KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) Tiger Woods has inspired new hope. Brooks Koepka is the No. 1 player in the world.
A new year brings a sense of familiarity, except for the details.
Woods went into 2019 having won again after five long years, but he still had yet to win a major. He took care of that at the Masters, and now its a question of whether he can catch the 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, the gold standard in golf.
Koepka is the first player since Woods in 2009-10 to start consecutive years at No. 1 in the world ranking. How much longer he keeps it depends on when he plays. Koepka has a knee injury that has kept him out since October.
Their performances are among five topics of conversations going into 2020.
TIGERS ENCORE
With all the trauma and drama involving Woods, what made his Masters victory so appealing was that a younger generation only saw him win majors on video, and an older generation of fans had reason to believe they might never see it again.
The rest of the year was a dud, and then Woods had minor surgery on his left knee to clean out cartilage. His knee was strong enough to play, but not to practice or squat to read putts. After the surgery, he played for the first time in 10 weeks and won the Zozo Championship in Japan for his record-tying 82nd victory. Then, he played even better by going 3-0 as the playing captain of the U.S. team in the Presidents Cup.
All that did was build hope for Augusta National and beyond. Is the pursuit of Nicklaus back in play? Woods turned 44 this week. When he gets to the Masters, only six players older than Woods will have won a major Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin, Jerry Barber, Nicklaus, Old Tom Morris and Julius Boros. No one that age has won more than two majors. Woods needs three.
As the last decade has shown, its not wise to bet against him.
KOEPKAS
CHALLENGE
Brooks Koepka has a chance to join one of the most exclusive lists in golf as he tries to win a major championship for the fourth consecutive year. Only four other players have done that.
