NASSAU, Bahamas -- Bubba Watson was 7 under through nine holes in the second round of the Hero World Challenge, such a strong start that it might have led someone to declare a 59 watch.It rarely happens, of course, though it does lead to one question.Isnt the target now 58?Golf established its magic number in 1977 when Al Geiberger shot 59 in the Memphis Classic. It was matched 14 years later by Chip Beck in Las Vegas, and then David Duval at the Bob Hope Classic (1999), Paul Goydos at the John Deere Classic and Stuart Appleby at The Greenbrier Classic (both in 2010) and Jim Furyk at the BMW Championship in 2013.Then Furyk shot 58 at the Travelers Championship this summer.Isnt that the new standard? The new watch?Probably not, Hunter Mahan said. Fifty-nine is a special number in golf. Its pretty sacred. Until theres numerous 58s, its not going to change. To start out with a `5 is a cool thing.Appleby says a 59 watch should still apply out of the respect to those who have one. He was smiling because hes one of them. He said when people have gone nearly 40 years thinking 59 was the number, that wont change overnight.I guess it might have been like when Henry Ford invented the automobile, but people still talked about a horse-and-buggy, he said.The point of such a score is that it starts with a 5. Besides, no one would ever say that someone is on a sub-60 watch. There have been seven scores in the 50s on the PGA Tour starting in 1977 with Geiberger. But there have been 32 scores at 60 starting with Al Brosch in 1951 at the Texas Open.Its still cool to be the in 50s, Stewart Cink. I dont care if it happens once a week for the next 10 years, its still pretty cool for someone to get there.Furyk made par on the last hole at the TPC River Highlands to shoot his 58, and even he thinks a 59 watch is still appropriate. Furyk said golfs magic number on the PGA Tour lasted too long for it to be anything else.That barrier of 60 is still pretty cool, said Furyk, the only player to have done it twice. I still think someone is going to shoot 58, and someone is probably someday going to shoot 57. I hope I get to hold onto it like Geiberger did for 39 years. Other guys will shoot 58. But if 40 years from now someone shoots 57, that would be really cool. Ill be in my 80s.One record that might last even longer -- two rounds in the 50s.I think it will be longer before someone does it, Furyk said.---RYDER CUP COMMITTEE: The U.S. Ryder Cup committee was scheduled to meet Tuesday by telephone, the first step toward picking a new captain. Attention has focused on Jim Furyk, mainly because he answered a hypothetical question at Sea Island that he would take the job if offered. He said he was not lobbying to be captain.At some point after a captain is selected, the next decision will be how to pick a team.Davis Love III, the winning captain and part of the committee, hinted that the entire U.S. team will be set before the Tour Championship. This year, Ryan Moore was the 12th and final player selected for the team after his playoff loss at East Lake.The 2018 Ryder Cup is Sept. 28-30 in France.One thing weve got to really work on is picking this team, make sure we have a week to get everyone ready, Love said. Rushing off to Paris at the last minute when a guy has just made the team, throw him on a plane and were going to Paris, were wondering if thats the smartest thing to do. Thats one of the discussion points.Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods also are on the committee. The PGA of America is represented on the committee by Pete Bevacqua (CEO), Paul Levy (president) and Suzy Whaley (vice president).---KUMARS BIG DAY: One of the most unlikely victories last week was on the Asian Tour when Mukesh Kumar won the Panasonic Open India at Delhi Golf Club.If the name doesnt sound familiar, it shouldnt outside of India.Kuman turned pro in 1984 -- thats two years before Jack Nicklaus won his last major -- and while he won 123 times on the domestic tour in India, he never played more than eight tournaments a year on the Asian Tour. In fact, he had played only 55 tournaments that awarded world ranking points over the last 20 years.Kumar closed with a 70 in the fog-shortened Panasonic Open India and won his first Asian Tour event at age 51.I am very proud of myself, Kumar said. I have waited 32 years for this.He was No. 1,716 in the world and moved up to No. 487. His previous best in the world ranking was No. 707.---WEB SCHEDULE: The Web.com Tour Championship will return to Atlantic Beach Country Club, where it was never played.Hurricane Matthew wiped out the final event of the Web.com Tour Finals, leaving several players without a last chance to earn PGA Tour cards because the new season started the following week in California at the Safeway Open.Tour officials can only hope they didnt make a mistake by not changing the date.The Web.com Tour Championship was pushed back to a week that no other golf in America, hoping to capitalize on viewership (although all that matters in an event like that is who gets their tour cards). When a hurricane interrupted, there was no other option but to cancel it.Next year it will be Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, which is the same week as the Presidents Cup. But the Safeway Open starts the next week.---DIVOTS: Adam Scott, who lives at Albany in the Bahamas, played the Australian PGA Championship last week and will remain Down Under through the holidays. But he sent his plane back to the Bahamas with a few passengers -- Rickie Fowler, Russell Knox and his wife Andrea, and Jimmy Walker. One of the pit stops was in San Antonio to pick up Walkers wife. Scott is not due back to America until the end of the West Coast Swing at Riviera. ... The Arnold Palmer Invitational is offering a holiday sale of two Arnold Palmer collector lapel pins with the purchase of two tickets. The umbrella pins that Palmer wore daily have never been offered for sale. The will be available until Dec. 24 at www.arnoldpalmerinvitational.com. ... Hideki Matsuyama tied for last in the Hero World Challenge last year. That prompted Russell Knox to say, I wonder if I should tank my final round. Do you think that will help me next year?... The PGA Tour Champions released its 2017 schedule on Tuesday, with 26 official tournaments. Among those joining the 50-and-over circuit are rookies David Toms and Steve Stricker.