As he prepares to caddie his 50th Masters, Carl Jackson takes a look back

For my first Masters, in ’61, I got Billy Burke’s bag. Burke was best known for winning the 1931 U.S. Open in a 72-hole playoff over George Von Elm at Inverness Club. Burke also had a couple of top three finishes at the Masters in the ’30s, but by then he was well past his prime, and he knew that it was going to be two rounds and out for him. He told me on the first day that he was going to show me how to caddie in the Masters. He showed me how a caddie should get around the course during a ­tournament -- where to stand and how to get the pin. We played the practice rounds, and he would not use the driving range. He did all of his work on the course. I think he stayed off the range to protect me. It was tough out there. You had three or four players hitting wedges. Some are hitting drivers. The drivers are coming out low. And the caddies are out there shagging balls. It was dangerous, really. Guys would get hit on the leg and the back. I can remember one serious incident where a caddie got hit in the head. But you learned how to watch your player, and while his ball was coming, you would search the sky for anything else that was coming in at you.

Brothers of the bag

In February we buried my brother Melvin. He was one of my six brothers to work at Augusta National. He was 50 years old and the seventh of nine children. Like many other kids in the Sand Hill neighborhood, he worked at Augusta Country Club and Augusta National. They were bait. A lot of kids dropped out of school and worked over there. Melvin worked in the bag room, but his back simply gave out on him. His back problem forced him to retire, and he was just getting his life straight when he died in his sleep. I let my brother Justin, who we call Bud, help me with the carts at the club when he was nine or 10 years old. He’s been a caddie at Augusta National for 34 years. My older brother, Austin, who they called Tweety, caddied for Arnold Palmer some in the ’70s. My brother Bill was on Ed Sneed’s bag in 1979 when he blew the tournament [won in a playoff by Fuzzy Zoeller]. Sneed had a three-shot lead with three holes to play and missed par putts on 16, 17 and 18. All he had to do was say to my brother, “Do you see this putt the way I do?” Sneed could have been the Masters champion if he had put his caddie in the game a little bit.?

The Sheriff of Augusta National

On the afternoon of Oct. 19, 1976, my brothers Melvin and Bud were fishing at Rae’s Creek with four of their friends. All the boys in the Sand Hills neighborhood grew up fishing and swimming in the creek, which was full of bream. There is a fence dividing Augusta National from Augusta Country Club. We would walk about a mile from our neighborhood, crawl under the fence at the 13th tee at Rae’s Creek from the 10th tee of Augusta Country Club. That day the boys had caught 30 or 40 fish and were keeping them fresh on a line, even though earlier, Rogers Bennett, Augusta National’s nursery­man, had spotted the boys -- and Bud’s .410 shotgun, which he brought along in case of snakes -- and told them to get off the course. One of the boys did leave, taking the shotgun with him.

Shortly after 3 p.m. the boys saw Charlie Young, the club’s white security guard, standing on the Nelson Bridge, near the 13th tee. Young, who had a gun shop at his house, was carrying a homemade 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun with a barrel that was less than 17 inches long. When the boys started running toward the 11th at Augusta Country Club, Young fired one shot and hit three of the five boys, including Bud, who was struck in the right knee. Young later told the club’s general manager, Philip Wahl, that his gun accidentally discharged as he was trying to load it, but he never told the boys to get off the course until after he had fired.

I wasn’t surprised that it happened. Charlie Young had a bad attitude. He thought he was John Wayne. He had it in for Bud. The two of them had a little run-in during the ’75 Masters, when Young scolded Bud for driving a cart too fast near a group of patrons. But that was not the way to handle this situation. Young could have held the boys in the water, called the police and have them put in jail for trespassing. That’s one issue I had with the club -- they continued to let Young work there. He would put on a different air if members were coming through the front gate. But he treated a lot of the caddies rough after the shooting. I never had any problems with him because every time I came through the gate, I was in one of the member’s cars. But you could see that hate in his eyes.

Bud and the two others who were shot filed an $11 million lawsuit against the club and Charlie Young, but ultimately ended up settling for $69,000. Bud, who got $3,000, did not work at the club for the next 11 years, but today, at 54, he is one of the most popular caddies at Augusta National. Charlie Young died on Oct. 16, 1994, almost 18 years to the day of the shooting. He was 65.

Laddie at the ’70 Masters

In 1970 the NAACP picketed outside the gates of the club over apartheid in South ­Africa. They thought Gary Player shouldn’t be ­allowed to play in the tournament. Player and his caddie, Ernest Nipper, who was on his bag in ’61 when he won his first green jacket, received death threats. Nipper was so scared that he quit. So I ended up getting Player’s bag.

Gary and I didn’t get off to a great start. On the 2nd hole of our first practice round he told me he was going to make my job real easy. He said, “I just want you to clean my balls and clubs and keep up.” I was insulted. Gary was playing with Tony Jacklin, whose attitude was that the caddies didn’t know anything. On Thursday, Player hit a great drive on the 1st hole. When he got to his ball, he looked at me. (Back then we weren’t using yardage books at Augusta. I was going to let him pick the club he wanted and not say anything.)

He said, “What club do you like?”

I said, “Seven-iron.”

All through the practice rounds I had ­zeroed in on his game, but I had been getting attitude from him and I had been giving it back. He hit every club I suggested from then on until the 72nd hole. By the 45th hole he swore that I was the best caddie he had ever seen. At the 72nd hole he was in a tie for the lead with Billy Casper and Gene Littler, who was already in the clubhouse at nine under. For his approach shot Player asked me what I thought. I said a five-iron. He said, “Laddie, I’m pumped up -- I think I can get a six there.” He hit a great shot, but it plugged in the bunker, and he dropped out of the lead when he didn’t get up and down. Casper went on to beat Littler in the 18-hole playoff.

The Augusta race riot

You had 90 to 100 caddies with families out there who looked to the Masters every April for some extra money. All the cooks, waiters and caddies at the club were black. For a lot of the caddies the politics didn’t ­really affect us that much personally ­because we were on the course all day. We had no problems with the members and their guests. But when things got really out of hand during the May 1970 Augusta race riot­­ -- six black men were killed by the ­police -- all the members and their guests left town.

Lee Elder and 1975

I was in the golf shop when Chen Ching-Po, from China, played there for the first time, in ’63. Mr. [Clifford] Roberts was there to welcome him, and he did the same thing in ’70 for Sukree Onsham from Thailand. When Lee Elder showed up at the clubhouse in ’75, Mr. Roberts gave him a personal welcome and treated him the same as he did every other player. I was well aware of the historical significance of Lee playing in the Masters, so I made sure that I was standing on the 1st tee on Thursday so that I could see the expressions on the faces of some of the ­patrons and members when Elder hit his first tee shot. There was a different energy in the air.

Roberts Rules

We were known as his boys, in a positive sense of the term, especially the good caddies. At the club we had the Game, which was a match ­between two or three foursomes of members. They took it seriously. The caddies who were not so sure of themselves were always nervous around Mr. Roberts. When you made a poor read, he would say, “You are no such of a damn lie.” Then he would look around and ask for one of the more ­experienced caddies to read the putt. He didn’t want scared or timid people around him.

Mr. Roberts ran the club with an iron fist. I was the cart man from ’66 to ’72 and always made myself available when Mr. Roberts walked the course to look things over. He hated to see a dead tree limb or anything out of place. ­Almost every time I would see him he would wave for me. He would say, “You go and you tell that goddam greens superintendent that I’m out here on number 14 and to come out here this very minute.” It got to the point where I could be casually driving somewhere and the greens superintendent would see me coming and say, “Carl, is everything all right?”

Yardage books

By the early 1970s Jack Nicklaus was using a yardage book at the Masters. Most of the caddies and many of the players, including Arnold Palmer, weren’t ready for that. Palmer thought the book slowed play. Caddies made club selections by sight. But they didn’t realize that Nicklaus was onto something. Sure enough, by ’74 the use of yardage books had started to eliminate good caddies and even my mentor, Pappy Stokes. Pappy couldn’t accept the change. A lot of our yardages were from trees and edges of traps. Some of the caddies couldn’t count, and some couldn’t read a map. In ’74 a half-dozen of us caddies walked the course and made our own yardage books. I was going to make that golf course my diploma. If I made a mistake out there, I wanted to know why.

The greens

In the fall of 1980 the greens were resodded with bentgrass. There was a lot of speculation that the new greens weren’t going to survive the Georgia heat, but they turned out to be some of the prettiest greens you’d ever want to see, and they were easier to read than the old bermuda ones. They were also faster and 98% true, especially in tournament conditions. Most people in the gallery know which way those putts are going to break, but it’s when you get on that fall or break line that it becomes really technical. I call it the pull -- the place where the green pulls to a certain area.

A bad read

The lifting of the ban on non-Augusta caddies in 1983 was inevitable because players like Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Lee Trevino wanted to bring their guys off the Tour. That’s understandable, but I couldn’t figure out why Watson made the change, considering the success he had with Leon McClattie, who helped him win in ’77 and ’81. In 1975 I was in the golf shop with Bud and Freddie Bennett when Watson and Ray Floyd asked Mr. Roberts if they could bring their Tour caddies. Mr. Roberts said, “As long as I’m alive there will not be a white caddie working at Augusta National.” In ’84 Ben and I were in the group with Watson and Bruce Edwards. Watson hit the ball well enough on Saturday to put the tournament away, but he couldn’t do it because he was asking Bruce to do what Leon could do. Bruce didn’t have enough experience on those greens. Watson had three or four borderline putts, and he and Bruce misread them all. Ben [Crenshaw] thought that it was a no-brainer to keep a man with local knowledge on his bag.

Jack’s gambling man

Nicklaus was his own caddie, really. He got his own yardages and made his own club selections. Willie Peterson was a good cheerleader. That’s not to downplay his contributions, but what Willie did best was gamble. He would take your heart. He was the best gambler in the caddie house. He wasn’t afraid of the money. He and Luke Collins, Ben’s caddie before me, came to the course to gamble. They loved to play cards.?

