BATTLE MOUNTAIN, Nev. – After rolling out the red carpet for the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars last summer, Battle Mountain Raceway will become the first track in Nevada to sanction the division this year.

Five Friday-Saturday doubleheaders – April 3-4, May 8-9, June 26-27, July 24-25 and Aug. 28-29 – are scheduled with the final IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing show of the season set for Sunday, Sept. 20.

Gene Henrie was the Stock Car feature winner when the Wild West Tour came to Battle Mountain last July.

Both the look of the cars and the quality of the racing that evening had fans asking track officials to bring the division back more often.

“The fans really liked them. We’ve already got six area drivers who already have or are building or buying cars,” promoter Santiago Villanueva said. “We’re looking forward to making this happen.”

IMCA Modifieds have run at Battle Mountain since 2002.

“What I like about sanctioning with IMCA is the rules. They’re cut and dried, pretty straight forward and right there on the website,” said Villanueva. “We want to build the Stock Car class here and we want our drivers to be able to go to other IMCA tracks and not have to change anything to race.”

Stock Car points earned at Battle Mountain figure toward EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region standings.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Detroit Red Wings forward Brendan Perlini has been cleared to travel with the team after requiring stitches to close a deep gash that coach Jeff Blashill says just missed the player's right eye.

"Brendan's doing good. He's up," Blashill said following a 3-2 loss at Buffalo during which Perlini was cut after being struck in the face by the skate of Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju. He said the skate cut Perlini across his right cheek and nose.

"Super scary," Blashill said. "I think he was thankful. I was thankful. We were all scared when it first happened and first saw that it had gone near his eye."

The collision occurred with 3:51 remaining in the opening period along the boards in the neutral zone. Jokiharju collided with Perlini, who was playing the puck. As the two fell, Jokiharju's skate flew back and first knocked off Perlin's helmet before appearing to hit him across the right cheek.

Perlini lay face down for several moments before being tended to by team trainers. He was then helped up and held a towel to his face in making his way off the ice and heading directly into the locker room.

Though it's unclear whether Perlini can play in Detroit's game at New Jersey on Thursday, Blashill said the player will travel with the team upon consulting with Red Wings head athletic therapist Piet Van Zant.

The 23-year-old is in his fourth NHL season and first with Detroit after being acquired in a trade with Chicago in October. He scored his first goal of the season in a 3-1 win over Boston on Sunday and has added two assists in 32 games.

Wings forward Dylan Larkin said he and his teammates were initially worried about the severity of the injury before Van Zant provided an update that Perlini would be all right shortly after the player was taken to the locker room.

"It's a scary sight anytime a guy gets a skate like that up high. It seemed like slow motion, too, the way he came across and got him," Larkin said. "We're happy he's all right."

Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Cam Atkinson is expected to miss 2-3 weeks because of a sprained ankle.

The Blue Jackets announced the diagnosis Wednesday, four days after Atkinson appeared to suffer the injury in a loss to the Avalanche.

Atkinson did not play in Monday's overtime loss to the Lightning. The nine-year veteran has 12 goals and 14 assists in 44 games this season.

Atkinson led the Blue Jackets with a career-high 41 goals last season but has struggled with injuries this season.

Columbus (30-17-10), which enters Wednesday one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers for the Eastern Conference's first wild card, already is without injured star defenseman Seth Jones, who will miss 8-10 weeks because of a fractured ankle.

Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov will not play Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche but will accompany his team on its three-game road trip.

Kuznetsov, who is dealing with an upper-body injury, has responded well to treatment, the team said Wednesday.

The Capitals hope Kuznetsov could play at some point during the road trip, which starts Thursday in Colorado. Washington also plays Saturday at Arizona and Monday at Vegas before returning home Feb. 20 against Montreal.

Kuznetsov, 27, has 19 goals and 27 assists in 53 games this season.

One of the best stories in the NHL is happening in Columbus, where the Blue Jackets keep losing players but keep winning games anyway.

