Morning briefing: If Tiger Woods can make a stellar comeback, maybe this golfer can too

John Peterson had an epiphany while watching the Masters earlier this month.

Peterson won a 2011 NCAA Division I individual title while attending Louisiana State and made a hole-in-one at the U.S. Open the following year. He retired from golf last year after earning nearly $2.2 million on the PGA, with two top-10 finishes, and said Wednesday he was doing just fine working “from dark to dark� in real estate.

But everything changed on the afternoon of April 14.

First, Peterson watched as former UCLA golfer Patrick Cantlay, who finished runner-up to Peterson in 2011, tied for ninth place at Augusta National. “I’m just like man, that could be me,� Peterson told ESPN Radio.

Then Tiger Woods claimed a dramatic victory after years of struggles on and off the course, and Peterson was inspired to change his life.

“I quit my job, seriously, the next day after the Masters,� he said.

Now, Peterson, 30, faces a long road back.

“I’m taking a big risk, and really I don’t have any place to play right now ... so I have to qualify and stuff,� Peterson said. “But I will get back. I know I will.�

He added, “Sometimes you’ve got to take a step back to realize what you had.�

Taking the long way

Has Rhys Hoskins reached home plate yet?

The Philadelphia first baseman certainly took his time getting around the base path after hitting a home run off New York Mets reliever Jacob Rhame in the ninth inning of the Phillies’ 6-0 win Wednesday night.

Hoskins insists he was “just enjoying the moment,� but he seemed pretty upset with Rhame a mere 24 hours earlier after nearly getting hit by two high fastballs.

“Lovely night for a stroll ...� the Phillies tweeted along with a video clip of Hoskins’ 34.2-second trot. “Wouldn’t you say, @rhyshoskins?�

It’s the slowest recorded time since MLB Statcast started tracking home run trots in 2015. Victor Martinez, then with the Detroit Tigers, set the previous record of 34.1 seconds last season.

Luke Scott, then with the Baltimore Orioles, needed 35.76 seconds after pulling a hamstring rounding first in 2010, according to the Sports Daily. He tops the website’s list of the slowest home run trots from the beginning of the 2010 season through midseason 2016.

Retired slugger David Ortiz, a notoriously slow trotter, is second on that list after taking 33.39 seconds to cross the plate after a 2014 home run.

A different kind of keepsake

Justin Tucker has missed only one extra-point attempt in his seven-year NFL career. That’s 241 points in 242 attempts for a 99.587% accuracy rate that leads all active kickers and is fifth best on the league’s all-time list.

That miss, his first since high school, cost the Baltimore Ravens a chance to take the New Orleans Saints to overtime last fall. Instead, the Ravens lost by one point 24 seconds later.

Tucker told the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday that the ball that inexplicably veered right on that night in October is now one of his prized possessions, sitting on a shelf in his home next to many other keepsake balls from throughout his career.

“That’s a part of my story, and I want to be able to look at that and realize that was a learning moment,� said Tucker, who is also the NFL’s all-time most accurate field-goal kicker (90.114%). “It was perhaps a pivotal moment for me as a professional.�

Tucker became the highest-paid kicker in league history Wednesday after signing a contract extension through 2023, reportedly worth $23.05 million, including $12.5 million fully guaranteed.

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