LOS ANGELES – Brooks Koepka’s struggles with injury and poor play the last year or so have been well documented but rarely, if ever, did that frustration boil over on the course.

That’s not to say there weren’t fits of anger elsewhere.

Koepka, who won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in his most recent start, had missed three consecutive cuts, culminating at the Farmers Insurance Open, where rounds of 72-76 led to a short week and the demise of some clubs.

“I snapped two sets of irons after playing [the Mayakoba Golf Classic in December] and then after Torrey, and I don't really do that,” Koepka said Wednesday at the Genesis Invitational.

Unlike some players, Koepka waited until he was away from the course to take out his anger. “It was in the living room," he said. "I walked right into the house and just [snap] right over the knee.”

Koepka isn’t prone to outburst on the course and he went on to explain that his recent struggles simply got the best of him.

“It's not a common ritual and I'm not one to break clubs or do anything,” he said. “Just frustration. I'll be honest, I didn't even come out of my room on Saturday at the house we rented. I don't think I came out of the room for about 30 hours or so, I was so mad at myself, didn't want to talk to anybody.”

During the college golf season, GolfChannel.com will check in weekly to update what’s happening in the world of college golf.

After finishing up play at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate last March, South Carolina senior Ana Pelaez boarded a plane to Malaga, Spain. It was the Gamecocks’ spring break, so head coach Kalen Anderson gave Pelaez the go-ahead to head home for some time with her instructors and family.

While Pelaez was away, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the U.S. with full force. With rumors of an international travel ban into the U.S. from Europe becoming reality, Anderson phoned Pelaez and told her she better hop on a plane as soon as possible or risk not hitting another college-golf shot ever. At that point, South Carolina’s spring season had been postponed, yet the SEC Championships and NCAA postseason remained on the schedule.

“I told myself if this is the last time I’m going to play with my team, then I’m going to come back and try it,” said Pelaez, who quickly boarded a flight to Columbia, first connecting in Miami.

“And as soon as I landed, they canceled everything.”

So, Pelaez got right back on a plane, only not to school but back home. She would spend almost 10 months there.

While Pelaez had initially planned to return for the U.S. Women’s Amateur in August and then head back to campus, travel restrictions and the uncertainty of the Gamecocks’ fall schedule ultimately quashed those plans. Pelaez didn’t want to get on a plane (again) only to come right back (again).

“I think she had a little PTSD from everything that happened,” Anderson said.

So, Pelaez stayed in Spain, where she practiced every day and stayed competitively sharp. She notched a couple of top-3s during the summer and then represented Spain in the European Ladies’ Team Championship. Also, after deciding not to return to campus in the fall, she teed it up in a few pro events, posting a pair of top-3s in those, before winning the Copa Andalucia last month.

“I had a really good season back home,” Pelaez said. “But following my team [during the fall] on Golfstat, feeling kind of jealous like I wanted to be there with them, I was ready to come back.”

Her team was excited to have her. Pelaez arrived back in Columbia for her final semester in late January. She was greeted by several new faces, including All-American transfer Pimnipa Panthong and three freshmen.

“I felt like a freshman again, not gonna lie,” Pelaez said. “There were so many new people. I was like, ‘Are you guys the freshmen or am I the freshman?’”

Added Anderson: “Ana’s got such great energy, so upbeat, so positive – we talked a lot when she was gone, but you just don’t get all that through FaceTime. It’s great to have all that back.”

South Carolina arguably has a much better player back, as well. When Pelaez first flew to Spain last March she was ranked outside of the top 150 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. She is now No. 25 and has received an invite to play in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this April.

“She’s a better and mature version of herself,” Anderson said. “She’s looks really, really good and confident in herself.”

Pelaez might’ve tied for third in qualifying for the Moon Golf Invitational, the team’s spring opener held last Sunday-Tuesday in Melbourne, Florida, but she came alive in the tournament. She fired all three rounds under par, including a bogey-free 5-under 67 in the second round. She ended up finishing the same (T-3) as she did in her qualifier, yet this time it was against 17 of the top women’s teams in the country.

