A news conference to be held on April 18 in conjunction with the PGA Champions Tour’s Legends of Golf event in Branson, Mo. is expected to include confirmation that Woods will design an 18-hole course, as the latest being developed by Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris to continue to establish the Big Cedar Lodge resort as a golf destination.

Tom Watson, who developed his own game playing on the former Santa Fe Hills executive course in the city as a youth, says his new “Watson 9” in Maryville, Mo. is being “well-utilized,” especially by junior players. The Sykes/Lady Overland Park Golf Club par-3 has become “more popular recently,” reports General Manager Curt Nelson, thanks in part to a new unlimited-play-pass program.

In one 30-minute national nightly newscast, viewers were exposed to three reports that touched on noteworthy shifts in how prominent club and resort properties are now owned, operated, marketed and perceived.

Crews have removed 25,000 truckloads of rock and soil from the now 100-foot-deep sinkhole that opened up at Big Cedar Lodge resort in Ridgedale, Mo., in May last year. State officials recommended packing the sinkhole with rocks, but owner Johnny Morris chose to dig instead, hoping to find out if it is part of a large cave system underneath the golf course.

Big Cedar Lodge and Bass Pro Shops owner Johnny Morris purchased Murder Rock Golf Club and Branson Creek Golf Club in Hollister, Mo., earlier this year. Branson Creek will reopen in late spring after undergoing some renovations, but Murder Rock and its clubhouse will remain closed for the time being, though it will likely reopen as a golf course at some point in the future.