Since coach John Tortorella's volcanic eruption at the expense of the officials (and his bank account), which happened to coincide with the loss of their starting goalie, the Jackets have had a 13-3-2 stretch. If you extend it to include their most recent 25 games, they're a remarkable 18-3-4.

Just how have they managed to keep defying the odds and churning out these impressive results? It's twofold, although the two components are almost inextricably linked.

Note: All data in this piece is courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and Evolving Hockey, and is accurate through Feb. 10 games.

An outstanding debut in the crease

Elvis Merzlikins has been nothing short of electrifying. It was a slow build after a bumpy start that saw him give up seven goals in his debut while starting just six times in the first two months, but since the Jackets handed him the car keys following Joonas Korpisalo's injury, he has been every bit as fun as advertised. The postgame celebrations have been well-earned because of his play.

For the year, Merzlikins boasts the following ranks in the most important goalie categories:

• Overall save percentage: .931 (first)

• 5-on-5 save percentage: .940 (third)

• Goals saved above average: plus-16.2 (third)

• Goals saved above expected: plus-5.0 (sixth)

• Shutouts: 5 (first)

As sparkling as those yearlong numbers are, they don't do proper justice to the run he has been on since taking over as the starter. He has won 12 of those 16 games, shut out the opposing team five times in an eight-game stretch, stopped 95% of the shots he has faced and saved nearly 20 goals above what we'd expect a league-average goalie to have done.

It's a run reminiscent of Jordan Binnington's debut act with the Blues in the second half of last season, and it has propelled Merzlikins into a Calder conversation that seemed as if it was reserved for the two young Western Conference rookie defensemen.

As tends to be the case with any hot goalie over a small sample of games, we need to tread carefully in making any sweeping declarations. That said, he looks every bit the star in the way he plays the position and handles himself between the pipes, and it's not as if it's coming out of nowhere. Sure, Merzlikins certainly has never done this at a level like the NHL, and you never know how a goalie will adjust to the increased shooting talent he'll face when coming from overseas. But he dominated a pro league for years in Switzerland, looked as though he belonged with the world's best in international competitions and is currently smack dab in his physical prime as he approaches his 26th birthday.

Still, and with all due respect to Merzlikins and his unique performance, this kind of goaltending hardly ever occurs in a vacuum. We find ourselves at a fascinating crossroads in the goalie landscape -- both in terms of how we evaluate their performance and with how teams value them. Similar to what's happening in the NFL with the running back position, the way goalies are being used (and therefore compensated) is changing.

By now, everyone who is paying attention knows that the workhorse netminder who flirts with 70 appearances in a season is a dying breed, as more teams transition toward splitting starts between tandems to exceedingly positive returns.

As things stand, there are only four goalies on pace for north of 60 starts: Carey Price (66), Sergei Bobrovsky (63), Connor Hellebuyck (63) and Frederik Andersen (62). It's no surprise that the names on the list are the same ones whose teams have heavily invested in them and are trying to squeeze the most bang for their buck (even if it comes at the potential detriment of their own performance).

A defensive-minded strategy

Teams leery of putting all of their eggs in the basket of one goalie is partly due to the volatility at the position, but also because of how the individual's success is tied to his environment and the defensive system in front of him.

The Blue Jackets are the prime case study for that idea in action, after they saw their Vezina-caliber goalie walk in free agency. They replaced him with a trio of goalies making a combined $3 million. To say they haven't missed a beat would be an understatement, since they currently sit behind only the Bruins in terms of goal suppression (and first at 5-on-5). Whereas the Blue Jackets sport the lowest expected goals-against rate in the league, Bobrovsky's new team in Florida has the seventh-highest rate, which is a big reason behind his unseemly save percentage below .900.

Credit in large part goes to Tortorella's masterful coaching job. He recognizes that the Blue Jackets have to play a certain way against any number of teams that are objectively more talented offensively. After losing so much fire power up front when Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel left in free agency, the Blue Jackets acknowledged that they couldn't afford to play an open style that involved trading chances. Instead, they strategically tightened their defensive system.

