HOUSTON – Charley Hoffman had a 2-under 70 for a one-shot lead over Jamie Lovemark at the Houston Open on Friday.

Lovemark was a former NCAA champion seeking his first PGA Tour title after having his career affected by back surgery. He was one of four players to shoot the day’s low score, 68, under conditions that worsened as the afternoon went on, which helped protect Hoffman from the field.

Dustin Johnson was among those chasing Hoffman, who opened with a 64 Thursday, but Johnson dropped back to 8 under with a bogey on 17, closing with a 71 after narrowly missing a 10-foot birdie putt on 18.

Johnson was in the last group to finish the round before darkness stopped play.

A 93-minute morning weather delay brought on by rain and lightning in the area ensured that 27 players will have to complete the second round Saturday morning.

“It was really tough … cold and the wind was blowing,” Johnson said. “The course played difficult, especially the last four, five holes. I still managed to get a round under par, a pretty decent score under the conditions. I’m happy with that.”

Roberto Castro and Jamie Donaldson, are also at 8 under with three holes still to play, sharing third place with Johnson and Chez Reavie. Reavie shot 70 Friday to go with a first-round 66. Johnson and Castro had both opened at 65.

The 39-year-old Hoffman moved to 11 under with a birdie on No. 17, but gave the stroke back by bogeying 18, considered to be one of the most challenging finishing holes on the PGA Tour and made more difficult by wind gusts.

“I had a fairly straightforward bunker shot but caught it a little heavy,” he said. “That’s a tough hole. They moved the tee up today, but there’s still a big water hazard to the left and the wind was blowing in off the right. It’s tough to putt in the wind. It was blowing my ball.

“Tee to green I did pretty well, but the putts weren’t dropping like they did yesterday. I’m happy where I’m at. Anytime you’re near the lead after 36 holes you’re happy.”

Charles Howell III eagled the par-4 10th hole and was making a run at Hoffman before bogeying the par-3 16th and taking a double-bogey on 18 to finish with a second consecutive 69, leaving him in a large group four shots back.

Five-shots back in a group at 5-under was Canada’s Graham DeLaet. The Weyburn, Sask., native was even-par thru 16 holes of his second round when play was called.

Jordan Spieth, who will be trying to defend his Masters title next week, struggled with his putting and, for the second day in a row, put a ball into a water hazard on a par-5 hole. The end result was three bogies on his back nine – the Golf Club of Houston course’s front nine – and he finished with a ragged 73.

“I’m close,” Spieth said. “It’s the dumb stuff … those water balls. That’s four shots right there. It really stinks to keep on making those mistakes. And I’ve got to putt better before next week.

“I’m losing a couple strokes (to) the field on putting and normally we’re gaining strokes. I can’t get into a rhythm. I’m stepping off putts. That’s a tough feeling. It kind of bleeds into the rest of your game because you feel like you’ve got to be more aggressive.”

The 22-year-old Texan lost this tournament in a playoff a year ago before going to Augusta and leading start to finish, tying Tiger Woods’ tournament-record 18-under score. Spieth is one of 34 players within six shots of Hoffman.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Lexi Thompson birdied the final hole for a 4-under 68 and a share of the ANA Inspiration lead with Ai Miyazato on Friday.

The 21-year-old American holed a 30-foot putt on the par-5 18th to reach 7 under at Mission Hills in the LPGA Tour’s first major championship of the year. She won the event in 2014.

Miyazato, also tied for the first-round lead, followed her opening 67 with a 70. The 30-year-old Japanese player also finished with a birdie, hitting to 2 feet on the par-5 ninth.

Top-ranked Lydia Ko was a stroke back along with Suzann Pettersen, In Gee Chun, Lizette Salas, Sung Hyun Park and Lee-Anne Pace. Ko had a 68, Pettersen, Salas and Park shot 67, Chun had a 69, and Pace a 70.

Canadian Brooke Henderson had a 3-under 69 Friday to climb from a share of 60th into a tie for 25th. The Smiths Falls, Ont., native is 2-under.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp had a 74 to drop into a tie for 40th at even par.

Tiger Woods is going to Augusta National next week – to eat, not play.

Woods made it official Friday night what most observers figured all along. Recovery from two back surgeries last year has not progressed to the point where it’s wise for him to tee it up at the Masters. It will be the second time in the last three years that Woods has not played the Masters.

Woods did say on his website that he has been hitting golf balls and training daily. But he still had no timetable for when he would return to competition.

He has said all along that he will not rush his return to golf. Woods turned 40 on Dec. 30.

He said he plans to be at the Champions Dinner on Tuesday.

Port St. Lucie, Fla – South Carolina’s Matt NeSmith shot a 2-under 70 on Friday at PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course to take a two shot lead into the final round of Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada Q-School.

