Second Thoughts

Backyard golf part of tournament

Marc Leishman played from a Hawaii resident’s backyard during last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Marc Leishman played from a Hawaii resident’s backyard during last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Marc Leishman watched his tee shot on the 14th hole at Kapalua (Honolulu) sail to the right and figured he was headed for a big number.

He didn't expect to be playing from someone's backyard.

One of the peculiarities of the Plantation Course came into play last week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, and its history involves a stubborn homeowner. The 14th hole is a reachable par 4, with knee-high native grass to the right that swallows up errant shots. The PGA Tour inserted white out-of-bounds stakes at the edge of a home beyond the native grass. It was just hard to keep them there.

Turns out the homeowner didn't want them lining his yard and kept removing them. The tour would put them back. The next day they would be gone.

About six years ago, a key Kapalua executive took tour officials to discuss this with the homeowner. He wouldn't answer the door. So the tour decided to let players hit from his backyard if it came to that.

And that's what Leishman did in the opening round. Jordan Spieth played from there, too.

"It was a terrible tee shot. I thought it was out of bounds for sure," Leishman said. "And then we called a rules official just to be sure, and he said I could play it. I left a big hole in their backyard, so when they get home, they'll be surprised."

It probably was a bigger hole than a stake would have made.

Slugger White, the tour's vice president of competition, says the backyard most likely will be marked out of bounds next year by using white paint to mark the boundary.

That's dope

A Japanese kayaker has been banned for eight years for spiking the drink of a rival so he would fail a doping test.

Yasuhiro Suzuki drugged his key rival Seiji Komatsu at the Japan championships in September.

Suzuki spiked a drink with an anabolic steroid, causing Komatsu to fail a doping test, the Japan Anti-Doping Agency said Tuesday.

The Japan Canoe Federation began investigating after Komatsu tested positive but denied ever taking drugs.

After Komatsu tested positive, Suzuki admitted putting a muscle-building supplement containing the banned steroid methandienone in his drink.

Suzuki was hoping to qualify for the 2020 Olympics at home. Now he also will miss the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The incident is Japan's first case of an athlete failing a doping test due to deliberate contamination, according to the Japan Anti-Doping Agency, which handed down the eight-year ban.

Sports on 01/10/2018

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