3-PUTT LUNCH: C. HOFFMAN SHO Rd. 1 leader--SPIETH strong--BUBBA afraid of crowds?--Miyazato on top at ANA--April foolery
04/1/2016: 12:16 p.m. ET
By Ben Alberstadt (@BenAlberstadt; [email protected])
Good Friday afternoon. Here’s what’s certainly the most common golf-related April Fools joke of the day: “Did you hear Tiger Woods announced he’s playing the Masters?”
SHO ROUND 1: CHARLEY HOFFMAN (-8) LEADS...AP: “Charley Hoffman birdied half the holes on the Golf Club of Houston and had one bogey Thursday while shooting an 8-under 64 for the first-round lead in the Shell Houston Open....He had a one-shot advantage over a group that included Scott Brown, the Augusta, Georgia, native who has never played in the Masters. Brown would have to win the Houston Open to get into the field next week at Augusta National.”
--“Hoffman is no stranger to good starts. It's the finish that had held him back this year, closing with 75s in his last two events….''I've shot 3- or 4-over on the back nine on Sunday when I've been going from winning the golf tournament to 12th or 15th place,'' Hoffman said. ''I've played fairly solidly from the start of the year to now and haven't been missing cuts, but I haven't been able to put four rounds together. Hopefully I can do that this week.''
JORDAN SPIETH starts with 67...Ryan Ballengee, Yahoo: “Solid round. Feel like I said yesterday in the press room, that my game is there. It’s very close,” Spieth said….Spieth spent the first two days of the week working with instructor Cam McCormick, looking to fine-tune his mechanics just days after ascribing his Round of 16 loss to Louis Oosthuizen at the WGC-Dell Match Play to losing his swing. He looked more like the Spieth of 2015 on Thursday, making six birdies and a bogey, feeling more comfortable with his game tee to green.”
--“I drove the ball fantastic today. Really comfortable with my iron shots,” he said. “I had very, very good control of my golf game and my short game was there today as well.”...The 22-year-old reigning Masters champion was not especially efficient on the par 5s at the Golf Club of Houston, playing them in 2 under par. It's perhaps another manifestation of the fall off in Spieth's par-5 scoring in 2016 compared to last year. He was tied for 19th in par-5 scoring in 2015. So far in 2016, he's tied for 59th.”
PGATour.com’s Sean Martin writes: “Dustin Johnson’s game seems like a perfect fit for Augusta National. He finished sixth at last year’s Masters, his best finish in the season’s first major. He is playing the Shell Houston Open for just the fifth time in his career, using it as a tune-up before taking his shot at the Green Jacket. He’s off to a good start at the Golf Club of Houston, shooting a 7-under 65 that has him one shot off Charley Hoffman’s lead. He made an eagle on his second-to-last hole Thursday, the par-5 eighth, and birdied No. 9.”
MUST SEE: GEOFF SHACKELFORD’s APRIL FOOLS joke: Tiger Woods’ fishing trip invitation
ANA Inspiration round 1…MIYAZATO LEADS...AP: “Ai Miyazato rediscovered her game last week. On Thursday, the 30-year-old Japanese player found herself at the top of a major championship leaderboard at the ANA Inspiration...."I was kind of struggling the last couple years," Miyazato said. "It was really hard."”
--“She made it look easy in her morning round at tree-lined Mission Hills, shooting a 5-under 67 for a share of the first-round lead with Spanish friend Azahara Munoz...."I'm definitely happy to see my name on the board," Miyazato said….It used to happen a lot, especially in 2010 when she won five LPGA Tour titles and was No. 1 in the world for 11 weeks. She's ranked 90th now after climbing 67 spots Monday with a third-place finish Sunday in Carlsbad in the Kia Classic. It was her first top-10 finish since April 2013.”
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MICHELLE WIE adopts Nicklaus-esque putting stance...Beth Ann Nichols, Golfweek: “Michelle Wie, ever the tinkerer, thought she’d try to take a page out of the Jack Nicklaus playbook and narrow her putting stance at the ANA Inspiration….“I kind of always saw how Jack putted and it kind of worked out OK for him,” said Wie, who maintained her unique table-top posture.”
--““Putting is all about feel, and obviously just kind of tried that out, felt comfortable, and hopefully maybe stick with it.”...Wiesy shot 2-under 70 to open the season’s first major and trails leaders Ai Miyazato and Azahara Munoz by three shots.”
BUBBA WATSON says he’s scared of people, crowds in 60 MINUTES interview...Alex Myers, Golf Digest: “In an interview with CBS’ "60 Minutes," Watson admitted to having “a lot of mental issues,” including being “fearful of things, which I shouldn’t be. Scared of heights ... buildings falling on me ... the dark. Scared of crowds.”’
--“It’s this last thing that makes Bubba particularly uncomfortable at his job, no matter the tournament....“In between holes is really scary to me, because there’s so many people that close to you,” Watson says in excerpts from the interview released on Thursday. “I’m just scared of people ... in general.”’
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU puts custom set of single length COBRA irons in bag at Georgia Cup...Details in an excellent David Dusek Golfweek piece (it has been widely assumed that DeChambeau will sign with Cobra when he turns pro following the Masters)
FTW’s Luke Kerr-Dineen argues passionately for Tiger Woods not even considering playing Masters: “Making a dramatic return at the Masters may be tempting for Woods, but he needs to remember that time is on his side more than he realizes. If he truly cares about closing-out his career on a high note, he needs to have the strength to say no next week.”
QUOTABLE
Jordan, how does the length and set-up of this course help you prepare for Augusta?
JORDAN SPIETH: You know, the grass type, the shots you're hitting off the fairways are very similar. Lot of kind of slightly into the grain, overseeded-type grass. Just feels similar when you set the club behind the ball. Bigger holes, bigger doglegs. Here it forces you actually to play away obviously from the water, but the greens aren't as severe when you miss a shot. So, into the greens this hole can be -- or this course, I'm sorry, can be very challenging because almost every single hole you got to avoid one side or the other, which kind of prepares you for the Masters. Not that there's water, a lot of water at Augusta, but one side is normally dead. So, very much have to commit to a certain target out here
You were over at Augusta the last few days. I know that one part of you I'm sure is looking a little bit ahead. You're a former winner here. What is it about this golf course that you like that gets you ready for next week?
PHIL MICKELSON: I actually think that it's more just about getting in a competitive frame of mind. I like the way the course is set up. The fairways and the just off the fairway, the first cut is similar to Augusta. But the greens are different grasses. They don't have as much contour. You can't hit drivers. You're handcuffed on every tee box. Everything pinches in at 300. Augusta, you're trying to lead on every hole. There's some areas where it's not really beneficial, but I'm just here to try to get sharp. I want my game being sharp. I enjoy the tournament. I think it's a fabulous event. The condition of this golf course, I'm always amazed at how well the condition is, it's one of the best we have on Tour…
Rules of the Game: From the USGA’s Decisions in the Rules of Golf
1-1/3 Player Discovers Original Ball in Hole after Searching Five Minutes And then Continuing Play with Provisional Ball
At a par-3 hole, a player, believing his original ball may be lost, plays a provisional ball. He searches five minutes for the original ball and then plays the provisional ball onto the green. At that point, the original ball is found in the hole. What is the ruling?
A. The player's score is 1. The play of the hole was completed when the player holed the original ball (Rule 1-1).
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