As for Hazeltine? During a visit this summer, club president Tim Rainey showed guests the new tee on the 545-yard 12th hole, which is a par 4. The Minnesota course now can play longer than 7,700 yards depending on how it is set up.

4. Is Phil Mickelson still a major factor?
Lefty won a major in three consecutive seasons - only six others have done that since 1934 - but he has gone the last two years without one, and it hasn't been pretty.

Since losing the 2006 U.S. Open with a double bogey on the final hole of Winged Foot, Mickelson has played 10 majors. He has missed the cut twice, and finished a combined 80 shots out of the lead in the other eight.

5. Will Sergio Garcia finally win a major?
Not since Mickelson has anyone been so clearly defined as the best player without a major. This is his 10th full season as a pro, and he is just hitting his stride. Garcia has been a runner-up in a major three times, including the last two years.

The talent is undeniable. The temperament remains a question.

6. Can the youth movement continue when Woods returns?
Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas both won twice last year and are the poster boys for the dynamic youth movement on the PGA Tour. Even so, Kim has never finished higher than Woods in a PGA Tour event, and Villegas has only done it twice.

Zach Johnson referred to Kim as “up and coming” when he stopped in mid-sentence and said, “He’s already here.”

Even so, success is not measured over one year, but successive years. And for all the talented young players, Garcia and Adam Scott are the only players who have been part of the conversation year after year.

Kim and Villegas are equipped, but their challenge (beyond Woods) might be coping with celebrity and staying hungry.

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