How strong was 23-year-old Russell Henley's win in his first PGA Tour start as a member?

Put it this way: If Colin Kaepernick was watching, even he probably thought, "Dang, who is this kid?"

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson must feel ancient about now, fumbling for their bifocals to read the small print on menus; feeling every muscle strain when they rise in the morning; searching the medicine cabinet for antacids after another bout with acid reflux.

After all, they're old. Tiger is 37, Phil is 42, and kids who don't even know that MTV once played music videos are threatening scoring records on Tour. Everybody knows Rory McIlroy carries the banner for the under-25 crowd, but he may want to text Henley and welcome him to the fold. Henley crushed it at the Sony Open in Oahu, ripping off five consecutive birdies on the back nine to cap off a final-round 63, his third 63 in four competitive rounds at Waialae. His four-day total of 24-under 256 is second-best in Tour history for a

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: Russell Henley opens PGA Tour career with dazzling victory

After days and days of wind-blown golf balls, of tailored slacks snapping in the Hawaiian trade winds, of false start after false start, the 2013 golf season is underway, and already we have our slogan for this year.

The PGA Tour: These Guys Finish On Tuesday!

What an odd beginning, this delayed, shortened, 54-hole Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. There was no Rory, no Tiger, no Phil; no Ernie, no Luke; no Justin. There was also no Friday, no Saturday and no Sunday, owing to weather. There was a beefy leader board by Tuesday's close, however – nice to see you, and Happy New Year to Bubba and Stricks; to Keegan and Rickie.

But the best news of all for the nascent calendar year is that Dustin Johnson's driver made it to the islands safely, and for good use.

Wow, what a sight. Hard to tell which was more breathtaking: the aerial shots of migrating winter whales in the Pacific, the silhouette of Molokai from elevated tee boxes, or the coil and impact of the 28-year-old

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: Dustin Johnson leaves big impression with win in PGA opener

Davis Love III will face plenty of questions after the Americans' meltdown in the Ryder Cup. (Getty Images)

There, in the autumn gloaming of a suburban Chicago Sunday night, stood Davis Love III. In front of him stood NBC's Jimmy Roberts. The question hung in the air, while all around them, European golfers celebrated the greatest win in Ryder Cup history – at the expense of Love's gobsmacked Americans.

"Davis," Roberts asked, "if you had to do it over again, would you do anything different?"

In the split-second it took to answer the question, the following images raced through Love's mind: Captain's pick Steve Stricker missing a par putt on the 17th hole, gifting the hole to Europe's Martin Kaymer … captain's pick Jim Furyk finishing bogey-bogey to blow a 1-up lead over Sergio Garcia on the 17th tee … Tiger Woods, match irrelevant, bringing up the rear on an already-decided Ryder Cup … Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, hotter than lava, sitting out Saturday's afternoon sessions … Love selecting two over-40 friends, Furyk and Stricker, as captain's picks despite evidence of shaky

Read More »from Ryder Cup collapse opens Davis Love III to plenty of second-guessing

The images of golf's glory washed over the romantic's eye on Sunday at the Tour Championship, the very reasons the world's best test themselves on the toughest stage: the Green Jacket in April … America's national championship in June … the Claret Jug in July … and the newest addition to the lore, a check for $10 million, with a small portion placed in a tax-deferred retirement account.

Hmm. That last one, while undeniably satisfying to the capitalist in all of us, seems to sort of lack that classy sheen, doesn't it?

But, that's our lot, golf fans. We strayed away from the NFL on Sunday to watch Brandt Snedeker – he of the rapid-fire pace, Tom Watson-ish hands and fun-to-say last name – crank it up on the weekend in Atlanta, firing a 64-68 weekend to win the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup playoffs, with a points system that only your accountant can love.

So let's dismiss the byzantine scoring methods that deem Snedeker as FedEx Cup champ, despite playing more events than

Read More »from FedEx Cup proves Tiger's closing act no longer an open-and-shut case

There are few easier opportunities for the cynics of the golf world than the PGA Tour's FedExCup playoffs. It's target practice for the pundits, starting with the inherently weak foundation of the "playoffs" – to try and compete with a century-plus of history in golf's hallowed major championships.

