SPORTS E3 USA TODAY ❚ MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2020 ❚ 3C
The announcements came 24 hours
apart, and while differing in gravity both
served to illustrate the narrowing focus
of legends in their waning years.
On Thursday, 38-year-old Roger Fe-
derer revealed he had had knee surgery
and would be out until the summer
grass court season. A day later, his old
Gillette commercials co-star, 44-year-
old Tiger Woods, said he’s skipping this
week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational ow-
ing to a rusty back. Both decisions were
made with an eye on the prizes that mat-
ter most: Wimbledon for Federer, the
Masters for Woods.
While Federer will miss one major –
the annual Rafa Nadal coronation for-
merly known as the French Open –
Woods won’t, but the paring of his
schedule bodes ill for an event that
could use the energy injection he pro-
vides: Olympic golf. The top 15 in the
world ranking qualify for the Games
in Tokyo. Woods is currently No. 10, but
a maximum of four golfers are allowed
from each nation and there are five
Americans ahead of him, raising the
specter that he’ll be out in the cold in
the race for gold.
This of course assumes the Games
proceed unfettered by the fallout from
coronavirus, which is far from certain. I
asked the vice president of the Interna-
tional Golf Federation, Ty Votaw, about
fears the Olympics might be canceled.
“As far as the IGF is concerned, we are
committed to doing everything we can
to ensure successful men’s and wom-
en’s golf competitions in the 2020 To-
kyo Games,” came his commendably
upbeat and characteristically tenebrous
reply.
The Games won’t need Woods to be
successful, but Olympic golf would un-
deniably benefit from his presence. If
nothing else, Woods competing would
go some way to erasing the air of apathy
that attended golf ’s return in Rio four
summers ago, when many players
stayed home, ostensibly for fear of the
Zika virus. But even Woods can’t alter
the reality of where gold for golf ranks.
An Olympic gold medal ought to be
the pinnacle of achievement in a sport,
and in most it is. But in golf, as in tennis,
that gold might rank (at best) fifth
among the prizes competitors most
want to own, lower if you consider The
Players Championship and FedExCup.
Brooks Koepka admitted as much last
month. “To me, the four majors are defi-
nitely more important, and the FedEx-Cup, too, is a goal of mine,” he said.
“We’ll see where everything else falls.”
Olympic athletes don’t usually say
offhandedly that they’ll see where the
Games fall in the list of priorities. But
then, Olympians wait four years for the
podium while golfers have four a year.
The ripple effects of Woods’ increas-
ingly limited schedule extend beyond
disappointed fans at Bay Hill and per-haps Tokyo. He said last month that his
goal is to play roughly a dozen events a
year, which wouldn’t recommend him
for the prospective Premier Golf League
splinter circuit. The CEO of the League
has acknowledged there isn’t much wig-
gle room for golfers to play fewer than
the 18 proposed but non-existent tour-
naments on the proposed but non-exis-
tent tour.
Tiger’s decision to skip Bay Hill for
the second straight year is not conclu-
sively cause for concern – he missed
2019 with a neck strain but that didn’t
hamper him at Augusta National a
month later – but nor is it grounds for
optimism if he’s too physically compro-
mised to play a flat golf course on which
he has won eight times. It’s simply a
sign of the new reality we must live with- that Woods’ appearances on the PGA
Tour will, like papal audiences, be much
sought after and highly anticipated, but
sparingly granted.
What remains of Woods’ career, like
that of Federer, is now about prioritiz-
ing. If he doesn’t qualify for Tokyo, that
would in truth be a minor blip for the
Games of the XXXII Olympiad. His ab-
sence from one of golf ’s major champi-
onships would be much more impactful.
So if the feast Woods provides must be
rationed, then let golf fans eat and the
Games go hungry.
Woods could be out in cold for Olympic gold
Tiger Woods must be among the top-
four ranked Americans to qualify for
Tokyo. ORLANDO RAMIREZ/USA TODAY SPORTSEamon Lynch
Columnist
Golfweek – USA TODAY NetworkSungjae Im finally backed up his rep-
utation as one of the emerging stars of
the PGA Tour by earning his first victory
in the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gar-
dens, Florida.
The 21-year-old reigning Tour rookie
of the year, Im played the infamous Bear
Trap, three consecutive water-laden
holes beginning at 15 at the Jack Nick-
laus-designed Champion course at PGA
National Resort and Spa, in 2 under en
route to shooting a final-round 4-under
66 Sunday. Im had to scramble for par at
the par-5 18th to finish at 6-under 274
and edged Canadian Mackenzie Hughes
by one stroke.
“I’ve been in this spot many times. I
just felt like the experiences really
helped, especially on the last few holes,”
Im said through his caddie, Albin Choi,
who served as an interpreter. “I just
wanted to get a little more aggressive
(on the last four holes). I was just happy
to finish the way that I did.”
Im, who turned pro at 17, played a
Tour-high 35 tournaments last season,
recording seven top-10 finishes, and
was the only rookie to qualify for the 30-
man Tour Championship.
His teammates at the Presidents Cup
called him “the weapon,” and his swing
has been compared to the USGA ball-
testing robot Iron Byron because it is so
repeatable. The South Korean also
doesn’t have a permanent residence and
lives week-to-week at hotels, with his
parents joining him in a separate room
and helping him in his adventure.