Gentle Ben

In ’84, when Ben won his first Masters, we started the final round two strokes ­behind Tom Kite. We played a pretty average first seven holes. Ben was in the trap on the 9th hole, and he had short-sided himself to a front-left pin. Ben holed out for birdie, and I flew to the 10th tee. The pin there was back-left, and Ben’s approach ended up on the front of the green (60 feet below the hole). It looked like a sure three-putt. Ben had to play the ball so far to the right that Nick Faldo and his caddie had to almost lift their feet to let the ball go by. As the ball started rolling, I backed up and prayed that it would find the hole, but by that time I was down in the woods. That’s how long it took that ball to get to the hole.

After Ben finished in ’95, I said, “Don’t cry, Ben -- we won the Masters. It’s going to be all right.” But he was sobbing like a baby. He was taking Harvey Penick’s death the prior Sunday really hard. It was time to exhale. Except for the year I missed in 2000 with colon cancer, I’ve worked every Masters since ’76 with Ben. There have been lots of special moments, but nothing matched that Sunday in ’95.

Man Friday

In December 1972 I moved to Little Rock to work for Jack Stephens, and for the next 18 years I was his caddie and personal assistant. I started caddying for him in ’61 at Augusta National. I left him in ’90 to go on Tour, but I came back to the Stephens family in 2003 to start the caddie program at the Alotian Club, which was founded by Mr. Stephens’s son Warren. After I got colon cancer, Warren helped me financially when I couldn’t work.

Clifford Roberts’ suicide

I don’t believe Mr. Roberts killed himself. I was there with Jack Stephens many times during that ’77 season. Every Thursday we flew on Mr. Stephens’s Falcon 20 from Little Rock to Augusta. Mr. Roberts asked Mr. Stephens to meet with him several times. I know that Mr. Roberts was planning to build another nine holes southwest of the par-3 course. I think his body was found at the par-3 course because he was looking over the property.

Mr. President

Mr. Roberts and General Eisenhower were concerned I was too young to work at the club. I had quit school in the ninth grade to support my family. On the par-3 course when Mr. Stephens was hitting, General Ike would nestle up to me and ask, “Son, why aren’t you in school?” Then he’d catch me in another place and reiterate his point. Mr. Roberts asked the caddie master, Freddie Bennett, why a kid was here on a school day. Freddie explained that I needed to support my family.

A day to remember

In May 1978 Jack Stephens told me to call the golf shop and tell the club pros that he and I wanted to play them in a match. Instead I went over to the shop and asked the co–head pros, Bob Kletcke and Dave Spencer, if they wanted to play. Spencer said, “Hell, no, I’m not going out there!” So now people in the office were already on the phone trying to get in touch with Hord Hardin, the chairman of the club, to let him know that Mr. Stephens was about to let me play as his guest. I went back over to Mr. Stephens’s cottage and told him that Kletcke and Mike Shannon, the assistant pro, were going to play with us. I said to Mr. Stephens that the office was trying to call Hord Hardin, and Mr. Stephens said, “F--- ’em.” We went to the 1st tee, and every employee of the club and caddie came over to watch us tee off. It was such a proud day for the caddies. I was the last to tee off. I hit my drive over the bunker on the right, and the caddies roared like crazy.

"You’re away, Jack"

At Ben Hogan’s last Masters, in ’67, he was playing a practice round with Nicklaus. They were at the 10th tee with a big gallery. The wind was howling into the players’ faces, but Nicklaus got up there and flew his drive to the bottom of the hill. Hogan’s drive was a low dart that probably carried less than 200 yards, but the ball had so much spin on it that when it hit the ground, it took off. There were two balls down at the bottom, but one was 15 yards ahead of the other. Hogan and Nicklaus were walking side by side, and they both went to the longest ball. Nicklaus said, “Oh, that’s my ball back there.” He had hit this booming crowd-pleaser, but Hogan had hit it by him because of his experience. He did the same thing to Nicklaus on the 15th.

Tiger’s first green jacket

That week in ’97 reminded me of a couple of the times when Nicklaus was winning, where I thought he might shoot 25 under. In ’96 Tiger had played with Ben for two practice rounds, and he really did his homework. For two days Tiger hit the same putts as Ben did. A lot of guys start practice rounds following Ben around the greens, but Tiger was trying to absorb everything Ben could teach him. After Tiger missed the cut that year, he came up to me to say thank you because all of the pins were exactly where we told him they would be.

No. 1 Tseng back to defend Kraft Nabisco title

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) — Yani Tseng got a good laugh when she walked past the pond where she celebrated her Kraft Nabisco Championship victory last year by leaping into the water - and then remembering she doesn't know how to swim.

Tseng survived that traditional plunge and swam all the way to the world No. 1 ranking after winning the LPGA Tour's first major of the year at Mission Hills in 2010.

"I feel really excited to come back, especially walking on the 18th hole," Tseng said. "I see my name was on the walk of champions. It was so exciting, brings me a lot of good memories, and then I just came over, and that's the water I jumped in. My caddie threw a coin to wish I could win the tournament this week, too."

She'll try to defend her title against a field featuring seven past champions, including two-time champ Karrie Webb and 2009 winner Brittany Lincicome, but there's little doubt the good-natured 22-year-old from Taiwan is considered the player to beat. Tseng has won four tournaments worldwide already this year, including the tour's season opener in Thailand.

Michelle Wie also is back in search of her first major title at a tournament where she made four top-15 finishes before she turned 17. Wie is thoroughly impressed by Tseng, who's less than nine months older than the former teen prodigy from Hawaii.

"I think she's really improved over the last couple of years, and she's a good player," Wie said. "It's pretty amazing that she won the first couple of tournaments in a row, which is pretty good."

With her remarkable start to the season, Tseng has displayed a bit of the domination that's long been expected from Wie. But when Wie eventually makes her breakthrough atop a major, nobody will be surprised if it's on Mission Hills' familiar layout.

"It's as exciting this year as it was when I was 13," Wie said. "It's just an awesome golf course. It has so many famous winners, so many traditions, and it's just one of those tournaments where you want to win. It would mean the world to me if I could do that this week."

Wie already has two top-10 finishes this year, including last week's Kia Classic in her return to the tour after finishing her finals at Stanford. She's also grateful to be in Palm Springs' 85-degree weather after sniffling through the quarter in the cold, rainy Bay Area.

"Finals were miserable," Wie said. "They went horribly. They seem to go more horribly ever year, as well as my grades. I'm glad that was over. Spring break was last week. I'm actually missing the first week of school right now. I should be done by next March if I pass all my classes."

The field also includes Germany's Sandra Gal, who won the Kia Classic, and Cristie Kerr, who already has racked up three top-10 finishes this year, including a third-place tie last week.

There's also the beginnings of a remarkable comeback by Webb, who already has won this year in Singapore and Phoenix after winning just once in the previous four years. The Australian refers to her two prior victories at Mission Hills as "probably the highlight of my career," and she's hoping the confidence gained from her fast start translates into more success.

"I know how good I can be," Webb said. "It's just a matter of - like in the two times I've won this year - getting out of my own way and letting it happen. ... I'd just like to win another tournament here, and this year I've got as good a chance as any. This is probably the best I've felt about things coming into this tournament for quite a few years."

Amanda Blumenherst leads Kia Classic

INDUSTRY, Calif. (AP) — Amanda Blumenherst birdied the final four holes for a 7-under 66 and a one-stroke lead over Germany's Sanda Gal on Thursday in the Kia Classic.

Blumenherst, the former Duke star seeking her first LPGA Tour victory, had nine birdies and two bogeys in her opening round on the Industry Hills Golf Club course at Pacific Palms.

The American took advantage of tranquil morning conditions on the rain-softened course.

"The fairways are extremely soft right now. So are the greens," Blumenherst said. "It's playing a lot longer than it says on the card, which actually suits me because I'm one of the longer ball-strikers."

Michelle Wie birdied the par-5 18th for a 68. The Kia endorser, returning to the tour after finishing finals at Stanford, played in chilly conditions late in the afternoon.

"It was very cold out there, especially during the end," Wie said. "It's a tough course. You've got to be patient out there, and hopefully tomorrow do the same thing and hopefully have a couple more birdies."

Blumenherst played the back nine in 5-under 30.

"I'm playing so well, just the scores have not been coming together," she said. "The putts haven't been falling. And I just haven't been playing as smart as I should. Just everything came together today."

Gal also had four consecutive birdies on her back nine. She finished with seven birdies and a bogey.

"I think it's a ball-striker's course," Gal said. "You've got to hit the fairway and be precise with your yardages. I think that's my game."

Wie relied on power and accuracy on the soggy course.

"I think that (length) is an advantage, but obviously it's a very tight golf course, so you have to be on the fairway," Wie said. "I think that you have to have a combination of both."

Second-ranked Jiyai Shin was four strokes back at 70 along with Reilley Rankin, Mika Miyazato, I.K. Kim, Catriona Matthew and Amy Hung.

Top-ranked Yani Tseng, the winner of the season-opening LPGA Thailand and three other worldwide events this year, opened with a 71. Karrie Webb, coming off her second straight victory Sunday in Phoenix, shot a 72.

The tournament is the tour's first in the Los Angeles area in six years. Last year at La Costa in Carlsbad, Hee Kyung Seo won her first LPGA Tour title, beating Inbee Park by six strokes. Seo shot a 77 on Thursday.

Dori Carter was unable to finish the final hole because of darkness.

Levin flawless in the wind to lead Bay Hill

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Spencer Levin is atop the leaderboard after the opening round for the third time this year, so that's nothing new. It was his score Thursday afternoon at Bay Hill that surprised him and everyone else.

In warm, blustery conditions on a course that allowed only three rounds in the 60s and the most rounds in the 80s in nearly two decades, Levin had a 6-under 66 and a three-shot lead over Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Tiger Woods and his power group of Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland provided the entertainment everyone expected, although not this variety. Woodland hit a tee shot onto another golf course, Johnson wound up 80 yards over a green and onto the next tee, and Woods' angrily tossed his wedge after his best shot of the day.

Their scores weren't impressive.