Their underlying shot profile can best be described as Barry Trotz-ian, taking after the method the Islanders' coach employed in various stops around the league, most notably and most recently with New York. The Blue Jackets are right there with the likes of the Islanders, Bruins and Stars as the stingiest 5-on-5 teams in the league, and that's by design. Here's how they rate in the various shot-share metrics:

• All shot attempts: 48.7% (21st)

• Unblocked shot attempts: 50.7% (14th)

• Shots on goal: 51.8% (ninth)

• High-danger chances: 51.7% (12th)

It's interesting to see how much better Columbus looks from one category to the next as you increase in level of quality. Their ability to dictate the terms of play by winning that cat-and-mouse game is a big reason why their 5-on-5 expected goal share is 52.2%, which puts them in the neighborhood of teams such as the Avalanche, Leafs, Stars and Capitals as the 11th-best in the league.

The Jackets do it by tactfully picking and choosing what they'll allow the opposition to have offensively, guiding them further and further to the perimeter by clogging the dangerous areas, such as the middle of the ice and around the net.

They purposefully block shots, not necessarily as a survival tactic as teams who never have the puck do, but because they're willingly trying to control what their goalie has to face. At 5-on-5, the Blue Jackets block a whopping 27.8% of the attempts opponents take, which is the highest figure in the league. In all situations, they're second in that metric, sandwiched between the Islanders and Stars.

In terms of the percentage of attempts they give up that are actually considered 'dangerous' by definition, the 14.9% they give up at 5-on-5 and 15.6% they give up across all situations are both second best in the NHL. By taking away the cross-seam pass that every team would like to execute, they make life so much easier for their goalies by allowing them to focus on squaring up shooters without fear of being beaten laterally or through the back door.

As good as the shooters are in today's game, if an NHL goalie can cleanly get set and line up the attempt, they'll usually stop it. The Blue Jackets do a wonderful job of affording their goalies that luxury.

Is it sustainable?

Whether they can continue that trend and maintain their status remains to be seen following the news of Seth Jones' injury and accompanying surgery. Battling through injuries with that "next man up" mentality is hardly a new thing for this Blue Jackets team, which was up there in terms of most meaningful man games lost even before losing Jones. It has gotten to the point where it's markedly easier to list the players who have been healthy rather than those who have been out, with the list of skaters who haven't missed at least five games being Pierre-Luc Dubois, Gustav Nyquist, Nick Foligno, Boone Jenner, David Savard and Vladislav Gavrikov.

Although they are getting used to it, life without Jones is an entirely different reality. Before going down, he led the Blue Jackets in usage at even strength, the penalty kill and overall by a significant margin. The only players who play more in the entire league are Thomas Chabot, Roman Josi, Drew Doughty, Kris Letang and Oscar Klefbom. Jones is everything that makes the Blue Jackets effective as a collective group, from his defensive awareness to his skating. His absence leaves an inescapable void, especially in an unforgiving Metropolitan Division that currently contains six of the top 10 teams in point percentage.

The Blue Jackets appear uniquely equipped to try to patch that hole, thanks both to their unheralded blueline depth and the defensive infrastructure that's already in place. They just have to hope that removing the Seth Jones block from the equation isn't the one move that ultimately sends the Jenga stack tumbling to the ground.

SAN JOSE -- J.T. Miller has a reputation in the NHL. He's a blue-collar player with a physical edge. He's a versatile forward able to play in a variety of roles. But when the Tampa Bay Lightning traded him to the Vancouver Canucks last summer, he earned another label: someone worth spending a first-round draft pick to acquire.

Teams don't just throw those picks around in trades anymore. When they are dealt, it's rarely for forwards who have never hit 25 goals or 60 points in a season, as Miller hasn't.

Fans questioned the investment. Miller took notice of the price tag, too.

"I realized they gave up a lot for me, and I should feel good about that," he told ESPN recently. "I was given a great opportunity here, and I wanted to make the most of it. I probably had my best summer in the gym. I worked my ass off this summer. I wanted to put my best foot forward. And I definitely haven't always done that before. It gets back to what they gave up for me: I had a point to prove. It motivated me. And it's paying off."

