• “So how in the world does it make sense to leave backstopping up to the players? How has the USGA not covered this to the last detail? It’s a little bit like watching a hoarder casually dump a box of old magazines on the curb-it’s against their nature!”

• “Even if backstopping has never decided the winner of a tournament, every stroke means money, and every dollar that goes in the pocket of one player means a dollar not going in the pocket of another. It’s not fair, it’s not right, and nobody should be punished or rewarded because of the temperament of his playing partner.”

• “Establishing a rule would be very easy, and the only tricky part would come in deciding the parameters. When is it reasonable to require players around the green to mark their ball without unduly slowing down the action? Anywhere within 30 feet of the green, if the ball stops within 10 feet of the hole? Smarter people than me can decide how it should work, and while it may involve some head-scratching, at least it becomes a question of logistics.”

• “The proof is on his cell phone, where he received a good luck text from Tiger Woods on Wednesday morning. Woods is the most famous local rooting for him this week.”

• “Compton, who is playing the Web.com Tour, won the Monday qualifier to get into the Honda Classic. Woods lives in nearby Jupiter but isn’t playing this week.”

• “Compton was raised in Miami, a 90-minute drive south of PGA National. He’s hoping a Honda start will help re-boot his bid to get back to the PGA Tour.”

• “The Honda Classic moved up the tee box at the PGA National Champion Course’s 17th hole and rebuilt the seating around the party pavilions.”

• “The scorecard yardage is now 175 yards, but it will probably play even shorter, perhaps as short as 150 yards with a front pin location, which feels like a reprieve for Tour pros who typically face tough crosswinds playing to a green guarded front and right by water. The hole played to 190 yards on the scorecard last year.”

• “Padraig Harrington gave me a hug when I told him we are moving up the tee box,” Honda Classic executive director Ken Kennerly said. “It’s better for the players and the fans.”

• AP report…”Defending champion Michelle Wie was forced to withdraw with a recurrence of a right hand injury. Wie, making her second start of the season after surgery on her right hand earlier this month, was 10-over after 14 holes when she withdrew while playing the 15th. She was holding her right wrist and hand as she walked up the fairway.”

• “Wie fractured her hand and sustained extensive neck injuries in a car accident two years ago.”

• “A year ago, Brooks Koepka was at home, sidelined with an injured left wrist, while The Honda Classic was being played just a few miles away. His mood – and his diet – were both going through a dark period.”

• “I was sitting on the couch, probably eating a bunch of food,” Koepka recalled. “I wasn’t doing a whole lot. I gained, I think, 15, 20 pounds. I was obviously upset. I just missed competition. It wasn’t fun for me.”

• “The wrist injury kept him out for four months and prevented him from playing the Florida Swing in March. He didn’t return until the week before THE PLAYERS Championship in May. Of course, you know how the rest of the season turned out — two major victories and the PGA TOUR Player of the Year award.”

• “Steve Stricker, if you’re reading this, it’s time to make a statement. It’s time to strengthen your staff for the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. It’s time to name Illinois coach Mike Small an assistant captain.”

• “It would not only be an unprecedented move, but it would be the right one.”

Read the full piece for his rationale.

The full piece is well worth a read.

• “…both organizations have suggested that should there be signs the new rule is enhancing performance and de-skilling the game, they might have to revisit the change.”

• “From Alistair Tait’s Golfweek story [quoting Martin Slumbers]…”It wasn’t intended as a rule to improve performance. It was intended as a rule to improve pace of play, and it’s something we will watch and see. But these are early days. This is not the time to make knee-jerk reactions.”

• “Slumbers is right, this is not the time. But even if this one does pan out to somehow allow a few more people to make more putts, rescinding this rule might just be the undoing of the governing bodies.”

• “After all, might most wonder why the possibility of performance enhancement was not investigated before making the rule change?”