Woods missed a 10-foot par putt on the last hole for a 73, his highest opening round since 1999 at Bay Hill, where he is a six-time winner. Johnson and Woodland, coming off a win last week at Innisbrook, each shot 77.

Levin built the largest 18-hole lead of the year on the PGA Tour, but even that doesn't illustrate how well he played. His 66 was nearly nine shots better than the average score at Bay Hill, which featured gusts over 20 mph and crusty conditions in the afternoon.

Fowler and Mahan played in the morning, as did Phil Mickelson, who opened with a 70.

The tough conditions showed themselves more at the bottom of the leaderboard. U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell had an 80, as did Bob Hope winner Jhonattan Vegas and Brandt Snedeker. Ricky Barnes shot an 82.

There were 13 rounds in the 80s, the most at Bay Hill since there were 24 in the second round in 1983.

And then there was Levin.

"Six under ... I didn't really even think about that on the range," Levin said. "Because I know the course is hard, anyway, and then you 20, 30 mile per hour wind and makes it even more tough. "I was just kind of hoping anything around par, maybe anything under par, would be a good score in the afternoon for sure."

As usual, it came down to putting.

Levin, who also had at least a share of the lead in the Honda Classic and Northern Trust Open at Riviera, holed a par putt from just off the green at No. 6 and chipped in for birdie from left of the second green. The finish kept his spirits high. From the right bunker on No. 8, he blasted out across the green and down the slope to 8 feet for par, then atoned for a mediocre bunker shot on No. 9 with a 10-foot putt.

"That was nice," Levin said. "Obviously, a lot better mood. Parred the last two when I could have bogeyed, so that was good."

There wasn't much good about the feature group.

Woods struggled with his tee shots on the front nine and didn't hit a single fairway, although he only was in big trouble once off the tee. The bigger problem was the wind, and Woods twice had to back off putts because he couldn't keep still.

"I didn't drive it well starting out, and then I golf a hold of that," Woods said. "Hit my irons well all day, and on the green, it was just tough to take the putter back straight because the wind was gusting and it was tough to get the right speed."

It looked as though he might not have to putt on the par-5 12th with a wedge that covered the flag. It hit the bottom of the pin and spun back some 25 feet. Woods dropped his club then flung it toward his bag.

Johnson and Woodland, two of the biggest hitters, each reached a par 5 in two with the wind straight into them - Woodland on the 560-yard fourth, Johnson on the 557-yard 12th.

They also hit shots rarely seen at Bay Hill.

In a left-to-right wind on the par-5 sixth, Woodland lost it to the right. It bounced off a cart path, over the fence and wound up in the water on the par-3 "Charger" course at Bay Hill, which is out of bounds. That led to a double bogey.

On the eighth, Johnson caught a flyer out of the rough and after a few bounces on the cart path, his ball finally settled 80 yards over the green and toward the front of the tee box on No. 9. Johnson was left with a blind shot over the trees and a TV tower, and it carried all the way into the water, leading to a double bogey.

Fowler set the pace in the morning and reached 5 under, helped by an eagle on the 16th. He didn't finish as well as Levin, however, dropping shots on the eighth and ninth hole to end his round at 69. It was enough to lead until Levin warmed up.

"It's nice to have fresh green the first nine holes, and the greens are still soft," said Fowler, who was in the first group of the day. "You don't have to worry about balls bouncing too much."

Mickelson didn't hit it his best, was pleased with his short game, especially on the greens. He took only 26 putts, and like Fowler, said it helped that the greens rolled true except in a crosswind.

"I was able to salvage par with my short game, and it was a good opening round," Mickelson said. "I'll certainly take it."

Levin, entering his third year on tour and still looking for his first win, now gets to try to build on his lead Friday morning when conditions should be a little more tame.

Woods feels the same way. Sure, it was his highest opening round since a 74 in 1999, but it wasn't awful compared with the field.

"I think even par to under par would have been a good score this afternoon," Woods said. "Spencer obviously played well. But most of the low scores were this morning, so I'm still right there in the ball game."

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Questions for ... Stewart Cink

What kind of shape is your game in? You haven't done much this year so far. However you made some strides last week with an 11th place finish at the Transitions.I'm just trying to get my game back into good form. I'm ready and I'm working. I have a new coach, Pat O'Brien, out of Dallas. So Butch Harmon and I are done after eight years. I'm working on some new things and I hope it won't be long before I get back into contention again.

What changes have you made?I added almost an inch to my iron shafts. My wedge is about the same length as my 7-iron used to be. You would think that I would hit my wedge farther now, but I have gained not one yard. The ball is taking off faster but it's got more spin on it now. It's been really good for control. Pat wanted to see what would happen if I used longer clubs. I'm 6'4. It helped my posture and I don't have to labor so much to get into the right positions.

The Masters is just two weeks away. You played there for the first time in '97, which was really the coronation of Tiger Woods as the world's top player. What do you remember about that experience?It was historic in a lot of ways. Tiger set the record and became Mister Everything, but on that Tuesday before the Masters my second child, Reagan, was born. The Augusta National Club was awesome to my family. They made a special badge for him. Normally, the club just puts the first name and last name on the family badges, but on Reagan's they included his birth date. It doesn't seem like much, but for Augusta National to do something like that was really special. The Masters will always signify another year of our son's life. So it means a lot more to us than just a golf tournament.

Your results at Augusta have been mixed. But you had a third-place finish in '08 and you finished 10th in 2006.The parts of my game that have been historically the weakest are the parts of the game that Augusta National exposes the quickest -- the chipping and the putting. I've been a really great putter at times, but I've been really streaky over the course of my career. I've changed methods a little. I've used a belly putter some. I've used different kinds of grips. But at Augusta the one thing that's really stood out to me is that my short game around that course hasn't really been good enough. I've really worked hard on that and tried to eliminate those weaknesses and turn them into strengths.

The third place finish in '08 was your best in 11 starts at the Masters.About eight years ago they made the course longer. It used to just privilege the long hitters who could hit short irons onto the greens, turning it into a putting contest, which made it fun on those greens. But when they added all the length it became more of a complete test. That worked in my favor because I'm a really good ball striker. I can outplay a lot of players from tee to green. I think the changes to the course don't magnify the putting as much.

When you were at Georgia Tech did you get a chance to play Augusta?We got to play about once a year. But it wasn't the kind of golf that prepares you to play in the Masters. I didn't go over there thinking one day I'm going to play in the Masters and I need to study the course. I was just excited to be playing it.

Last year you made your fifth Ryder Cup team but you didn't have a great season by your standards. You only had three Top 10s.I look at last year as one for an opportunity for lots of learning and improving. It certainly wasn't my best year. You can read things into statistics but really in your heart you know if you're really in contention to win tournaments. Realistically, if you're within five shots of the lead coming into Sunday then you have a chance to win. I didn't have any of those last year. So this year I want to give myself more of those opportunities.

Do you go into weeks knowing that you don't have a chance to win and you're just trying to concentrate hard enough to make a check?Golf is so peculiar. I think it works that way a lot of times, where the weeks that you play the best are when you don't have anything in the practice rounds. Instead of going out thinking you're going to wear this course out, you go out there thinking I need to be ready for short-game shots, creativity, chipping out of the trees and making par putts. It's that grinding style of golf that's going to benefit you at the end of the tournament.

Over the years, your wife, Lisa, has really helped you with your mental outlook on the game. Is she still working with you?Yes, but not in an official capacity. My wife is a big part of my golf because she sees a lot of it and knows me really well. She can tell when I'm a little off. She knows when my attitude changes on the course. And she's always there to say, "How are you going to make the best out of this bad situation?"

How do you get up for the Ryder Cup every couple of years? I know you're playing for your country, but all that pressure has to get to you a little.It can be a lot of stress but we love every second of it. Because it's not bad stress -- driving in traffic is stressful. The Ryder Cup is the highest form of intensity because it brings out stuff in you that you didn't know you had. The kind of shots you see played at the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup just blows you away with how good it is.

In April you will be featured in Dove's "Journey to Comfort" campaign. Why did they pick you?My career has really been a journey to comfort. I've been through the thick and thin of it. I've reached a point now with winning a major and making a bunch of Ryder Cup teams that I'm totally comfortable in my own skin out on the PGA Tour. That's a big part of the success of a PGA Tour player is being comfortable in situations where you have a lot of pressure on you. It's really what makes or breaks your career.

Have you played in Ryder Cups where you weren't comfortable in your skin?Yes. My first Ryder Cup in ‘02 I wasn't really ready to go. I knew it in my heart. I had just barely qualified for the team and I just felt overmatched.

Did you ever doubt yourself and abilities to play on the PGA Tour?At first I had plenty of confidence when I came onto the Tour in 1997. I was young and I was eager. But over the years you play golf against the best players in the world and there is a lot more failure than there is success. So a little bit of that doubt started to creep in.

What happened after you became very successful out there?I started setting standards for myself that weren't really achievable. So I got a little down on myself and I had to work through it. My wife and kids have been great. I've always had a good foundation away from the course to weather the storms as they come and go. I had some really good years from about 2004 to '08 and got the British Open win in '09. That was a really big arrival point for me, where all the time and sacrifices that I had made had been worth it.

How do you build confidence?You have to prepare off the golf course. You have to build a reservoir of confidence that you can pull from and you have to be able to draw from it when the heat gets on. That's the journey.

With your sons do you let them have the journey or do you break their fall?It changes as they grow. We're still doing some of that for our 13-year-old but our 17-year-old is falling. He's had some trip-ups in the last few years where we are letting him deal with the consequences. It's good to give them a dose of life.

I imagine that it's the same with young Tour players. When you're mature enough to win the big events you'll win them and if you're not you won't.That's true. You have to be yourself when you're in contention. When you get to those nervous and stressful situations you have to thrive on it. But you have to arrive at the tournament knowing that you have done all that you can do to be ready, and then be willing to accept the good and the bad.

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Tiger not the only golfer searching for his game this week at Bay Hill

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Graeme McDowell was wearing a brace on his right knee, some sort of newfangled training aid, as he stood on the driving range at Bay Hill late Wednesday afternoon, fiddling with his downswing.