South Carolina won the event at 24 under, six shots clear of LSU. Virginia, Florida State and Auburn rounded out the top five. Super sophomore Pauline Roussin-Bouchard shot 13 under and took the individual title by four shots – and she didn’t even count for the Gamecocks the final day. That’s how deep and talented this South Carolina squad is.

And they are even better with Pelaez back in the fold.

A new kind of shotgun start

Florida head coach J.C. Deacon gets an A-plus for creativity.

With help from his tournament committee members, Vanderbilt’s Scott Limbaugh and North Florida’s Scott Schroeder, Deacon used a unique kind of shotgun-start format for last weekend’s Gator Invitational.

With inclement weather expected later in the weekend, the 21-team field had to try and squeeze 54 holes into two days. And with the Gators’ home course, Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, featuring limited range space, there was no way a typical shotgun start, where all players start at the same time off different holes (and warm up simultaneously), would work.

So, Deacon and his fellow coaches decided on a hybrid, combining elements of a shotgun start with that of traditional tee times. Starting with Friday’s first round, the 120 players went off in foursomes off of six different holes beginning at 8 a.m. On each of the six holes, there were five sets of tee times, running until 8:40 a.m. Players starting off Nos. 1, 4 and 7 warmed up on the front part of the range while those off Nos. 10, 13 and 16 hit balls on the back of the range, and no player had more than a minute or so walk to his starting tee.

The same was done for Friday afternoon’s second round and Saturday’s final round. Despite a three-hour rain delay on Saturday, the tournament was completed by Saturday evening, before the weather really worsened on Sunday.

“You couldn’t do this kind of start on many golf courses, but our course was built for it,” Deacon said. “It turned out to be perfect, a no-brainer. I probably owe those boys [Limbaugh and Schroeder] a couple of beers because I wore them out a little bit.”

The Gators wore out their competition on the course, too, winning their home event for the second straight year. Florida finished at 29 under, five shots ahead of Auburn and Georgia, and now has won two straight events to open the spring. Sophomore Yuxin Lin, who transferred to Florida from USC during winter break, led the Gators with a T-6 finish.

“It feels like we’re on to something,” said Deacon, who then reflected back on the fall, when his team finished 10^th or worse in two of their three SEC-only events. “I remember sitting in the van after finishing 10^th at the Jerry Pate and before we pulled out of the parking lot at Old Overton we had a chat. … I basically told the boys, ‘All of us have to get to work. We have not earned the right to take a couple of months off here and put our feet up.’ And everyone did that.

“This [start] was earned in November and December.”

College Golf Talk

Steve Burkowski and Brentley Romine catch up with Florida head coach J.C. Deacon following the Gators' win at the Gator Invitational. Plus, the guys discuss how deep the women's SEC is and predict which players could be filling out the U.S. Walker Cup team.

No Fitzy and Power, no problem for Wake

With arguably its two best players sitting out after a grueling weekend at the Jones Cup, Wake Forest was far from full strength when it headed to Kiawah last Sunday to tee it up in its third event of the spring.

The good news for the Demon Deacons is that their full strength can hang with most teams, and they proved it Tuesday at Oak Point Golf Club by shooting 37 under and winning the Kiawah Invitational by nine shots over Clemson.

“What a great team win for our guys,” Wake Forest head coach Jerry Haas said. “I told somebody last week that we are an explosive bunch with a long way to go, but when we get it going, we make a lot of birdies. That is exactly what we did this week. … They want to be the best team in the country, and I believe that will happen.”

Even with likely Walker Cuppers Alex Fitzpatrick and Mark Power not in the lineup, Wake set a program record with its first-round, 21-under 267. Freshman Michael Brennan, now the new favorite for the Phil Mickelson Award, shot 16 under to win his first college title by five shots over teammate Eric Bae and East Tennessee State’s Archie Davies.

The Demon Deacons have now opened the spring with finishes of T-1 (playoff loss), second and first.

