the 2010 PGA Championship winner who also won last year's European money order, birdied three of his last four holes in totaling 18-under 198 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

McIlroy finished birdie-eagle in a 65 for the Northern Irishman to move into second place.

"The great thing is I've made only one bogey so far, and that was the first day," Kaymer said. "I played very consistently. I've made a lot of birdies the last three days. My putting is very good. I didn't play as good as yesterday, I think. I missed a lot of fairways, but I got away with it.

"I'm leading by five now, but everybody knows Rory can shoot 5, 6 under in the first nine holes. It will definitely be a great round (Sunday). Leading by five gives me a cushion, but it will be a good challenge nevertheless."

Kaymer beat McIlroy by two shots in last year's tournament, and the Northern Irishman is aware he faces a challenge on Sunday.

"Kaymer is very, very good on this golf course," McIlroy said. "He's always good when leading from the front as well, so I'm going to have a difficult time to try and catch him.

"But you know, I've played great all week. I didn't hole many putts on Thursday, but it's been great. No matter what happens tomorrow, it's been a successful week. All I'm trying to concentrate on is hitting good shots on the course and making good swings at it. If I can do that, the goal that I set myself at the start of the week has been achieved."

David Lynn of England (67) is at 204, two strokes ahead of current Race to Dubai leader Charl Schwartzel of South Africa (71) and Sweden's Alexander Noren (67).

U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell's putting let him down in shooting a 71 to slip into a tie for sixth place at 207.

Paul Casey of England nailed a hole-in-one at the 12th, finishing in equal ninth place at 210 after hitting a 67.

"I played a 7-iron. It was a beautiful little draw that landed about eight inches just right of the hole," Casey said in a statement. "It probably skipped forward and jumped back into the hole—it was great to see it go in."

Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark and Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina have also hit holes-in-one during the tournament.

Four-time major winner Phil Mickelson started brilliantly to be 3 under at the turn, only to make four bogeys on the back nine. He hit a 72 for a share of 39th place at 213.

Lee Westwood, the No. 1 player in the world, shot a 73 to be equal 65th.

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Chicago has a new team to root for: The 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup team

Ted Bishop is the vice president of the PGA of America and the director of golf at the Legends Golf Club in Franklin, Ind.

On Thursday, the Medinah Country Club was covered by several inches of snow and the temperature was in the single digits, but thanks to the towering trees that line the Medinah landscape, even the untrained eye could manage to see where the fairways stake their claim. The greens were visible only because of orange snow fences that guarded their boundaries. The great club, site of so many of major championships, appeared to be hibernating.

But looks can be deceiving. Inside the spacious clubhouse, Davis Love III was being introduced by the PGA of America as the next captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, to be played in 2012 at Medinah on the outskirts of Chicago.

Chicago already has the Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks, White Sox and Cubs, but now there's a new team in town with a dignified leader at its helm.

On Thursday, Chicago adopted Davis Love. The new Ryder Cup captain was honored late Thursday afternoon at a Michigan Avenue reception that featured Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub and a Hall of Famer famous for his phrase, "Let's play two!" Or was it 36? Banks was joined by Paul Konerko, who led the White Sox to a World Series title in 2005.

Also on hand were Dan Hampton, defensive end with the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears; Denis Savard, hockey great and coach of the 2010 Stanley Cup-winning Blackhawks; and Scottie Pippen, who was Jordan's sidekick on those great Bulls teams. Each of these five Chicago greats presented Love with a No. 12 jersey from their respective teams. In addition, each offered some advice on how to win a championship and capture the hearts of Chicago fans.

Banks told Love, "Have fun. Stop and smell the roses. Don't take it too seriously."

Konerko said, "Keep your team out of downtown Chicago, and get the Europeans to enjoy the downtown!"

Savard said, "Coach your young players differently than your older stars."

Pippen said, "I can't forgive you for giving Michael his first set of clubs when you were both at the University of North Carolina. I will never catch up to him in golf."

And Hampton said, "Chicago fans will support you, no matter what. But they will like you better if you win."

The day got started when Don Larson, Medinah's chairman of the Ryder Cup, proudly presented Davis and his wife, Robin, with an honorary membership to the storied country club. All day, Love showed why he was the easy choice for the PGA of America. He was articulate, warm, embracing and appreciative of what it means to assume this task. The son of a former PGA member, Love got emotional as he talked about his dad's influence on his career and what it would have meant for Davis Love Jr. to see his son in this role. (The elder Love, a renowned instructor, was killed in a 1988 plane crash.)

Love spoke passionately about his relationship with Jose Maria Olazabal, who was announced as Europe's captain earlier in the week. "Over the next couple of years it will be me against Jose in the media. Once our teams are picked, it will be about them. Jose Maria and I will be competitors on the eve of the Ryder Cup, and we will be friends on Sunday night when it is over."