Almost everyone else had left the range, save for Robert Damron, an Orlando resident and sponsor's exemption into this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. McDowell was the 2010 European Player of the Year, but he's coming off a T42 at the WGC-Cadillac at Doral. Damron has dropped off the PGA Tour completely. They were searching, just like Tiger.

Andy Bean, 58, lingered on the practice green. He's playing here to commemorate his Bay Hill victory, which included a second-round course- and tournament-record 62, 30 years ago. So, you know, he's got momentum.

He tees off with Brandt Jobe and Yuta Ikeda at 12:33 ET Thursday.

"Just being around Mr. Palmer is wonderful," said Bean, a longtime resident of Lakeland, about an hour away on I-4, who nonetheless has been staying with a friend in Orlando this week. "Arnold's done so much for the game. I saw him Friday afternoon, and I asked him, I said, 'It's okay if I play, isn't it?' He was over there on the range hitting balls. He said, 'Isn't your name up on the board?' 'Yes, sir.' 'You still got the record, don't you?' 'Yes.' He gave a little wink. He's been great. This is close to home."

Golf unites young and old, straggler and star, because the ball doesn't care who you are. The search consumes us all, and this week it includes Bean, Palmer's grandson Sam Saunders, McDowell, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and whoever else the King invited to his island of misfit toys.

Jules (Skip) Kendall, another Orlando resident who has long since dropped off the Tour, fired a 3-under 33 on his first nine, the back nine at Bay Hill, to pop up on the leaderboard early Thursday morning. Um, Skip Kendall? He's 46, and still looking for his first win. His next made cut will be his first, on any tour, of the 2011 season. All it takes is four good days.

Erik Compton, 31, can relate. The two-time heart transplant recipient from Miami is making his fourth start at Bay Hill, not because he has any kind of status on Tour -- he doesn't -- but because he and Palmer have formed a relationship over their mutual interest in pediatric care. Compton was 12 and struggling with cardiomyopathy when he got his first transplant.

"Arnold has been very good to me because of the Arnold Palmer Hospital," said Compton, who is enjoying one of the best stretches of his career after a final-round 64 at the Northern Trust Open (T25), and a T4 at the Nationwide tour's Panama Claro Championship, both last month. "He and the committee and everybody understand my situation -- it's just been a good fit. I've visited the hospital. I played in the [Monday] pro-am with Chris Peters, who I know because his 4-year-old son, Caydan, has had major heart surgery three times. Sam Saunders is a good friend of mine through playing on the Nationwide. And just being from Florida is part of it."

Bean is Florida to the pulp. A former Florida Gator, he got his first and second-to-last of 11 Tour titles at Doral. He's at Bay Hill in part because the Champions tour, where he will play a full schedule in 2011, is dark.

"I needed a place to play," he said.

Bean finished in the top 10 eight times on the 50-and-over circuit in 2009, but his last victory on Tour was the '86 Byron Nelson. The 6-foot-4, 260-pounder admits he'll have to "worry about Andy," and ignore the lithe, young players who can bomb it past him.

"More power to him," said Johnson Wagner, who approached "Mr. Bean" to shake his hand Wednesday. "I hope I'm doing that in 30 years."

Compton is more competitive. He shot a 63 to tie for the first-round lead at the Tour's inaugural Greenbrier Classic last summer, but blew up with a final-round 77 to tie for 73rd place. He qualified for the U.S. Open at Pebble, but missed the cut. His bravest performance, in addition to living a normal life despite being on his third heart: He flew across the country to Monday-qualify for last month's NTO in Los Angeles, and got in with a 66.

From L.A. he went home to Miami to celebrate his daughter Petra's 2nd birthday and carried his momentum to Panama, where he started his first round with five straight birdies despite not having played a practice round.

Lingering on the Bay Hill practice green, eyeing the hundreds of putters encircling a handful of tour bags standing on the fringe, he asked anyone within earshot if he could he just take one. Wouldn't it be stealing? This week marks the former University of Georgia standout's 27th start on Tour since 2000. He got his second heart transplant, from a 28-year-old man who had died in a motorcycle hit-and-run, shortly after a 2007 heart attack.

Compton hasn't grasped the whole entitlement thing yet.

"Everybody asks me about my schedule," he said, "but I'm just going one day at a time. I just found out I got into Houston [next week]. I got in here. All I care about is the day I'm playing or the next day. My whole season could change [with a win or even a top 10 on the PGA Tour]."

The same could be said of Kendall, whose round unraveled with a triple-bogey 8 on the sixth hole Thursday, or Damron, Bean and the rest, even Tiger and Phil. Four good days -- it's so close. It's so far away.

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Woods goes mobile with his instruction

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods is now giving lessons on mobile phones.

Woods has launched a mobile application called "Tiger Woods: My Swing" for the iPhone and iPod touch that aims to help golfers of all skill levels improve through video analysis and instruction.

It costs $9.99 and proceeds go to the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Woods is going through his fourth swing change since turning pro in 1996, so it's not clear which swing will be on display. But he says the application is based on how he practices. He says he has used video technology to gauge how his swing is developing.

The application will allow golfers to capture video of their swings to analyze and compare to Woods'. Woods serves as a virtual teacher. The app also includes personalized videos in which Woods answers questions.

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Hot this week? Founders, jocks, Masters. Not hot? Lincicome, Sergio

HOT
1. Founders Cup. A great concept evolved into a terrific tournament, elevating an entire sport. It was impossible not to be moved by the vignettes on the LPGA's founding members, a handful of whom were on hand to enjoy the fun. Hopefully next year the tour's pouty no-shows will turn out en masse to support the event and pay their dues.

2. Jocks. Dustin Johnson has already redefined athleticism on the PGA Tour. Now comes Gary Woodland, a former college hoopster who glides around the course as if on Rollerblades and absolutely mauls a golf ball. Golf is getting cooler by the minute.

3. Karrie Webb. In an era when the LPGA's best players are leaving too soon, this Hall of Famer just keeps piling up wins with one of the best swings in the game, male or female. Hopefully Annika and Lorena were watching.

4. The King. This is the one week a year we get to focus on the enduring majesty of Arnold Palmer, the coolest golfer who has ever lived. At 81 he still radiates more virility and life-force than anyone on the PGA Tour.

5. The Masters. It's only two weeks away. I'm pumped. You?

NOT
1. Brittany Lincicome. Bam Bam played beautifully all week until a very soft bogey on the final hole cost her the tournament. If Lincicome's mental game matched her physical gifts she'd easily be the best American on tour.

2. Q School. A proposal being kicked around Ponte Vedra would turn golf's toughest tournament into a portal only for the Nationwide, not the big leagues. Now that's just cruel.

3. Sergio Garcia. For two days at Transitions, El Nino reminded us of the endless promise of his youth. A spotty weekend was the latest evidence of how far he still has to go to become the player he used to be.

4. The supposed Euro invasion. Nearly three months into the season Marty, G-Mac, Westy and Rory have made very little noise on these shores, while of bevy of young Yanks have elevated their games. As always, Augusta will go a long way toward clarifying things.

5. Seve/Shark. If you've been binging on highlights and reminisces of the '86 Masters, like I have, Jack's incredible clutch play is juxtaposed by two of the worst pressure swings in tournament history: Ballesteros's screaming hook into the pond on 15 and Norman's fore!-iron deep into the crowd on 18. Sadly, neither player ever really recovered.

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Karrie Webb wins LPGA Founders CupGoats earn historic win in Houston

Karrie Webb wins LPGA Founders Cup

PHOENIX (AP) — Karrie Webb knew exactly where she stood on the leaderboard late in the LPGA Founders Cup. Brittany Lincicome had no idea.

Webb ended up with her second straight LPGA Tour victory Sunday, while Lincicome got some advice from Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez.

"She said, 'You need to look at the leaderboard,'" Lincicome said. "Nancy just said, "You need to start looking at the leaderboard and your nerves will kind of build into that.' ... Nancy is pretty darn good. I don't think she'd steer me wrong."

Lincicome didn't know she was tied for the lead on the final hole.

"I never look at leaderboards. ... I feel like I'm going to get really nervous," the three-time tour winner said. "For some strange reason, I had it in my mind that Cristie Kerr was running away with it."

Webb wishes there were more scoreboards on the courses.

"I'm a scoreboard watcher," she said. "Even if I'm not on the leaderboard, I like looking at it to see what everyone is shooting."

The tournament came down to a chipping contest.

Webb saved par on the par-4 18th with a chip from the front fringe and a 3-foot putt. About 20 minutes later, Lincicome also ended up in the fringe short of the green. Her chip ran 10 feet past the hole and she missed the par putt.

That gave Webb her 38th LPGA Tour victory

"I didn't think I'd be sitting here today talking about winning," said Webb, six strokes behind leader Angela Stanford entering play Sunday. "But now that I am, It's such a great honor to win this tournament."

Webb, also a comeback winner late last month in Singapore, closed with a 6-under 66 to beat Lincicome and Paula Creamer by a stroke.

The 36-year-old Hall of Famer earned $200,000 for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and Japan relief efforts in the charity event at Wildfire Golf Club.

The Reeve Foundation supports spinal cord research, treatment and rehabilitation for those living with paralysis. Kelvin Haller, Webb's longtime coach back in Ayr, Australia, is a quadriplegic. He was paralyzed in an accident 20 years ago.

"That's why I've been associated with them. It's near and dear to my heart," Webb said. "I think they'll understand that I'm splitting the $200,000 between them and the relief efforts in Japan. ... Japan, the fans, the people and many businesses over there have supported me throughout my entire career. It's just the least that I could do."

Instead of paying the players, the tournament honoring the 13 tour founders donated $1 million to charity - half to The LPGA Foundation and its LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program and half to the top-10 finishers' designated charities.

"I think they did a fantastic job to get this tournament run as well as it was," Webb said. "You wouldn't know that they had only a few months to put it together. ... I think we need to celebrate these ladies more than we do. I wouldn't have had the career that I've had and the life that I've had if it weren't for those 13 women."

