Willett hopes 'hero' Tiger will roar once more

US Masters champion Danny Willett on Tuesday said he hoped his "hero" Tiger Woods will return to full fitness after his latest comeback was curtailed by a back injury.

Willett said age is not on the side of the 14-time major champion, who pulled out of last week's Dubai Desert Classic with a back spasm after the first round.

"He (Tiger) knows what he can do and how good he's been," Willett said ahead of Malaysia's Maybank Championship, which opens on Thursday.

"But he's 41 now, and golf is not a good game for your body at that age. It takes a toll when you have traveled as much as he has around the world. It's difficult to deal with.

"Hopefully he can stay fit, and get his swing to work to his fitness level."

Concerns remain high over the fitness of Woods, who only returned to action in December after a 16-month absence. Willett, who also has a back problem, said he wants to see Woods competing again.

"For myself and the other guys, he was our hero growing up when he was winning all those majors. Now he's back, and he's back playing," said the Englishman.

"I hope that he stays fit and can get back to competing again, because that's where everyone wants to see him at.

"Every time he's back, the whole event has a different buzz about it. It's good to have him back."

Besides 15th-ranked Willett, South Africa's Charl Schwartzel, Spain's Rafa Cabrera Bello and defending champion Marcus Fraser of Australia are playing the $3 million Championship at Kuala Lumpur's Saujana Golf and Country Club.

Inspired by Tiger

J.J. Spaun remembers the bright red sweater, the four-foot putt and the uppercut from Woods when he won the 1997 Masters.

Spaun was six years old.

"He inspired me," Spaun said. "He inspired all of us from my generation to compete and be the best."

That explains why Spaun was nervous two weeks ago at Torrey Pines. The PGA Tour rookie who grew up in the Los Angeles area was sick when he arrived at the Farmers Insurance Open and had to rest on Monday. He played the South Course on Tuesday and because he wasn't in the pro-am, he walked the North Course with his caddie.

When they got to the 14th hole, they noticed a huge crowd.

"I was like, 'Oh, that's Tiger. Let's stay out of the way,'" Spaun said.

That would have worked except that he ran into Amy Bartlett, who works at Nike and told him to stick around so he could meet Woods.

"I said, 'No, no, no, no. I'm not meeting him.' I was too scared. And I didn't want to bug him," Spaun said.

"We were on 15 and he hits his tee ball. Amy gets his attention and says 'I want you to meet a fellow Nike guy who grew up in LA.' It was cool. We talked about the Rams, sports, where I went to school. He was really open, easy to get along with.

"It was totally not what I expected. I didn't think he would be that welcoming to a rookie. He made me feel like I belonged out there, and it inspired me to play well.

"I wanted to play good enough to have a chance to play with him on the weekend."

Spaun did his part.

He played so well that he was one shot behind Jon Rahm going into the final hole on Sunday when he made a careless mistake, hit the high side of the green and saw his ball spin back into the water, leading to a double bogey.

The difference between a birdie and a double bogey turned out to be $556,100. It was Spaun's best finish on tour, yet he walked away frustrated until his coach and manager reminded him that a top-10 finish (he tied for ninth) at least got him into the Phoenix Open.

Opening the vault

Two years after the USGA signed its megadeal with Fox Sports at just under $100 million annually, it's finally sharing that windfall with the players.

USGA executive director Mike Davis said last week the US Open purse will be $12 million this year at Erin Hills, a $2 million increase from the previous two years.

That would make the US Open the richest purse in golf - with $2.16 million for the winner - though that depends on what The Players Championship chooses to do. TPC had 2016's largest purse at $10.5 million.

The USGA also is raising the US Women's Open purse to $5 million. The next largest purse in women's golf is the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at $3.5 million.

The US Senior Open and the US Senior Women's Open (which doesn't start until 2018) will go up to $4 million.

Mixed tournament

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan described as "realistic" the chance for PGA and LPGA winners competing at Kapalua at the same time - but it's contingent on finding the right sponsor.

That format is already happening this week in Australia.

The Oates Vic Open starts on Thursday at Thirteenth Beach Golf Links, just beyond Port Phillips Bay near Geelong. It's a PGA Tour of Australasia event for the men, and it's co-sanctioned by Australian Ladies Professional Golf and the Ladies European Tour for the women.

The prize money has been increased to about $840,000 that will be split evenly among the sexes.

Among the men competing are Robert Allenby, Stephen Leaney, Jarrod Lyle and Peter O'Malley. The women's field includes Laura Davies, Sandra Gal, Nelly Korda, Lorie Kane, Aditi Ashok of India and Australia's two Olympians, Minjee Lee and Su Oh.

As for Kapalua, Monahan said he was talking with the LPGA Tour and "there's a reasonable chance" it could happen.

Divots

Kevin Hall, the former Ohio State University golfer who is deaf, has been awarded the Charlie Sifford Memorial exemption to play at Riviera next week in the Genesis Open...World No 1 Lydia Ko, who left coach David Leadbetter after three years, has decided to work with Gary Gilchrist. The South African swing coach also works with Ariya Jutanugarn and Feng Shanshan ... Diana Murphy was elected to another one-year term as USGA president at the annual meeting last week.

Tiger Woods drives from the eighth tee during the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open at San Diego's Torrey Pines on Jan 27.Jeff Gross / Getty Images / AFP