Practical Move leads 9-horse field for Santa Anita Derby

• April 6, 2023

At approximately 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, nine 3-year-olds will load into the Santa Anita starting gate and take a shot at securing a spot in the Kentucky Derby, the Super Bowl of thoroughbred horse racing.

Practical Move, who has won two consecutive stakes races in impressive efforts while also earning enough qualifying points (60) for America’s most famous horse race, will retain the services of jockey Ramon Vazquez.

A son of Practical Joke, Practical Move has won three of six lifetime races and been visually impressive in his past two – the Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 17 and the San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 4.

Practical Move is one of two sophomores in the race trained by Tim Yakteen. He inherited National Treasure when owners transferred some of their top 3-year-olds from Bob Baffert’s barn to Yakteen in order to have the opportunity to earn Derby qualifying points. Baffert was ineligible to run horses at Churchill Downs last year and this year after Medina Spirit was disqualified from his Derby victory in 2021.

He’s one of four in the race who appear, on paper, capable of winning Santa Anita’s 86th edition of the track’s premiere $750,000 Grade I race and going on to enjoy success further down the line in Louisville.

A quick look at the other three:

• National Treasure introduced himself to the racing world with a 1½-length victory in a Santa Anita maiden special weight on Sept. 3. The third-place finisher in that race? Practical Move. Since then, National Treasure has been the ultimate tease, finishing second once and third two times. Perhaps his most impressive outing was last fall’s Breeders’ Cup when he ran a strong third in the Juvenile behind Forte and Cave Rock.

• Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella, looking for the first Kentucky Derby victory of his career, will saddle Geaux Rocket Ride and retains the services of Flavien Prat. The son of Candy Ride won his maiden debut by 5¾ lengths on Jan. 23 at Santa Anita and followed that with a second-place finish in the San Felipe behind Practical Move. Prat, of course, won the 2019 Kentucky Derby aboard longshot Country House when the winner, Maximum Security, was disqualified and placed last because of interference.

• Trainer John Shirreffs has won lots of big races, most notably with 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, but a victory Saturday most likely would be his biggest victory since any of his non-Zenyatta scores. It took the Curlin colt four times to find the winner’s circle, but he ran an impressive third in the San Felipe and could continue his winning ways with further improvement Saturday. Victor Espinoza gets the call.

The first post is Saturday is noon. A total of 200 Kentucky Derby qualifying points will be at stake: 100 will be awarded to the winner, with 40, 30, 20 and 10 points going to the remaining top five finishers.

​ Orange County Register 

20 Fullerton residents displaced after apartment fire

• April 6, 2023

Twenty people were displaced following a three-alarm fire that broke out at a second-story apartment in Fullerton on Wednesday, a fire official said.

The fire occurred around 11:10 a.m. at Meredith Manor, an apartment complex on the 1500 block of Pomona Avenue. All lanes on Orangefair Avenue were temporarily closed from Harbor Boulevard to Lemon Street until 2 p.m., according to the Fullerton Police Department.

Ten apartments were evacuated and two people were hospitalized due to smoke inhalation, police said.

Fullerton Fire Battalion Chief Jordan Morris told news service OC Hawk the department was working with the Red Cross to find temporary housing for the displaced residents. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

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​ Orange County Register 

San Dimas baseball comes up short against Servite in National Classic semifinals

• April 6, 2023

PLACENTIA — The San Dimas baseball team was trailing but still battling Wednesday in the bottom of the seventh inning against Servite in the semifinals of the National Classic at El Dorado High School.

Down by one run, the Saints had the bases loaded with two outs. Ryder Young was at the plate and had a chance to deliver a victory for Saints despite all of their earlier mistakes.

On the first pitch, Young grounded out to short and that ended the Saints’ chances, as they fell to Servite 4-3.

For Saints coach Mike Regan, the one-run loss hopefully will show his players what it takes to beat some of the best teams in the Southland, many of which will be part of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

“These are the types of teams you play in (CIF-SS Division 1), and Servite executed,” Regan said. “We’re in these tournaments because we need to be if we want to be able to compete in (Division 1). All of the teams in the (tournament) are really good teams.  And I’m proud of how our boys competed today.”