Webb finished at 12-under 204 for her third Phoenix victory. She won the previous Phoenix event in 2009 at Papago and in 1999 at Moon Valley.

"I love coming out to the desert," Webb said.

Lincicome shot a 70, and Creamer had a 66.

Kerr was fourth at 10 under after a 69.

After opening with a 71, Webb shot a 67 on Saturday, to reach 6 under and give herself a chance Sunday, especially if Stanford faltered.

And did she ever. The Texan, 12 under after opening 66s, had three three-putt bogeys in a 75 that left her fifth at 9 under.

"Bad putting," Stanford said.

Webb tied Lincicome at 11 under with a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-3 14th and took the lead with a tap-in birdie on the par-5 15th.

Lincicome matched Webb at 12 under with a short birdie putt of her own on 15.

Webb finished with the critical 3-footer for par on 18.

It was then up to the long-hitting Lincicome.

But she couldn't match Webb on the final hole.

"Chipping is something that I've struggled with my whole entire life," Lincicome said. "I wouldn't say awful, but it's definitely not good. So it doesn't surprise me that chip didn't work out too well. But I hit a great putt. I thought that putt was going to go in. Just a little bit more speed and it would have held its line."

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Match Play to stay in Arizona

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — The Match Play Championship is returning to Dove Mountain in 2012 for the sixth straight year.

The PGA Tour said Monday that the World Golf Championship event again will be played at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, where Luke Donald won last month over Martin Kaymer.

The contract with Dove Mountain is to expire after 2012, while Accenture's title sponsorship agreement goes through 2014.

The PGA Tour also said that Gerald Goodman, a popular tournament director with players when he ran the tour event at Innisbrook near Tampa, Fla., would take over as executive director of the Match Play Championship.

Match Play has been at four courses since it began in 1999 - seven years at La Costa, one year in Australia, two years at The Gallery on Dove Mountain and the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.

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Feherty takes a look at the 2011 version of the PGA Tour - and he likes what he sees

Watching golf these days is as much fun as it'sever been. Granted, I may have low standardsin this area. I still enjoy watching McCordhitting fat 4-irons on the range, and theoccasional stone-cold top off the tee from SirIan Ball-Acher Flinch (to which he was occasionally prone evenduring the height of his great career), but holy crap, we have someinteresting stuff to watch now, with some of the players who grewup with Tiger Woods as their hero hitting their prime, and a fewof the older ones getting over their initial shock and awe over thefreakishness of TW's domination.

In CBS's opening event at Torrey Pines, we had Philbert Mickelpersonand Bubba Watson going at it (No need tomess with Bubba's name. I mean, it's Bubba...)to the bitter and twisted end, with Bonestending the 72nd flag from 75 yards. Itwas great stuff, and this writer has hada changed perception of Watson, B.since his win at Hartford last year.Like many others in the media, Ihad thought that Bubba was alittle disturbed, maybe somekind of concussed humansquirrel looking for an imaginarynutsack. On the coursehe was jumpier than a bag oftoads, and liable to snap atcameramen, course reporters(though never at me - I alwaystook the precaution of stayingat least 100 yards away fromhim and making stuff up) orother nearby people for havingan irregular heartbeat, possession ofa yellow shirt, or just being there. What was wrong with the boywas unclear, but from personal experience I knew that inside hishead there was a mental movie that only he could see.

Now we know about Bubba Watson's father, and the long battlewith cancer the Green Beret fought with predictable valor whilehis son was trying to play the Tour and keep his sleeve-worn heartfrom breaking in public. Bubba lost that battle, too, in the armsof his wife, Angie, on the 16th green after his playoff win overCorey Pavin and Scott Verplank. Bubba's dad saw his son win,though, and before he left us would see him wear the Americanflag in a Ryder Cup. I know I speak for a lot of us on this side ofboth camera and page when I say that I hope Bubba Watson'ssorrow is turning quickly to happy memories of a great man, andI apologize for not understanding him sooner. Occasionally Bubbamight still seem like a basket case, but he is always good TV.

Now we have a bunch of these guys who blow what's left ofmy mind with what they do with club and ball. I remember MattKuchar when I stayed 100 yards away from him as well, in case heshanked one into the Y of my Fronts, or one of his prepubescentzits exploded and I got some of it on me. Now look at him - hecan hardly finish out of the top 10 or miss from ten feet, and hehas better skin than Jessica Simpson.

Speaking of fresh faces, Rickie Fowler is following in the CamiloVillegas tradition of, "Yes, I am that pretty, and I can play, too," andhe's just been joined by a guy called Jhonny (and no, that's not atypo) Vegas? Seriously, what are the chances that someone calledJhonny Vegas doesn't have a criminal record? Yet the closest thingto a crime this young Venezuelan has committed is notreturning Hugo Chavez's phone calls. (Frankly, Ithink he should be paid extra for this.)

Dustin Johnson was my player of theyear last season. A tall, windswept kidwith a handsome, crooked smile whopulverizes golf courses into submissionoff the tee, he walks withthe athletic grace of a westerngunslinger and makes old folkslike me want to blow chunks.Of course, in the last round ofthe U.S. Open he shot himselfin the foot, invoking inevitablepredictions of his mental demise,and then had the PGAChampionship stolen from himin the most horrifying circumstances,compounded by theunimaginable trauma of beingdragged naked out of the showerby me for an interview only minutesafterwards! After this unrighteous hosing, not only was he honestand gracious, Dustin was lean, muscular, and he smelled good.Out of journalistic integrity I'd also gotten naked for the interview,and that didn't even bother him! Toss in the way he finished theyear and my friend, if you're still not a Dustin Johnson fan, you'reprobably Taliban. Do not have a nice day.

I don't have enough words left to go through all the playerswho are worth a mention here, but professional golf is in greatshape. Now, I hope they all learn something from Dustin Johnsonand Bubba Watson, who, like Fuzzy Zoeller and Craig Stadlerbefore them, show us who the hell theyare. Because it's not just about greatshots - great people make golf fun towatch. I know you've heard it before,but these guys are good!

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KC's Espinoza reflects on his World Cup experiencePGA Tour Confidential: Biggest Ryder Cup surprises so far

Johnson emerges with lead at Doral

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Dustin Johnson didn't start the season the way he wanted, not with only one decent chance at winning.

His start at the Cadillac Championship wasn't much better.

On his opening tee shot Thursday at Doral, his drive sailed to the right and struck a spectator in the head. Turns out it was his grandfather, Art Whisnant, a former basketball star at South Carolina.

Suddenly, everything is looking up.

Johnson hit his stride and found his swagger Saturday on the back nine of the Blue Monster, shooting a 31 to emerge from a crowd of top players with a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead going into the final round.

The 26-year-old American hit what he called a "bunt drive" that went 310 yards on the 17th, leaving him a wedge into 2 feet. That was the last of his eight birdies, and put him atop the leaderboard. A short time later, after Nick Watney missed two short birdie putts and put his tee shot into the water on No. 18, Johnson had the lead to himself.

"I played well today - drove it well, putt it well, hit the ball well," Johnson said. "So I'm going to have to do that again tomorrow."

One look at the guys behind him makes that clear.

Johnson was at 13-under 203, although seven players were within three shots of him, none lower than No. 31 in the world.

That group does not include Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, who finished before the leaders teed off and remain out of the mix. The surprise is that it doesn't include Martin Kaymer, either. The new No. 1 was in the final group with Hunter Mahan, one shot out of the lead, until he took double bogey from the water on the third hole and struggled to a 74. Kaymer was seven shots back.

Johnson will play in the final group with Luke Donald, who took bogey on the final hole for a 66. Even so, Donald is in good position to capture a second straight World Golf Championship, and a victory could be enough to make him No. 2 in the world.

Watney, who had to settle for a 68 after his double bogey on the 18th, and Matt Kuchar (68) were with Donald at 11-under 205.

Adam Scott is making fast friends with his long putter. He had a 68 and was in the group another shot behind that included Francesco Molinari, Rory McIlroy and Mahan, who didn't make a par over the last six holes - two birdies, four bogeys - and shot 71.

All of them will be chasing Johnson, who has a 54-hole lead for the first time other than at Pebble Beach. He won twice at Pebble in the regular PGA Tour event, but is perhaps more famous for losing a three-shot lead at the U.S. Open last summer when he shot 82.

For all his power, Johnson is a threat this week because of his putting.

He didn't work on it once during the cold, rainy winter in South Carolina, and really didn't put much attention on it earlier this year until after he lost in the first round of the Match Play Championship two weeks ago.

"I finally feel comfortable with the putter, so things are going a little better," Johnson said.

He also got some help from swing coach Butch Harmon - who also works with Watney - on Saturday morning. Johnson asked him to check on his driver and his wedges, and then he put them to good use.

Johnson, considered to have the most potential of America's young crop of players, is known for his audacious tee shots. He went from that "bunt drive" on the 17th to "swinging has hard as I could" on the 18th, a 326-yard blast that left him only a wedge to the green.

And that tee shot on Thursday that nailed his grandfather?

"Yeah, that was a hard drive," he said, smiling. "He said it hit him on the fly, but it couldn't have."

For one thing, his grandfather wasn't hurt.

Johnson could move into the top 10 in the world for the first time in his career. Donald, who moved to No. 3 with his win at the Match Play, could go all the way to No. 2, and it wouldn't surprise him.

"I'm certainly playing very good golf right now, some of the best I've ever played," said Donald, who ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn and was bogey-free until a tee shot to the right, leaving him little chance of reaching the 18th green.

Few other contenders were pleased, mainly because of how they finished.

Watney looked as though he might have a two-shot lead, and instead was two shots behind. Molinari, who won the World Golf Championship in Shanghai in November, nearly went in the water on the last and took bogey.

Mahan kept in front most of the way until failing to birdie the par 5s on the back nine, and finishing with back-to-back bogeys.

"Out here, you hit it in the wrong place, you have a terrible angle to the hole and in the Bermuda rough, you can get a good lie or a bad lie," he said. "Just didn't make good swings and made some bad putts."