That it is. Miller was given an opportunity to be a top-line forward for the Canucks, and he's done anything but squander the chance. The player who hasn't scored 25 goals in a season has 22 of them. The player who hasn't hit 60 points in a season has 56 of them in just 57 games. His average ice time (19:51) is over five minutes higher than what he averaged in Tampa last season (14:40).

"You always hope a player comes as advertised," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "He has. He's probably exceeded some of those expectations."

Top-line success in Vancouver wasn't predestined for Miller. He was a solid performer -- from 2015 to 2018, he averaged 22 goals and 52 points -- when the Lightning acquired him in the trade that also netted them defenseman Ryan McDonagh from the New York Rangers. They gave him a prolonged audition on their top line with Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, but after he had eight points in 17 games for the Lightning in that postseason, the team decided to change his role.

"I got there, I fit in well. [Then] I was told going into the next season that, 'We see you [in the bottom six]. We want to win a championship and we see you here, filling this role,'" he said.

Miller saw his ice time cut. Instead of Stamkos and Kucherov, he was skating with the likes of Anthony Cirelli and Ryan Callahan. His goal total dropped by 10, and he posted his lowest points total since 2016. But he learned from it.

"It was a learning experience for me. I wanted to play more. But I was buying into that," he said. "That's something I bring here. Everybody wants more minutes. Everybody wants a bigger role. But sometimes when you want to win, you have to do what's asked of you."

He learned a lot of lessons with the Lightning, including the harshest one last April, when the Columbus Blue Jackets swept them out of the playoffs in embarrassing fashion.

The lesson? "Anything can happen, and you can't take anyone lightly. We were a period away from going up 1-0 and felt like we were dominating. And then lost four straight," he recalled.

The Blue Jackets embodied a mantra that Miller's former coach in New York, Alain Vigneault, used to swear by: Just get into the playoffs, and anything can happen. It's wisdom that Miller has imparted to his new teammates.

"Something I've been preaching to this team is that we need to play well enough to get into the playoffs. Don't stress too much. Just try to get in. Anything happens when you get there," he said.

In a short time, Miller has become one of the Canucks' prominent dressing room voices. There's a competitive fire to him, fueled by a career of impressive success. In every full season he's played in the NHL, Miller's teams have qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's not good enough that Vancouver wants to win, it's that it should expect to win.

Look no further than his infamous reaction to a 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Feb. 4. "I don't think they're anything special. I mean, they're a good hockey team. I'm not sitting here like, 'Oh man, we're playing this team tonight,'" he said after the game. "We're a good hockey team. We should have swag about that. We've proven we can beat any team in the league."

Green has been impressed by Miller's growth.

"I think he's relished a new role -- a leadership role, while playing top-line minutes," Green said. "That's what every player wants, but they still have to perform. And he's done that, so he deserves all the recognition he's getting."

Miller is only 26, but he's a grizzled veteran compared to his primary linemate, 21-year-old phenom Elias Pettersson. His north-south style of play fits well with the artistry of the Calder Trophy winner, who has 57 points in 56 games this season. Miller calls him a "special player" whose dynamic offense reminds him of a young Kucherov.

But the key word is "young," and Miller has done what he can to help Pettersson adapt to the ebbs and flows of the season.

"We talk all the time," Miller said. "Like, I tell him that sometimes it's going to be tight and there's nothing there. We can be exposed there, making those mistakes. But if we can keep it going forward and be patient ... he's such a skilled player, all he needs is one little hole in the defense, and that's all he needs. Sometimes it's open, and sometimes he needs to learn that it's not always there. To be patient. Especially this time of year. The holes get smaller. Space gets taken away. That being said, he makes it look really easy."

If the Canucks haven't exactly made it look easy, they have made it look better than anticipated. As of Tuesday, Vancouver was atop the Pacific Division with 67 points, seeking its first playoff berth since 2015.