The game began as a pitching duel between the Saints’ Jude Favela and Servite’s Gustavo Guiterrez.

The Saints finally got to the Servite left-hander in the fourth inning.

San Dimas broke up the scoreless tie with an RBI double to the right-field gap. Junior Rocco Regan drove in Vaughn Coleman, who reached base with a two-out double, to give the Saints a 1-0 lead heading into the fifth inning.

By that point, Favela had retired batter after batter with help from the team’s defense, which hadn’t faltered. But the Friars finally found an offensive spark in the fifth inning and scoring four runs.

The Friars’ four-run outburst was a combination of “small ball” and timely hitting, plus misplays by San Dimas. Servite’s first three batters of the inning bunted for hits, which resulted in the Friars pushing across their first run.

A well-placed leadoff bunt by Servite’s Lake Wilson allowed him to reach base, and he went to second on an errant throw by San Dimas. Tomas Cernius also reached base with a bunt, partly because of miscommunication by San Dimas’ infield.

Servite’s Kyle Buchanan laid down the third bunt of the inning and drove in Wilson from third after Favela was unable to make a play at the plate.

“It was mainly miscommunication and me not getting off the mound as hard as I should have,” Favela said of the fielding miscues.

Two batters later, Favela loaded the bases by hitting a batter.

Servite’s Jonathan Rodriguez then smash the ball to left for a two-run single. Mile Scott drove in the fourth run with an RBI double, giving Servite a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Saints scored two runs to make it 4-3.

Back-to-back, two-out singles set up Rocco Regan to drive in one run with a single. Two poor throws by Servite helped the Saints score a run that made it 4-3.

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Rocco Regan finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs.

“(Rocco) came through in big moments,” Favela said of the junior infielder. “Props to that guy, he’s been going off recently.”

Favela (4-1) pitched a complete game and struck out three.

Gutierrez earned the win as he went 5⅓ innings. He gave up three runs on six hits.

Jaden MacKwoiak pitched the final four outs for Servite and got out of the bases-loaded jam in the seventh.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Ana police unit not operating as illegal police gang, independent probe concludes

• April 6, 2023

An independent probe commissioned by Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentin has concluded that an elite team of officers sharing skull tattoos and implicated in an off-duty assault allegation is not operating as an illegal police gang.

However, the report by the Playa del Rey-based OIR Group also noted serious lapses in the handling by Santa Ana officers of a sexual assault allegation involving members of the department’s Major Enforcement Team in August 2020.

In all, the report appeared to clear the eight-member team of violating state law against police gangs, which prohibits “rogue” groups that violate the law while on duty. OIR investigators stressed that the group has not been involved in any officer shootings since its formation in 2020 and used force in only 3% of its nearly 2,000 arrests.

“Too often, crime suppression teams have taken their mandate to address dangerous behavior as a license to engage in harassment and excessive force toward targeted groups — often without proper supervision and accountability,” the OIR report said. “We do not have reason to believe this is true in Santa Ana.”

The report, however, warned the team against taking an “us against them” attitude.

While it was completed last month, the report was not released until Wednesday, April 5.

Vallentin, in a video posted on the department’s website, addressed the report, saying, “All of this is a testament to the team’s preparedness, restraint, self-discipline and tactics.”

Off-duty incident probed

Valentin ordered the investigation last May amid allegations, some from Santa Ana officers, that the team created by the chief was excessively violent but was protected by the police brass. Investigations of alleged misconduct by team members were whitewashed, critics said.

They pointed to the alleged late-night assault at a Mexican restaurant in August 2020. Two teenage girls alleged they were assaulted and harassed by men at a table said to be occupied by off-duty members of the MET unit. One girl said someone briefly touched her buttocks as she walked by the table.

Relatives of the two girls called police, but responding officers labeled the victims as uncooperative, and concluded a crime had not been committed.

The incident was investigated by the department after receiving an anonymous complaint seven months later. That internal investigation found that the physical description given by the girl did not match or resemble any of the officers.

Missteps found

The OIR report, however, found several missteps in the initial response by police officers.

For one thing, an off-duty supervisor for the unit was among those at the table when the assault allegation was made, but did virtually nothing.

