Phil Mickelson made the long flight home from France after the Ryder Cup and is playing in the Safeway Open, which opens the 2018-19 season on Thursday on the North Course at Silverado Resort and Spa (https://www.silveradoresort.com) in Napa.
Tiger Woods has never played in the tournament and won’t be there this time, and tournament host Johnny Miller isn’t happy about it.
“You always have to handle Tiger a little with kid gloves,” Miller told the San Francisco Chronicle recently. “I think he’ll honor his commitment and come next year.”
The 42-year-old Woods, who ended a five-year victory drought by winning the Tour Championship two weeks ago after returning from four back surgeries, has played five of the last six weeks and a total of 19 times this season, including the Ryder Cup, and Miller does understand that.
“This is maybe Tiger’s busiest stretch ever,” Miller said. “We knew he wasn’t going to come all the way from Paris after playing in all the playoff events, then the Ryder Cup. He’s going to be burnt crisp.
“Hopefully, he’ll have enough honor to come play next year. We’ll take him whatever year we can get him.”
A PGA Tour rule requires Woods to play the Safeway Open in the very near future. He was supposed to play the Safeway at least once between 2003 and 2015, but that was extended because of Woods’ injuries.
Mickelson is playing in the Safeway for the fourth time, having missed the cut in 2007, but he tied for eighth in 2017 and tied for third last year.
Two-time defending champion Brendan Steele of Idyllwild in the Southern California mountains and UC Riverside leads the field at Silverado.
“I’m getting pretty spoiled winning the first event of the year twice,” said the 34-year-old Steele, whose only other PGA Tour victory came in the 2011 Valero Texas Open. “This place is so great to me. I feel so comfortable here and it’s been a great run.”
Also in the field are 2015 champion Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, Fred Couples, Ryan Moore, Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos and UCLA, Brandt Snedeker, Bill Haas, Martin Laird of Scotland, 2014 champion Sangmoon Bae of South Korea and Adam Hadwin of Canada.
For complete information, visit https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/safeway-open.html