On a wild day when no less than four
golfers held or shared the lead, Im bird-
ied four of the five first holes to cut into
the lead of 54-hole leader Tommy Fleet-
wood. Im took just 11 putts in his first 10
holes before back-to-back bogeys at
Nos. 12 and 13 temporarily slowed his
march to victory.Hughes, 29, nearly went from the
cutline to the winner’s circle. After mak-
ing the cut on the number at 3 over,
Hughes shot 66, the low round of theday on Saturday, to improve 51 spots.
Playing alongside Im on Sunday,
Hughes holed a bunker shot at 13 and
played his first 15 holes without a bogey
to join the trophy chase.
Fleetwood, No. 12 in the world, has
won five times on the European Tour
but he’s the only player in the top 20 of
the world ranking without a victory on
the PGA Tour.
Fleetwood, runner up at the 2018 U.S.
Open and the 2019 British Open, raced
to a three-stroke lead with birdies on the
first two holes in the final round but
failed to make another birdie until 17 and
hit his second shot at 18 in the water to
blow another chance to put an end to
the questions of when he will win on the
PGA Tour. Fleetwood finished alone in
third after a 1-over 71.
Im seized the moment at 15, where
water guards both the front and right
sides of the green and a large bunker to
the left is a magnet for those who bail
out. Im stuck a 5-iron to 8 feet and
canned the putt for birdie, then knocked
his tee shot to 8 feet again at 17 and
rolled the downhill putt in moments af-
ter Hughes poured in a 54-foot birdie
putt to momentarily tie for the lead.
But Hughes, who had missed five
cuts in a row and hadn’t recorded a
top-10 finish since the Charles Schwab
Challenge in May, hooked his second
shot into the stands at 18 and failed to
make birdie. He finished with a second
consecutive 66.
Im was the 36-hole leader at Honda a
year ago, but the moment proved to be
too big for him and he ballooned to a
Saturday 77 and finished T-51. Not this
time. Im became the youngest champi-
on of the Honda Classic and the 14th in-
ternational player to win the title in the
last 27 years.21-year-old Im earns PGA Tour win
Adam Schupak
Golfweek | USA TODAY Network
Sungjae Im holds up the champion’s trophy after winning the Honda Classic at
PGA National (Champion). REINHOLD MATAY/USA TODAY SPORTSA week after feeling like he would
have made a run at Ryan Blaney for the
win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Alex
Bowman left no doubt at Auto Club
Speedway.
In a dominating performance in the
Auto Club 400 in Fontana, California,
Bowman led five times for 110 laps and
won for the second time in his NASCAR
Cup Series career. He did so by nearly
nine seconds on Kyle Busch, who took
the runner-up spot after Blaney had to
pit with three laps to go for a vibration.
“The first (win), that was a really en-
joyable experience, and then we sucked
for six months,” said Bowman. “We
started this year so strong; I feel like I’ve
got a lot on my side that I’m doing better.
My life is kind of a lot more organized
than it was back then, and Greg (Ives,
crew chief ) and all the guys, they’re just
on point.
“We’ve unloaded the last two weeks,
I don’t think we’ve had a change in the
race car from how it came off the truck.
That makes my job a heck of a lot easier.
I’m just so proud of this team, Hendrick
Motorsports, Hendrick horsepower un-
der the hood, the whole shop back
home. They work their butts off. We puta lot of effort into this new car, and it’s
obviously working well.”
Bowman finished 13th in the Pennzoil
400 at Las Vegas after he and Blaney
pitted when the caution came out with
six laps to go. As the fastest car on the
track, Bowman lamented, “Damn it; we
had him,” over the radio when the cau-
tion came out and changed the com-
plexion of the race.
Sunday, Bowman started third and
led 44 of the first 60 laps on his way to
winning the first stage. With Blaney
pacing the field for much of the second
stage, leading 50 of its 60 laps, Bowman
stayed steady inside the top five.
The No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports
team then took back control of the race
off of the restart to start the final stage.
Bowman cycled back to the top spot for
the final time with 34 laps to go after
green flag pit stops and kept extending
his lead over Blaney throughout the run
to the checkered flag.
A second-place finish for Busch was
welcome after his steady progression all
afternoon. Busch started 17th and didn’t
make much noise inside the top five un-
til the final stage.
“We have a lot of work to do,” saidBusch. “Guys did a great job here though
with just trying to work on it and trying
to make everything we could out of it all
day long, all weekend long. Interstate
Batteries Camry wasn’t a second-place
car, but thankfully we got a good finish
with trying to get some points.”
Kurt Busch finished third, rebound-
ing after he missed his pit stall at the
end of Stage 1. Chase Elliott finished
fourth, and Brad Keselowski was fifth.
Jimmie Johnson finished seventh af-
ter starting on the front row at his home
track. Johnson also led 10 laps.
Blaney was 8.7 seconds behind Bow-
man when he complained about a vibra-
tion, which turned out to be a corded
tire. After pitting with three laps to go,
Blaney, who won the second stage, fin-
ished a lap down in 19th position.
Pole-sitter Clint Bowyer led the first
10 laps but was never again a factor.
Bowyer ran between 10th and 20th for
much of the afternoon and finished 23rd
off the lead lap following a flat left front
tire on lap 94.
Despite back-to-back disappointing
finishes, Blaney continues to lead the
points standings as the series heads to
Phoenix Raceway.Bowman doesn’t let Auto Club 400 win slip away
Kelly Crandall
Racer Magazine | USA TODAY Network
NASCAR Cup Series driver Alex Bow-
man took the checkered flag in the
Auto Club 400. KIRBY LEE/USA TODAY SPORTS