RESERVES Brian Heruela and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser waited for the perfect opportunity to come up with a breakout performance.

With veteran guard Alex Cabagnot sidelined by a foot injury, the two players plucked from the bench stepped up big time and delivered in helping the reigning three-time Philippine Cup champion San Miguel Beermen in notching their fifth straight win and remaining undefeated in the tournament.

Mr. Heruela finished with 17 points, stole the ball six times and dished out five assists in 23 minutes of playing time. His overall impact in the game can be seen based on his plus-minus performance where he had a total of 25.

Long-time teammate and reigning four-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo wasn’t surprised at all with Mr. Heruela’s performance.

“He’s been doing that for a long time,” said Mr. Fajardo, who played alongside Mr. Heruela in University of Cebu. “He just needs minutes to play and showcase what he can do. He’s always ready, keeping himself in tip-top condition and Coach Leo (Austria) is aware of that.”

Mr. Austria could only agree with Mr. Fajardo as Mr. Heruela was the star of the show — for the time being.

“He stole the show from June Mar, Arwind (Santos) and Marcio Lassiter tonight,” added Mr. Austria, who hopes to see games like this one from their reserves, knowing it would take a few more weeks for Mr. Cabagnot before he gets back to action.

“According to the doctor, he will be missing three to four weeks. Probably, he’ll see action in the second week of February. We’ll do our best to fast-track his recovery, although we’re not on a rush to have him back.”

Like Mr. Heruela, Mr. Ganuelas-Rosser had his most productive game in a San Miguel uniform, finishing with a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.

The former Gilas standout admitted he waited for this moment to happen.

“That’s how I felt, it’s only a matter of time. I always had this in me, but with Alex (Cabagnot) being down, I just have to step up. That’s what Coach (Leo Austria) is telling us. We don’t know how long Alex won’t be playing. So me, Brian (Heruela) and Von (Pessumal), everybody is waiting for our time. When our name is called, we have to play hard and step up,” said Mr. Ganuelas-Rosser.

The hardworking forward is looking to play more productive games such as this one.

“It was fun. I’m excited for the rest of the conference. This is definitely a confidence-builder for me, personally. So I just have to keep moving forward and keep getting better,” added Mr. Ganuelas-Rosser.

His performance was obviously an upgrade. Last season, the reed-thin swingman struggled to find his mark with his new squad, but is now getting himself accustomed to the scheme of the things of an overloaded squad like the Beermen.

“When they traded for me, that’s my role. Some days I’ll score, some days I won’t score. I get rebounds, get steals, get assists. I like this role. I embrace it. My teammates, they give me confidence, the coaches, they give me confidence. Management, they give me confidence. I’m super comfortable. They just let me do the things I’m comfortable with. I’m playing with the four-time MVP, that helps. It’s fun,” added Mr. Ganuelas-Rosser. — Rey Joble

LA JOLLA — Tiger Woods, confident that debilitating back pain is behind him, tees off at the Farmers Insurance Open on Thursday aiming to build himself into a contender once again.

“To be honest with you, I just want to start playing on the Tour and getting into a rhythm of playing a schedule again,” the former world number one said as he prepared to play his first US PGA Tour event in a year — and just his second since August of 2015.

Last year’s much-anticipated comeback ground to a halt in February, and Woods had spinal fusion surgery in April.

He says this year’s return is different, since instead of managing his pain he is now playing pain-free for the first time in years.

“It feels good to go out there and practice, it feels good not to have a burning sensation going down my leg into my foot or collapse when I’m walking, things of that nature,” Woods said. “I haven’t felt this good in years.”

Woods tees off at 10:40 a.m. (18:40 GMT) alongside Charley Hoffman and Patrick Reed on Torrey Pines’ South Course.

That’s where he claimed the most recent of his 14 major titles, at the 2008 US Open.

Since then his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors has stalled, and even if his health holds up it remains to be seen if he will have the game to beat the young stars who have risen in his absence.

That includes 23-year-old Spaniard Jon Rahm, the defending champion who supplanted Jordan Spieth as number two in the world with a win on Sunday in the CareerBuilder Challenge and could replace Dustin Johnson as world number one with a victory.

“A lot of names I haven’t seen, I haven’t played with, I haven’t seen their games,” Woods said. “We’ll see.”

Woods said he’s been able to play six days a week at home.

But tournament play on the North and South courses at Torrey Pines, where dense rough lines the fairways and the greens were already firm early in the week, will be a different challenge, even for a player who has won eight times at Torrey.

Woods said the last time golf seemed “easy” was in 2013 — when he won five times on the US PGA Tour to take his tally of titles to 79.

Not coincidentally, he hasn’t won since.

“There are times when it is easy to go out there and shoot 65s, I just need to get my game to where it’s like that again,” Woods said.

“A lot of the guys have been playing well, have been playing a lot and they’re seasoned. I know this is early in the year, but they’re seasoned already and I’m not.

“I’m not there yet,” added Woods, who says he is building towards the Masters, where he has won four green jackets but hasn’t played since 2015. “But I’ll get some tournaments under my belt and keep progressing.” — AFP