For the first time since March, when The Players Championship was called off after the first round, PGA Tour golf is back from its coronavirus shutdown from Thursday.
The Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas will feature a star-studded line-up and plenty of new health and safety rules to limit the risks of Covid-19.
Ahead of the the first tee shot, here are some key talking points.
Stars on show but no roar from Tiger
Sixteen of the world's top 20 will tee off on Thursday at Colonial Country Club, but Tiger Woods will not be among them.
The 15-time major winner last played on Tour in February at Riviera and missed the next four tournaments, including the Players, with a sore back.
The world No 11 looked to have his game in top shape on May 24 when he and Peyton Manning defeated Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in a charity match.
He may be saving his fragile body for the frantic revamped schedule in August and September, and so could return as late as Jack Nicklaus's Memorial Tournament on July 16, which Woods has never missed when healthy.
The Memorial could be the first of eight events in 10 weeks for the 44-year-old American.
The WGC Invitational is on July 30-August 2, followed by the US PGA Championship, three FedEx Cup playoff events, and September's US Open and Ryder Cup.
Woods needs one victory to set the all-time wins record having tied Sam Snead's 82 PGA Tour victories at the Zozo Championship in Japan in October.
McIlroy leads stellar cast
World No 1 Rory McIlroy has been installed as favourite this week, despite never having played at Colonial before.
He will be joined in the hunt by the rest of the world's top five – Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson – with Thomas another to play the event for the first time.
But picking a winner is not easy: 101 of the 148 players have PGA Tour wins under their belt, the strongest field in the event's history.
The top three – McIlroy, Rahm and Koepka – will play together for the first two rounds in a stellar featured group that will have an odd feel in front of empty galleries.
No 4 Thomas will play alongside his great pals Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler in what could be a fun grouping for an expected large TV audience.
'Beef' doesn't mince words
While the return of the PGA Tour has been universally welcomed, the decision to restart the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) has not gone down so well.
Players at the Charles Schwab Challenge and a second-string Korn Ferry Tour event in the US this week will be awarded ranking points.
But the European Tour is not scheduled to return until late July and it will be September before the Asian Tour sees any action.
Players on those circuits, with no points-scoring opportunities, took to social media to vent their anger.
"Completely dumb from @OWGRltd but anyway least golf is starting," fumed England's Andrew "Beef" Johnston on Twitter.
Compatriot Matt Fitzpatrick, the world No 25, chimed in: "Very unfair, can't understand this!"
South Africa's 165th-ranked Brandon Stone tweeted: "Find this very disrespectful to all other tours around the world."
"Agreed! Either all Tours are playing for points or none!" said Austria's No 26 Bernd Wiesberger.
Officials from the OWGR claimed in a statement that the averaging formula used to calculate rankings will help mitigate the problem.
But a row could be brewing, especially if a player on a suspended tour were to drop out of the all-important top 50 and miss out on a major or a lucrative WGC event as a result.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Two products to make at home
Toilet cleaner
1 cup baking soda
1 cup castile soap
10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice)
Method:
1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.
2. Add the essential oil to the mix.
Air Freshener
100ml water
5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this)
Method:
1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.
2. Shake well before use.
Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
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TEAMS
EUROPE:
Justin Rose, Francesco Molinari, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren, Thorbjorn Olesen, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson
USA:
Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau ( 1 TBC)
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
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The Byblos iftar in numbers
29 or 30 days – the number of iftar services held during the holy month
50 staff members required to prepare an iftar
200 to 350 the number of people served iftar nightly
160 litres of the traditional Ramadan drink, jalab, is served in total
500 litres of soup is served during the holy month
200 kilograms of meat is used for various dishes
350 kilograms of onion is used in dishes
5 minutes – the average time that staff have to eat