PGA Tour University update

The was no movement in the top 10 this week, though that should change by next week as the college golf calendar really ramps up. Auburn's Andrew Kozan was the big mover this week, co-medaling at the Gator Invitational to improve  58 spots to No. 49. Also, keep an eye on Minnesota's Angus Flanagan (35) and San Francisco's Tim Widing (20), who are both teeing it up at the Genesis Invitational this week.

• 1. John Pak, Florida State
• 2. Chun An Yu, Arizona State
• 3. Austin Eckroat, Oklahoma State
• 4. Davis Thompson, Georgia
• 5. Sandy Scott, Texas Tech
• 6. Quade Cummins, Oklahoma
• 7. Garett Reband, Oklahoma
• 8. McClure Meissner, SMU
• 9. Trevor Werbylo, Arizona
• 10. Hunter Eichhorn, Marquette
• 11. Kyle Hogan, Texas Tech
• 12. Jovan Rebula, Auburn
• 13. Devon Bling, UCLA
• 14. Adrien Pendaries, Duke
• 15. Cooper Dossey, Baylor

For full ranking, click here.

LOS ANGELES – Officially, Francesco Molinari’s tee shot at the first hole on Saturday at Pebble Beach traveled just 70 yards. As for why the Italian got off to such a poor start, well, that’s golf.

“I don't know. I think there's many explanations and none, really,” he said with a laugh Wednesday at the Genesis Invitational. “Just a bad swing, bad conditions, probably not my favorite club in the bag and that happened.”

Molinari, who recently joined Riviera Country Club, explained that Saturday’s cold and damp conditions at Pebble Beach likely contributed to his miscue off the first tee and he also said he’d been tinkering with a new 3-wood all week and “went a bit too far with that.”

Molinari finished 59^th out of 67 players who made the cut at Pebble Beach and there were more challenges than his effort at the first. The Italian’s regular caddie, Mark Fulcher, tested positive for COVID-19 and wasn’t able to work.

“It's mentally a lot harder when you have to do pretty much everything yourself on the course and you don't have the usual support from your caddie,” Molinari said. “Hopefully [Fulcher] can be back soon and we can get back to good results pretty soon.”

Erling Haaland scored twice as Borussia Dortmund overcame an early deficit to beat Sevilla, 3-2, in their Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday.

Sevilla went immediately in front after just seven minute when Suso's shot from the top of the box after some fine footwork took a wicked deflection off a Dortmund defender and beat Marwin Hitz in net.

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Dortmund needed only 12 minutes to hit back and it came in sensational fashion, through Mahmoud Dahoud who unleashed an unstoppable shot from distance after picking up a pass from Haaland near the top of the box.

Haaland collected his first just before the half-hour mark -- the Norway international combining with Jadon Sancho before stretching and beating Sevilla keeper Bono to the England man's cushioned chip.

Haaland made it 3-1 in the 43rd minute when, from a counter-attack, he rolled a Marco Reus pass across Bono and into a gaping net with his first touch.

Luuk de Jong gave Sevilla a lifeline six minutes from time with a side-footed finish of a Oscar Rodriguez free kick after ghosting free at the back post.

The return leg in Dortmund will be played on March 9.

CLEVELAND -- Kevin Love took part in most of practice for the Cavaliers on Wednesday, moving the five-time All-Star closer to playing after missing most of the season with a calf injury.

Love has been out since Dec. 27, when he aggravated a calf strain he initially incurred in the team's exhibition opener.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Love was able to do "quite a bit of the live stuff'' during the workout as the Cavs, who have lost eight straight, got in a previously unscheduled practice after Wednesday's game against San Antonio was postponed because of a COVID-19 outbreak among the Spurs.

"Hopefully that's a good sign,'' Bickerstaff said of the latest step in Love's slow improvement. "Obviously you wait and see how he responds tomorrow, but he's making progress and he was with us for most of the day.''

The Cavs host the Denver Nuggets on Friday, a matchup arranged by the NBA after the game against the Spurs was scrapped.

