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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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..

HUMBLE, Texas (AP) Beau Hossler was steady while better-known players faltered down the stretch Friday at the Houston Open, leaving him with a one-shot lead heading into the weekend.

The 23-year-old Hossler shot a 4-under 68 for a two-day total of 11-under 133, good enough for the second 36-hole lead of his rookie season. He shared the lead with Dustin Johnson at the halfway mark at Pebble Beach before falling out of contention.

Hossler opened with a bogey but didn’t drop another shot the rest of the day, finishing with a wedge from 114 yards to inside 3 feet to save par on the tough par-4 18th. He said patience will be key as he seeks his first PGA Tour victory.

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”The reality is I’m 11 under par. More than likely 18 under is going to win the tournament unless the conditions are tough, so there’s a long way to go,” Hossler said. ”It’s not like I can go shoot even par and win the tournament. But I’m looking forward to the challenge of the weekend.”

Rickie..

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) Michelle Wie fought through vertigo, Lexi Thompson battled a balky putter – and Pernilla Lindberg and Sung Hyun Park quietly broke away Friday at the ANA Inspiration.

Park and Lindberg shared the lead at a tournament-record 12-under 132, three strokes ahead of Jessica Korda after two rounds in hot and mostly calm conditions at Mission Hills.

Thompson was 4 under after an even-par 72, undone by a series of short missed putts a year after a rules violation cost her four strokes in regulation in an eventual playoff loss.

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”I hit it really well today,” Thompson said. ”I just struggled on the greens.”

Fighting dizziness caused by a virus, Wie followed her opening 75 with a bogey-free 67 to get to 2 under.

”Saw one golf ball today, which was good,” Wie said.

With little fanfare five groups in front of the Thompson-Wie morning pairing, the fourth-ranked Park shot a 64 for the best round of the week. The U.S. Women’s Open champion pl..

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) Michelle Wie fought through vertigo, Lexi Thompson battled a balky putter – and Pernilla Lindberg and Sung Hyun Park quietly broke away Friday at the ANA Inspiration.

Park and Lindberg shared the lead at a tournament-record 12-under 132, three strokes ahead of Jessica Korda after two rounds in hot and mostly calm conditions at Mission Hills.

Thompson was 4 under after an even-par 72, undone by a series of short missed putts a year after a rules violation cost her four strokes in regulation in an eventual playoff loss.

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”I hit it really well today,” Thompson said. ”I just struggled on the greens.”

Fighting dizziness caused by a virus, Wie followed her opening 75 with a bogey-free 67 to get to 2 under.

”Saw one golf ball today, which was good,” Wie said.

With little fanfare five groups in front of the Thompson-Wie morning pairing, the fourth-ranked Park shot a 64 for the best round of the week. The U.S. Women’s Open champion pl..

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) A hole-by-hole look at Augusta National, site of the 82nd Masters to be played April 5-8, with famous shots played at each one, the average score and where each hole ranks in difficulty since 1934:

No. 1, 445 yards, par 4 (Tea Olive): This slight dogleg right plays uphill and has a deep bunker requiring a 317-yard carry off the tee. The bunker has a tongue in the left side, so anything that enters the front of the bunker might be blocked by the lip. A bunker is left of the green, which falls off sharply at the back and to the right.

Masters memory: Charl Schwartzel used a 6-iron to pitch a low-running shot from the right mounds across the green and holed the shot for birdie to begin the final round of his 2011 victory.

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Average score and rank: 4.24 (6th)

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No. 2, 575 yards, par 5 (Pink Dogwood): A dogleg left that can be reached in two by the big hitters. A fairway bunker on the right comes into play. A big drive kept down the left sid..