“A serious allegation of sexual battery had been made against officers under his command. Yet the supervisor did not report the allegation to his agency,” said the report. “Ideally, the supervisor would have called and asked for a police response immediately upon hearing the allegation. Instead, he decided to leave the scene with his colleagues.”

The supervisor, who is not identified in the report, did not report the allegation to his chain of command after returning to work, the report said.

“Had that occurred, the retrieval of surveillance video from the restaurant and the pursuit of other investigative leads would obviously have been more effective,” the report said. “SAPD should have considered the supervisor’s lack of timely notification to have been a performance failure that merited its own accountability.”

Additionally, the report criticized the officers at the scene for not retrieving footage from the restaurant’s security cameras and for writing only a cursory report.

The OIR document recommended that the department demand that all allegations of police misconduct be sent up the chain of command and be thoroughly investigated. However, Valentin said those policies already exist.

Tattoos not illegal

As far as allegations that the unit operated as an illegal police gang, the OIR report concluded that state law only covers “on-duty” actions. The report says that though the skull tattoos are potentially off-putting, they are not illegal. Those tattoos featured an ace of spades on the forehead, used in the military to signify a first kill and contained in tattoos worn by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies accused of gang membership.

Santa Ana MET officers told investigators the tattoos could not be seen beneath their uniforms and didn’t show an obsession with death or killing. The skulls simply “look cool,” they told OIR investigators.

Other red flags?

The report also mentions challenge coins passed among team members, emblazoned with the Latin words for “let them hate, so long as they fear.” MET officers said the phrase was aimed at hardened criminals antagonized and suppressed by the unit.

The report called the idea behind the phrase on the coins “slightly disquieting.”

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OIR investigators said the tattoos and coins could be red flags that create “an aura inconsistent with the philosophy of community policing or positive engagements with the public.”

“The line between a passionate sense of engagement and overzealousness can blur quickly, and it is not always easy to shift gears between those who are ‘deserving’ of aggressive crime suppression and those who become improperly subject to its excesses,” the report said.

Valentin responded by admonishing officers that tattoos featuring imagery of death in connection with policing could have a negative impact on community trust and could prove dangerous to the officer. He gave the same warning about the challenge coins.

But the chief fell short of prohibiting the tattoos and coins.

​ Orange County Register 

Cypress baseball shuts out El Dorado, will play Servite in National Classic final

• April 6, 2023

PLACENTIA – Cypress’ baseball team scored the game’s only run because of its reputation and Luke Matlock pitched a shutout Wednesday in the Centurions’ 1-0 win over El Dorado in a National Classic semifinal game at El Dorado High.

Cypress (15-4 overall), ranked No. 7 in the Orange County Top 25, will play No. 9 Servite (12-8) in the championship game Thursday at 7 p.m. at Amerige Park in Fullerton.

Matlock, a senior right-hander, scattered four hits over seven innings. He struck out four and walked two.

The Centurions got their run in the top of the sixth inning. With two outs Gabe Cobian and Matt Morrell reached base on back-to-back errors by El Dorado.

That’s when the Cypress reputation came into play. Nick Montgomery hit a ground ball toward where El Dorado shortstop AJ Frausto usually would be, but the spot was open and the ball bounced into the outfield for a hit.

“We’re known for stealing third base,” Cypress coach John Weber said, “so their shortstop had to hold our guy at second base. That grounder’s an out if you’re playing anybody else, but because you’re playing us and we do those little things, it turns out to be a hit.”

Cobian rounded third and easily scored on the base hit to make it 1-0.

El Dorado’s best chance to score happened in the bottom of the third inning. Brady Abner led off with a double into left-center field. Frausto hit a line drive single to left and Cobian came up throwing. His one-hopper to catcher Max Senesac arrived in plenty of time for Senesac to tag our Abner.

The Golden Hawks’ pitching trio of starter Garvey Rumary, Trent Larsen and Grant Thomas held Cypress to three hits and one unearned run.

Rumary, a senior lefty who was All-Crestview League last season, was on a strict pitching limit in his season debut. He gave up one hit in his three innings.

“Their pitchers did a very good job,” Weber said. “I’m thankful Rumary was on a pitch count.”

