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Rickie Fowler feels good about his game after a T2 finish in Japan.

It would probably be a stretch to call Rickie Fowler’s loss at the Zozo Championship a heartbreak.

Yes, this was his best chance to win since his last victory in 2019. Yes, he’s one of the more popular players on the PGA Tour despite falling as far as 185th in the world last month. Yes, he’s largely fallen short of sky-high expectations after turning pro as the world’s No. 1 amateur in 2009.

But a heartbreak this week was not.

Many of us in the United States went to sleep with Fowler holding a one-stroke lead, about to tee off for the final round in Japan. We awoke to another golfer getting his first win this decade, only it was Keegan Bradley who claimed his first title since 2018 by a stroke over Fowler and Andrew Putnam.

Fowler’s day was flat. He was one over through six holes and ended up birding the final hole for an even-par-70 to share second. His final round was three strokes worse than any of his other scores this week. He had more putts and missed more greens Sunday than he did in any of the first three rounds. There was nothing dramatic about the loss itself. He didn’t bring his “A game” on Sunday and Bradley beat him. He owned that.

“Gave it our all, left it all out there. Big congrats to Keegan, he made the putts, I didn’t. He earned it,” he said.

But Fowler has thrown his status quo out the window the past few months after just barely squeaking into the FedEx Cup playoffs. You probably heard he split from longtime caddie Joe Skovron at the end of the regular season, who’s now on the bag of last week’s winner Tom Kim. He’s back working with Butch Harmon and he’s even using a pretty different set of clubs.

Couple his runner-up finish in Japan with his top-10 in the season opener in California and Fowler seems to like where things are headed.

“Kind of bittersweet,” Fowler said. “Obviously wanted to get the job done and I felt very good going into today. Felt, you know, probably as good as you can feel out there. Final round, haven’t been there a whole lot in the last couple years, really just didn’t give myself many opportunities until the end.

“Definitely excited about having a couple good finishes to start the season and a lot of good stuff coming.”

Fowler had a decent start to last season when he finished tied for third at the 2021 CJ Cup. The five-time PGA Tour winner also held the lead after three rounds that week before coming out similarly flat in the final round. His closing 71 left him three strokes behind winner Rory McIlroy. It was his only top-20 finish for the entire season.

On Sunday, Fowler acknowledged in previous years since his last win — after which he was ranked 8th in the Official World Golf Ranking — when he would have a good finish only to revert to poor play afterward. This feels different for Fowler.

“It’s just finally in a position where we’re building momentum and building more confidence,” Fowler said. “I feel like in the last few years there would be times where [I’d] kind of take a step forward and just was never really able to build more momentum than for one week at a time.

“[I’m] in a great spot and finally in a position where things are starting to kind of snowball and head in the right direction, all together.”

Fowler only felt the one thing holding him back on the final day was putting.

“I hit some darn good putts that it was like there was a cover over the hole,” he said. “I’ve been a little off all week … the putts not going in coming down the stretch, it wasn’t me hitting poor putts. I hit my lines and hit great putts, just didn’t break how I saw it, so it is what it is.”

He could have been down after the loss, but he wasn’t, likely because he feels there’s more of this kind of play coming.

Fowler’s opponent Sunday, Keegan Bradley, may have felt similarly to Fowler the last few years. Bradley found himself in contention numerous times after the past two seasons, but could never get the job done, with 10 top-10s over the period to show for it. He contended at the U.S. Open and even led the Wells Fargo Championship through three rounds this past season.

He finally found the winner’s circle this weekend. Fowler’s time could be on the way, too.

“It’s why we play,” he said. “To really put yourself in a position where you have a chance on the back nine, that’s what it all comes down to. Obviously left some out there and I wish it was a different outcome, but good to be back in the position and ready to do that a lot more often.”

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.

Some Londoners say they don't need a mandate to keep wearing masks after Ontario's chief medical officer of health delivered the latest provincial health update on Monday.

Dr. Kieran Moore told Ontarians he is "strongly recommending" indoor masking to stop a surge in COVID-19 cases and to reduce visits at pediatric hospitals as COVID-19, influenza, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is surging.