With weather delays from earlier in the week pushing back play, round four began Friday afternoon and was suspended due to darkness at 7:33 p.m. Play will resume Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m.

NeSmith, who has held or co-held the lead after each of the first three rounds, was bogey-free for his third round.

“I just kind of played solid. I didn’t play quite as well today as I did the first two days, but I made some big putts, a lot of 5-footers for par,” said NeSmith. “Even though the scores are really good, I didn’t play bad by any stretch of the imagination. I didn’t quite get out in front like I wanted to, and there’s still a long way to go, but I’m happy.”

Two shots behind NeSmith was Kitchener, Ont.’s Chris Hemmerich and Florida’s Alex Medinis. Hemmerich, who finished 80^th on last year’s Order of Merit, carded his third straight round under par and credited a strong performance tee-to-green for his round.

“It was pretty much the same story as the first two rounds. I hit a lot of greens, and I might have only missed one or two again today. Once I get that putter rolling, I know there’s a low one in me,” said Hemmerich.

CALGARY – Alberta Golf has announced its competition schedule, including host clubs and dates, for the 2016 championship season. A total of 12 provincial amateur championships will be conducted – along with qualifying events – that lead to entry into Canada’s national amateur championships.

“Nearly 1,500 talented Albertan and regional golfers will gather at some of Alberta’s top golf facilities to compete for a provincial golf championship,” said Alberta Golf’s COO, Jack Lane.

“It is Alberta Golf’s honor and privilege to conduct these championships in partnership with our host clubs, committed sponsors and the hundreds of devoted volunteers from communities across Alberta. We are pleased that our championships offer an opportunity for all members to compete, whether that be for the simple enjoyment of the challenge, or for our athletes who are hoping to add their name to the history books.”

The complete 2016 schedule and registration information can be found here.

The azaleas are blooming, the pollen is swirling, and green sport coats are about to be in vogue for one whole week.

Yet something is missing at this dawning of spring.

Tiger Woods.

Whether he shows up at Augusta National to play in the first major of the year is beside the point. It’s not like he’d be a Masters contender, not with a broken-down body that has kept him off the course for more than seven months. Probably best that he just stay away, unless he wants to take a crack at the ceremonial opening tee shot. Now that Arnold Palmer has bowed out, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player need someone to complete their threesome.

All kidding aside, what’s missing is something that’s never coming back.

Tiger Woods in his prime.

While there’s no question the future of the game is in good hands with Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler, none of them is likely to match – or even come close – to what Woods did at the height of his dominance.

Spieth gave it a run last year, winning the Masters and the U.S. Open, just missing out on a playoff at the British Open, and taking the runner-up spot at the PGA Championship.

Now, let’s see if the young Texan can keep it up for another decade or so.

“It’s hard to explain to Jordan coming out now how (Woods) was just so much better than everyone,” Adam Scott says. “We’re all quick to forget that sometimes.”

Indeed, with more and more time to reflect on Woods’ legacy – after all, he hasn’t won a major since his one-legged conquest at the 2008 U.S. Open – the enormity of his accomplishments feels like it was dropped on us from another world, transforming this lazy, country-club game into something hip, exciting, must-see TV.

Millions of people who had never watched a golf tournament tuned in every time Woods was on the course. As the ratings can attest, many of them didn’t stick around once he faded away.

Even now, when it seems a bit foolish to even consider him trying to tee it up next week, the breathless speculation about his status for the Masters shows just how much cachet he still carries.

Woods, like so many great athletes in the sunset of their careers, still seems to believe he can win major titles. He surely hasn’t given up on Nicklaus’ Holy Grail of records, those 18 major championships.

“I am starting to feel a lot better,” Woods wrote on his Web site about a month ago, the most recent dispatch on the state of his game. “While there is no timetable on my return to competitive golf, I want to play this game at the highest level again.”

Even Nicklaus, who’s made it clear he likes the view from the top just fine, wishes Woods had a few more good years in him, to at least make it a fair fight.

“I’ve told Tiger many times … nobody wants their records to be broken, but I don’t want you not to have the ability to have that opportunity to do so by your health,” Nicklaus says.

From his first major title at the Masters in 1997, when he shot a record 18-under score at age 21, to that U.S. Open triumph at Torrey Pines eight years ago, Woods played the game better than anyone before him and, we’re willing to wager, anyone to come in ours or several other lifetimes.

Over the course of 46 majors, he won 14 times and was runner-up on five other occasions. He had six more finishes inside the top five, four more where he was in the top 10. Only nine times did he finish outside the top 20 during that stunning stretch. He missed one cut, in 2006 at the U.S. Open shortly after the death of his father.