---STAT OF THE WEEK: Dustin Johnson will end the year having earned the most world ranking points in 2016. He was followed by Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama.---FINAL WORD: They dont heckle in golf. Nobody even says anything. Heckled? Go play in Boston in the playoffs. -- Former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. Cheap Shoes Online Free Delivery . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. Wholesale Shoes China . Ivanovic was leading 7-5, 1-0 when Hantuchova withdrew after falling 0-40 behind in the second game. The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered her first two serves as Hantuchova took a 5-3 lead. http://www.shoesonfire.ru/ . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Authentic Shoes For Cheap . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. Cheap Wholesale Sneakers Free Shipping . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. The reaction said it all. James Vince stood frozen in horror after steering one to slip. He knew he needed a score here. He knew his career could depend upon it.Instead, after three hours of resistance, he had been drawn into a familiar error. Seduced into feeling at one angled across him against the new ball, he had edged to second slip for the second time in the match and the third time in the series. Like a former smoker who cant resist, the habit he had tried to cut out had done for him once more. The slow trudge off the pitch, head shaking in dismay and disappointment, spoke volumes.But if this was a familiar end, it was not an entirely familiar innings. It felt like a step forward. It wasnt just the score - 42 equalled his best Test effort so far - but the maturity he demonstrated in steering England away from trouble after the loss of Alastair Cook and Alex Hales. He had left more deliveries, he played a little straighter and he picked his aggressive strokes more selectively. Not too many batsmen are dropped after contributing 81 runs in a game. Not under this regime, anyway.There had been some nervous moments along the way, though. On 22, Vince was beaten as he attempted to drive one from Sohail Khan that left him just a touch and, on 23, he pushed at one from the same bowler and was fortunate to see the ball bounce just in front of Mohammad Hafeez at slip. On a quicker wicket - and that is just about every wicket - it would have been a chance.This wicket is unusually slow. While it is not easy to score quickly - it is, in truth, a pretty disappointing wicket which does nothing to sustain the viability of Test cricket - it is the sort of wicket on which dislodging batsmen is tough.That is when bowlers even attempt to dismiss them. But, while Vince was at the crease, Pakistan instead concentrated on damage limitation and attempted to frustrate the England batsmen into making errors as they sought to accelerate the run-rate. Vince faced just one delivery from seamers in his entire innings that would have hit the stumps. Thats one delivery out of 65. So, its hardly surprising he managed to survive for longer; they were hardly blowing to dismiss him. And Vince, for all the runs he has scored, is the only man in Englands top seven not to have made a half-century in the match.All of which leaves Englands selectors with a tricky decision. They have invested heavily in Vince and they may well feel they could see signs of progress here. He clearly has time to play the ball and a wide range of strokes. The raw talent is pretty obvious.But at the same time, Trevor Bayliss has said several times that batsmen will be judged not by how they make their runs but by how many runs they make. Vince has now been given six Tests and nine innings. How would other leading contenders - the likes of James Hildreth, Scottt Borthwick or Ben Duckett - fare if given such a run? Is it unrealistic to expect them to have supplied at least a half-century? A generation of former players - the likes of Paul Parker, Alan Jones, Alan Wells and Paul Terry among them - could only dream of such opportunities.ddddddddddddComparisons with more modern players are no more enlightening. While Sam Robson and Adam Lyth were given 11 and 13 Test innings respectively before they were dropped, both men registered centuries in their second Tests. Such early success naturally extended their run.We are getting to the stage, too, where Vinces issue may become mental as much as technical. The analysts working with the England teams over recent years have conducted research into the importance of players performing well early in their international career. Their conclusions, unsurprisingly, suggested that it becomes disproportionately more difficult to succeed if the early memories and associations of the England environment are not positive.Vince appears admirably calm at the crease and can only benefit for the backing he has received from the management. But it is only human nature that, with every setback, his self-confidence ebbs a little more. He is up against a fine attack in this series, for sure, but he will rarely play on more batsman-friendly wickets. It is probably provocative to point out that Vinces average over his first six Tests - 23.44 - is more than 10 lower than Kevin Pietersen in his final six - 33.83 - but it might also be illustrative of the suspicion that selection is not always entirely on merit.Vince has the great advantage over the likes of Wells, Terry and, yes, Pietersen, that he is playing in a relatively successful side. For that reason, his struggles can be overlooked and the investment period can be lengthened. He hasnt, by any means, looked completely out of his depth and the continuity of selection policy remains, even taken to an extreme, far better than the alternative extreme.But by persisting with him at this stage, the selectors are also denying themselves the opportunity to look at other players. They are denying themselves the chance to see how Adil Rashid could perform as a second spinner or to see how a left-arm spinning all-rounder could manage ahead of the seven Tests England play in Asia before Christmas. They are denying themselves the chance to see how a specialist wicketkeeper could be assimilated within the team or giving another batsman a chance to gain some experience ahead of the winter tours.But in order to experiment, the selectors first have to start coming to some conclusions. Their failure to do so with Vince is starting to look, not so much consistent, but soft. ' ' '