Chicago, which has a long and storied golf history that includes regular Tour stops as well as major championships, would be a great place to celebrate a Ryder Cup win.

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Eichelberger, 67, earns spot in Sony Open field

HONOLULU — Most of the players at this week's Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club have never played the game with anything other than metal woods, graphite shafts, and a Titleist ProV1, or something comparable. They text. They tweet. They watch HBO but are deathly allergic to PBS — LOL.

And then there's Dave Eichelberger, the tall (6 feet, 1 inch) gentleman with the wavy, silver hair, who stood out on the practice green Tuesday like a mint Model T in a fleet full of late-model sedans. Eichelberger shot his age, 67, to win the Aloha Section PGA Professional Championship last September, earning a spot in this week's field.

"Actually, I've been surprised," he said when asked how many of the players he recognized here. "I ran into Rocco Mediate, who was around 20 years ago, and Billy Mayfair and Duffy Waldorf. I'd say I know maybe 15 of the 140 or so guys. I know more of the caddies."

Eichelberger was a mainstay on Tour from 1968 to '91. He won four times, twice in Milwaukee. Tony Navarro, who now caddies for Adam Scott, got his first win with Eichelberger at the 1981 Tallahassee Open.

"He hit it to like a foot to beat Bob Murphy and Mark O'Meara in a playoff," says Navarro, who is staying at Eichelberger's house this week, about 10 minutes from the course. "He holed out two 8-irons that week. That's when they called him Eagle-berger. He was a player favorite on Tour, and he had time for everyone. He treated me like a friend, not an employee."

Eichelberger thrived at a time when only 60 players, not 125, were fully exempt. He won six times on the Champions Tour, and last played the Sony after Monday-qualifying for the event in 2004, at age 60.

To get a sense of Eichelberger's era, consider that he played his first Masters in 1965, and one of his playing partners was Henry Picard, a leading player of the 1930s. Eichelberger remembers playing the Sony when the tournament used real pineapples for tee markers.

"By the time you got around to 13 or 14, those pineapples would be mush," he said. "The tops would be missing from some of them."

Eichelberger is a Texas native, but he moved here from New Canaan, Conn., in 2003. His 13-year-old twins, a boy, Davis, and a girl, Emalia, are in seventh grade at Punahou School, alma mater of Barack Obama, as well as Parker McLachlin and Michelle Wie.

A Waialae member, Eichelberger plays the course three or four times a week, and his best score was the 62 he shot at age 65, two years ago. His best round since he turned 67 has been a 66. Alas, that was from the white (members') tees. "We play the back tees once a week," he said.

How will he do when the course is stretched to its full, PGA Tour-approved length of 7,044 yards? That was the question on the minds of some of Eichelberger's fellow competitors. He shot 79-78 to miss the cut in '04.

Jerry Barber was the oldest to play a Tour event, just shy of 78 years old when he played the 1994 Buick Invitational.

Sam Snead became the oldest player to make a cut on Tour when he finished T47 at the 1979 Manufacturers Hanover Classic at Westchester C.C. Snead was 67 years, two months and 21 days old.

Said Eichelberger, who would be 67 years, four months and 11 days old (breaking the record) if he makes Friday's cut: "I have no expectations."

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Play washed out at Sony Open in Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) — All those rookies ready to start their PGA Tour careers will have to wait another day.

The opening round of the Sony Open, the first full-field event of the season, was washed out Thursday because of heavy overnight rain that left too much water on Waialae Country Club. Once the sun came up and officials could see, it was a quick decision. Some fairways and bunkers were filled with large puddles.

"The golf course is under water," PGA Tour tournament director Mark Russell said. "We've got some more rain coming, and we just didn't think that we could get it in tournament condition today."

The plan is to play the opening two rounds on Friday and Saturday, with 36 holes on Sunday. The cut will be the nearest number to 60 players, although everyone in the top 70 will get credit for making the cut and will get paid.

Rain is not unusual, although Russell could not remember an entire day being washed out in three decades working this tournament.

The pro-am was canceled Wednesday because of rain and wet conditions, and with the course at its limit because of rain over the holidays, nearly 4 inches fell overnight.

The locker room was lined with golf bags that had rain covers on, along with extra towels to prepare for the conditions. Players were looking for something to do, because even the practice range was closed.

Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela, one of 26 rookies in the field who was to tee off Thursday morning, was asking about golf courses on the other side of Oahu until learning it rains even harder there.

Finishing on Sunday takes on even more importance. The PGA Tour next goes to the California desert for the Bob Hope Classic, a 90-hole tournament that starts Wednesday across four golf courses. If there is a Monday finish, players in the Hope would not be able to arrive until Tuesday afternoon and would not be able to see any of the courses ahead of time.

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U.S. Open champion McDowell honored by Queen

LONDON (AP) — U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell is among the sports figures honored by Queen Elizabeth II in her New Year list.

