FULL WEEK FOR TIGER
Woods completes 72 holes on fused ankle
Scottie Scheffler has made great gains in his putting. Add that to the rest of top-ranked game, and he made it look easy Sunday. He closed with a 4-under 68 for a three-shot victory in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
The week wasn’t a total loss for Tiger Woods, the tournament host playing for the first time since surgery to fuse his right ankle a few weeks after the Masters in April.
Woods finished 72 holes for only the third time in the last two years. He has played six tournaments following the recovery from his February 2021 car crash in Los Angeles that badly injured his right leg.
“Just like I said to you guys on Tuesday, I’m curious ... what this is going to look like,” Woods said. “I haven’t done it in a while — I haven’t done it with my ankle the way it is now and I was excited each and every day to kind of get through it and kind of start piecing rounds together again. I haven’t done this in a long time so it was fun to feel that again.”
Woods closed with a 72 and ended up 18th at even par. Scheffler finished at 20-under 268.
Scheffler, a runner-up in the Bahamas the last two years, played bogey-free at Albany and didn’t let anyone get closer than two shots on the back nine as he ended the year with his fifth victory worldwide.
The Hero World Challenge is an unofficial event, though its 20-man field receives world ranking points and Scheffler only solidified his spot at No. 1.
HOUSTON TABS FRITZ
Willie Fritz, who has won the second-most games in Tulane’s 130-season history, was hired as Houston’s coach on Sunday, replacing Dana Holgorsen, who was fired a week ago after five seasons with the Cougars.
Fritz spent the last eight seasons at Tulane, where he was named American Athletic Conference coach of the year in the last two seasons.
Fritz has led Tulane to consecutive AAC championship games. The Green Wave lost to SMU, 26-14, in the title game Saturday to end the regular season 11-2.
JETS, FALCONS HONOR COACH
Robert Saleh and several Jets staffers, along with members of the Falcons honored the late Greg Knapp by running the steps inside MetLife Stadium before the teams’ game Sunday.
Knapp, a longtime NFL assistant coach, died on July 22, 2021, when he was hit by a car while riding a bicycle near his home in California. He was 58.
Knapp was recently hired as the Jets’ pass-game specialist when he died. He also coached with the Falcons, Broncos, Raiders, Texans, Seahawks and 49ers after beginning his coaching career at Sacramento State in 1986.
Knapp had a longtime tradition of running the stairs in the stands a few hours before games, and Jets and Falcons coaches and staffers participated in the “Knapp Stair Climb” before team warmups Sunday in support of The Coach Knapp Memorial Fund to raise funds for distracted driving awareness.
As part of this weekend’s “My Cause, My Cleats” initiative around the NFL, several members of the Jets and Falcons are representing The Coach Knapp Memorial Fund, including Jets general manager Joe Douglas and special teams coordinator Brant Boyer, and Atlanta assistant coaches Matt Schaub and T.J. Yates.
Several other NFL and NCAA teams have participated in the “Knapp Stair Climb” this season, including Green Bay, Cleveland, New Orleans, Dallas, San Francisco, Denver, Houston and the Rams.
“The Falcons and Jets were our greatest champions last season, and we are proud that they are returning for Year Two, raising awareness for the dangers of distracted driving and to honor Greg’s legacy,” said Knapp’s widow, Charlotte, who co-founded The Coach Knapp Memorial Fund. “We are so grateful for the groundswell of support from across the NFL and at the college level.”