Love's return would provide a major boost for the Cavs, who have dropped 10 of 11 and are now enveloped in a situation with center Andre Drummond, who will not play as the team tries to trade the two-time All-Star, who is in the final year of his contract.

As the decision to bench center Andre Drummond while the team pursues a trade has drawn criticism -- most notably from Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green -- Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said "nobody's decision should be muted."

Bickerstaff said Drummond was not with the team Wednesday, and the Cavs are still discussing if he will stay around while trade talks proceed. The team has decided not to play the two-time All-Star, who is in the final year of his contract and not part of Cleveland's long-term plans.

The 27-year-old Drummond was on the bench and cheered on his teammates during Monday night's loss at Golden State.

Following Monday's game, Green said a double standard exists in the NBA in terms of players and trades -- that players are unfairly labeled as selfish if they ask to be traded while teams can do as they please.

Bickerstaff was aware of Green's comments but avoided saying he disagreed with them.

"Nobody's opinion should be muted,'' Bickerstaff said Wednesday. "Obviously there's conversations that we've had with our guys as far as this process goes that everybody's not privy to. But again, guys have a right to speak their voice and organizations have to do what's best for the organization. I think that's kind of how it works and it shouldn't be a two-way street, so to speak.''

Bickerstaff again praised Drummond's professionalism ``in difficult circumstances.''

"He's been great,'' Bickerstaff said. "He was in the locker room at halftime having conversations with the guys about what he saw on the floor. He was there after the game. He's been tremendous through this whole thing and it's not easy.''

The Cavs will continue to provide whatever resources Drummond needs, Bickerstaff said.

There's always a concern Drummond's awkward ordeal could have a negative impact on a young team like Cleveland's. However, Bickerstaff remains confident the Cavs are committed and can move forward without too much disruption.

"This is not an easy situation and anybody who says it is would be being dishonest,'' Bickerstaff said. "It goes back to how we treat each other period as human beings and not just as pieces on a puzzle board. So we have to make sure that we're doing the right thing by him as well.''

As the Cavs watch it all unfold, guard Collin Sexton said Drummond has the support of his teammates.

Sexton, though, would not say if Drummond was being treated fairly.

"I'm just focused on the season,'' he said. "That's still our guy. I don't know anything that's going on in between him and the front office. But I just know that if Andre steps on that court tomorrow with us, we're gonna go out there and battle with him.

"And whatever happens in summer, we're gonna go work out with him in the summer. It's going to be that friendship, that relationship that we're just gonna continue to build and grow. But whatever they have in the front office with him and coach that doesn't pertain to me.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Mets manager Luis Rojas condemned the behavior of former New York hitting performance coordinator Ryan Ellis on Wednesday but said he never witnessed his longtime co-worker act inappropriately. Ellis was fired last month for sexual harassment.

The Athletic reported Wednesday that in the summer of 2018, three female Mets employees complained to human resources that Ellis, then the minor league hitting coordinator, had directed lewd comments to them in person and via text message.

Ellis, promoted to the big league coaching staff last summer, was fired last month after New York investigated the matter for a second time. His dismissal came shortly after the club fired newly hired general manager Jared Porter for sending sexually explicit, uninvited text messages and images to a female reporter in 2016 while working for the Chicago Cubs.

Former Mets manager Mickey Callaway, now the pitching coach for the Los Angeles Angels, was suspended this month and is under investigation amid allegations of inappropriate behavior toward several women who work in sports media.

In a statement to The Athletic, New York said it investigated and disciplined Ellis in 2018 but did not terminate his employment. The team said it received new information in January regarding Ellis' behavior in 2017-18 and fired him Jan. 22 for "violating company policy and failure to meet the Mets' standards for professionalism and personal conduct."

"We've set new expectations," Rojas said from the club's spring training complex in Port St. Lucie, Florida. "There's also new avenues added to report cases like this. It's been disappointing. I'm sorry to see it from afar."

Ellis, a former minor league infielder, was hired by the Mets as a minor league coach in 2006. Rojas joined the franchise a year later as manager of its Dominican Summer League team, and both had been with the organization since, spending most of that time in the minor leagues.