"It's hard not to look at the standings," Miller said. "You can't take any nights off. And if you do ... we won seven in a row, lost a game, and we were out of the playoffs. We understand the situation. And it's good that it's tight. We won't be able to take our foot off the gas. And that's good for a younger team like this."

It's all a learning experience. Whether it's handling a new role, bouncing back from a loss ... or knowing what it takes to prove you're worth a first-round pick.

Miller knows the Canucks paid a price to bring him to Vancouver. He's glad they did, and not only for the career year he's having.

"Maybe on paper, I didn't want to come this far away from home. But that's the only [hesitation]. I know Vancouver's a great organization, and a hell of a place to live," he said. "The way the team is going right now, the fun we're having ... it's so much more satisfying than any personal success."

The stars are out this week in Hollywood, and it has nothing to do with the Walk of Fame. Here are four burning questions to consider as the West Coast Swing ends in style, with nine of the top 10 players in the world gathered at Riviera Country Club to contest the Genesis Invitational:

What does Tiger need to solve Riviera?

Woods’ relationship with this venue pre-dates his pro career, as it is the place he took his first swipes on the PGA Tour as a skinny 16-year-old amateur. But all those years haven’t added much wisdom when it comes to figuring out this week’s venue, where he has teed it up more times without winning than any other course on Tour.

Woods skipped this event from 2007 to '17, a sign of his reticence to return to a course that often gave him fits, and a third-round 65 last year is the only time he’s broken 70 in six rounds since coming back. But a T-15 finish proved to be a stepping stone to bigger and better things a year ago, and now he returns with skill and confidence in equal measure.

Still, there’s something about this place that just doesn’t quite fit his eye. Tuesday Woods pointed to his struggles reading the fickle poa annua greens, and his par-3 scoring average at Riviera is well above his norm. It’s also a place where he sometimes struggles to get rounds on track, as last year he played Nos. 2-7 in 8 over without recording a single birdie.

There are several courses on Tour where it seems Woods only needs to step to the first tee and wait for the trophy to fall into his arms. This simply isn’t one of them.

Who is the real No. 1?

This week’s top billing belongs to Rory McIlroy, who has returned to the No. 1 world ranking for the first time since 2015. But it’s a close race at the top, and this week could go a long way toward determining who the true man to beat will be this year.

McIlroy has won four times since his T-4 finish at Riviera a year ago, good enough to end Brooks Koepka’s nine-month run without even hitting a shot last week. The Ulsterman will surely be motivated to extend his latest reign for at least another week, and it’ll be interesting to see how Koepka responds to a little extra motivation – even if he’s downplaying its importance.

But this is hardly a two-man race. Jon Rahm can ascend to No. 1 for the first time in his career with a win, having finished outside the top 15 just once since June. While Justin Thomas can’t get there mathematically, a fourth win since August would cement his status as the hottest player in the game. 

All four deserve their current spot among the upper echelon. But this week it feels like the nod might go to Thomas – the man on the outside looking in for the actual No. 1 race, but a runner-up last year who also finished T-3 two weeks ago in Phoenix.

Who can capitalize on momentum?

Last week was a step in the right direction for a trio of former major champs, as Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day all notched much-needed results to stem downward spirals of varying degrees. Mickelson let the tournament get away on the final day, but his third-place showing was still his best on Tour in a year. Having confirmed he’ll skip next week’s event in Mexico even if he qualifies, Lefty has one more chance to turn bombs into birdies before taking a break, as he plays for the fifth time in as many weeks.

Spieth snuck into the Mexico field by the thinnest of margins, though it remains to be seen if he’ll make the trip south. But after showing signs of life despite a missed cut in Phoenix, last week’s top-10 in Monterey was finally a chance for Spieth to glean a concrete result from the confident coach-speak. A similar performance, complete with dazzling ball-striking stats, will truly be cause for optimism.

Then there’s Day, who had tumbled all the way to 46^th in the world before a fourth-place finish at Pebble. Given his poor history at Riviera, this could be something of a free roll for the Aussie before he heads east to layouts that more suit his style.

Which bomber will thrive in Hogan’s Alley?

