The hole on the par-3 16th will be cut 24 paces on and eight from the left edge of the green to honour Bryant's two most iconic shirt numbers during his remarkable 20-year career within NBA.

DEREK LAWRENSON IN LOS ANGELES: On a day when Tiger showed once more that no venue causes him fits quite like the wiles and mysteries of Riviera, McIlroy answered the riddles with a fine 67

Tiger Woods' Masters preparation has suffered a setback as he is unable to return to action at next week's Players Championship in Florida due to a back issue, ESPN reported on Friday.

DEREK LAWRENSON - WORLD OF GOLF: The first time Tyrrell Hatton played pro golf in Orlando he was sharing a room each night with several fellow wannabes,

Rory McIlroy was still a teenager when he marked his first appearance at the Players Championship in 2009 by getting thrown out of bars along Jacksonville Beach for carrying a fake ID.

Now it is Reed’s turn to run the gauntlet, the arch-villain in so many golfing eyes following his actions in improving his lie while attempting a shot from the sand at the Hero Challenge in December. 

The PGA Tour will continue for the next four weeks without spectators, beginning at the Players Championship today, and begging the question: will the Masters follow suit next month?

DEREK LAWRENSON AT SAWGRASS: Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka took their cue from a subdued audience reeling from the news that this was the last action they will witness.

The European Tour are ready to hold events on every day of the week and are prepared to have tournaments running concurrently in a desperate bid to save the season.

Tommy Fleetwood hopes the Ryder Cup can act as an 'amazing torch' after the coronavirus pandemic. The flagship contest between Europe and the United States remains in doubt.

DEREK LAWRENSON - WORLD OF GOLF: Sir Nick Faldo believes Rory McIlroy and other leading lights will have a real opportunity to rewrite golf history if the majors are packed into a tight window.

EXCLUSIVE BY DEREK LAWRENSON: Europe's captain Padraig Harrington could hardly be any clearer when it comes to the two schools of thought regarding this year's Ryder Cup.

INTERVIEW BY DEREK LAWRENSON: Westwood thought he'd be playing lnear the site of the Battle of the Alamo, not at home in Newcastle doing a jigsaw re-enacting the Battle of Waterloo.

DEREK LAWRENSON: In 1995, Woods felt he'd stepped inside 'Disneyland, fantasyland, all rolled into one', when he cast his eye over Augusta National ahead of playing it for the first time.

Few Europeans were even allowed a glimpse of Augusta National in 1980. That all changed when Seve Ballesteros had the looks, the charisma, the game and then the priceless green jacket.

When a 19-year-old Tiger Woods stood over his first-ever putt at the Masters on his debut in 1995, it is fair to say the American prodigy was in for a rude awakening.

The most important day in the Christian calendar has often coincided with a joyous one for golf followers. This year, they should've been enjoying the 18th Masters staged on Easter Sunday.

The Europe captain is determined to lead his side out at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin in September but accepts that the decision over whether the event should go ahead is 'above my pay grade'.

DEREK LAWRENSON - WORLD OF GOLF: It was the hardest piece that I've ever had to write - and the lively aftermath was far, far worse. Seve Ballesteros tore into me in front of my peers.

Theresa May Vladimir Putin (pictured) will hold face-to-face talks during the gathering in Japan this week over how to stabilise ties between the countries.

Theresa May and husband Philip touched down in Osaka, where world leaders are gathering for the G20 summit of powerful nations.

Theresa May will today tell Vladimir Putin to hand over the two agents who carried out the Salisbury chemical attack on Sergei Skripal, when the leaders meet at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan

The Russian President will meet Theresa May at the G20 in Russia today where the Prime Minister will demand he admits to the Novichok attack and hand over the two spies sent to kill Sergei Skripal.

Theresa May is holding face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin in Osaka, Japan in an attempt to thaw relations between Russia and Britain as she prepares to quit as PM next month.

Theresa May greeted Vladimir Putin with the frostiest of handshakes as they met in Japan in a meeting which had been soured before it began by the Russian President's attack on Western views.

Bernie Ecclestone, 88, also said he thought Putin should be running Europe and that the invasion of Crimea was just to 'bring Russia back together.'

Theresa May said she had 'lived' politics for 50 years, and knew about its potential to 'improve people's lives'. But she said an inability to compromise was poisoning national life.

Steve Bullock, 2020 presidential candidate, on Sunday compared Ken Cuccinelli, the acting Director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services, to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin vowed to prevent the emergence of mass protests yesterday speaking to French President Emmanuel Macron in southern France .

Vladmir Putin (pictured) said he offered to 'balance everything out' by offering the Kremlin's weapons to Trump at the G20 summit in Japan in June.

Claude Chirac bowed her head towards the tombstone at the Paris cemetery where France 's former head of state was laid to rest today.

'It's better to replace it with the Great Russian Encyclopedia in electronic form…here it will be in any case, reliable information in a good modern form.' Putin said in Moscow on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump said he is considering heading to Moscow to join the May 9 celebrations of the victory over the Nazis, saying he was 'thinking about it.'

Russian President Vladimir Putin (main) told widows of the scientists who died in a nuclear explosion earlier this year their husbands were working on an unmatched nuclear weapon.

Sergei Skripal had been warned. He had been a double agent, and in 2010, when the Russians released him from jail in a spy-swap, Putin made his intentions clear: 'Traitors will kick the bucket.'

Acclaimed director Rob Reiner (left), 72, tweeted on Saturday that President Trump's (top right) supporters have 'made a pact' with Russian President Vladimir Putin (bottom right).

NORMAN BAKER: If Putin wanted to kill him, why not get him back to Russia first? As for his daughter Yulia, she had only arrived in Britain 24 hours earlier and had been living in Moscow for years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly persuaded President Trump that Ukraine meddled in 2016 election during a July 2017 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

Putin appears to have set himself up to rule for life after announcing reforms that could see him grab the helm of a strengthened state council. His moves have been likened to that of China's leader.

Bashir Dokhov fixed a large portrait of Putin to the lift in a Moscow residential block and recorded people's shocked reactions as they entered the lift.

At a meeting discussing amendments to the Russian constitution, Vladimir Putin said: 'As long as I'm president, we will have ''dad'' and ''mom''.'

Dmitry Bosov, 52, one of the richest men in Russia, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head inside the private gym of his mansion in Moscow on Wednesday night.

The Canadian star is preparing himself for a return to the mainstream with new album Changes, his first notable output since 2015 and the multi-platinum selling long-player Purpose.

The Baby crooner, 25, also joked that his wife, 23, was 'ignoring him' as she failed to answer his FaceTime call while he was on stage at his new album preview at Indigo at The 02 in London, on Thursday

Love Island fans have slammed new girl Natalia Zoppa as 'disrespectful' after she pulled bombshell Jamie Clayton away mid way through a chat with Demi Jones.

With the NHL season ramping up towards the playoffs, Jimmy Fallon decided to get some hockey lessons from hockey enthusiast and Canada's own Justin Bieber.

The 25-year-old singer was a friend of the basketball icon - who died in a helicopter crash in January - and Justin has admitted the tragic incident has reminded him of his real priorities in life.

The Never Say Never hitmaker's fans were concerned about him in 2018 when photos emerged of the star in tears, but he has recalled just feeling emotional that day.

Justin Bieber kissed his wife Hailey Baldwin in a romantic black-and-white snap he posted to Instagram on Tuesday. The 25-year-old pop act gushed that his wife is 'my whole other half.'

He's been busy promoting Changes, his first new studio album in five years. His new track Intentions recently debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart, replacing his other song Yummy.