Faldo sympathizes with Spieth at Augusta

AUSTIN, TEXAS » Nick Faldo has seen tee shots into Rae’s Creek on the 12th hole at Augusta National — Greg Norman in 1996 comes to mind.

What amazed him about Jordan Spieth making triple bogey last year in the Masters is why he didn’t go back to the tee. Spieth, like many others, chose to drop short in the expanse of grass short of the creek and hit that fat and into the water.

“It’s not a ball drop. You just find your own angle,” Faldo said. “You’ve never practiced it. It’s a really weird place to be. And the depth perception is horribly difficult because all you see is creek, bank and the green is just a sliver. There’s no depth perception, and then you see two bunkers in the back.”

Faldo said the shot from there is compounded by the emotions.

“It’s a crazy, difficult shot, let alone you’re thinking, ‘ What have I just done?”’ he said. “It just shows you, when you get in a spiral, you can’t spell your bloomin’ name.”

Darquea’s Win

Tour by tying for 29th in Q-school.

“I didn’t really expect to win this quick,” he said. “I just love to play golf and compete, and I’m super excited about this.”

Bubba’s Tips

Bubba Watson has never had a formal swing coach, but he got some help with his putting at the Match Play

ho? He’s not entirely sure.

First, he said Brandt Snedeker helped him with his ball position. But asked about those tips a day later, Watson said, “I messed it up. It was Brooks Koepka that really helped me out.”

And now, a word from Koepka.

“I was looking at Bubba on Tuesday and we were talking about some things,” Koepka said. “Sneds gave him a lot of advice and I was trying to give him a little bit more.”

So it was both of them? Apparently so.

“He asked me to take a look at his putting and I saw some stuff that I’ve seen for a while,” Snedeker said. “I told him what I would do differently. I was giving him a hard time — ‘ You’ve got nowhere to go but up. You’re not putting very good right now at all’ — It was fun. Glad to see he’s playing well.”

So he got help from Koepka and Snedeker. And Jordan Spieth? “Jordan gave me a tip awhile back,” Watson said. “I’m just throwing everybody’s name under the bus. He gave me some drills to do and different things.”

Feng’S Plans

if they send the kids overseas,” Feng said. “If they send the kids over, it’s very expensive and one parent, or both of the parents, have to move over with the kid and they have to give up a lot of stuff. I want to give them a chance now they don’t need to leave the country. That’s why I wanted to open this academy.”

Her academy will be at the 36-hole Nansha Golf Club near Feng’s hometown of Guangzhou.

Divots

D.A. Points was No. 634 in the world when he won the Puerto Rico Open. That’s the lowest ranking of a PGA Tour winner since Derek Ernst was No. 1,207 and won the Wells Fargo Championship his rookie season. ... So Yeon Ryu is leading the LPGA Tour money list without having won this year. The former U.S. Women’s Open champion has a pair of runnerups (Thailand, Kia Classic) and has finished no worse than seventh in her other two events. ... Thomas Pieters, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood have become special temporary members on the PGA Tour, meaning they have unlimited sponsor exemptions the rest of the season to try to earn their cards. ... Former PGA champion Bob Tway, Doug Tewell and Mark Hayes are among five to be inducted into the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame this year.

Stat of the Week

Phil Mickelson tied for fifth in the Match Play and tied for seventh in the Mexico Championship. It was the first time he had back-to-back top 10s since he won the Scottish Open and British Open in 2013.

Final Word