er the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the award

NAPA, Calif. -- You know the background: golfer has a bad back, hasnt competed for months, wears the Nike swoosh and is hopeful of a successful comeback.Nick Watney laughs at the notion that he is another prominent golfer attempting to make a return to competition.Big-time is relative, Watney said. Maybe my mom thinks that.Watney, 35, has plenty in common with Tiger Woods as it relates to lower-back woes, though Watney is here at the Safeway Open to begin the 2016-17 PGA Tour season and Woods is not.But Watney has not played since missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open in January because of back problems that turned out to be a herniated disk on the left side of his lower back.Unlike Woods, Watney opted to forgo the microdiscectomy procedure that Woods first had in March 2014 -- and again in September 2015 -- to alleviate the pressure. Watney instead opted for a long rehabilitation process that saw him not pick up a club for five months.There was a little bit of a thought to trying to play through it, said Watney, a five-time PGA Tour winner whose last victory came at the 2012 Barclays. But I was really struggling. Maybe if I was playing well it would have been a harder decision. But the way I was feeling and the way I was playing, it just didnt make any sense.Watney first felt pain in his left hamstring. He had no idea there were any back issues and figured it would work itself out. But after six weeks, the hamstring was still tight, he wasnt feeling any better, and a chiropractor he had been working with recommended an MRI to see whether there was a tear.That MRI found the hamstring to be fine but a disk to be herniated. After visiting orthopedic specialists in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Austin, Texas, Watney opted to shut it down for the rest of the season.I basically had two options, he said. Surgery and rehab or heal and rehab. So I decided if Im going to have to rehab anyway, I might as well try to not have surgery. I didnt hit a ball from Jan. 29 until mid-July. Rested and had rehab six days a week. Did exercises to try and take the pressure off. And it slowly got better.Whether that would have been the proper course for Woods is purely speculation because nobody knows exactly what difficulties and prognosis the 14-time major champion was given.But it was clear in the fall of 2013 and into 2014 that Woods was having back problems. He fell to the ground after hitting a shot at the 13 Barclays; he withdrew from the 14 Honda Classic during the final round and then a week later appeared to be in distress during the final round of the WGC event at Doral.A few weeks later, he had surgery and has struggled to be fully fit, having now taken more than a year away from competition after two more back procedures.A microdiscectomy helps the nerve pain right away, said Dr. Kyler Brown, the chiropractor who has been working with Watney and helped develop a program for him. But you cant undo what the surgery does.That is why Watney -- who knew he would lose his fully exempt status -- decided to take the rest of the season off and make sure he got healthy.Because he failed to finish among the top 125 after making just five starts, Watney is playing this season on a major medical extension, which means the PGA Tour has granted him 21 starts to earn either 355 FedEx Cup points or $528,010 -- the equivalent to being 125th in either category in the 2015-16 season.If he achieves that goal, Watney will be exempt for the rest of the season with the ability to try and earn enough FedEx points to be eligible for 2017-18.I didnt want to put any sort of timetable on it, Watney said. Our profession is a bit unique. [Major league pitcher] Clayton Kershaw had a herniated disk, but the Dodgers are paying him $30 million this year, so theres a lot of pressure to come back. I wanted to play, for sure. [But] I didnt want to play half the year. I didnt want to play lousy, come back too soon and then go through this anyway.For me at this point, I think I did the smart thing. I got good advice. I hope I dont have any more issues. The rehab and training will be part of my life for the rest of my career. I didnt take it seriously enough before.Watney returned in July by hitting just 30 9-irons a day. It took him a month before he played a round of golf, and he was slow to work the driver back into his arsenal. It wasnt until September that he played back-to-back days, and then he slowly built up to playing five days in a row, then playing and walking.It was a wake-up call, he said. I didnt want to do too much today so I couldnt play tomorrow. Or play so much in August that I couldnt play now. Its like a pitcher on a pitch count.Watney said he plans to play only two events this fall, the Safeway Open and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. Hell then resume his schedule on the West Coast but will be more limited than he has been in the past, trying to find the right balance between competing, preparing and taking care of his back.Im hoping he can be somewhat of a role model, Brown said. So many people want to rush back and they dont know what theyre risking.While Woods has put off his return because he cited doubts about his game, Watney understands. After such a long layoff, there is undoubtedly going to be competitive rust, not to mention issues with the swing, short game, putting and all the mental aspects that go into playing the game.Im cautiously optimistic, Watney said. I dont have that kind of expectations like Tiger has. Hes always said its about being there to win. Im not here to win or its a lost week. Its a building process.I had a long time to reflect, talked to friends out here about scheduling. I think its important to have a schedule that you like, but I also dont want to just go play because I can. Play a couple in the fall, keep training and see where it stands.Custom Suns T-shirts . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Custom Suns Jerseys .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. http://www.customsunsjersey.com/ . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. Cheap Custom Suns Jersey .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. Custom Penny Hardaway Jersey . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me.BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox have placed right-hander Junichi Tazawa on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder impingement.The move is retroactive to July 4.To fill Tazawas spot on the 25-man roster, the Red Sox recalled righty William Cuevas from Triple-A Pawtucket.Tazawa joins closer Craig Kimbrel on the DL.Tazawa has made 35 relief appearances for the Red Sox this season, going 1-1 with a 3.dddddddddddd62 ERA.Cuevas will be making his third stint in the majors this season. He was 6-3 with a 3.38 ERA in Pawtucket in 15 games, all as a starter. ' ' '