Moore geared his message to children six months of age and older, pregnant individuals and health-care workers as they go through this year's flu season. A masking mandate was not implemented.

CBC News spoke to Londoners on Monday to get their thoughts on the current health situation and masking.

"I think they're at a tipping point now, where I think a mandate would be wise to prevent it from getting any worse," said Ron Burns, who regularly wears a mask at his local community centre.

"I think they're reluctant to push it that hard because I think they're just concerned about public reaction," he said, adding he believes the province stopped short of imposing a mandate out of backlash.

Heidi Fowler told CBC News she chose not to wear a mask indoors and was exempted due to having a medical condition.

"I would hope that people would manage without one (a mandate), and it's a personal choice," said Fowler.

When the last masking requirement was lifted in June, Fowler said having the option felt more comfortable.

Though Ontarians aren't currently required to wear a mask in most public spaces, both long-term care homes and hospitals, including the London Health Sciences Centre, still require masking indoors.

Local medical officers of health won't mandate masks

Dr. Alex Summers, the medical officer of health with the Middlesex-London Health Unit, told CBC News they would not be mandating masking in its area schools while the health unit would continue to track the spread of COVID-19, influenza and RSV.

"Masking has been a critical tool to help reduce the individual risk of respiratory infection, and right now, it could play an important role in reducing transmission of respiratory viruses in our community," said Dr. Summers in a statement.

"For the next few weeks, it is important that all of us mask more often, and that organizations consider ways to support masking in their environments."

Dr. Ninh Tran, the medical officer of health for Southwestern Public Health, echoed Dr. Summers' statement, saying the three respiratory illnesses are more reasons to wear a mask around immunocompromised individuals, youth and the elderly.

"A cold that presents as mild in an adult can cause serious illness in a young child. That's why I ask that everyone in this community re-commit to using the layers of protection that we know guard our community," said Tran.

The messages from the medical officers of health resonate with Rahman Amini, a real estate broker who said he regularly meets different people and keeps his mask on.

"It should not be enforced, but I think all the people who care about their health should have a mask on," said Amini, adding allergies and asthma are also reasons masking is essential for him.

"Whether you enforce it or not, some people will not do it anyway. But I think people should be smart enough to take care of their own health."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Clement is a writer across TV and Digital with CBC Toronto and CBC London. Since 2018, he has also worked in various newsrooms across the GTA covering city affairs, community events and entertainment. Outside, he is a resident gamer and keeps his popcorn close at the latest movie premieres. You can reach him with tips, story ideas and compliments at clement.goh@cbc.ca and Twitter via @theinstaword

NORTHRIDGE, California - Utah State women's tennis opened play at the CSUN Fall Invitational on Friday at the Matador Tennis Complex.

The Aggies started the tournament with an undefeated day in doubles action versus opponents from UC Irvine. Graduate senior Monique Burton and junior Lisa Küng defeated UCI's Jenna Schlatter and Alyssia Fossorier, 6-4. Seniors Annaliese County and Zeynep Naz Ozturk matched with a 6-4 win over their own over Carolyna and Emily Fowler. In USU's final doubles match of the day, sophomore Indya Nespor and freshman Jade Brilhante won in a tiebreak over UC Irvine's Amanda Perez and Asha Gidwani, 7-6 (6).

In singles play, USU faced off versus opponents from CSUN. Nespor was the lone Aggie to post her second win of the day, defeating Jasmine Tolmoyan in three sets, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-4. Naz Ozturk and Burton each forced a third set but neither was able to pull away with the win as Naz Ozturk fell to Sasha Turchak, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, and Burton lost to Victoria Santibañez, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Elsewhere in singles, Küng lost to Yuliia Zhytelna, 7-5, 7-5, Brilhante lost to Jacqueline O'Neill, 6-2, 6-1, and junior Laura Fernanda Eugenio De Hilario lost to Cindy Ung, 6-3, 6-3.

Utah State returns to the courts in both singles and doubles play on Friday, Oct. 14.

Fans can follow USU's women's tennis team on Twitter @USUWomensTennis, on Facebook at /UtahStateWomensTennis or on Instagram at USUWomensTennis. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program on Twitter, @USUAthletics, Facebook at /USUAthletics and on Instagram, @USUAthletics.

