Nick Watney

Nick Watney salvaged a dismal season Sunday at the Barclays with a victory that could not have come at a better time. Watney turned a two-shot deficit against Sergio Garcia into a three-shot lead in a decisive four-hole stretch around the turn at Bethpage Black, and no one got closer than two shots. Watney made a 10-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a two-under-par 69 to capture the opening playoff event for the FedEx Cup at Farmingdale, N.Y. He wound up winning by three shots over Brandt Snedeker.

Phil Mickelson and Nick Watney wound up tied for the lead Saturday in the Wells Fargo Championship, minus much separation from the rest of the field. Mickelson hit a shot out-of-bounds on the 15th hole and hit another shot that struck a spectator in the head, costing him three shots over the last four holes at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., in his round of one-over 73. Watney hit a semi-shank with a six-iron on the par-three 17th, took double bogey and had to settle for a 71. It felt like a small consolation that they were tied at eight-under 208, one shot ahead of George McNeill , who had his share of trouble down the stretch for a 72. Instead of pulling away from the pack, their mistakes in a wild final hour allowed a dozen players to get within three shots of the lead.

Nick Watney maintained a slim lead midway through the second round of Tiger Woods' World Challenge on Friday, but Woods and several other players charged into contention. Watney, the first-round leader, was six under par through eight holes at soggy Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, while Graeme McDowell and Bo Van Pelt were one shot behind. Woods was two shots back at four under. So was Rickie Fowler, whose eagle on the par-five No. 2 hole and consecutive birdies at holes No. 9 through 11 left him five under on the round.

Goodbye, David Kahn. Hello, Flip Saunders. Again. The Minnesota Timberwolves announced Thursday that owner Glen Taylor will not pick up the option for next season on Kahn's contract as president of basketball operations. Three people with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press that Taylor has agreed on a deal to hire Saunders as Kahn's replacement. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Saunders will be a part-owner of the team. Saunders coached the Timberwolves from 1995 to 2005, and his reputation in the Twin Cities only grew when the team cratered after his exit.

Nick Watney shot a five-under-par 67 to seize the first-round lead of the World Challenge golf tournament in Thousand Oaks on Thursday. Three other players were two shots back at three under par: Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell, who won the tournament in 2009 and 2010, respectively, and Keegan Bradley. The event, which pays $1 million to the winner, benefits Tiger Woods' charities and Woods himself shot a two-under 70, as did Webb Simpson and Bo Van Pelt. Bradley and Simpson are two players who use "belly putters," that is, putters whose grips rest against their stomachs, and golf officials announced Wednesday that they plan to ban that putting method starting in 2016.

A common phrase this year - "Tiger's back" - took on a new meaning Friday at the Barclays. Woods felt a twinge in his lower back when he awoke and felt pain throughout the second round at Bethpage Black. He overcame a bogey-bogey start, struggled in the simple task of retrieving the ball from the cup and stayed within range of Nick Watney and the resurgent Sergio Garcia, who shared the lead at Farmingdale, N.Y. Woods managed a two-under-par 69, a good effort in the afternoon on greens that tend to get crusty.

Nick Watney defeated Tiger Woods 1-up Thursday in the second round of theWGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Marana, Ariz. when Woods, who had a chance to send the match to a 19th hole, missed a five-foot birdie putt on the 18th. Watney will face Lee Westwood, the former No. 1 player, whom he has beaten in each of the last two years. Woods missed three birdie putts inside 10 feet over the last six holes, and the last one was the biggest. Watney was preparing to go to extra holes when Woods missed.

Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson ensured that the belly putting issue that has dominated the golf world this week would not end with the start of the World Challenge in Thousand Oaks. As conventional putter Nick Watney fired a five-under-par 67 to take the tournament's first-round lead Thursday, Bradley and Simpson - two of the players using the controversial putting method - also were among the leaders. Bradley shot a 69 at the par-72 Sherwood Country Club to trail by two shots, as did Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell, winners of the World Challenge in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Nick Watney answered what he referred to as a wake-up call at the Wells Fargo Championship by taking the lead. Tiger Woods might need one after missing the cut. Watney had gone nine straight rounds on the PGA Tour without breaking 70 and had failed to crack the top 10 in all nine of his stroke-play tournaments this year. He worked hard to change that, and it paid off Friday with an eight-under 64 that gave him a one-shot lead over Webb Simpson going into the weekend at Charlotte, N.C. A two-time winner last year, Watney had failed to crack the top 30 in a full-field event this year, and missed the cut in New Orleans for his first weekend off at a tournament since July.

Phil Mickelson and Nick Watney wound up tied for the lead Saturday in the Wells Fargo Championship, minus much separation from the rest of the field. Mickelson hit a shot out-of-bounds on the 15th hole and hit another shot that struck a spectator in the head, costing him three shots over the last four holes at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., in his round of one-over 73. Watney hit a semi-shank with a six-iron on the par-three 17th, took double bogey and had to settle for a 71. It felt like a small consolation that they were tied at eight-under 208, one shot ahead of George McNeill , who had his share of trouble down the stretch for a 72. Instead of pulling away from the pack, their mistakes in a wild final hour allowed a dozen players to get within three shots of the lead.

