By Joel Beall
Welcome to the Dew Sweeper, your one-stop shop to catch up on the weekend action from the golf world. From the professional tours, trending news, social media headlines and upcoming events, here’s every golf-related thing you need to know for the morning of March 12.

Tiger Woods, officially back

There are no caveats or asterisks attached: Tiger Woods is officially back.

His final round at the Copperhead course was far from flawless. His irons were a tad off and, for 16 holes, Tiger and his putter weren’t talking to each other. But then Woods dropped a 44-foot bomb on the 17th and all hell broke loose.

The loudest roar of the day. ??#ShotOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/idwghK3N1R

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 12, 2018

No, Woods didn’t win the Valspar Championship, ultimately falling a stroke short of Paul Casey. But 300 days removed from fusion surgery, and five months after admitting he might not play competitively again, the 42-year-old Woods was this close to winning an official PGA Tour event. Golf has wondered if Tiger would ever return. On Sunday, the game got its answer. A loud one at that.

Michael Reaves

Casey crashes Tigermania

Got to feel for Paul Casey. One of the nicer guys on tour is the most unpopular winner since Stewart Cink at Turnberry. Not that he needs your sympathy. After all, he’s $1.17 million richer after capturing the Valspar Championship.

Beginning the day five strokes back of leader Corey Conners, Casey inched his way up the board with a 33 on the front, making his move with three consecutive birdies starting at the 11th. He managed Copperhead’s dreaded Snake Pit without incident, finishing with a Sunday-best six-under 65. He then had to wait, finishing more than an hour ahead of Woods, Patrick Reed and Justin Rose. But all failed to match the Englishman’s 10-under mark, giving Casey his first PGA Tour win in a decade.

Casey admitted after the round he doubted if he’d ever find the winner’s circle again.

“I’ve reached a very good place in my life where I’ve got a wife and kids and life is very, very good,” Casey said. “To get a victory, another victory it is very much icing on the cake and kind of fills that void and makes me even happier. I was happy before but just happier.”

Who needs fan adulation when you can find peace like that?

Tiger now a Masters favourite

When Vegas opened its 2018 Masters odds, Tiger Woods was listed at 100-to-1. His figure has slightly dropped since.

Following his second-place finish at the Valspar, Woods is now one of the favourites at Augusta National, owning 10-to-1 odds. If that number sounds low, it is: only Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, the top two players in the world, are below the four-time green jacket winner (8-to-1). Which hey, we’re all aboard the Tiger Train. But lower odds than Jordan Spieth (12-to-1) and Jon Rahm (14-to-1)? More love than Phil Mickelson (18-to-1), who has a win and five top 10s this year? Even Sergio Garcia (30-to-1), who won the damn thing last spring? It seems like maybe we’re getting a little ahe…

Perfect speed. Perfect line.#MustSeeMoments pic.twitter.com/hhpl0n1xXx

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 12, 2018

…You’re right. Let it ride on Big Cat.

Local qualifier hits pay dirt

Martin Trainer had no full-time status on any tour as of last week. Following his feats in Mexico, the USC alum might be headed to the big leagues.

The 26-year-old Trainer won a three-for-one local qualifier playoff to get into the El Bosque Mexico Championship field, then made the most of his opportunity, turning in a 14-under score to win the Web.com Tour event by two shots.

“I was extremely nervous today,” Trainer said afterwards. “I hit a bunch of shots that I was kind of like, ‘Where did that come from?’ because it was so uncharacteristic, but that’s what happens under pressure. It’s just a different kind of golf. But thankfully I was able to scrape through and pick up the win.”

Trainer, who didn’t start playing golf until 12, now has job security on the Web, but bigger ambitions await. The win moves Trainer to No. 5 on the tour’s money list, with the top 25 earning promotion at season’s end. Trainer said he could barely sleep the night before Sunday’s round. We’re guessing he’s sound asleep following his win, with visions of a tour card dancing in his head.

Michael Cohen

Vijay wins for first Champions title

Vijay Singh is 55 now, not that you would know: the three-time major winner still makes regular appearances on the PGA Tour. Which could explain why, in six seasons of eligibility, Singh has yet to claim a victory on the PGA Tour Champions. That is, until Sunday.

Thanks to a birdie on the final hole at Newport Beach C.C., Singh posted a five-under 66 for a one-shot Toshiba Classic victory over Tommy Tolles, Tom Pernice Jr. and Scott McCarron.

“Every time I tee up here I put so much pressure on me that I have to win,” Singh said. “It’s kind of the wrong way to approach it. Like this week, I just went out there, just play and enjoy it. If you win you win. If you don’t there’s always next week.”

Though Singh has 34 PGA Tour career wins, it was the first time he’s won an official event since 2008. Singh said afterwards that, while he sees himself gravitating towards the seniors as the summer goes on, he still plans on making outings to the PGA Tour. We’re sure that’s no way impacted by the success Tiger and Phil are enjoying.

The post Tiger Woods is back, Paul Casey plays spoiler and a local qualifier hits pay dirt: What you missed this weekend appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
Vijay Singh once was a prolific winner, 34 PGA Tour victories landing him in the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006. He won nine times in 2004 alone, three times in 2008, and then…nothing.

For nearly 10 years, Singh failed to win an individual PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions event until his 18th-hole birdie gave him a one-stroke victory at the Toshiba Classic on Sunday.

“Every time I tee up here I put so much pressure on me that I have to win,” he said. “It’s kind of the wrong way to approach it. Like this week, I just went out there, just play and enjoy it. If you win you win. If you don’t there’s always next week.”

The always-next-weeks had been inexplicably mounting. He has played 212 events since his last victory on the PGA Tour, in the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2008. He had played another 26 PGA Tour Champions events, with only a single victory, that in a two-man team event, winning the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf with Carlos Franco.

Singh, 55, made five birdies and a long bogey on the back nine at Newport Beach (Calif.) Country Club to post a closing five-under par 66 for a one-stroke victory over Tommy Tolles, Tom Pernice Jr. and Scott McCarron.

It was that close only because Singh flew the green at the par-3 17th hole, his ball settling in a bunker, leaving him an impossible second shot to a green sloping away from him. His bunker shot rolled past the pin, off the green and into another bunker, leading to a bogey.

Tolles, playing ahead of Singh, three-putted the 17th for bogey, then missed a four-foot birdie putt at 18. McCarron also three-putted 17 and made bogey.

Singh, meanwhile, hit his 3-wood second shot at 18 virtually pin high, but missing the green right. Using a putter for his third shot, he rolled it to within three feet, then made the birdie putt that ultimately was the winner.

Singh still splits his time between the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has played four PGA Tour events and only three senior events this year, though he said he intends to play more frequently on the latter tour.

In the meantime, there is an impending date in Augusta, Ga., the Masters, a tournament Singh won in 2000.

Singh’s victory drought has ended, the most puzzling player on the senior tour has become Bernhard Langer. The question is whether his age, 61, is finally beginning to take a toll. Last week, Langer tied for 54th, his worst finish on the senior tour. At the Toshiba, he finished 58th.

The post Vijay Singh wins Toshiba Classic, his first individual PGA Tour Champions victory and first win in nearly 10 years appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.