The FedExCup playoffs offer $10 million as a bounty, and the big sack of cash only seems to personify their desperation, as if saying: Can we buy your affection?

Rory McIlroy won in the FedEx Cup for the second straight week. (Getty Images)Contrived, irrelevant and seemingly fecklessly boosted by the dry monotone of PGA commissioner Tim Finchem while a nation intently focuses its eyes on the dawn of the NFL season, the FedExCup playoffs can often be viewed as one of the sports world's lamer inventions.

Except, the FedExCup playoffs totally ruled on Sunday.

Says the Commish to all of us doubters: How 'bout them apples?

Or, more accurately: How 'bout them apples, and how about Rory McIlroy's continued ascent to the stratosphere, Phil Mickelson's thrilling

Read More »from With Rory McIlroy again at top, PGA's best make FedExCup a playoffs worth watching

Man, what a treat for golf fans – players in a fierce grapple, right down to the last hole at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Labor Day TV.

I mean, will you ever forget where you were when Charley Hoffman edged Jonas Blixt for the final spot of the FedEx Cup playoff's top 70 players? Wow!

All right, all right. My requisite cheap shot joke at the super-contrived FedEx Cup standings is out of the way. Now we can start marinating in Rory-ness.Rory McIlroy now has three PGA Tour victories this year and five for his career. (AP) 

With a Sunday 67 and a one-stroke win over Louis Oosthuizen and two-stroke win over Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy didn't just essentially clinch PGA Tour Player of the Year honors with his third win of the year and his second in three starts (don't forget, one of them was the PGA Championship just last month.) He didn't just strengthen his grip on the world No. 1 ranking. What he really did was let Tiger – and, yes, Oosthuizen and the rest of the free golf world; but really, Tiger – know that this situation, established firmly at Kiawah's PGA,

Read More »from Rory McIlroy lets Tiger know he's No. 1 – and plans to stay there for a while

Poor Sergio Garcia. On the day he wins in the U.S. for the first time in four years, he finds out Condi Rice got a green jacket before he did.

What a day in golf. Augusta National, as you may have heard 1,000 times by now, admitted the first two female members in its club history. In other news, ANGC is planning on replacing its rotary phones for new-fangled, push-button types.

I covered the 2002 Masters when Martha Burk tried to light a fire under Hootie Johnson and shame him into admitting women members. At the time, I remember writing in the San Francisco Chronicle that, as odious and outdated as Augusta National’s male-only policy might be – especially for a club that casts such a public shadow every April – it was the club’s call, as a private organization, on membership. Ten years after Martha Burk’s protest at Augusta, the club finally decided to admit female members. (AFP) 

Like most people who are late to civil rights parties through the decades – those who cautioned against women’s votes or repealing Jim Crow – I regret not being more forceful in pestering Augusta National to

Read More »from Augusta's decision to add female members long overdue, but worthy of celebration nonetheless

And now a word on the Rory-Tiger dynamic.

Or rather many words. We'll need them, since it's the topic going forward after Rory McIlroy laid waste to the record book again in winning his second major at the tender age of 23, the youngest since Seve Ballesteros to win two major titles.

This PGA Championship victory – by eight strokes, the most in this major's history – not only closed out the 2012 season for majors and started the giant ticking clock to Augusta 2013, but also marked the official arrival of a Problem – with a capital ‘P' – for Tiger Woods.

It's bad enough that Woods' 2012 majors season was pockmarked with weekend failure time and again. He knows he can whip the field, as he did by five shots at Bay Hill. He knows he can dig deep, as he did when he birdied three of the final four holes at the Memorial and when he held steady down the stretch at Congressional in July. But what he doesn't know – and hasn't known for four years now (14 major starts) – is whether he can

Read More »from Rory McIlroy's PGA Championship win makes him a major player; Tiger Woods has a major problem