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Don't Drop the Ball, Augusta On a day that so much attention was given to a rules infraction, it’s another rules infraction that everyone should be talking about. We all know that 14 year old Guan Tianlang, competing at a level far beyond his age, was assessed a 1-stroke penalty for slow play. While basically nobody liked this ruling or agreed with it, it was technically correct. USGA Rule 26 governs drops when a ball is in a water hazard. Per this rule, a player can replay the shot from “as nearly as possible from the spot from which the...

To put this performance into perspective, consider that Guan finished his first career Masters round tied with five major champions and two strokes ahead of the defending champion, Bubba Watson. He should have been a nervous wreck, a golfing shambles. The sheer length of Augusta National was supposed to overwhelm Tianlang Guan, remind him that he is 14 years old, an eighth grader, a thin reed in a forest of pines. Instead, Guan rolled a 20-foot, pin-high putt into the cup on the 18th hole for a final birdie, giving him an impressive 1-over 73 in the first round Thursday....

The intelligent punter's guide to the 2013 US Masters golf How to spot a winner - or at least a top five finisher - in the 93-strong field about to tee off at Augusta BY Neil Clark LAST UPDATED AT 11:26 ON Thu 11 Apr 2013 IF YOU thought last weekend's Grand National with 40 runners was a baffling enough puzzle to solve, then what about the US Masters, with a field of 93 golfers?The first golfing major of the year, which starts soon after midday (UK time) in Augusta, Georgia today and finishes on Sunday night, has proved a...

Joseph Ducreux - Yawning Self-Portrait More at Reaganite Republican...

As a defamer of his fellow Jews, Noam Chomsky is in a class of his own. “Hitler’s conceptions,” he once wrote, “have struck a responsive chord in current Zionist commentary.” Israel, he added, is guilty of planning a “final solution” for humanity, an apocalypse from which “few will escape.” The world-famous MIT professor and far-left intellectual guru has described the PLO as “heroic,” while vilifying America’s Jewish community as “deeply totalitarian.” He has collaborated with Holocaust deniers, allowing them to publish and distribute his books, and he gave his endorsement to an antisemitic author (the late Israel Shahak) who alleged...

DETROIT—A pioneering sex researcher's son who was cited for masturbating in New York's Central Park earlier this year was arrested in a rural Michigan sting operation for allegedly exposing himself to two female undercover investigators. A completely nude William H. Masters III yelled for the attention of the two female kayakers on Saturday, then made obscene gestures from the bank of the Pinnebog River, Huron County Sheriff Kelly Hanson said. http

<p>Condoleezza Rice, here with PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem at the Masters in 2009, was also recently appointed to the USGA's nominating committee.</p> <p>NEW YORK (AP) -- For the first time in its 80-year history, Augusta National Golf Club has female members.</p>

He is the man who began self help talk radio over 50 years ago and is still on all over the nation trying to wake Americans out of their hypntotic states. I call him the repo man because he has the roadmap to reposessing our own bodies and minds, as our only problems in life and in our nation are that we have all become possessed by entities very similar to the ones in the movie " Invasion of the Body Snatchers". However, these creatures are very crafty and hate goodness, indeed they are the mischievious flipside of our good...

A 40-year-old Masters patron was arrested Sunday after, police said, he attempted to steal sand from the sand trap. Richmond County sheriff’s Capt. Scott Gay said Clayton Price Baker, of Ohio, slipped under the ropes following the tournament and attempted to put the sand in his cup. After a short foot chase by Augusta National security and sheriff’s deputies, Baker was apprehended and charged with disorderly conduct. Gay said Baker, who was drinking heavily at the time of the incident, was unsuccessful at getting any of the sand in his cup

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NOTE: for those who didn't follow it, Watson won the Masters today. ====================================================== There’s something different about Bubba Watson. And he doesn’t care if you know it. The PGA golfer, who ranked 18th in the latest World Golf Rankings, realizes he’s not like most famous athletes. In fact, he welcomes it. “People always ask ‘Why is Bubba different?’” said Watson during a phone interview from Scottsdale, Ariz. “They’re just trying to figure it out.” Watson’s identity is not wrapped up in his freakishly long drives from his lanky 6-foot-3, 180-pound left-handed swing—he leads the Tour with a 315-yard average. Rather,...

