Second thoughts

Maybe they should stick to the links

Smylie Kaufman (shown) and Jordan Spieth ditched plans to fish from the shore in Hawaii and opted for a twoman kayak, which turned out to be a bad idea.
Smylie Kaufman (shown) and Jordan Spieth ditched plans to fish from the shore in Hawaii and opted for a twoman kayak, which turned out to be a bad idea.

The fishing didn't quite work out for professional golfers Jordan Spieth and Smylie Kaufman.

The kayak wasn't much better.

Not long after Spieth watched good friend Justin Thomas shoot 59 at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Thursday, he decided to join Kaufman for an island adventure.

It was all that.

They abandoned plans to fish from the shore, especially when Kaufman's first cast landed a few feet in front of him. So they wandered out in a two-man kayak. Spieth put his phone in a plastic bag, but Kaufman held onto his. They were surprised by a few waves, especially the one that broke on top of them and toppled the kayak.

As Kaufman tried to climb back into the kayak, another wave got them.

"Chasing a sea turtle 'crush' was a bad idea," Kaufman tweeted. "That's when our fishing trip took a turn for the worst. Lost the fishing poles but survived."

Moments later, Spieth saw a plastic bag floating on the water. It had enough air in it to float, and his phone was safe. Spieth thrust both arms in the air and celebrated as if he had just won a tournament. Kaufman wasn't so fortunate.

By late afternoon, when their version of the S.S. Minnow made it back to shore, Kaufman put his water-damaged phone in a bag of white rice.

"An old college trick," Spieth said.

Kaufman removed the phone, filled with replies to his Instagram, and they were blurred.

Spieth's phone was in good enough shape for him to watch video of their wobbly entry into the water, the kayak capsizing and Spieth finding his phone.

Maybe the Texan had it right when he said last month about the PGA Tour's Hawaii swing, "Try and make it last as long as possible, because once you get off the islands, it's back to reality."

New jersey?

How does a team say goodbye to one of its favorites?

The San Antonio Spurs figured it out.

On Thursday night, they honored newly retired forward Matt Bonner, who was with the team from 2006 through 2016. Manu Ginobili tweeted a picture of a makeshift jersey -- a flannel shirt with Bonner's name and No. 15 on the back -- saying the team retired his number.

"What do you think? Next year's NBA Christmas jerseys?" Bonner, 36, tweeted afterward.

Bonner is now a member of the Spurs' broadcast team.

Rowdy crowds

Amanda Sobhy, a recent Harvard graduate and the top squash player in the U.S., will compete at New York's Grand Central Station in the Tournament of Champions.

Sobhy is No. 6 in the world and the highest-ranked U.S.-born professional squash player, male or female.

Commuters were stopping at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central to watch players in the Plexiglas cube on the first day of competition Thursday. Sobhy, who went 62-0 in her college career, was runner-up last year. The final is Thursday.

The New York native likes that it's one of the few events where "the crowd is super rowdy and loud."

The No. 1 players Mohamed Elshorbagy and Nour El Sherbini of Egypt are back to defend their titles. The top male and female players will vie for $300,000 in total prize money.

Sports on 01/14/2017

Upcoming Events