Woods bounced back from that heartache to win four of the next eight majors.

And, then, his body betrayed him.

Knee surgery knocked him out for the rest of 2008. These days, he’s trying to come back from two surgeries on his wobbly back, not exactly where a golfer who just turned 40 wants to be at this point in his career.

But we can always fall back on those memories from the first 16 months of the last decade, when Woods not only romped to four straight major titles over two calendar years – the Tiger Slam – he thoroughly demolished anyone who got in his way. His 15-stroke win at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach will forever be the standard for what golf can be at its closest point to perfection.

“He inspired all of us to play golf like he did,” Scott says. “I feel so fortunate to have played practice rounds with Tiger at majors in the years 2000, 2001 and really see up close what is the best golf I’ve ever seen. Just head and shoulders above the rest.”

That’s what we’ll miss next week at the Masters.

Whether Woods shows up or not.

Richmond, BC – British Columbia Golf has announced the addition of Brad Ziemer to their staff in the capacity of writer/reporter.

During a 30 year career with the Vancouver Sun newspaper, which began in 1985 and included the role of Sports Editor for five years before returning to his true passion of sports reporting, Ziemer established himself as one of the Canada’s premier golf writers.

He has covered every significant golf event in British Columbia, both amateur and professional over the last few decades including seven PGA TOUR events. In 2013, Golf Canada presented him with its Distinguished Service Award, making him only the second B.C. golf writer to receive the award, following in the footsteps of his esteemed colleague, Arv Olson.

“I have always had a passion for writing about golf and the people who play the game, particularly at the amateur level,” said Ziemer, “I look forward to sharing some of those stories this spring and summer in my new role with British Columbia Golf.”

Ziemer will begin his new role by providing coverage from the Annual General Meeting for British Columbia Golf, taking place April 2nd at Tsawwassen Springs in Delta, B.C.

His role will begin in earnest in May as BC Golf prepares for its Championship Season starting later that month.

SAUCIER, Miss. – The opening round of the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic has been moved to Saturday because of heavy rain in south Mississippi at Fallen Oak.

The players will tee off at 7 a.m. Central on Saturday with the second round scheduled to begin about 12:30 p.m.

The field includes 26 of the top 30 in the current Charles Schwab Cup money list. David Frost, who won last year’s tournament at Fallen Oak, is also playing this weekend.

Rod Spittle is the lone Canadian in the field.

The opening line in a book David Owen wrote 17 years ago about the Masters captures why the anticipation for the first major at Augusta National.

“The modern golf season never ends, but it does begin.”

That rings particularly true this year.

The fall is forgotten. The preliminaries are over. For some, the Masters could not get here soon enough.

It felt that way when the 2015 majors ended last August with Jason Day winning the PGA Championship in a one-sided duel and a record score to par. Jordan Spieth opened the new year with an eight-shot victory in Hawaii, right as the Masters began airing TV promos with those moody piano notes.

For three months, just about every tournament was a reminder of the showdown looming amid the azaleas and dogwoods.

“I don’t know if it’s a free-for-all,” Adam Scott said. “I think it’s an exciting lead-up to the Masters with a lot of top players in great form and a lot of stories there, probably more so than the past few years.”

The top of golf is so tight at the moment that Westgate Las Vegas Sportsbook has three co-favorites – Day, Spieth and Rory McIlroy – with 7-1 odds to win the green jacket. All in their 20s, they have won five of the last six majors, which is why they have been referred to as the modern version of the “Big Three.”

Only now they have company.

Bubba Watson won at Riviera, reviving memories of his two Masters victories in the last even-numbered years. Scott tabbed him as the favorite, even as the Australian won in back-to-back weeks to start the Florida swing. And then along came Day, who won his last two starts before the Masters to return to No. 1 in the world.

“I am looking forward to it. I know it’s one tournament that I’ve always wanted to win, so the motivation and the want … there’s no problem,” Day said. “I can’t get comfortable with how I’m playing right now. I can’t get lazy, because I’ve got to understand that what I’m doing is working. So I’ve got to keep working … and then stay focused and hopefully put on the green jacket.”

The only player among the top six in the world without a victory is McIlroy, who has had three good chances to win in the last six weeks. He returns to Augusta with another shot at becoming only the sixth player in history to complete the career Grand Slam.

Not to be overlooked is three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who narrowly missed winning at Pebble Beach and looks rejuvenated at 45.

“There are more guys in the conversation,” Scott said. “There are so many that I’d be surprised if some or all of these guys aren’t there come Sunday, from Bubba to Jason to Jordan.”

So many top players are performing so well that this will be the smallest field at Augusta National in at least 10 years. PGA Tour winners automatically qualify for the Masters, but in the 12 tournaments to start the year, every winner already was eligible except for Augusta resident Vaughn Taylor, who won at Pebble Beach as an alternate.

