Trumpet calls and drum rolls for the next season of the PGA Tour: Tiger Woods will participate in the inaugural tournament who, on his website, announces that he has concrete hopes for the Safeway Open, from October 13-16, at the Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa , in California, the first appointment of the 2016-2017 calendar. A debut that adds to two other events on the former world number one's agenda, the Turkish Airlines Open, from November 3 to 6 in Antalya, Turkey and the Tiger Woods Foundation-run Hero World Challenge from December 1 to 4 , in Albany in the Bahamas. A decision that breaks the very long fasting of the champion and his fans, after three back operations and a convalescence that seemed interminable.
“My rehabilitation is well underway, but I still have work to do – writes Tiger – whether I can play will depend on my continued progress and recovery. I hope to be ready by October, in fact I can't wait to go to California and I'm happy to go back to Turkey. It was hard for me to give up tournaments and I miss them a lot. This time, however, I was intelligent, I wanted to complete the recovery without haste". Surely we will know something more on the occasion of the Ryder Cup, at the end of the month, where Tiger performs the duties of vice captain of the stars and stripes team.
In these days meanwhile the 2015-2016 season of the Pga Tour is coming to an end with the third of the four Playoffs appointments, underway from today until Sunday.
At the starting tees at the BMW Championship in Carmel, Indiana, there are only 69 players, those who have made it past the selection of the first two rounds. There should have been 70, but the Swede Henrik Stenson, bottom of the table in this ranking, preferred to rest, given that he will have to undergo knee surgery after playing the Ryder Cup.
Rory McIlroy is on track instead, winner last week in Boston, a success that redeems the dull season of Northern Ireland and that offers him a good chance of winning the final super bonus of ten million dollars. In the FedexCup at the moment Rory is fourth, behind Patrick Reed, Jason Day and Dustin Johnson and has moved up to third position in the world standings, ahead of Jordan Spieth. In Carmel, the two rivals play together for the first two days, supported by the Australian Adam Scott, who is also in pole position to end the American season on a high note.
The reigning champion is world number one Jason Day, who today and tomorrow will have to deal with Reed and Johnson. The course is a par 72 of approximately 6800 metres. The prize pool is 8,5 million dollars, 1,530 million for the former. The Fedex points up for grabs are 2000, but in two weeks, for the last match, the scores will be rewritten with the aim of offering all 30 players remaining in the running the opportunity to reach the top of the general classification. Only the first 5, however, will be masters of their destiny; the others will be closely linked to the results of those who come before them.
But there's still time to talk about it, because the last round of the Playoffs will be played from 22 to 25 September. In between, next week, there is a tournament destined to become increasingly important: the Italian Open, in Monza from 15 to 18 September, with many international stars and a fine squad of Azzurri on the field. Admission is free: an opportunity not to be missed, probably the last without paying the ticket, to understand what golf is.
To test their game, no less than six Italians are now taking part in the KLM Open in The Dutch in Spijk, Holland, with 1,8 million euros in prize money and 300 euros in first coin. They are Matteo Manassero, Renato Paratore, Nino Bertasio, Edoardo Molinari, Francesco Laporta and Nicolò Ravano.