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The golf ball sat at the bottom of the left pocket of Wayne Mitchell's green cargo shorts. "I've got a zip on it," Mitchell said of the zipper pulled tight across the pants leg. He might have considered a safety deposit box. Mitchell owned -- for a few hours, at least -- one of the most famous golf balls in Masters history. He got it Sunday afternoon after Louis Oosthuizen double-eagled the par-5 2nd hole, pulled the Titleist from the cup and, incredibly, underhand-tossed it toward the patrons seated behind the green. It landed in the hands...

The photo you see to your right would be one of Russ Berkman's four tickets to Wednesday's Masters practice round. The Seattle resident hit the jackpot and was all set to enjoy some time golfing and hanging out with a couple of buddies before heading to Augusta to take in the course and the Par-3 Contest. It sounded like a perfect plan ... until Berkman came home to find his dog, Sierra, had eaten all four of his tickets. I guess his dog didn't appreciate being left out of the trip. As Berkman told sports radio station KJR in Seattle,...

The Fullerton, California, Police Department was accused Friday of a third case of brutality. The incident involves the same officer accused of being among several involved in the beating death of a 37-year-old homeless man this summer. In the latest allegation Friday, the officer is accused of assaulting and falsely accusing a 27-year-old man of being drunk in public, said Garo Mardirossian, the alleged victim's attorney. Edward Miguel Quinonez, 27, of Anaheim, California, is planning to file a lawsuit against the Fullerton police officer for "slamming" his head against the wall in a June 27, 2010, incident, Mardirossian told reporters...

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- There first needs to be a simple, declarative statement to settle something once and for all, an answer to a question that's been asked for days, if not months. The statement is this: Tiger Woods is back. He is. It's official. He didn't win the Masters, but after a courageous, almost history-making performance, it's impossible not to declare the career of Woods reinvigorated from the waitress-chasing dead. Everything was present. The charge was there. He made up seven shots in eight holes, including an eagle on eight that led to the loudest roar of the weekend. Check....

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Charl Schwartzel has won the Masters by two strokes over Adam Scott and Jason Day after a wild final day at Augusta National. The 26-year-old South African closed with four straight birdies, making a 20-footer at the final hole to wrap up a 6-under 66. He finished 14-under 274, enough to deny Australia its first green jacket.

2011 Masters: My Picks for the Top Ten (in no particular order,... although I like Luke Donald or Westwood to win.) Matt Kuchar Phil Mickelson Justin Rose Luke Donald Dustin Johnson Ian Poulter Hunter Mahan Adam Scott Lee Westwood Ben Crane

Viewers' general reaction to the "Did You Learn Anything?" spot from Nike featuring Tiger Woods? In a word: "ick." According to ad evaluator Ace Metrix, the commercial scored well below norms for footwear ads overall, garnering low marks for both persuasion and watchability. Ace gauged the clip using an online panel of 500 adults. The 30-second commercial, which featured a voiceover from Tiger's dead dad, received an overall score of 365 out of a possible 950 points. (The norm for spots in the apparel footwear category is 501). For persuasion, the ad scored 428 (vs. a 554 norm for the...

As is true for most professional athletes, PGA golfers are often showered with endorsement money from golf suppliers and other companies to advertise and be spokesmen for their products and services. Some golfers have obviously done better than others in the endorsement market, which is often determined by the exposure that certain golfers receive during television broadcasts of golf tournaments and elsewhere. Certainly other criteria come into play as well in terms of which golfers companies want out there hawking their products and services for them. A quick analysis of two golfers shows some of the criteria that companies must...

Angel Burley knew from the player's pass on the windshield that a golfer was coming to her drive-through window at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on Washington Road. It wasn't until she saw the green jacket that she realized who he was.