Woods and Mickelson, playing for the third straight day together, didn't inspire. Woods switched back to a mallet putter - the same one he tried in Australia last year - and the best he could manage was a 2-under 70 that left him 11 shots behind. Mickelson had a sloppy double bogey on the 14th and wound up with a 72, putting him at even-par 216.

Woods did not comment after his round. He told a tour official he was going to the range, but instead headed to the parking lot.

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Bjorn takes 1-shot lead at Qatar MastersDynamo turn a corner in tie vs. Crew

World No. 1 Kaymer chasing Mahan at Doral

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Hunter Mahan was cruising along at Doral, stretching his lead to four shots, when he stumbled on a couple of holes coming in and suddenly his lead was down to one shot at the Cadillac Championship.

And just like that, the dynamics of this World Golf Championship changed.

It wasn't the size of his lead that suddenly makes the tournament feel tight. It was the name of the guy right behind him.

Martin Kaymer is No. 1 in the world, and he's playing like it.

The 26-year-old "Germanator" might not win every week, but he seems to give himself a chance. If you don't see his name on the leaderboard, wait a few minutes and it will show up.

It was like that for Lee Westwood when he took over the top ranking last November. It was like that for Vijay Singh toward the end of 2004 and early in 2005. And it was like that for Tiger Woods for the better part of a decade.

Mahan had to settle for a 1-under 71 and was at 9-under 135 on the Blue Monster, looking formidable the way he is hitting so many greens. Kaymer hung around all afternoon, not making any mistakes, throwing in a few birdies on the par 5s and wound up with a 70. He was one shot behind, along with Francesco Molinari, who had a 68.

Rory McIlroy is two shots out of the lead, and that's not what concerns him.

"Even though Hunter is a couple of shots ahead of me, to give Martin a stroke lead is going to be pretty tough to sort of keep up with him," McIlroy said.

Mahan isn't worried by this.

If anything, he was bothered by the way he finished. At one point he had a four-shot lead and hardly anything was going wrong. Then came a long three-putt for bogey on the 14th, followed by a tee shot that led to tree trouble and a bogey on the 16th.

Suddenly, the lead was down to one, although Mahan looked at the bright side.

"I hit a lot of good shots, just didn't finish as strong as I would have hoped," he said. "But pretty happy with where I am."

Mahan's late slip didn't just bring Kaymer into the mix.

McIlroy, Matt Kuchar and Nick Watney were only two shots behind. They were followed by the likes of Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott and Riviera winner Aaron Baddeley. Then came defending champion Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Steve Stricker and Luke Donald, the world No. 3 who is coming off a win at the Match Play.

It's the kind of leaderboard expected from a World Golf Championship. Fourteen players were separated by four shots.

It just didn't include Tiger Woods. Or Phil Mickelson, for that matter.

Woods again struggled with his putter, missing four birdie putts inside 10 feet and looking bad at the end. A pair of 6-foot birdie attempts at the 16th and 18th holes never had much of a chance and he wound up with a 74, nine shots behind.

Even so, the lasting image of Woods will be a pair of tee shots.

He hit a smother hook with the driver on the second hole, which traveled only 122 yards - about the same distance he typically hits a sand wedge. Then came a pop-up on the 14th hole and a 188-yard drive.

"It's pretty tough not to giggle," U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell said about Woods' tee shot on No. 2. "We all hit bad shots. Hit a couple of those in my time. The guy is working on his golf swing, and every now and again, you have a few weird ones in there."

When someone suggested he didn't appear to be having fun, Woods didn't look like he was having fun answering the question.

"You're not going to have a lot of fun when you're nine back," he said. "I don't know if a lot of people are very happy with that."

Mickelson dropped three shots when he returned to finish the storm-delayed first round, including two shots in the water on the par-5 eighth for a double bogey that led to 73. He was slightly better in the second round with a 71.

McDowell called a penalty on himself when he noticed the ball move during his putting stroke on the ninth. That gave him a 73, and he was still eight shots behind.

Woods and Mickelson will be paired Saturday, the first time they have ever been in the same group for three straight rounds. They could be just a warmup act, however, being so far out of contention.

Mahan had a chance to beat Kaymer at the Match Play until losing a late lead. Even so, he couldn't help but notice that the German is playing like the world No. 1.

"It's quite impressive, his run," Mahan said. "He seems mentally tough and I think that's what separates him. And he's a great putter. But he's playing great. He's actually winning, and that's what sets the good players and great players apart."

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Confidence continues to build for rookie GavinKaymer struggles, McDowell leads in Spain

Jim Furyk on hitting his prime at 40 and his future in the broadcast booth

You're 40 years old, butyou're coming off your bestseason with three wins andthe $10 million FedEx Cuptitle. Do you consideryourself in your prime?
I do. I'm in my 18th season,so I'm on the back end of mycareer, but I still think I'm inmy prime.

Last year you made yourfewest starts (21) since2004 but had your bestyear. Coincidence?
Possibly, but possibly not—I wasin a good frame of mind, I waswell rested. I would have playedone more if I hadn't overslept[at The Barclays] in New Jersey.

Do you feel like the U.S. Openat Oakmont in 2007 was theone that got away?
As far as majors, I've had mychances. I really had a goodopportunity to win at Augustain '98, I had a chance to win at Birkdale,for the British, in '98, and then I had back-to-back U.S. Opens, '06 and '07, where Ilost by a shot. Augusta maybe [wasn't asclose as] the other three, so I don't knowif I would call that one that got away. Youhave your opportunities and sometimesyou take advantage, sometimes you don't.

Where do you keep your FedEx Cup trophy?
Right now it doesn't really have a spot. It'sjust kind of at the house, downstairs. I guessit's sitting in the dining room. It's not in acase. We don't have an official trophy caseat home. It's out for people to take a lookat it and see it. I think that's where it is.

You look pretty serious on the course.Can you recall something, a movie or aplaying partner, that gave you a goodlaugh recently?
Every day. I've got a terrible memory,though. I'm pretty happy-go-lucky andsarcastic and give my buddies at home somecrap. I'm not very serious off the golf course,it's just the way I play my best on the course.

Tour watchers hear a lot from JohnnyMiller, Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo on thegolf telecasts. Who's your favorite?
I watch so little golf, I'm not sure—allthe anchors are pretty darn good. Nantzhas the voice and I like watching NBCtelecasts as well. I think Roger Maltbie'sfunny. I'm more tuned into the interviewaspect of it. I like Steve Sands on the GolfChannel—I like him as a person, I like theinterviews. You tend to give the guys youlike a little more time—by the way, I needto get going soon.

How would you be as a broadcaster?
I've done four days, a couple of days atKapalua and a couple of days at the Players,but it's always been a situation wheresomebody tees me up and it's been very easy.

Were you any good?
I don't know. I sat next to Ian Baker-Finchfor two days and they would ask very easyquestions and make it very easy for me toanswer. I could play the Stadium Courseat TPC Sawgrass and Kapalua in my sleep,so describing the shots was pretty easy.Everyone was kind of taking care of me.I think I could do okay at it, but I'm surethere's a learning curve. Being an anchor—that's a knack that I will never have.

Let's say you win the Masters in your15th try. What's on the menu for theChampions Dinner?
Wow, I can pick anything? I'd have topick some ethnic food. My mom's Czechand Polish and my dad's Ukrainian andHungarian. My mom's favorite dish, andmy favorite that she makes, is chicken anddumplings, so a chicken paprikash. I wouldhave to go with maybe a ham and somepierogi—get a little hunky in there, as wecall it back in the Pittsburgh area.

Hunky?
It's like a mutt—you've got a lot of ethnicbackground in you. That would be me. I'ma mutt.

Where do you think you have thebest shot at winning a major in 2011—Augusta National, Congressional,St. Georges or Atlanta Athletic Club?
If I had to pick one I'd say Congo—Congressional. The U.S. Open's beengood to me, and I like the golf course. I thinkall of the majors set up better for me thanthey did last year. St. Andrews is not mystyle, Pebble's okay, and Whistling Straitsis not much my style.

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Mickelson, Woods off to slow start at unofficial season opener

DORAL, Fla., — It was Thursday morning at the Blue Monster and Jim Mackay was punching in for work. On his shoulder was a red and black golf bag. On the menu, a tee time with Tiger Woods.

Mackay lumbered toward Doral's nearly empty practice green, dropped the bag and began his workday. He grabbed a few irons from the bag. He buffed them with a towel, wiping down the grips and clubheads. He leaned hard against the bag.

At 8:48 a.m., more than three hours before his scheduled tee time with Woods and Graeme McDowell, Mickelson emerged from the Doral clubhouse, and the energy on the property began to change. In the old days, Doral was always the unofficial start of the golf season, and on Thursday it was happening again.

Mickelson and Mackay didn't fist bump or high five, but greeted each other with the solemn nod of business partners entering an important negotiation. Mickelson grabbed his putter and a fistful of balls.

"I'll take Phil for $100," someone in the crowd shouted. The folks were in a betting mood.

If the PGA Tour was waiting for the early signature event of the 2011 season, it could be at Doral, where 63 players kicked off the annual march toward the Masters in front of a large, energetic gallery. If the West Coast swing was highlighted by the star turns of Bubba Watson and Jhonattan Vegas and the hilarity of Bill Murray at Pebble Beach, Doral is where the golf gets serious. Mickelson spent Tuesday at Augusta National Golf Club, where he played a practice round before arriving at Doral for his much-anticipated pairing with Woods and McDowell, the 2010 United States Open Champion.

After a morning storm Thursday delayed play for nearly three hours and brought down 17 palm trees and two television towers—one of the tower cameras ended up in a lake—most of the players failed to finish their opening rounds. Charley Hoffman held the clubhouse lead after a five-under-par 67 while Hunter Mahan was seven under through 11 holes. But even the microburst that brought 55 mph winds and downed a scoreboard couldn't dampen the excitement of seeing Woods and Mickelson share a tee box, especially here.

Six years ago, the duo engaged in the most famous duel in Doral history, matching swings in a final-round tussle that felt more like a boxing match. Woods edged Mickelson by a shot, the catalyst for a huge year that included major wins at the Masters and the British Open at St. Andrews. Woods and Mickelson ruled the golf world then.