The Northern Irish star was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire after a year in which he won his first major title and Pebble Beach and captured the decisive Ryder Cup points for Europe.

Also made an MBE was English football referee Howard Webb, who this year became the first man to take charge of the Champions League and World Cup finals in the same year.

Former England rugby player Mike Catt is an Officer of the Order of the British Empire after retiring in May, while Martin Broughton was knighted - for services to business rather than his stint as chairman of Premier League football club Liverpool.

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A Winner Never Rests: Camilo Villegas' obsessive training regimen

Camilo Villegas would no sooner skip a workout than Mario Bataliwould miss a meal. But Villegas isn't one for taking chances.Emblazoned in block letters on the wall of his home gym is a warningthat serves as his reminder: SACRIFICE OR REGRET...YOUCHOOSE! Three years ago, when Villegas bought his house, a two-storystucco spread on a leafy street in Jupiter, Fla., his first designdecision was to furnish a downstairs bedroom in the manner of a24-Hour Fitness. His second move was to clamber up a ladder andstencil on the bold-faced, finger-wagging message — a jolt ofmotivation for a man with plenty of his own.

"I'm not the kind of guy who hits the snooze button in the morning," Villegas says. "But I still like to see those words when I wake up and get going. They help keep me focused on what it's all about."

Sacrifice or regret. In the choice between them, Villegas, 29, has never wavered. At least not since the fall of 2000, when he showed up as a freshman on the University of Florida campus, a 138-pound wisp from Medellin, Colombia, and the shortest hitter on the Gator golf team.

Back in his home country, he had prowled the fairways as an alpha male, racking up an amateur record that made him something of a Latin Tiger Woods. College brought about his first Charles Atlas moment. "I realized," Villegas says, "that I was going to have to get longer and stronger if I wanted to compete."

Into the campus gym he went — weights, yoga, cardio, pilates — with a fervor worthy of its own Rocky soundtrack. Out he stepped four years later, having trimmed his body fat from 12 percent to 4.5 percent while adding 25 pounds of limber muscle to his threadbare frame. By graduation, Florida's shortest knocker had transformed himself into its longest bomber. Peter Parker had become... Spider-Man. "Without fitness, I wouldn't be on Tour. No doubt about it," Villegas says. "It's absolutely central to my success."

Success for Villegas — three wins and more than $13 million in prize money in four years as a pro — has come in the kind of torrents that allow for private jets and five-star hotels, both breeding grounds of softness. Villegas has responded by hardening his resolve and his already rippled core. His methods have the ring of the masochistic. His sit-ups aren't sit-ups: They're seated cable crunches in which he perches on a medicine ball and abuses his abs against 90 pounds of tethered weight-machine resistance. One way he works his lower body is through a freakish feat of strength and athleticism: Standing on one leg, he jumps to the top of a three-foot-tall box, then jumps down, landing on the other leg, 10 times fast. Fresh from that torture, he grabs a 25-pound medicine ball in both hands, squats with the ball between his legs, then leaps as if to dunk it through a basketball hoop, repeating the maneuver for four sets of 10. His approach sounds obsessive, ritualistic. "It's not a program or a regimen," he explains. "It's a lifestyle."

On non-tournament days, at home or on the road, Villegas is up at 6 a.m. and at it for the next two hours. Workouts that begin with stationary bike warm-ups and dynamic stretching give way to squats, presses, crunches and a grid of exercises that read like an astronaut's instructional manual: rocket jumps, thrusts, lifts, vertical swings.

Over the past decade, his longest layoff from the gym lasted all of seven days. "I'm not sure what happened," Villegas says. "I must have had a really nasty case of the flu."

"With a guy like Camilo, it's like you're dealing with a thoroughbred," says Chris Noss, Villegas's strength and conditioning coach. "The challenge isn't getting him to get going. The challenge is trying to rein him in."

In the depth of his dedication, Villegas calls to mind his idol, Gary Player, the Tour's original fitness guru. And like Player, he acknowledges the dangers of overdoing it, which doesn't always translate into his slowing down. An avid cyclist, Villegas alternates gym time with long hours on his road bike, often pairing them back-to-back. One year, Noss recalls, Villegas pedaled 80 miles from his home in Jupiter to Miami in time to catch a flight to a tournament. On trips home to Colombia, he trains with his fellow countryman, Santiago Botero, a world champion cyclist. Villegas himself competes in amateur races. Of the six 100-kilometer events he has entered, he has won four.

Last year, Villegas concedes, he spent so much time cycling that his play suffered. Though he won the Honda Classic and notched six other top-10s, fatigue set in late in the season. Noss had to ask his man: Do you want to be Lance Armstrong or the Tour's money leader?

Villegas says he won't make the same mistake again. "It's about balance," he says. "Too much of anything can get in the way of you achieving your goals."

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