Rory McIlroy, who has muscled into Nike's advertising ranks alongside Tiger Woods, is featured in a new clip that includes juggling and kicking a golf ball. OK, it looks like computer graphic images. Maybe some of the juggling is real, but it's hard to say all the tricks are real. You be the judge by watching the video above. The clip is quite artsy, set in black and white with the only color a red golf ball, which happens to roll up to McIlroy as he's on a random fairway, no explanation involved.

One day after Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods went home, more top seeds followed Friday in the Match Play Championship until Masters champion Bubba Watson was the only seeded player from the top 10 remaining at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz. Watson, seeded No. 8, missed two straight putts from five feet that would have won the match before he finally put away Jim Furyk in 22 holes. It was the first time since this World Golf Championship began in 1999 that only one top-10 player was left after two rounds.

Tiger Woods on Tuesday committed to play in three upcoming tournaments, but not one of them was this week's Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. Woods, who hasn't played since his four-shot victory at the Farmers Insurance Open, confirmed he will be playing in next week's Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. Woods, who has won that event three times, was eliminated in the second round last year by Nick Watney. Woods is also committed to playing the Honda Classic at PGA National (Feb.

LA JOLLA -- Tiger Woods in 2008 needed an extra Monday of drama in June to secure his 14th major championship at the U.S. Open. There was nothing, manic,  however, about the fourth Monday of 2013 at Torrey Pines. Woods had such a commanding lead at the Farmers Insurance Open that he could afford a sloppy ending to an uneven tournament. Woods finished his fog-delayed final 11 holes, and the field, in a somewhat easy four-shot victory in his 2013 American debut on the PGA Tour.

LA JOLLA — Can Tiger Woods hold the lead he took into the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open on Sunday? Will victory at Torrey Pines mark the start of a major-tournament Woods revival? Or, did that ungodly bogey on No. 18 to end his third round, followed by two hook drives to start his fourth, portend a frostier, unfathomable conclusion? What about Brandt Snedeker? Can the man who came from seven shots down to win last year's event somehow make Woods sweat? What does Nick Watney have left in the bag?

Tiger Woods gets a chance to pick up a rare Monday victory on the PGA Tour when the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open resumes today at Torrey Pines at 11:10 a.m. PST. Woods has a six-shot lead after seven holes in the final round, which had to be continued until today because rain played havoc with the tournament. If you are trying to figure out a way to watch the conclusion of the tournament, you have a couple of options. There is to be live streaming coverage at pgatour.com when the final round resumes at 11:10 a.m. PST. The Golf Channel's coverage is to begin with a pregame show at 10:30 a.m. PST and continue until the CBS broadcast begins at 1 p.m. PST. Brandt Snedeker and Nick Watney are six strokes behind Woods, but Tiger is in the driver's seat as he looks for his 75th PGA Tour title.

Tiger Woods shot another five-under-par 67 in the HSBC Champions at Shanghai, this one giving him a share of the 36-hole lead with Nick Watney in the final World Golf Championship of the year. Woods overcame mild frustration early in his round Friday by making five birdies over his final 10 holes to catch Watney, a fellow American, atop the leaderboard at Sheshan International. They were at 10-under 134. Big-hitting Alvaro Quiros of Spain was the lone intruder in what appeared to be an American leaderboard in China.

Nick Watney, coming off a one-shot loss to Phil Mickelson at Doral, rolled to a four-under-par 67 Friday at the PGA Tour's Transitions Championship at Palm Harbor, Fla., to share the 36-hole lead with Steve Stricker. It will be the third consecutive weekend round that Watney will be in the final group. Lorena Ochoa shot a seven-under 65 to tie the course record at Huixquilucan, Mexico, and take a two-shot lead in the LPGA Tour's Mastercard Classic.

LA JOLLA - Only Tiger Woods could so dramatically breeze to victory. Leave it to Woods to make things interesting at Torrey Pines even when the outcome was so under-par inevitable. Woods won the extended, fogged-over Farmers Insurance Open on Monday by four shots but wavered enough to keep people interested and/or riveted through his tap-in par on the par-five finishing hole. Woods never lost the lead but did lose control of his driver as he scrambled home, hitting a shot out of a temporary tent area and taking a penalty drop out of an ice plant.

LA JOLLA - For Tiger Woods, the memories rush back in memorable and monumental torrents … of knee pain. His 2008 U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines remains the last, heroic, gut-it-out, pre-scandal visage of Tiger before his name brand was irrevocably altered by tabloids and time. No matter what you thought of Woods five years ago, this coming June, you could not deny him his due over a five-day stretch. His accomplishment remains among the most extraordinary feats in sport.