On Thursday at Doral, the crowd pressed against the gallery ropes for a better look at the game's biggest rivalry, but the golf was mostly wanting. Woods, in what has become a familiar pattern, couldn't get the putts to drop and was one under par with three holes to play. Mickelson was marginally better, standing at two under par with three left. McDowell, the highest ranked player in the group, at No. 4 in the world, was one under par with three holes left.

With the fairways and greens softened by rain, the scoring opportunities were ample, even if the signature group failed to capitalize.

"We had a beautiful day to play golf," Mickelson said. "When the storm went away, the weather cleared up and we just had beautiful weather. We didn't play our best, but we didn't play terrible to where we shot ourselves in the foot. We are in a good position to come back out, finish the round strong and play our second round."

For years, Woods and Mickelson have given Doral galleries nothing less than superior play. Woods has won six times here. Mickelson, in addition to his runner-up finish in 2005, won here in 2009.

That is why the galleries ran to the 10th tee to greet them, and why Mickelson and Mackay were up early preparing for the task.

On Friday, they will all be back at the Blue Monster, Woods and Mickelson and thousands more. Doral is here. The Masters is around the corner. The season has begun.

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James Driscoll leads Puerto Rico Open

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico (AP) — James Driscoll shot a 9-under 63 on Thursday in the PGA Tour's Puerto Rico Open, missing a chance to break 60 when he played the final four holes in 2 over.

Driscoll eagled the par-5 fifth - his 14th hole of the day - to reach 11 under, but dropped strokes on the par-4 seventh and par-3 eighth at Trump International Golf Club-Puerto Rico. He had 10 birdies in a 12-hole stretch from No. 12 to No. 3 and ended up with a two-stroke lead over Will MacKenzie.

"I was 11 under with three to play, so I mean anything could have happened," Driscoll said. "If I birdied all three holes or two of them, I could have shot in the 50s, but they were tough holes.

"The seventh hole is a pretty tough hole. I hit a good shot, made bogey, unfortunately kind of got a bad kick, but then the eighth hole I hit it solid, but I pulled it in the hazard and made bogey there. So with three holes to go, definitely could have been lower, but I got a few lucky breaks out there, too, so I'm not really looking back thinking that it should have been a lot lower. But it could have been."

Driscoll matched the course record set by Derek Lamely in the third round of his victory last year.

Angel Cabrera, Omar Uresti and Brendan Steele opened with 66s, and Troy Matteson, Aron Price, Hunter Haas, Fabian Gomez and Cameron Tringale were another stroke back. Stewart Cink had a 69.

John Daly rallied to shoot a 70. He was 4 over after six holes.

Lamely had seven bogeys in a 76.

Mike Weir (wrist) and Boo Weekley (hand) withdrew during the round. Weir was coming off a career-worst 85 in the second round of the Honda Classic. He has shot 77s in his other three tour rounds this year.

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Yani Tseng's life couldn't be better. Now, let's talk

When I was preparing for the new season I knew there were huge expectations for me to play well. Last year I won two majors, the Kraft Nabisco and the Women's British Open, and became the youngest player to win three major championships. (I won the LPGA Championship during my rookie year, in 2008.) It was a huge honor to be awarded 2010 LPGA Player of the Year.

This year I had the pressure of playing my way to No. 1 in the world, which has been a dream of mine since I was 12. Another goal is winning this year's U.S. Women's Open, which, at 22, would make me the youngest player (male or female) to win a career Grand Slam. These are big deals, and there was only one person I could talk to who would understand.

I went to see former No. 1 Annika Sorenstam, who is not only my friend but also my role model. We met at her house in Florida in January, and I asked her for advice on how to handle the pressure. She told me that I can't be afraid and need to embrace the opportunity.

Annika's advice was helpful. I won my first four starts in 2011, and now I'm No. 1 in the Rolex World Rankings. In January I defended my title at the Taifong Ladies Open, an LPGA of Taiwan event. My mother, Yu-Yun Yang, was caddying for me, which made the victory even more special. A few weeks later I traveled to Australia to defend my title at the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open, and I won by seven shots. Before the final round I got an e-mail from Annika that said, "Great playing in Australia. Keep up the good work and bring it home." The next week I won the ANZ RACV Ladies Masters and moved to the top of the world ranking. I followed that up two weeks ago with a victory at the LPGA opener, in Thailand.

While I was there I was excited and proud that all four big newspapers from my native country of Taiwan covered the tournament. The local media gave me the nickname Queen of Golf. I laughed and said, "Thank you, but I don't think I'm there yet—I need to continue to work hard."

I feel honored to have a friend like Annika. At the 2008 Women's British Open she predicted that I would be No. 1 in four years. When the media told me what she said, I thought it was a joke. When I found out they were serious, I was in shock—my idol believed I was going to be No. 1.

Since I was 12 I wanted to be like Annika and play with her on the LPGA tour. Watching her on TV inspired me to practice and work hard to achieve my goals.

I actually live in Annika's old house at Lake Nona in Orlando. When I first saw the house in January 2009, I knew right away that I wanted to buy it. I think that's because it made me feel closer to Annika, who now lives about 300 yards down the street.

I went through a minislump for about two months in 2009 after I missed the cut at the U.S. Women's Open. When I became No. 1, I looked back to that time when I felt frustrated and shed many tears. I felt I had all the tools, but there was something missing in my game.

During my postseason meeting with my team, I expressed a desire to get advice from Annika. However, I was too nervous to approach her, so my longtime adviser, Ernie Hsu, reached out to her. Annika even offered to walk to my house. Over a bottle of good red wine, we talked for 2 1/2 hours. It was extremely generous of her to share her experiences with me, and to learn from the best player in the world was inspiring.

Annika chatted about putting the pieces together for success. She advised me to identify my strengths and weaknesses. Then I could work on my weaknesses and complete the puzzle. We discussed setting short-term goals, which were winning tournaments and improving my overall putting and driving-accuracy stats, along with long-term goals, such as winning Grand Slams and qualifying for the Hall of Fame. Annika also reminded me to focus on what I could control, such as staying in my own routine, and always being excited about the opportunity to compete. After Annika left that evening, I locked myself in the library and went through the notes I had taken. I was immersed in trying to understand and digest Annika's advice.

My playing style is different from Annika's—I'm more aggressive—but she has helped me a lot with the mental side of the game. I reached a turning point at last year's Women's British Open, where I overcame the pressure of going into the final round with the lead and won.

Annika sent me an e-mail the night before the final round, saying, "Great to see you on top of the leader board. That is were you belong. Keep up the good work, trust your ability and have fun!" I wrote these words in my yardage book. That Sunday at Royal Birkdale, I walked away with more than the trophy—I gained the confidence to truly believe I knew how to win and get to the next level mentally.

Annika is such a classy player and person, and I aspire to be like her not only inside the ropes but also outside them. I think giving back is important, so I'm looking forward to the Founders Cup (March 18-20, in Phoenix). The LPGA founders gave us a stage to show our talents and fulfill our dreams of playing golf professionally.

The Founders Cup will be another opportunity for me to connect with fans and share my story. I don't think most people know that I can speak English. Obviously, there are many Asians on the LPGA tour, and it's hard for fans to know who can speak English. I want American fans to know they can talk to me in English. I'm happy to have conversations and interact with them. I learned to speak English mostly by talking and listening to people when I turned pro and moved to the U.S. (I was 18 but had spent summers in America since I was 12.) I'm fearless, so I'm not afraid to talk with anyone, even if my English isn't perfect.

During the short off-season last December, I took a one-month English class, which was really fun. I learned a lot and improved my grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. I wish I could go back because I hope to perfect my English language skills, but I probably will have to wait until the end of the year.

I want to communicate better with fans, tell them how I played, about my plans for the season and convey how I'm feeling. I'd like to show them my personality. If you can't tell, I'm outgoing and bubbly, but I have a sensitive side too. I turned 22 in January, but I still want to be a good role model for younger people and junior golfers—just like Annika.

I'm living my dream and enjoying being No. 1—even though it still seems a little unreal—but I'm going to continue working hard because I want to finish the year atop the ranking. Now that I am No. 1 it's interesting to think back to the low points.

I can't wait to return to Orlando. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see Annika when I get back, so I can thank her personally.

The Tseng File
Age: 22
Homeland: Taiwan
Career highlights: Three-time major winner, including last year's Kraft Nabisco Championship and the Women's British Open.
Did you know? Turned down a $25 million endorsement from a company in China last year because it came with the stipulation that she change her citizenship to Chinese.
The latest: Has vaulted to No. 1 in the Rolex World Rankings on the strength of four straight victories on multiple tours in 2011, including the first event of the LPGA season.

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Peter Uihlein's journey in the game has just begun

Golf has always been a part of my life. My parents have footage of me in a walker swinging a plastic club. If I didn't play golf, I would have been a baseball player. I could sit and watch baseball all day. The mentality of a golfer is like the mentality of a pitcher. If you're standing on the tee telling yourself, "Don't hit it there," or if you're standing on the mound saying, "Don't throw it down the middle," that's exactly what's going to happen.

I grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and I'm a huge Red Sox fan. I've probably been to Fenway 40 times. I've been pretty lucky as a sports fan because the Patriots have won Super Bowls and the Red Sox have won World Series during my lifetime. It was different for my parents, growing up with all those letdowns. My mom told me the story of watching the 1986 World Series. When the ball went through Buckner's legs, my dad left the room and went upstairs. She says he wasn't the same after that.

When I was 13 I told my dad I wanted to move to Florida to attend the IMG Academy. I wanted to be a golfer, and that's hard to do in New England where I could only practice half the year. I thought I was good enough to compete with the best players in the country. My dad was all for it, so we went after it. My mom moved to Florida with me, and my dad stayed north with my brother. I know it was difficult for my mother to have the family split up, and I'm thankful to her.