Matlock’s fastball and breaking pitches were as good in the seventh inning as they were in the first.

“The fastball was getting to the spots I wanted it and it still had a little life and a little sink (in the later innings),” Matlock said. “And I felt really good with the curveball and felt I could get people out with it.”

Cypress, ranked No. 8 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 Top 10, won the National Classic last season with a 3-1 victory over Bishop Amat.

Matlock enjoys the high level of play in the tournament.

“It’s fun,” Matlock said. “It’s good competition and it gets you ready for CIF (playoffs).”

El Dorado (12-8) will play San Dimas (13-3) in the third-place game Thursday at noon at Amerige Park.

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Also in the National Classic:

Servite 4, San Dimas 3: Jonny Rodriguez’s two-run single highlighted a four-run fifth inning for the Friars (12-8) in the other championship semifinal Wednesday at El Dorado High.

Servite sophomore outfielder Miles Scott drove in a run with a single to make it 4-1. Scott finished with two hits.

Sophomore left-hander Gustavo Gutierrez pitched into the sixth inning and got the win for the Friars.

​ Orange County Register 

Scottie Scheffler looks primed for rare Masters double

• April 6, 2023

By PAUL NEWBERRY AP Sports Writer

AUGUSTA, Ga. — There are plenty of perks that come from being the reigning Masters champion.

You have a year to don that cherished green jacket wherever you want. You can nab a tee time at Augusta National without any hassles. You get to select the menu for the champions dinner.

And getting to do it all over again?

Well, that’s a truly exclusive club.

Every year, the previous winner is sure to be reminded that only three players have ever won two straight Masters.

What a group it is.

Jack Nicklaus. Nick Faldo. Tiger Woods.

It was no different Tuesday for Scottie Scheffler, the latest player with a chance to join that illustrious trio.

The second question – and several others that followed – focused on what it would mean to go back to back.

“Any time you can get mentioned in the same breath as a Tiger and a Jack and a Nick Faldo is really special,” Scheffler said.

But, he was quick to add, “It’s not a motivating factor for me.”

Scheffler knows it’s tough enough to put together two straight shots that go where you want, so the odds of syncing up four stellar rounds at Augusta National – then four more a year later – are steep indeed.

That said, the 26-year-old Texan is the betting favorite – along with Rory McIlroy, according to FanDuel Sportsbook – as he sets his sights on another green jacket.

With good reason.

Scheffler is ranked No. 1 in the world. He’s already got a pair of victories this year. He’s finished inside the top 12 of his last nine events.

Not since Jordan Spieth in 2016 has a player arrived at the Masters with such heightened expectations of a repeat.

Doing his best to make it feel like any other week – or at least a week before he won the Masters – Scheffler came out early Sunday and got a round in with his sister, Callie, on his bag.

“I tried to get a little bit of the memories and stuff from last year out of the way as early as I could,” he said.

But those memories – and reminders – linger at every turn.

“It’s a bit different, when you see the list of guys when they get in the tournament and how they qualify,” Scheffler said, “and you see ‘Lifetime Exemption’ by your name I think is really cool. Hopefully, I’ll have the opportunity to be coming back to this place for many years.”

Woods, who went back to back in 2001-02, was asked what it takes to accomplish such a rare feat.

Familiarity with the course, and all its idiosyncrasies, was at the top of his list.

“What has allowed some of us to defend the title is understanding how to play it,” Woods said. “Scottie knows how to play this golf course.”

It helps to have a guy like Ted Scott on the bag. He was the caddie for Bubba Watson during his two Masters victories, and he was at Scheffler’s side a year ago.

“I think the teamwork of player and caddie is so important here because there’s so many variables that go on,” Woods said. “The lies, the wind, the gusts, and knowledge of the golf course. There’s so many things that can happen, and talking through each and every shot. We just don’t go out there and say, ‘Yeah, you know, I have 152 yards, just go ahead and hit it.’”

A year ago, Scheffler took command with a second-round 67 that sent him to the weekend with a five-shot lead.

He wavered a bit on a windy Saturday, but bounced back for a 71 that kept his lead at three strokes. The final round was largely a victory lap as Scheffler wasn’t seriously threatened after the first couple of holes.