CSUN FALL INVITATIONAL RESULTS NOV. 11, 2022 MATADOR TENNIS COMPLEX NORTHRIDGE, CALIFORNIA

DOUBLES Day One Monique Burton/Lisa Küng (USU) def. Jenna Schlatter/Alyssia Fossorier (UCI) 6-4 Zeynep Naz Ozturk/Annaliese County (USU) def. Carolyna Fowler/Emily Fowler (UCI) 6-4 Jade Brilhante/Indya Nespor (USU) def. Amanda Perez/Asha Gidwani (UCI) 7-6 (6)

SINGLES Day One 1. Sasha Turchak (CSUN) def. Zeynep Naz Ozturk (USU) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 2. Yuliia Zhytelna (CSUN) def. Lisa Küng (USU) 7-5, 7-5 3. Victoria Santibañez Luna (CSUN) def. Monique Burton (USU) 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 4. Cindy Ung (CSUN) def. Laura Fernanda Eugenio De Hilario (USU) 6-3, 6-3 5. Jacqueline O'Neill (CSUN) def. Jade Brilhante (USU) 6-2, 6-1 6. Indya Nespor (USU) def. Jasmine Tolmoyan (CSUN) 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-4

- USU -

“Be-be-boop! Be-be-boop! Earthquake,” rang an app on my iPhone at 11:42 a.m. on Oct. 25. “Drop, cover, hold on, shaking expected.”

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake had just struck about 50 miles away in California’s Silicon Valley. I leaped out of my chair and grabbed a wall. A few seconds later, the ground began to rumble.

This feat of science and personal technology is the best example I’ve seen of how smartphones can help protect tens of millions of us from significant danger. I’ll show you how to get it.

Known as ShakeAlert, America’s earthquake early-warning system was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and partners to give you typically up to 20 seconds of advance warning before significant shaking arrives, or even a minute in extreme circumstances. If you’re close to the epicenter, you might not get much notice — but it could still be enough to protect yourself.

After nearly two decades of development, ShakeAlert is now operating in California, Oregon and Washington state, where it’s considered 83 percent complete. The USGS is considering expanding the system to Alaska next.

ShakeAlert got one of its largest tests with that October earthquake, when it took less than 10 seconds for the system to send about 2.1 million warnings to Californians like me. Thankfully, there were no reports of major injuries. For me, the little bit of early notice helped me prepare mentally for what was about to come.

The experience also left me wondering: How can a push alert reach my phone faster than shaking does? “That’s a multistage process, and really I find it just fascinating that we can do it all,” says Dave Croker, a member of the ShakeAlert operations team at the USGS.

I met up with Croker at a USGS field station a few miles from California’s notorious San Andreas Fault, where he showed me how the system fits together — starting with your cellphone.

Smartphones have a capability that Croker says is a game changer for earthquake safety: They always know your location.

When a USGS field station detects an earthquake starting in one place, its network can calculate where else will likely also experience shaking. Knowing your location means the apps and cell towers can beam out the warnings only to the phones in places that might need it.

It’s easy to take smartphones for granted, but the last time San Francisco had a major earthquake — in 1989 — officials could communicate with people only over radio, TV and loudspeakers.

Today, the USGS doesn’t beam out ShakeAlerts to phones directly. Instead, it produces the information and then lets partner apps and cell carriers deliver the warnings. (There’s hope for the future that alerts could also go directly to internet-connected speakers and smoke alarms, and automatically instruct trains and elevators to slow or stop.)

If you have an Android phone, you’re good to go. Google added ShakeAlert to its operating system in 2020 after the California portion first came online. The warnings pop up automatically on your phone’s lock screen, so long as you have location services and emergency notifications enabled. These alerts are tuned to arrive for earthquakes that are both at least magnitude 4.5 and are also expected to produce noticeable shaking at your location. (If severe shaking is expected, Android will send a special take-action alert.)

If you use an iPhone, there’s a bit more work involved. You’ll need to download and run a free app such as MyShake, made by the University of California at Berkeley, or QuakeAlert. Unfortunately, you’ll have to repeatedly give the app permission to know your location at all times. (Apple, which has been heavily touting other iPhone safety features, said it didn’t have anything to share about integrating earthquake alerts into iOS.)