Rojas was thrust into the job as New York's manager in January 2020 after Carlos Beltran was fired 77 days into his tenure for his role in the 2017 Houston Astros' cheating scandal. Ellis joined the big league staff for the pandemic-shortened regular season after hitting coach Chili Davis opted out. Ellis was with the team throughout the 60-game season.

"My relationship with Ryan, knowing him for years here in the Mets organization, has been strictly baseball," Rojas said. "That's what we had as far as conversations."

"Those misconducts, they're just unacceptable," he added. "We should have a safe environment to work in, a safe workplace."

Rojas said he's had regular video meetings with his coaching staff this offseason, and Ellis had not been a part of that group because Davis is returning for the 2021 season.

The women who spoke to The Athletic about Ellis described sexually explicit comments made in person and persistent, unwanted text messages that were sexual in nature.

Rojas credited new owner Steve Cohen for responding swiftly to the allegations against Porter and Ellis and pointed to new reporting procedures the team put in place for employees to report illicit behavior, including an external hotline that allows employees to remain anonymous if they prefer.

Major League Baseball has adopted a similar hotline for league and team employees that is also available to non-league employees, such as journalists.

"I'm pretty confident that this type of behavior is something that is going to be unacceptable in this organization," Rojas said. "I'll just leave it at that."

Buster Posey tried to watch every inning of San Francisco Giants baseball that he could last year, but he was busy.

Most of his energy was spent caring for four children, particularly two adopted twin girls who were born eight weeks premature last summer. But he also found a useful way to keep his arm in shape -- by balling diapers up really tight and flinging them at his 9-year-old son, Lee, while he ran for cover.

"You have to really make sure that you have the right weight of the diapers," Posey said after the Giants' first official workout on Wednesday. "Depending on how well they've been feeding, that plays a lot into my accuracy and if it's equivalent to the weight of a baseball. Take all that into account, whatever type of formula they've got, if they're eating baby food or not -- and yeah, I've been pretty accurate."

Posey, who sat out the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season primarily out of concern for his newly adopted daughters, heads into the 2021 season with unfamiliar uncertainty. By Opening Day, he'll be 34 years old, entering his 11th and potentially final season as the Giants' everyday catcher. Posey's $167 million contract includes a $22 million club option for 2022, but the Giants also possess a promising young catcher in Joey Bart, who was drafted second overall in 2018 to someday replace Posey long term.

"Yeah, sure, it's gone through my mind," Posey said of the possibility that this might be his final season with the Giants. "I think, for me, my biggest goal this year is really to -- as cliché as it is -- go one day at a time and try to focus on what needs to be accomplished for that day, whether it's stuff in the weight room or cage work or whatever it may be. And try not to get too far ahead."

The last time Posey was on the field, he was coming off hip surgery and struggling through the 2019 season, ultimately batting .257/.320/.368 with seven homers and 24 doubles in 114 games. In seven prior seasons, he made six All-Star teams, won an MVP Award and batted .308/.378/.466 while averaging 16 homers, 31 doubles and 141 games per year.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler stated in the middle of December that Posey would return as the team's primary catcher in 2021, offering the 24-year-old Bart more time to develop after a trying season in 2020.

Posey had access to Oracle Park when the team wasn't there last summer and utilized the facilities to train routinely. He admitted that it might take him some time to get re-acclimated to live pitching but believes his body is in good enough shape to stand up to the rigors of another season. He missed the competition.

"It's nice," Posey said of returning to play. "It's different. Look at what we're doing right now [conducting an interview over video conference] -- it's not the same. You're still in masks, so that's obviously different as well. There's normalcy, too. There's the normalcy of standing on the foul line and stretching. Playing catch, catching 'pens. Yeah, it's great to be back, and hopefully as this vaccine continues to roll out, we'll be able to all get to experience the game like we're used to."

After recovering from a serious road accident the 26-year-old from Birmingham has taken an unconventional route to the British indoor 800m record

Six years ago Elliot Giles could barely walk let alone run. In the summer of 2014 he was hospitalised with head, back and career-threatening leg injuries after a car swerved in front of his motorbike in Birmingham city centre.