He won by three shots – a victory that actually was more comfortable than that because he took a double-bogey at the 18th.

Since then, Scheffler said his life hasn’t changed all that much.

He’s still got the same car, a 2012 Yukon X with about 190,000 miles on it. He still lives in the same house with his wife, Meredith.

“I bought a cold tub. That was a pretty big indulgence,” Scheffler said. “Still not running at home, but we bought it.”

He also likes to buy a high-end bottle of tequila after each win, but that’s about as extravagant as it gets.

“I’m sure eventually – maybe – I’ll get a new car,” Scheffler said. “I don’t know. I’m not huge on that kind of stuff.”

Come Sunday evening, he’d love to be in position to add to his tequila collection.

But if Scheffler needs a reminder that previous wins and world rankings don’t mean all that much. Look no further than Spieth’s bid for a repeat in 2016. It looked like a lock when the world’s hottest player built a five-shot lead with nine holes to play.

Then, inexplicably, Spieth turned in a collapse for the ages. After two straight bogeys, he dunked two balls in the water at the 12th and took a quadruple-bogey that handed the lead – and the green jacket that should’ve been his – to Danny Willett. Spieth finished three shots back.

Instead of a repeat, it’s seven years on, and he’s still at one green jacket.

Which brings us back to Scheffler, who calls the No. 1 ranking nothing more than “a math algorithm.”

He did concede that “No. 1 is better than being No. 2 in the algorithm,” and he certainly knows it puts the focus squarely on his bid for consecutive titles.

No sooner had he grabbed a chair for his pre-Masters news conference than the moderator, Augusta National member Ron Townsend, reminded him of the significance.

“You know, last year at this time, you were sitting in that same chair, wearing a green jacket for the first time. Do you remember that?” Townsend asked.

“I do recall,” Scheffler said, breaking into a big smile.

​ Orange County Register 

LIV and let live: Masters still about who wins green jacket

• April 6, 2023

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Masters Chairman Fred Ridley sat among 33 champions in green jackets at golf’s most exclusive dinner. It was a time to celebrate Scottie Scheffler as the most recent winner, to share laughs, memories and even a few tears.

That’s how it is every year at Augusta National.

“I would not have known that anything was going on in the world of professional golf other than the norm,” Ridley said on the eve of a Masters unlike any other. “So I think – and I’m hopeful – that this week might get people thinking in a little bit different direction and things will change.”

There’s a full menu of activity at this tournament.

Tiger Woods returns for his 25th appearance with hopes his course knowledge can compensate for battered legs as he pursues another green jacket. Rory McIlroy gets another crack at the one major that keeps him from the career Grand Slam. No one has won the Masters back-to-back since Woods in 2002, and with Scheffler the No. 1 player in the world, he has an excellent chance.

The forecast is for the weather to turn nasty this weekend. The real storm has been brewing for the last 10 months since the launch of LIV Golf and the 18 players at the Masters who defected to the rival league for its Saudi riches.

There have been accusations that LIV Golf isn’t serious competition with its 54-hole events, and even some name-calling – Fred Couples referred to Phil Mickelson as a “nutbag” – of LIV players for turning their backs on the tour that made them famous.

“Everyone thinks we suck now, so I want to play great,” Harold Varner III said, a LIV player with “Golf Saudi” on his bag. Varner joined for the money. He makes no secret about that.

All that gets set aside on Thursday when the players – professional and amateur, PGA Tour loyalists and those with LIV – have one thing in common.

“We talk about all these issues in golf, but we are here this week – these 88 players – and that’s all that’s on their mind is playing for that green jacket,” Ridley said. “It’s a great symbol of celebration of this game. And we’re looking forward to seeing someone donning it on Sunday afternoon.”

Normalcy is hard to find these days.

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf are involved in an antitrust lawsuit – a case management conference before a federal judge is scheduled for Friday afternoon, about the time Woods should be headed to Amen Corner.

A London-based arbitration panel reportedly will rule this week in favor of the European tour’s ability to sanction LIV players.

The large oak tree next to the Augusta National clubhouse is where all the VIPs across golf gather. Missing was Greg Norman, the CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf.

