By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The man who once played near the monuments of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio now walks past the encased jerseys of Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella.
"Yes, I'm very aware of them," Don Mattingly said. "I love seeing the history of the organization."
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
MESA, Ariz. — He began with a jolt of Springsteen that was loud enough to be heard over a jet engine and certainly could be heard through the training complex.
Joe Maddon was making a first impression on a Chicago Cubs team that for five straight seasons had finished last in the National League Central.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
MESA, Ariz. — Winter hung in the air, one more brief shower for the Valley of the Sun. But on the field Tuesday unofficially it was spring, the Giants and the A’s in a game that while it didn’t mean anything, it conversely meant a great deal.
Ballplayers on the diamond, people in the stands, both delighted to be in the presence of the other.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The big silver structure of University of Phoenix Stadium, site of last month's Super Bowl, is visible a few miles away. Yet the facilities of Camelback Ranch, scraped out of the desert not even 10 years ago, seem far from civilization.
That's perfect for David Robertson after leaving the Yankees for the White Sox, who do their spring training about 15 miles west of Phoenix.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Storm clouds swirled in the distance, above the Superstition Mountains. But Tuesday, for the Giants’ first full-squad workout of 2015, there was only sunshine.
When you’re the World Series champion, anything else would be unacceptable. So Panda has crossed the continent. “A good player, a good teammate, always a happy person,” center fielder Angel Pagan said about the dearly departed Pablo Sandoval. “But we have to move on.”
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Global Golf Post
PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA — This is Hogan's place, actually "Hogan's Alley," a label that stands as surely as does the statue of Ben adjacent to the practice green at Riviera Country Club.
History counts here. History and reputations. Justin Thomas seems destined to create both. "Justin Thomas," said Graham DeLaet, "is part of the future of golf."
Copyright 2015 Global Golf Post
By Art Spander
Global Golf Post
PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA — The sixth hole is a par-3 with a pot bunker. In the middle of the green. The 10th hole is a par-4 that's drivable. And perplexing.
Riviera Country Club, where the tournament is now called the Northern Trust Open but began existence in the late 1920s as the Los Angeles Open, is yet another example there's more to a golf course than length.
Copyright 2015 Global Golf Post
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
These are good days in the old city that remains forever young.
We start, of course, with the Giants and AT&T Park. Couldn’t get much better than that, could it?
Then we look a few miles west, beyond Twin Peaks and Mount Davidson to another venue of champions, TPC Harding Park, the muni golf course that in some ways is a miracle.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Global Golf Post
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA — Such an appropriate nickname. "The Big Easy." Golf, however, is nothing but easy, even for the man with the relaxed, easy swing, Ernie Els.
"I've been to the dark side a couple of times," said Els.
Copyright 2015 Global Golf Post
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — He previously was No. 4 in the World Golf Rankings. Not just the U.S. PGA Tour, which uses the FedExCup standings. The world. Before he mysteriously lost it.
As happens in golf, where livelihoods, prestige and success are all too dependent on putts that miss by inches or drives that take weird bounces, in a matter of months, Brandt Snedeker was No. 63 as he entered the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The promotional slogan for the PGA Tour was and is, "These guys are good." And when the sun shines and the winds quiet at Pebble Beach, those guys are phenomenal.
The Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce absolutely loved Saturday. The temperature along Carmel Bay soared to the upper 70s. The guys swatting golf balls the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am loved it too.
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
PEBBLE BEACH — The golf almost is secondary. Bing Crosby understood that. People make the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am what it is as much as pars or birdies.
As through the decades people, personalities, made the tournament we once knew as the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am what it was — Northern California’s annual winter party of occasional wild weather and constant enjoyment.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
SAN DIEGO — It was a day of sunshine and fog, of birdies and bogeys and of a lead that couldn't be held until the final par putt.
That came from Jason Day on the second playoff hole of the Farmers Insurance Open that, without Tiger Woods (bad back, withdrawal) or Phil Mickelson (missed cut), may have lacked star power but didn't lack for excitement.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
SAN DIEGO — The first few minutes of the CBS telecast Saturday from the Farmers Insurance Open were videos of swings by Tiger Woods. Which might be all you need to know about the current state of PGA Tour golf.
Woods hasn't been here since Thursday, when he withdrew because of back spasms.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
SAN DIEGO — The Farmers Insurance Open lost its second star in two days when hometown guy Phil Mickelson, putting "beyond pathetic," missed the cut Friday. Tiger Woods withdrew from the PGA Tour event Thursday because of a bad back.
Mickelson, who grew up playing Torrey Pines, shot a par 72 on the easier North Course after a 2-over 74 Thursday on the South, the one on which Woods won the 2008 U.S. Open.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
SAN DIEGO — The questions about Tiger Woods before he teed off Thursday dealt with his game. Now, once again, they are about his back, and at age 39, his future.
Woods, in obvious pain, withdrew after only 11 holes in the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, a course where he had flourished. He has eight wins here as a pro, including the 2008 U.S. Open, his last victory in a major.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist, Bleacher Report
SAN DIEGO — It seemed as symbolic as it was sad. There was the man, Eldrick Woods, the one and only Tiger, driving away into a coastal fog that, if it didn’t obscure his future—he’s done—it certainly did the future of golf.
Why does it always have to end like this for the great ones—injuries and ailments and worst of all an inability to perform with the magnificence they once did?
Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
Even the weather seems to be against Tiger Woods.
Coastal fog, not unusual this time of the year in southern California, delayed Woods -- and everyone else -- by two hours at the start of Wednesday's pro-am for the Farmers Insurance Open.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner
They are so good for so long, and then suddenly we’re wondering — they’re wondering — how and why the great players go into decline.
Why can’t Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum get the ball over the plate any more? How did the Niners’ Vernon Davis last season go from star to question mark? And what has happened to Tiger Woods?
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
Global Golf Post
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA — The sign attached to the second-floor patio railing intentionally was visible from the adjacent fairway. "Welcome back, Tiger," it said in properly large letters.
Such a delightful greeting. Such an unexpected response.
Copyright 2015 Global Golf Post