RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) Inbee Park and Pernilla Lindberg played until it was too dark to see Sunday night – and still couldn’t decide the ANA Inspiration.

They’ll return to Mission Hills on Monday morning for the fifth extra hole in the LPGA Tour’s first major of the season.

”Inbee’s one of the best female golfers of all time,” Lindberg said. ”So to even have a chance to go out and beat her in a playoff, I think I’m going to sleep great tonight, and I’m going to be ready to go in the morning.”

Article continues below …

Jennifer Song dropped out with a par on the third playoff hole, and Park and Lindberg decided to take one more trip down the par-5 18th in fading light.

”They asked us quickly after the third playoff hole if we wanted to do one more, and both Inbee and I looked at each other quickly and said, `Yes,”’ Lindberg said.

With portable lights and the scoreboard helping illuminate the green, Park holed a 6-footer for par and Lindberg made a short putt to match. They f..

Before the big boys tee it up at Augusta National on Thursday, the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship got underway on Easter morning. The event, which began in 2013, continues to be one of the cooler parts of the week, showcasing just a small portion of the young talent there is in golf throughout the country.
RELATED: The new Masters Golf Shop is everything you'd expect from Augusta National
Among those talented contestants is Conrad Chisman of Stanwood, Washington, competing in the 12-13 boys division on Sunday. Chisman earned a spot by getting through multiple qualifying sites, most notably regional qualifying at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. While there's a ton of great tidbits to learn about Conrad, like his favorite band being Guns and Roses or that he likes Dustin Johnson's '”swag”, by far the best part was his swing with the driver, which rivals Bubba Watson and John Daly. Check it out:
https://twitter.com/GolfChannel/status/980462288942624768
..

The Masters Golf Shop has twice the space as the old facility and will make your local department store seem outdated

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) Pernilla Lindberg glanced at Poppie’s Pond walking off the 18th green Saturday at the ANA Inspiration, knowing she put herself in perfect position to celebrate her first professional title with the traditional victory plunge.

”I’ve played a lot of golf in my life and I just feel like the pieces are kind of falling together,” Lindberg said. ”I’m just letting it happen.”

The 31-year-old Swede shot a 2-under 70 on another hot and mostly calm day at Mission Hills, pulling away when playing partner Sung Hyun Park collapsed on the back nine.

Article continues below …

”I felt calm out there. I had fun,” Lindberg said. ”I went out there today and said, `How often do you get this chance? So I’m just going to enjoy it.’ And that’s what I did.”

Amy Olson was second after a 68. The 25-year-old former North Dakota State star – and the LPGA Tour’s only certified public accountant – also is seeking her first victory as a pro.

Lindberg was two strokes behind Park aft..

HUMBLE, Texas (AP) Ian Poulter has played in the Masters a dozen times, never missing the cut. Beau Hossler has never played a competitive round at Augusta National.

Both are in position to become the last man in the Masters field, and neither wants to think about it.

The 42-year-old Poulter surged into a share of the lead at the Houston Open on Saturday with a 7-under 65, and Hossler, a 23-year-old PGA Tour rookie, matched him at 14-under 202 after he holed a 7-footer for birdie on the par-4 18th to shoot 69.

Article continues below …

Like all PGA Tour events that offer full FedEx Cup points, the Houston Open title comes with an invitation to next week’s Masters.

”No, not thinking about it, not talking about it,” Poulter said. ”I’m going to go out and have some fun tomorrow. There’s a lot of ifs and buts. I’ll have no emotion at all. I’m in a no-lose situation. … I’ll go do my job.”

Four players were two shots behind Poulter and Hossler – Australian Greg Chalmers (65), Argenti..

Welcome to Augusta National, a Baba Booey-free zone.

For one week, the Masters brings a measure of civility back to a game that has grown more obnoxious outside the ropes in recent years.

For these four days in April, the odds of TV mics picking up the calls of the over-served – ”Baba Booey,” ”get in the hole,” ”mashed potatoes” and worse – are virtually nil because, to put it simply, the green jackets who run the club do not allow it.

Article continues below …

It is, in the eyes of many pro players, a welcome reprieve from what has become an increasingly uncivilized game – filled with more volume, more raucous behavior, more people there to get heard on TV than to watch golf. In only a few events this year, high-profile players Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas have dealt with out-of-line comments. Garcia and Thomas even ended up getting hecklers ejected.

”Everybody seems to want to say something,” Steve Stricker said. ”The fans all want to voice their opinion, and ..

Forgotten in the ridiculously wild shuffle of MLB Opening Day was a pitcher's duel between the L.A. Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was in his usual form, going 6 innings strong, striking out seven batters and giving up just one run. Unfortunately for Kershaw, it was the only run of the game.
That run came off the bat of Giants second baseman Joe Panik, who took Kershaw deep in the top of the fifth, eventually giving San Francisco a 1-0 win. On Friday night, game two of the West Coast series was another pitcher's duel, with the teams combining for just two hits through eight innings of a 0-0 tie. In the top of the ninth, Panik was set to lead off, but Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen got called in, and immediately worked an 0-1 count on Panik. But Panik delivered on the next pitch, crushing one off one of the best closers in baseball to give the Giants a 1-0 lead that they finished off in the bottom of the ninth.
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/97..

Players from 23 countries are competing at this year's Masters. So who is the best golfer from every country represented? Here's our ranking

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) A look at some of the anniversaries this year at the Masters:

75 years ago (1943): Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts decided after the 1942 Masters to stop the tournament for the rest of World War II. According to the Augusta Chronicle, the club’s greenskeeper raised turkey and cattle on the grounds while the club was closed. Roberts said in his autobiography that the cattle destroyed several azalea and camellia bushes and ate the bark of several young trees. There were plenty of WWII connections to the Masters. Jones was commissioned as a captain in the Army Air Corps, and his unit landed at Normandy a day after the D-Day invasion. Leading the Normandy invasion was Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who later became a member at Augusta National during his two terms as U.S. president.

—

Article continues below …

50 years ago (1968): The 1968 Masters is best remembered for five words: ”What a stupid I am.” Roberto de Vicenzo birdied the 17th hole in the final round to tak..

Phil Mickelson was 148 yards away in the middle of the 14th fairway at Augusta National and saw a pin that was set up for birdies.

The trick was getting there.

He wanted to flight a low 9-iron so it would carry over the first tier and land about four paces short of the hole. His caddie, Jim ”Bones” Mackay, wanted him to take something off a pitching wedge, and Lefty concurred. It landed about 12 feet short, rode the slope and came within inches of going in.

Article continues below …

It wasn’t his most famous birdie in 2004, when Mickelson won his first Masters, but it was no less important.

What allows it to get overlooked is its position on the dynamic back nine, right between the two par 5s.

”I think it’s as exciting a hole as any,” Jordan Spieth said.

Spieth had his own adventures there when he won the Masters in 2015. He was in the trees to the right of the 14th green when he slashed at a 7-iron and feared it would run through the green and into all sorts of trouble. Inste..