Norman stoked the debate by telling The Daily Telegraph if a LIV player won the Masters, the other 17 would be waiting for him behind the 18th green to celebrate. Norman won’t be there because he says he wasn’t invited.

“They only sent me a grounds pass last year and nothing, zilch, this time around,” he said. “I’m disappointed because it’s so petty, but of course I’ll still be watching.”

Ridley was quick to point out that Norman, typically invited as a two-time British Open champion, showed up only twice in the last 10 years, once while doing radio commentary.

“We did not extend an invitation to Mr. Norman. The primary issue and the driver there is that I want the focus this week to be on the Masters competition, on the great players that are participating, the greatest players in the world,” Ridley said.

That includes LIV players. Ridley made sure of that when he announced in December that while he’s not happy with the fractured environment in golf, the Masters would honor players who qualified under the criteria.

By appearance, it certainly seems normal.

The players invited to take part in formal press conferences were the usual suspects – that included British Open champion Cameron Smith, the last big name to sign with LIV – though Phil Mickelson declined. The starting times had a mixture of PGA Tour and LIV Golf players, though none of the LIV players are part of the featured groups that will be streamed live.

Brooks Koepka played a practice round Tuesday with McIlroy, who has delivered some of the sharpest digs at LIV Golf over the last year. Koepka, a four-time major champion, last week became the first multiple-event winner at LIV Golf. McIlroy sent him a text to congratulate him and Koepka asked if he wanted to play a practice round.

Was it an indication of thawing relations between the rival circuits?

“I guess you could say that. It’s more just two friends wanting to play together,” Koepka said. “I just wanted to play with him, just compare my game. I know he’s been playing well. It was good for me to see, and I think it’s fun to be able to go play with these guys.”

And then he was back to playing with LIV colleagues on Wednesday.

“Everything’s been good, man,” Koepka said. “We’re still the same people.”

The idea is to make this the same Masters as it’s always been, and Ridley said he was happy to see the “tone has been really good here this week.”

“Golf brings people together, and I’m equally hopeful this week Augusta can be the beginning of a path forward for our game,” he said.

For now, all paths lead toward a green jacket. And that makes this Masters no different from so many others.

MIZE AND LYLE TO PLAY FINAL MASTERS; HOGE WINS PAR-3 CONTEST

Larry Mize and Sandy Lyle delivered two of the most memorable shots in Masters history in consecutive years.

Mize, the first champion born in Augusta, holed a 140-foot chip from the right of the 11th green in the second hole of a playoff to beat Greg Norman in 1987, probably the one shot that haunts Norman the most. The next year, Lyle hit 7-iron from the fairway bunker on the 18th hole to 10 feet and made the birdie putt to win.

Now they are linked again. They announced this will be their final year playing the Masters.

“As they were in 1988, when Larry presented the green jacket to Sandy, they are connected again this week,” Masters Chairman Fred Ridley said. “We commend them for their fine play over four decades and for representing the Masters so well. Rest assured, their victories will forever be remembered.”

This is Mize’s 40th consecutive Masters, while Lyle was part of the “Big Five” from Europe who once seemingly ruled the Masters. Lyle, Bernhard Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo combined to win nine times between 1980 and 1996, including a stretch of seven wins in 12 years.

The news was shared with the 33 champions at the Masters club dinner Tuesday night.

“Larry got a little emotional,” two-time champion Jose Maria Olazabal said. “He had a hard time trying to speak. Actually, he didn’t. It was a very emotional dinner. So it was nice.”

PAR-3 CONTEST

Tom Hoge aced the eighth hole over Ike’s Pond on his way to winning the Par-3 Contest on Wednesday.

Hoge received a crystal vase for the hole-in-one, a crystal bowl for his winning round of 6 under, and some steep history to overcome: No winner of the Par-3 Contest, which dates to 1960, has gone on to win the Masters.

“I made a few birdies early and then the hole-in-one on 8, so that was cool to see that go in,” Hoge said after walking off the recently renovated Par-3 Course in the northeast corner of the property. “Just a fun day out here this afternoon.”