Built into the cozy confines of an L.A. canyon, Riviera isn’t the longest course players will face this year on Tour. Look no further than the iconic par-4 10^th, a test of strategy but not strength, to understand the demands of Riv. In theory, this is a place where distance takes a backseat to ball-striking.

But in recent years, some of the longest hitters on Tour have cleaned up at Hogan’s Alley. Bubba Watson won three times in a five-year stretch from 2014-18, while that run was interrupted by a Dustin Johnson triumph in 2017. Last year, it was bomber J.B. Holmes who rallied past Justin Thomas.

Quite clearly, longer hitters have figured out a way to get a leg up on the field at Riviera. While the opening hole plays as the easiest par-5 all year on Tour, easily reachable for every player in the field, the other two par-5s on the card exceed 580 yards. The big hitters can also neutralize the brawny par-4s down the stretch at Riv, with holes like 12, 15 and 18 all tipping out over 475 yards with little margin for error.

So while the familiar faces are back this week, and numerology suggests Bubba might be due for another win in an even-numbered year, keep an eye on two other players who can launch it off the tee: current driving distance leader Cameron Champ, who won earlier this season and has three top-25s in four starts this year, and Bryson DeChambeau, who spent the off-season focused on adding length off the tee and appears to have found it in his most recent performances.

LOS ANGELES – For PGA Tour brass there is no better time or place for Tiger Woods to set the all-time Tour wins record than right here, right now, at Riviera. We can see it now, this intersection of legends past and present: Tiger passes Snead at Hogan’s Alley.

To turn fantasy into reality, however, Woods will have to conquer what has proven to be the most vexing challenge of his career.

Woods has a love-hate relationship with the old L.A. Open, the Tour stop that was closest to his childhood home in Cypress, California, that was the site of his first start, in 1992, as a 16-year-old, and that now is run by his group, TGR Ventures. 

But not all of Woods’ memories here are positive. As a pro, he’s 0-for-10 at Riviera. Never has the game’s greatest winner tried and failed so many times.

So why hasn’t Woods been able to solve the George Thomas riddle? He simplified it during his pre-tournament news conference Tuesday: “Well, I have historically never really putted well here.”

And, yes, that’s true (as we’ll explore below). But there are a few other reasons, too.

PUTTING

Woods is right: Comparatively, he hasn’t putted these bumpy poa annua greens well. As golf statistician Justin Ray pointed out this week: Since 2004 (when strokes-gained statistics were first used), Woods has lost 0.08 strokes on the greens per round at Riviera. The average per-round gains for that week’s winner? 1.34.

Poor putting certainly undid Woods last year. On a dreadful Day 1, he took 34 putts. For the week, he missed 10 times inside 10 feet, including three from within 5 feet. Though Woods can’t be expected to make all of those attempts, it’s worth noting that he finished eight shots back of winner J.B. Holmes.

In 2006, he lost 0.736 strokes on the greens. He was even worse in 2005 (-0.919). In ’04, he made only one putt longer than 15 feet and finished seventh. A year earlier, he missed 11 times inside 10 feet, never holed a putt longer than 15 feet and still finished fifth. Even in 2000 – during arguably the best stretch in golf history – Woods needed 118 putts and finished in a tie for 18^th, his second-worst Tour showing in a historic year.

What gives?

“For some reason everything kind of breaks toward [No.] 6,” Woods said, “and I still haven’t quite figured that out.”

UNTIMELY MISCUES

Woods has been far from futile in Hollywood, of course. He has four top-10s in 10 pro starts, but only once has he had a legitimate chance to win.

That came in 1999. Playing in the final group with Davis Love III and Ted Tryba, Woods needed a birdie on the 72^nd hole to force a playoff with Ernie Els, who had bogeyed two of the last three holes. Woods’ approach into the home hole got caught up in the wind and sailed right, bounced into a concession stand and rolled under a chair. After a free drop, he pitched to 25 feet and missed the par putt, eventually losing by two.

“I had my chances for birdies and wasn’t able to convert,” he said that day. “You have to make those to win.”

More than two decades later, he’s still searching for that elusive title.