My dad is just like everybody else's dad. I see him as kind of a goofy guy with a great sense of humor. I try to get in a battle of wits with him, but he always gets me. I emulate him because I've never seen anyone work as hard as he does. Growing up, I would wake in the morning, and he would already be gone. He was the first one to leave the house every day. He started as a sales rep and worked his way up. He worked hard to get where he is. That's where I learned that there is no substitute for hard work. That's why I wanted to move to Florida, to play against guys who would push you every day and who never wanted to lose. Competition is the best way to get better.

The biggest adversity I ever faced was freshman year at Oklahoma State. Karsten Creek [Oklahoma State's home course] is still probably one of the hardest courses I'll ever play. You stand on a tee, and it looks like you're trying to hit it down a train track. From a mentality standpoint, I wasn't ready to handle a golf course like that. It was difficult.

Plus, the team was loaded. Rickie Fowler. Morgan Hoffmann. Trent Leon. Kevin Tway, Bob's son. John McLean, Jim's son. We had three guys exempt, and the rest of us were playing for two spots. And nobody could beat Kevin at Karsten; he's been playing there since he was a pup. To get hit with that freshman year took some getting used to, but I finally did. In the spring I started playing well. I tied for eighth at a tournament at Texas A&M. Four weeks later came the NCAA South Central Regional at Karsten. I finished second to Tway. At the time that was probably one of the greatest tournaments I had played.

When I got picked for the 2009 Walker Cup team, yeah, I heard those snickers that I didn't deserve it. It was hard not to. But that just goes back to my mentality. I'm not out to prove anyone wrong. I play because I love playing. When my coach told me I was playing all four matches, I built some confidence off of that. [Uihlein went 4-0.] The thing I remember most was playing a nine-hole practice round with Fowler and Hoffmann. It was just the three of us, and we knew it'd be the last time we'd all be together because Rick was turning pro. We had so much fun playing. Then we went out and won 16 1/2 to 9 1/2. The three of us like to say it was Oklahoma State 10 1/2, GB&I 9 1/2.

What ever happens I've decided to stay four years at Oklahoma State. I just love it. When you play golf for OSU you're representing a golf tradition that's second to none. I've always equated OSU golf to Duke basketball. That's what tradition is, to win all the time, to be the best and have everyone gunning for you. I love that. In Oklahoma, when you go to a restaurant and have on a Cowboys shirt, people come up and talk to you and ask you how the season's going.

I still get goose bumps when I think about winning last summer's U.S. Amateur. Having my brother and my parents there—and that it happened on my birthday—was pretty crazy. That week always flashes back to me. I can't wait to go to the Masters and see Phil Mickelson up close [the Amateur champ plays with the Masters champ for the first two rounds] and see in person how he hits shots. The guy is one of the greatest players of our time, and I'm looking forward to seeing his game and seeing how I measure up and where I need to improve. I know you have to work the ball both ways and that Augusta is long and wide, so I feel as if it sets up well for me. I'm always working the ball and hitting different shots.

I had my U.S. Amateur trophy at Karsten forever, but now I have it in my room. I never really looked at it until about a week ago. The history of it, seeing the names on it, is just crazy. Woods. Mickelson. And, being a New England boy, seeing Francis Ouimet up there? Now that's pretty cool.

The Uihlein File
Age: 21
Hometown: New Bedford, Mass.
Career highlights: 2010 U.S. Amateur champion and a member of the victorious 2009 U.S. Walker Cup team.
Did you know? His father, Wally, is the chairman and CEO of Acushnet, the company that owns Titleist and FootJoy. When Peter was nine he beat Brad Faxon while playing from the forward tees at the Country Club of New Bedford.
The latest: Uihlein led Oklahoma State to a third-place finish at the Puerto Rico Classic on Feb. 22. He tied for fourth in the individual competition with a seven-under 209.

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Highlights and (foolish) predictions for Wednesday's smorgasbord of 32 matches

MARANA, Ariz. — With apologies to the noisemakers at the Waste Management Phoenix Open's infamous 16th hole, the gang hanging around the margarita-maker at the Colonial Country Club, and the swells sipping vintage wine in the Lodge at Pebble Beach while looking out at golf's most majestic view, the World Match Play Championship is the most fun week of the year. Major championships and team events excluded, of course.

The reason is that match play is the most entertaining form of golf competition. Better still, it almost always gets personal.

Yes, match play has its flaws. At this level, players don't have enough time to separate themselves from an opponent in only 18 holes. That means predicting winners is a crapshoot since any player among the world's 64 best can post a 64 on any given day. The word "upset" should be banned this week. Second, a stroke-play tournament requires a player to beat an entire field over 72 holes. In this event, a player must defeat only six players to win the title and there's a good chance Tiger Woods or Lee Westwood or anyone else ordained as the world's No. 1 player won't be among them.

So match play doesn't necessarily make for great champions, but it does make for great entertainment. Here are some highlights and (foolish) predictions for Wednesday's smorgasbord of 32 matches:

Tiger Woods vs. Thomas Bjorn: The spotlight is always on Tiger in this event where he has had great success (he's won three times) and also glaring failures. Tiger doesn't like desert golf, but his game is reportedly coming around and nobody takes defeat more personally than him. He might be coming into this one with a chip on his shoulder. That said, Tiger's recent play has been dazzling only in its wild inconsistency. Meanwhile, Bjorn made his comeback official by winning on the European Tour earlier this year. He is not easily intimidated and he's playing well. For that reason, the mildly surprising pick here is Bjorn.

Geoff Ogilvy vs. Padraig Harrington: The winner of this match faces the winner of Tiger's match. Now that's a tough way to start off a tournament. Harrington usually doesn't play well this early in the year as he's still in tinkering mode and Ogilvy, a two-time champion, has basically owned this tournament since it moved to the desert. Gotta be Ogilvy.

Martin Kaymer vs. Seung-yul Noh: Your PGA Champion is also the No. 1 player in the world, according to the Golf.com media voter poll. This course is well-suited to a bomber like Kaymer, and he loves desert golf. Noh, a promising young Korean, is probably the best player in the world you've never heard of. It wouldn't be shocking if Noh stunned the German-he's that good. But Kaymer gets the nod.

Dustin Johnson vs. Mark Wilson: Call it battle of David and Goliath, Mutt and Jeff, or Cagney and Lacey. Wilson, the pride of Wisconsin, has already won two Tour events this year playing his curd-loving brand of small ball. This course totally favors Johnson, who is as long as anybody on Tour. There will be two surprises on Wednesday. First surprise: Johnson makes it to the first tee on time this week. Second surprise: Wilson takes him down with bodacious putting as he goes for a third win to kick off what we may someday call the "Mark Wilson Era."

Zach Johnson vs. Justin Rose: Great putters are tough to beat in match play. This could be a quick match as a lot of second putts won't be necessary. The Zach Attack is tough in match play, but Rose broke through last year and is on his way to big things, maybe even this week.

Rory McIlroy vs. Jonathan Byrd: McIlroy might be overrated at No. 7 in the world based on what he's done as opposed to how he's looked while doing it. Byrd is underrated and already has a win this year. Byrd flies off with this one.

Hunter Mahan vs. Sean O'Hair: The battle of the American young-ish guns. This could be a good one. Flip a coin, but give Mahan the edge based on his play so far this season.

Ernie Els vs. Jeff Overton: Ernie was all but unbeatable in match play during the first half of his pro career. But La Costa drove him bonkers and he hasn't done well in the desert. Overton is one of those pesky great putters who's so hard to defeat in match play, but experience will be the difference for Els.

Charl Schwartzel vs. Ryo Ishikawa: A showdown between two guys who can rightly be called "the future of the game." Ryo, who put up a 58 in a win last year in Japan, will have an army of Japanese media following his every move and they'll have plenty to like. It's Ishikawa.

Steve Stricker vs. Matteo Manassero: The crafty veteran from Edgewood, Wis., has played the best golf of his life the last five years. Now he meets up with the 17-year-old Italian whom some have compared to Seve Ballesteros. Manassero is impressive and if Stricker gets past him, he'll face another young gun in Schwartzel or Ryo. There's a good chance the sum of the ages of his first two opponents will be less than the fortysomething Stricker, since he's going to take down all comers.

Ian Poulter vs. Stewart Cink: Bet you never thought this would be considered a marquee matchup one day. But Poulter won this event in impressive style a year ago and Cink backed up some fine match-play efforts with a British Open title two years ago. Cink is tough to handle in this event, but Poulter prevails in a battle of wills.

Graeme McDowell vs. Heath Slocum: You can make a strong case that McDowell is actually the world's No. 1 player, but Slocum is a quiet, underrated competitor who will put up an excellent fight. This one has surprise potential, but McDowell moves on.

Lee Westwood vs. Henrik Stenson: When Stenson won this tournament a few years back, he looked like the No. 1 player in the world. His game has slipped badly the last two years and he only just squeaked into this field after Toru Taniguchi withdrew. He's posted only one score in the 60s this year. Enjoy your quick exit at the hands of mighty Westwood.

Nick Watney vs. Anthony Kim: Kim has something to prove after missing part of last season with a thumb injury and being passed over for the Ryder Cup team. Kim advances.

Phil Mickelson vs. Brendan Jones: Meet the unluckiest Aussie in the world. First, he drew Tiger Woods in an opening-round WGC match during Woods' first post-surgery tournament in 2009. Now he gets Phil. Hey, he's just happy to be among the top 64. Phil's presence this week is a nice surprise for everyone, since he had strongly hinted he wouldn't play this week. Can't let him go home after only one match — what else would Golf Channel have to talk about? Mickelson moves on.

Louis Oosthuizen vs. Bo Van Pelt: The man affectionately known as "Shrek," your reigning British Open champion, is no one-hit wonder. Look for Oosthuizen to take it deep this week, if only to torment those golf writers who rely on spell check.

Rickie Fowler vs. Peter Hanson: Meet the sleeper pick to win it all this week. Yes, that's him disguised as the Orange Dreamsicle or maybe the Pink Flamingo. Hey, it looks good on him. Fowler is a match-play ace and, like Poulter last year, this tournament is a great chance for him to score his breakthrough win in the U.S.

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