Seven of the top 14 players in the world already have won this year.

That’s not much different from four years ago when eight of the top 20 had won early in the year, including McIlroy, Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Only one of those players, Mickelson, was in contention that year.

For all its magic, Augusta manages to keep everyone guessing. The last No. 1 player to win the Masters was Woods in 2002.

The original “Big Three” featured Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, and it was as much about marketing as the majors they won. It’s too soon to hang that tag on players still in their 20s, though all of them have won majors and have traded turns at No. 1.

The youth movement in golf, however, is as much about depth.

“I think you’ve got more good players right now than you’ve had in a while,” Nicklaus said.

Nicklaus and Woods are the only players over the last 50 years to have won back-to-back heading into Augusta, and then won the Masters. That’s what is facing Day, the 28-year-old Australian who has an exquisite short game to complement his power.

His victories have taken a little attention away from Spieth, who is chasing his own slice of history as he tries to join Nicklaus, Woods and Nick Faldo as the only Masters champions to repeat. The 22-year-old is playing the Masters for only the third time.

As a rookie, he had a two-shot lead with 11 holes to play and was on the cusp of becoming the youngest Masters champion until Watson chased him down. Last year, Spieth was so dominant in his wire-to-wire victory that he set the 36-hole record, tied the 72-hole record and never let anyone closer to him than three shots over the final three days.

Expectations are one thing. The real hurdle for Spieth is the competition.

“I think this year’s Masters might be the hardest one to win in quite a while as far as the depth of the field and the quality of golf being played by people who play Augusta National very well,” Spieth said. “Everybody wants it badly.”

HOUSTON – Charley Hoffman birdied half the holes on the Golf Club of Houston course Thursday and had just a single bogey to shoot an 8-under-par 64 and take the first-round lead of the Shell Houston Open, putting himself in contention to claim the final spot in next week’s Masters.

But the hard work lies ahead for Hoffman. The three-time PGA Tour winner from San Diego hasn’t held up well on the weekends this season after giving himself good opportunities to claim titles. Closing 75s in his last two stroke-play tournaments even knocked him out of likely top-10 finishes.

Graham DeLaet was the top Canadian at 5-under. The Weyburn, Sask., native was tied for 10th place. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 68 and Brantford, Ont., product David Hearn was at 2-under. Mike Weir had a 4-over 76.

“I’ve shot 3- or 4-over on the back nine on Sunday when I’ve been going from winning the golf tournament to 12th or 15th place,” Hoffman said. “I’ve played fairly solidly from the start of the year to now and haven’t been missing cuts, but I haven’t been able to put four rounds together. Hopefully I can do that this week.”

Hoffman birdied the first four holes of his back nine – the course’s front nine – then added another birdie on No. 8 to break out of what had been a four-way tie for first place with Dustin Johnson, Roberto Castro and Scott Brown, who all shot 65s.

“You always want to get off to a good start in any tournament,” Johnson said. “Today I got off to a great start. I still feel like I’m playing really solid, rolling the putter good.”

His round included two bogies but ended with an eagle on 8 and a birdie on 9. Regarding the former, he said: “I hit two great shots. Hit a perfect drive down the left side of the fairway and a great 4-iron in there to about 10 feet, then holed the putt.”

Castro, playing consistently from start to finish, produced seven birdies and no bogies while missing only two fairways. It was a marked turnaround from what he called “rough Thursdays in my last two tournaments,” when he opened with 75s in the Valspar Championships and the Arnold Palmer.

Former Houston champion Johnson Wagner, who won in 2008 and got into a Sunday playoff here last spring, was another swing back at 66, tied with four other players. Among the large group finishing with 67s was the reigning Masters champion Jordan Spieth, who was also part of the Sunday playoff in 2015 with Wagner and eventual champion J. B. Holmes.

Holmes pulled out of this year’s field on Wednesday night because of a shoulder problem.

Spieth, who hasn’t won a title since January and surrendered his world No. 1 ranking to Jason Day on Sunday when Day won the World Golf Championships Match Play competition in Austin, said he “drove the ball fantastic today (and) really felt comfortable on my iron shots. I had very, very good control of my golf game and my short game was there today as well.”

Former Masters champions Phil Mickelson, Charl Schwartzel and Angel Cabrera all posted 69s.

The 39-year-old Hoffman has been on the PGA Tour since 2006 and won most recently two years ago in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

“I was really relaxed and played well today,” Hoffman said, while adding, “but I learned a long time ago you enter golf tournaments to try to win them, not try to make cuts. Making cuts is a great thing, but we play to win, not to base a resume off cuts.”