The accident saw his knee crushed between the car and his bike. Unable to even get out of bed for three weeks, doctors told him he might never run seriously again.

Yet not only has he returned to full fitness but his fine 2021 indoor season continued this week in Toruń when he smashed Seb Coe’s 38-year-old UK 800m record of 1:44.91 with 1:43.63 – a time that also puts him No.2 on the world all-time rankings.

READ MORE: Elliot Giles smashes Seb Coe’s British indoor 800m record in Toruń

Following his road accident in 2014 he was unable to jog for six months and once said: “I went to a few dark places. It’s a bit of a cliché but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. If you can get through that then racing 800m on a track is no so much of a big deal.”

After the accident he was initially coached by James Brewer, who helped build the foundations of his comeback. Matt Yates, the former European indoor 1500m champion, continued the work, whereas more recently Giles has been part of Jon Bigg’s group and fine-tuned his preparations for the current indoor season in Dubai.

Giles’ record-breaking run in Toruń hasn’t come out of nowhere, of course. He won a hat-trick of British 800m titles from 2016-2018, took European bronze and made the Rio Olympics in 2016, clocked a PB of 1:44.56 outdoors last summer and during this winter has won international 800m races and set a 1500m PB of 3:36.90.

Such was the quality of Giles’ run in Toruń this week, only three Brits – Coe, Steve Cram and Peter Elliott – have run quicker outdoors. Given this, there will be speculation now that Coe’s outdoor record could fall this summer, although Giles will face stiff competition from Jamie Webb, who also ran exceptionally in Toruń, plus Dan Rowden, Jake Wightman and others.

Giles has a self-styled ‘unorthodox’ approach to athletics. Troublesome Achilles tendons are just one of many injuries he has struggled with over the years and he supplements his running training now by working out on an ElliptiGO machine. He has even taken this sizeable contraption abroad, although dismantling and re-building it before and after his flight is no problem for a man who is also a dab hand at DIY.

Those DIY skills are so good, in fact, that he renovated a clapped out mini bus and turned it into a mobile home. This means he has often avoided conventional nights in a hotel as he travels around the country training and racing in a vehicle that has a cooker and bed. Last winter, for example, he surprised locals at the quiet Cornish track of Par for a work-out during a sight-seeing tour of the West Country.

With a laid-back personality and wide smile, Giles is generally known as a nice guy. As for looks, his tall physique is more reminiscent of Joaquim Cruz than Coe and the Birchfield Harrier was once voted ‘best looking athlete’ by his GB team-mates in a fun poll at a championship.

If you want to find out more about Giles, check out his new video series entitled ‘unorthodox’. It launched this month and moments after his 1:43.63 in Toruń it had just over 800 views.

By the time you click into it, I reckon it might have had quite a few more.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Well-known Indy car racer Conor Daly will return to Niece Motorsports to make his return to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series next month.

Daly will team up with the organization for his second start at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“Ever since the checkered flag fell in Las Vegas last year I was bothering Cody about another chance to get in a truck,” said Daly. “I learned so much during my first experience in the Truck Series, I had to try and come back to put it to good use. Working with everyone at Niece was an incredible experience and I want to go out and be able to deliver for them. It will be a shame not to have Travis Pastrana out there to chase around, but I hope to be able to make him proud.

“A big thank you to Fatheadz Eyewear and Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts for coming back to support this effort.”

In Daly’s debut last season at the 1.5-mile track, without practice or qualifying, the NTT IndyCar Series regular finished 18th.

“It was a blast to have Conor in the truck last year,” said Niece Motorsports general manager Cody Efaw. “Conor genuinely loves racing, and it’s evident any time that you’re around him. I think he learned a lot last year in the truck and will be able to pick up where he left off.

“We are excited to have him again this year and are looking forward to a solid performance.”

Daly will race the No. 44 Chevrolet, with support from Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts and Fatheadz Eyewear.