Bubba Watson also had a hole-in-one and finished second at 5 under, while Seamus Power stole the show with back-to-back aces, joining Claude Harman in 1968 and Toshi Izawa in 2002 as the only players to accomplish the feat.

“Obviously to get one was special,” Power said, “but to get the second one was a bit surreal.”

ROLLING BACK THE BALL

Ridley tipped his hand without trying to during his annual news conference Wednesday when it came to the USGA and R&A proposal for a modified local rule rolling back the golf ball.

It would mean tournaments could choose to require a different ball, and use it to curtail distance, and it’s clear the U.S. Open and British Open will go along. It’s not a done deal, though, as the comment period goes through Augusta.

“Our position has always been that we support the governing bodies,” Ridley said of the Masters. “I think, in a general sense, we do support the proposal, but because it’s in the middle of a comment period, it could change. … So we will look at the final product and make a decision.

“We believe distance needs to be addressed,” Ridley added. “I think the natural conclusion is, yes, we will be supportive.”

CRITERIA UPDATE

Even as Augusta National said in December it would keep its criteria for invitations, which allowed LIV Golf players to get in, Ridley offered a reminder that the club looks at every aspect of the Masters and was open to changes.

The ones made this year were minor, though.

The Masters offered a special invitation to Gordon Sargent, the NCAA champion from Vanderbilt, and starting next year the college champion will be a permanent category. That means seven amateurs will be offered spots.

Everything else was roughly the same. The Masters added language similar to the U.S. Open that says those that qualify and are eligible for the Tour Championship will be offered invitations. Talor Gooch qualified for East Lake by being in the top 30 in FedEx Cup points, but he wasn’t eligible because the PGA Tour suspended him for joining LIV Golf.

The language also was tweaked on giving spots to winners of PGA Tour events offering full FedEx Cup points, only because starting in 2024 the tour is going away from a wraparound season. The short version: Players winning tournaments in the fall will still get into the Masters.

WEATHER WATCH

Blue skies, puffy white clouds and warm, humid temperatures greeted players for their final practice rounds Wednesday, but the forecast for the weekend calls for far different conditions around Augusta National.

The opening round Thursday will still be warm, with highs in the mid-80s, but rain is expected to move through the area on Friday. With it comes a cold front, dropping highs into the 50s, and there is a near-100% chance of rain this weekend.

“I think it will be a long week,” said Patrick Cantlay, the former UCLA and Servite High star. “Usually when there’s weather, the rounds drag on and it looks like there may be some delays as well. I imagine the golf course will play particularly long this year.”

That also doesn’t bode well for players such as Woods, whose bodies get a bit creaky when temperatures take a dive.

Asked whether he’d seen the forecast, Woods replied: “Oh, yeah. I’ve seen it.”

AP sports writer Dave Skretta contributed to this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Wednesday, April 5

• April 6, 2023

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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Wednesday, April 5

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WEDNESDAY’S SCORES

BASEBALL

NATIONAL CLASSIC

Cypress 1, El Dorado 0

Vista Murrieta 5, Fullerton 2

Bishop Amat 4, Villa Park 3

RYAN LEMMON TOURNAMENT

Northview 7, Aliso Niguel 1

Corner Canyon 6, Portola 2

El Toro 16, University 3

San Clemente 3, Woodbridge 2

Canyon 7, Edison 1

Yorba Linda 7, Bountiful 2

Laguna Beach 11, Esperanza 4

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Kennedy 2, Tustin 1

ORANGE LEAGUE

Savanna 9, Western 8

NONLEAGUE

Saddleback 2, Santa Ana Valley 1

Covina 7, Valencia 4

West Covina 14, Godinez 0

Laguna Hills 12, Oxford Academy 1

Costa Mesa 15, Azusa 1

Anaheim 14, Bell Gardens 0

SOFTBALL

TRINITY LEAGUE

JSerra 11, Rosary Academy 3

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Pacifica 10, Crean Lutheran 3

GOLDEN WEST LEAGUE

Ocean View 12, Katella 7

Garden Grove 3, Westminster 2

ORANGE COAST LEAGUE

Costa Mesa 4, Estancia 3

Calvary Chapel 9, Orange 2

NONLEAGUE

Brea Olinda 11, Savanna 0

​ Orange County Register