Regardless of what kind of phone you use, ShakeAlert can still find its way to you if an earthquake of magnitude 5 or higher hits. For areas also likely to surpass a high shaking threshold, wireless carriers are equipped to automatically send warnings to every phone using a similar emergency system to Amber Alerts. You just need to have government alerts activated in your phone’s settings.

USGS’s Croker asked me to meet him on a little spit of land on the west side of the San Francisco Bay. There, he unlocked a green box bolted to the ground.

Inside are two motion sensors that don’t look anything like the seismographs I pictured with bouncing needles. One is a pro-grade version of an accelerometer (like we have in our phones) that can measure very violent shaking, and the other is a velocity sensor to detect very small trembles.

These sensors, powered by a nearby solar panel and battery, beam their readings back to the USGS central computers 24 hours per day. That connects them into a network of about 1,400 other sensor stations up and down the West Coast. In densely populated and known seismically active areas like the Bay Area, they’re located every 3 to 6 miles. But Croker says the system also needs geographical distribution to work. “The Earth never reveals all her secrets — we still have earthquakes in places we’re not sure they’re going to happen,” he says.

When the sensors report significant shaking, some serious math begins on the USGS computers. First they determine the magnitude and location of the quake — triangulating readings from multiple sensors to weed out false alarms.

Then they use these clues to estimate where else shaking will occur. “It took a lot of smart people to figure out how to turn the magnitude into an estimated ground shaking intensity level quickly enough that it could determine the area to which we send the alert,” Croker says.

It crunches the numbers in less than five seconds, and then the USGS’s partners beam the warnings across the internet and through cellular data signals at the speed of light.

The system is effective because long-range earthquake waves travel through rock relatively slowly — speeds can be as low as 1.9 miles per second. That’s why the farther you are from the epicenter, the more warning you’ll receive.

But you’re still going to need a plan for what to do when you see that alert. Forget the adage about going under a doorway, says Croker. Instead, emergency officials say you should drop and grab onto something solid like a wall, and cover your head to protect from any falling debris.

A Minerva Village official is on track to become Norton's new administrator, replacing Robert Fowler in the important city position.

On Nov. 1, Norton City Council considered an ordinance to approve Mayor Mike Zita's appointment of Philip J. Turske, current administrator for the Stark County village. Barring unforeseen objections, the council is expected to pass the ordinance at its meeting on Monday.

More:On style and substance: Norton administrator takes different road, leaving post in December

Fowler is moving on to become assistant manager in Mentor, a city of 47,450 in Lake County, nearly four times the size of Norton. His official departure date is in December. Mentor City Manager Kenneth J. Filipiak cited Fowler's administrative experience and economic development success in a recent news release announcing his appointment.

The Norton position will pay $90,000 per year to start.

Turske told the Beacon Journal that if he's approved, the position will represent a significant career advancement for him. As a small community of about 3,700 residents, Minerva has fewer areas for professional growth than the 12,000-resident Norton.

"There are a lot of opportunities (in Norton)," he said.

Turske has been Minerva's administrator since September 2019, and previously worked as contract and grant administrator for Lorain, where Fowler worked as director of public safety and service before coming to Norton.

Turske said he's developed extensive experience with economic development in Minerva while capturing grants and managing infrastructure projects.

"I feel like I would bring a very solid, good experience to Norton," he said. "I look forward to the challenge."

Eleven individuals submitted applications for the Norton position.

Fowler is leaving after five years at the helm, having brought new business and residential development to the city.

During his time as administrator, a Barberton Brookside Golf Course became one of the area's largest residential projects, with 488 new units planned, most of them single-family homes. Although the development has been criticized by some residents and council members for its high-density housing, the relatively lower-priced homes have attracted homebuyers looking to move to the city.

Norton Mayor Mike Zita and council members have both cited Fowler's ability to lure businesses and developers to the city as a key strength of the departing administrator.

Turske received his master's in public policy from the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy in Malibu, California. He said he's honed his economic development skills in the village and has managed significant infrastructure development in the city.

Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him ataashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.