ILLNESS

Until his foundation stepped in to run the newly renamed Genesis Invitational, it appeared as though Woods’ final appearance at Riviera might be an early exit.

Looking for his third victory in a row on Tour, Woods battled the flu and cold amid rainy conditions in 2006, recording rounds of 69-74 to make the cut on the number. He withdrew before the start of the third round – the first time since turning pro that he’d pulled out of an event for a medical reason.

“Tiger doesn’t want to pull out of any event, ever,” his agent, Mark Steinberg, said then, “much less the Nissan Open in his hometown.” 

ABSENCE

After that WD, Woods didn’t play again at Riviera until 2018, when he missed the cut while in the early stages of his remarkable comeback.

Injuries factored into that 12-year gap, certainly, but Woods has also had a minimal presence during the West Coast swing. The only early-year stop he’s played with regularity has been Torrey Pines, where he’s an eight-time winner, including the 2008 U.S. Open. He’s never teed it up in the desert at PGA West. He’s played the Tour stops in Pebble (2012) and Phoenix (2015) only once since 2002.

The stars always come out in L.A., but Woods’ involvement has undoubtedly been a boon for the tournament. This year nine of the top 10 players in the world are competing, marking the most for a non-major, non-WGC or Players since 2007.

Viewed another way: Woods’ task of trying to end his winless drought at Riviera – and make history – just got a little more difficult.

Former PGA Tour winner Tommy Gainey won't face jail time for a recent solicitation arrest after agreeing instead to serve 11 months of probation.

Gainey, 44, was arrested in December and charged with a first-degree misdemeanor for soliciting a prostitute, part of a massive prostitution sting in Florida dubbed "Operation Santa's Naughty List" that led to more than 120 arrests. According to a Golf Digest report, Gainey won't serve any time behind bars but will take a human trafficking class, serve 100 hours of community service and pay fines and fees totaling $6,218.60 in addition to his probation term.

Gainey earned his lone PGA Tour win at the 2012 RSM Classic, and he hasn't been fully exempt on Tour since 2014. But that could change this fall, as Gainey rebounded from the arrest controversy to win the season-opening Korn Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas last month.

"With the injuries I've been through, the other troubles that I've had, I'm very lucky and very blessed," Gainey said after the victory. "This means everything."

The win moved him to the top of the season-long Korn Ferry Tour points list, and he's currently in fourth position having missed the cut in his most recent start. The top 25 in the points race at the end of the regular season will be guaranteed PGA Tour cards for the 2020-2021 campaign.

PGA Tour Series-China has postponed a pair of qualifying tournaments and delayed the start of the now-shortened regular season amid growing concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.

Last week the developmental circuit announced a plan to shift the second of three qualifiers from China to Indonesia. But now that event and another upcoming qualifier in Thailand have both been postponed, along with the first four events of the regular season which was slated to begin in late March.

The tour is now "aiming" to play the two qualifiers in late April or early May, with the regular season expected to begin in late May or early June. The announcement comes on the heels of the LPGA's cancellation of a total of three upcoming events in Asia.

More than 40,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported worldwide, with Wuhan, China the epicenter and purported origination site of the virus. As of Feb. 11, the worldwide death toll had exceeded 1,100.

"We watched and scrutinized the situation closely, and we did not make this decision lightly," said Greg Carlson, PGA Tour Series-China executive director. "This is a major international health issue, and we will do everything possible to ensure the safety and well-being of our players and everybody else associated with these tournaments."

Originally scheduled for 14 regular season events, the circuit now plans to play only 10 events this season. The first qualifying tournament was held in January and open only to Chinese passport holders, while the two qualifiers currently in limbo were to be open to players from other countries. Carlson noted that tour officials are "still dealing with many unknowns related to the coronavirus, with new information coming in daily."

PGA Tour Series-China serves as a feeder tour for the Korn Ferry Tour, with the top five finishers on the season-long Order of Merit earning exempt Korn Ferry status for the following season, while Nos. 6-10 earn exemptions into the final stage of Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School.