• AP Report…”McIlroy said on Tuesday at the World Tour Championship he intends to play only two full-field European Tour events in the first half of 2019 because of changes in the tournament schedule.”

• “The three-time Race to Dubai champion said he’ll be spending most of his time in the U.S. because the Players’ Championship and the U.S. PGA Championship have been brought forward to March and May respectively. That has pushed the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, to September.”

• “It is the result of the changes,” he said. “I don’t have to commit to anything until May, so I will not have played a European Tour event … I will play the WGCs and majors and events like that, but the true European Tour season does not start until July.

• “The way the schedule has worked for next year, it is going to be different for a lot of guys. Everything is going to be so condensed between March and August, and that is why I am taking a big offseason to get myself ready … then go at it hard from March all the way through to basically the end of the season.”

• Golf Channel’s Will Gray…”Westwood, 45, will reportedly keep his girlfriend on the bag moving forward, including this week at the DP World Tour Championship. The decision means an end to Westwood’s 10-year relationship with caddie Billy Foster, as the two last worked together the week prior at the Turkish Airlines Open.”

• “Lee wanted to work differently to everything we had ever done, which basically meant me just carrying the bag,” Foster said. “Ultimately it was no good for Lee and not fair on me either. So unfortunately the partnership had run its course, and we both knew that. Times change.”

• “Westwood had his son, Sam, on the bag during a T-5 finish at last month’s Andalucia Valderrama Masters, but Storey appears to be the catalyst for his game. Storey caddied at the Made in Denmark in September when Westwood lost in a playoff, and she guided him Sunday en route to his first European Tour win since 2014.”

• “Entering Sunday, there was nothing to suggest that the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player would be one of the most entertaining and emotional final rounds we would see on any tour in 2018. Frankly, I almost didn’t watch. But I’m glad I did.”

• “Sure, Nedbank is the penultimate tournament in the European Tour’s Rolex Series. Sure, it had a strong field trying to capture the nearly $1.25 million winner’s check. So the tournament is a pretty big deal.”

• “What was far more compelling, however, was the personal storyline that played out during the final round, with Lee Westwood’s unlikely victory after four winless seasons.

• “Everyone fancies Westy’s chances,” anchor Dougie Donnelly said before Westwood’s opening tee shot.’

• “That seemed to be a reach. Westwood had won at Sun City twice, but there was little to suggest that he had a back-nine 31 up his sleeve. But the announcing crew played a hunch, and it paid off.”

Full piece.

• “It’s Wednesday before the 2016 Web.com Tour Championship. I’m sharing a house in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., with my wife, Crys, and Zack Sucher and his wife. We’re hanging on the beach in 40-mile-per-hour winds as Hurricane Matthew approaches. I’m 27th in the standings, needing to move into the top 25 to earn my PGA Tour card for 2016-’17. And I had just missed the cut by one shot in the third event of the Web.com Tour Finals. We’re hitting balls on the sand, trying to have fun. Then my caddie calls: “The tournament’s canceled.” My season is suddenly over, my PGA Tour card ripped from me.”

• “IT TOOK A LOT NOT TO CHUCK THE WEDGE I WAS HOLDING OUT INTO THE OCEAN. Zack and my wife just let me have a moment to myself. We had to evacuate the area, and so we drove from Jacksonville to Birmingham, where we’d stay for a night with the Suchers before driving home to northeast Arkansas. I wouldn’t calm down for a few days, but my wife’s advice sticks in my head: She said, “I know this is heartbreaking right now, but it’s gonna happen for you.” She was right. When you’ve worked hard for a lifetime for a goal, you’ve got to remember the bigger picture.”

• Golfweek’s Brentley Romine…”The proposal,submitted by Dick Keefe Development Corporation, calls for a road to be built through the 10th hole at Canal Shores Golf Club, located in both Evanston and Wilmette, about a mile from Northwestern University. The road would provide access to four homes set to be built near the course.”

• “In other words, public land would be used for a private landowner The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, which leases out the Tom Bendelow-designed North Shore layout, will vote on the proposal on Thursday.”

• “The par-60, 18-hole course was founded in 1919 and has quite the history. Bill Murray and his brothers worked at Canal Shores (formerly known as Peter N. Jans Memorial Golf Course), and longtime PGA Tour golfer Tim Herron made his pro debut there, winning the course’s inaugural mini-tour event in 1994.”

• “David Branshaw didn’t seem to have any nerves in this pressure-cooker….”I’m too old to worry about this stuff,” Branshaw said.”

• “His attitude paid off as Branshaw closed the Brooksville, Fla., second stage site with three consecutive 68s for a 14-under 274 – a total that earned him a tie for 14th and a pass through to the final stage on the number.”

• A bit of what he had to say…”But when is a good time to announce that in the midst of the international outrage felt following the premeditated killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul?”

• ‘We’re monitoring the situation,’ said Pelley last week, as calls for the event to be cancelled have grown. It’s certainly a fraught decision for the Canadian, as the unease felt by many at the staging of high-profile sporting events in the kingdom has increased.

• “It’s not a vast leap of the imagination to suspect the Saudis are using their oil wealth to lure sport into something of a devil’s pact, to present a more acceptable persona to cover up human rights abuses.”

• “I’M THE ROLEX-WEARIN’, DIAMOND-RING WEARIN’, kiss-stealin’, wheelin’-dealin’, limousine-ridin’, jet-flyin’ son of a gun, and I’m havin’ a hard time keepin’ these gators on the ground!” I screamed that at the top of my lungs to a national TV audience when I won the Volvik World Long Drive Championship in September. The line originated with Ric Flair, the pro wrestler who, next to Muhammad Ali, was the greatest self-promoter who ever lived. Long driving is a sport. It’s entertainment. The fans went crazy.”

• “IN TRUTH, I DON’T WEAR A ROLEX. I have a couple of rings with diamonds in them from my long-drive exploits in Europe, but the stones are tiny. I’ve never flown privately in my life. I don’t ride in limos. Heck, I drive a Nissan pickup truck.”

• I lead a simple life. I don’t even have cable TV or Internet in my house. I don’t go to parties and have never touched a drop of alcohol in my life. I don’t eat candy. I go to church. I’ve taken Advil, but only after surgery. Athletes and celebrities sometimes are usually wilder than their public persona. I’m just the opposite.