81st Masters moves on without Palmer, Woods
Even though it has the smallest and perhaps the weakest field of any of golf's four major championships, the annual visit to Georgia's Augusta National for the Masters is arguably more popular with golf's fan base than the U.S. Open, British Open or PGA Championship.
However, this 81st Masters, which tees off Thursday, is lacking on a few fronts.
For one, Arnold Palmer will be missing for the first time in 63 years. The King died in September, and he'll be missed.
Also missing - except for the preliminary events - is Tiger Woods. This is the 20th anniversary of his first professional win. It provided the Masters with its best turnover of television viewers - 44 million. Woods, still not healthy after three back surgeries, kept hopes alive while promoting his new book on his 1997 triumph, but last Friday he made his withdrawal official.
Jason Day, one of the game's brightest young stars, was on hand for Monday's practice day but his head isn't fully into it. Worried about his mother's health, he walked off the course six holes into his first match at the World Golf Championship Match Play two weeks ago and didn't enter last week's Shell Houston Open. He didn't touch a club until last Friday, when he arrived in Augusta for early work on his game. His mother is fighting cancer and had part of her left lung removed.
This tourney won't have a local hope, either, but Thomas Pieters comes close. The NCAA champion for Illinois in 2012, Pieters is in the field for the first time off his No. 18 world ranking at the end of 2016. He was given a Special Temporary Membership for the PGA Tour season after two top-five finishes in six starts this year.
Good weather is also lacking. Monday's practice session was suspended by storms and the forecast is for much worse weather on Wednesday - when the popular Par-3 Contest and final practice rounds are scheduled.
One thing this 81st Masters does have is a clear-cut favorite. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson has won his past three tournaments is well rested. Johnson's hot streak assured him the favorite's designation even though Jordan Spieth's finishes in the past three Masters were 2-1-2.
"Dustin Johnson is the guy to beat in golf no matter where you are," insisted Spieth.
Rickie Fowler could also be a popular contender based on his two wins and eight top-10 finishes this season. He's been in the top-five at all four majors and this is his eighth Masters so he knows Augusta National, which has the fastest greens on the PGA Tour.
The field has only 94 players, all invitees by the host club, and it includes the top 62 in the Official World Golf Rankings. The usual belief is that only 12-15 have the skills to win but several players who haven't been in that category at the start of the week have gone on to win, most recently last year's champion Danny Willett.
This also is the 30th anniversary of the most unlikely Masters upset. In 1987 two of the game's legendary stars - Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros - went into a playoff for the title with Larry Mize, an Augusta native. Mize beat them both with a chip-in, earning a place forever on the tournament highlights reel.
A look back at Lexi:
Reaction to the four-stroke penalty assessed on Lexi Thompson during Sunday's final round of the ANA Inspiration - the LPGA's first major of the season - has run the gamut from the many club professionals and players who have contacted me, as well as the golf world nationwide.
Here's my take on the ruling that led to South Korea's So Yeon Ryu beating out Thompson for the coveted title.
My first reaction was that Thompson had simply made a sloppy mark - but that's not to downplay the infraction. Though I'm sure Thompson made an honest mistake, the two strokes assessed for it were necessary. Players can improve their lie by moving their ball just an inch on the green to avoid ball marks and spike marks. Such a practice should be penalized, though I doubt it seldom is unless a playing partner speaks up.
I disagree with the other two strokes Thompson was penalized, however. Her infraction came a day earlier, in the third round. She signed her score card without being informed of a possible infraction. A TV viewer called attention to it too long after the fact.
The LPGA handled the Thompson issue better than the U.S. Golf Association handled a similar situation involving Dustin Johnson when he was en route to winning the U.S. Open last June. Johnson was told - in the middle of his round - that a penalty might be called. To his credit he played well enough to win despite the distraction but - as Rickie Fowler noted at a Masters news conference on Monday - "We've seen stuff in the past year that's not making the game look good at all."
Common sense is lacking in some of the Rules of Golf, a problem that was addressed in proposed changes that could go into effect in 2019. Until then, here's what should be done immediately. Rules questions should be handled strictly by officials on site. TV viewers should play no part in it, and once a round is over the scores should stand.
Honesty is an integral part of golf, but changing scores after another round begins creates more problems than it's worth.
Here and there:
The white ProAngle sand used in the bunkers at Augusta National will have a home at Cog Hill's Dubsdread course in Lemont when the former PGA Tour site for both the Western Open and BMW Championship opens April 22. Owner Frank Jemsek said that 11 greenside bunkers were transitioned to grass bunkers and the others will get the new, eye-catching white sand before the course opens.
• A major change in the head professional ranks has Frank Hohenadel moving from an assistant's job at Westmoreland CC in Wilmette to the head job at Mistwood in Romeoville. Hohenadel, a long-hitting left-handed golfer, made a big impact on the local scene when he snapped Mike Small's record eight-year run as champion of the Illinois PGA Championship in 2011 on Medinah's No. 1 course.
• The PGA Tour has decided to give distance-measuring devices a chance, but only in a few tournaments on its secondary circuits. One event where the devices will be allowed is the Web.com Tour's Rust-Oleum Championship coming to Ivanhoe June 5-11.
• For more golf news, visit lenziehmongolf.com. Len can be contacted by email at lenziehm@gmail.com.