Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger Woods finishes with career-worst 82

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Tiger Woods may have lost his touch — his 82 Friday in the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open was his worst as a pro — but he retained his sense of humor.

"I'm only doing this so I won't get fined" was Woods' opening comment to the media. Clearly he's been watching the interviews with Marshawn Lynch, whose Seahawks will play the Patriots Sunday in Super Bowl XLIX in nearby Glendale.

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Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger Woods scrambles for 73 in return to PGA Tour

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Tiger Woods' return to PGA Tour tournament golf for the first time in 5 1/2 months was a struggle to be expected by everyone aside from the man himself.

Woods, who turned 39 at the end of December and hadn't competed in a full-blown event since the PGA Championship last August, started erratically, 4 over par in his first four holes, then rallied impressively and shot a 2-over-par 73 in the opening round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

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Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.

S.F. Examiner: 'Silent Mode' just a game Seahawks' Lynch plays

By Art Spander
Special to the Examiner

PHOENIX — They weren't going to trap Marshawn Lynch. He would talk Tuesday on Super Bowl Media Day. He would sit there at his rostrum and declare, "I'm only here so I won't get fined."

Declare it 28 times before adding, "Time up."

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© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner 

The Sports Xchange: Media Day brings madness

By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange

PHOENIX — There was a guy wearing only a barrel. No, not the late, great Tim McKernan of Denver; this was someone representing a local C&W station, KNIX.

There was a young lady from a Hispanic sports station wearing something so tight it could barely be confused with a dress, much less a barrel.

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Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange

The Sports Xchange: Pete's repeat would put Carroll in rare category

By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange

PHOENIX — Think of the great NFL coaches over the last half century, the Lombardis, Shulas, Nolls, even the Belichicks, because no matter what we think of Bill, he is part of this category and a much rarer category -- a winner in back-to-back Super Bowls. 

Now consider adding the name of Pete Carroll to that list. Silly, you suggest, because Carroll, a product of California's fantasy-land Marin County, a guy whose easy-going ways when he coached the Jets were derided as "the good ship Lollipop?" 

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange