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..

*Courtesy of KansasCity.com*Sports, man. Yes, it's crazy to explain that a random man would be compelled to show up at his grandma's old house, not knowing the current owner, because in his head, it's overtime and he needs to help his Kansas Jayhawks over the top against Duke. And yet it's even crazier when you read that the current owner of the house, another huge Kansas fan, would actually let the first random guy into his house, to watch the remainder of the game.
This is an apparent real story. In 2018. And it can be perhaps only be explained by saying that sports makes people do extremely weird, unexplainable things.
KansasCity.com has the story about Jeff Shull, who apparently drove past his grandma's house on the way to his in-laws place to watch the Kansas/Duke Elite Eight game last weekend. According to the story, Shull said he considered stopping the car when seeing the current owner of the house, Andy Schwartz, dressed like the biggest Kansas fan you..

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Facts and figures for the Masters:

Tournament: The 82nd Masters.

Dates: April 5-8.

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Site: Augusta National Golf Club.

Length: 7,435 yards.

Par: 36-36-72.

Purse: To be determined ($11 million in 2017).

Field: 86 players (80 professional, 6 amateurs).

Cut: Top 50 and ties, and anyone within 10 shots of the lead.

Defending champion: Sergio Garcia.

Last year: Sergio Garcia won his first major in his 70th attempt as a pro, rallying from a two-shot deficit with six holes to play to beat Justin Rose on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. The turning point came at the par-5 13th when Garcia had to take a penalty drop from the bushes left of the tee. He saved par, went birdie-eagle to tie Rose and won with a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in sudden death after Rose made bogey.

Eye on Tiger: Tiger Woods returns after missing the Masters three of the last four years with a back injury.

The odds: The Westgate Las Vegas Superbook..

If you haven't noticed, the internet is a wretched, vile, despicable and miserable place. The keyboard warriors will chew you up and spit you out before you've even had time to process being chewed up and spit out. Just ask Ken Bone, who went from political Twitter sensation to creepy porn guy in a matter of 24 hours.
But there are rare viral sensations who can stand the test of time, and by test of time I mean almost two full weeks. The shining example of this is Loyola Chicago's Sister Jean, whose improbable run has lasted throughout the NCAA Tournament without a hitch. Obviously, being a 98-year-old nun helps, but the Twitter eggs and internet investigators are ruthless enough to dig up dirt and attack just about anyone, including an elderly sister. But so far, Sister Jean has remain unscathed.
But a good thing can only last so long, and with the massive media attention coming Loyola Chicago's way for the Final Four, it appears the callous, cold-hearted commenter..

A capsule look at 15 top contenders for the Masters, which starts April 5 at Augusta National Golf Club:

DUSTIN JOHNSON

Age: 33.

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Country: United States.

World ranking: 1.

Worldwide wins: 17.

Majors: U.S. Open (2016).

Masters moment: Slipping down the stairs and wrenching his back on the eve of the Masters, leading him to withdraw as the No. 1 player and heavy favorite in 2017.

Backspin: He doesn’t have nearly the momentum he had last year when he was coming off three straight victories. But he hasn’t been awful, either, except for his 0-3 mark at Match Play. He won Kapalua and was runner-up at Pebble Beach. He figured out how to play the course two years ago when he contended for the first time.

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BUBBA WATSON

Age: 39.

Country: United States.

World ranking: 21.

Worldwide wins: 12.

Majors: Masters (2012, 2014).

Masters moment: Hooking a gap wedge out of the trees on No. 10 to set up a par in a sudden-death playoff for his first Masters victor..

Icon SportswireDeontay Wilder—40-0 WBC heavyweight title holder/227-pound human bio weapon—is a scary dude. If you're not familiar with his oeuvre of pain, just check out what he did to Bermane Stiverne back in November, which at the time we called “the single most terrifying highlight of the sports weekend.”
But if you think that's scary (and it most definitely is), just wait until you hear what Wilder had to say about his, er, career goals in an interview with Charlamagne tha God and Angela Yee on The Breakfast Club on Friday morning:
When asked about “sympathy” for his opponents, Wilder responds immediately and with emphasis:
“I want a body on my record. I want one. I really do.”
At that point the entire room goes dead silent as Wilder goes on to explain that it's not really him, but his Bronze Bomber alter-ego—an unthinking, unfeeling masked haymaker machine—who wants the blood on his gloves.
“When I'm the Bronze Bomber, I don't really care. Everything abou..