answered a lot of questions. One remains, though. Will this be the year Woods gets his 15th major championship? To make sure he gives himself the best opportunity, Woods—who turned 43 on Dec. 30—is planning on cutting back his schedule. He played 19 Tour events last year, including seven of the last nine, and he said at the Hero World Challenge in early December that his surgically repaired body can’t handle that kind of schedule in the future. “I know that I can win because obviously I just proved it,” said Woods, who captains the U.S. Presidents Cup team in 2019. “It’s just a matter of getting everything kind of peaking at the right time. … The will and the want and the desire hasn’t changed; it’s just a matter of is the body willing to do it. “There are days or weeks that they don’t cooperate, so that’s just part of the injuries I’ve gone through and aging. The older athletes just don’t perform as consistently as they once did. I’ve been out here for 20-some-odd years.” Perennial favorite Phil Mickelson, who turns 49 on the Sunday of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, California, also plans to reduce his schedule in order to be fresh for the majors and other big events. If you’re looking for an up-and-comer to root for in 2019, look no farther than Cameron Champ. He won the Sanderson Farms Championship in his second start as a Tour member and finished among the top 10 three times total in the five events he played during the fall. Oh, and did we mention he hits the ball a mile? Champ leads the Tour in driving distance at 328 yards, and hit one 401 yards during the fourth round of the Safeway Open in his debut. He also ranks first in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and second in birdies. Champ, who likes working on cars in his spare time, grew up playing on a par-3 course where the monthly pass was $50. His grandfather Mack, a Vietnam veteran, introduced him to the game of golf when he was just 2 years old. Among Mack’s words of wisdom? “It’s not where you come from, it’s where you’re going.” And it looks like Champ is going far, too. PL
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Helen Ross is a freelance golf writer, who spent 20 years working for the PGA Tour and 18 more at the Greensboro News & Record. A UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, she has won multiple awards from the Golf Writers Association of America.
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