Back to defend his title at the Reno-Tahoe Open, a lot has changed for Will MacKenzie since he claimed his first US golf tour victory last summer on the edge of the Sierra Nevada.
The rock-climbing, kayaking, surfer who once lived out of his van and sold Costa Rican hammocks door-to-door has a new car, a new condo in Florida and US$879,965 in earnings already this year.
"I'd never driven anything but a van or a truck, so now I've got a little sports car," MacKenzie said on Wednesday at Montreux Golf & Country Club, about a half-hour from Lake Tahoe.
Despite the bigger bank account, the 32-year-old US player sounds like the same character who shot an opening-round 63 en route to a 20-under-par 268 at Reno last August.
"It's nice to get out West again. I can already smell the sage," MacKenzie told reporters before his practice round on Wednesday afternoon. "It's a good vibe for me.
"It's amazing to have been fishing in West Palm Beach yesterday and be out here now in the mountains. My girlfriend and I will probably go to Lake Tahoe one day and freeze our rear ends off in the ... water."
Once a star on the junior circuit, MacKenzie burned out by age 14, hung up his clubs and spent nearly 10 years skiing and snowboarding in the West before returning to the game three years ago.
NOTORIOUS
Now he finds himself unusually comfortable with the notoriety that accompanied his breakthrough victory.
"I want to be known out here," he said. "Whether I have 10 fans or 10,000 fans, I love it. I love to see kids come up and say, `Willie Mac, what's up bud? Good playing.' Or, `You wanna go surfing?'
"The state of my game right now? I'm not too sure. I've got a major tweak in my neck," he said. "But I definitely have some goose bumps. I'd like to play well. I'm the defending champion."
MacKenzie became the fourth player in the nine-year-old Reno event to claim their first tour victory at the 6,832m Jack Nicklaus-designed course, where a US$3 million purse is at stake.
Vaughn Taylor last turned the trick in 2004 and became the only player so far to successfully defend the title the following year.
Most Reno winners don't return to defend because they qualify for the Wold Golf Championships at Akron, Ohio, where the top 84 players in the world are competing this week.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the