The hype about recently-retired Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo joining the broadcast team as part of CBS’s coverage of the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational at the Colonial Country Club this past weekend took a rather ordinary tournament and provided a great sense of anticipation. And it turned out to be illuminating, although also a little disappointing.

Image Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images Good on the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews for acting quickly to change the rules that will limit the use of video evidence to affect the outcome of an event. How many of us truly felt for Lexi Thompson, who entered the final day of the ANA Inspiration tournament with a three-shot lead with six holes to play and suddenly found herself penalized four strokes for committing a violation the day before in the third round? Yes, she broke the rules by marking a ball and then replacing it an inch away from the actual spot. But if not for some TV viewer alerting the tournament officials, no one would have known. Think about it, with all the tournament officials, none of them spotted the innocent mistake.

Image Credit: PGA No matter how many times I watch the Masters, I am always amazed by the ebb of flow of man versus nature, and man versus fate. As I look back on the 81st Masters, there are images that are stick in my mind for a whole bunch of different reasons. The ceremonial opening tee shots became far more emotional in the first tournament since the passing of the legendary Arnold Palmer. You could see the emotion on the faces of Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus as Billy Payne, Chairman of Augusta National, so eloquently talked about the man known as The King.

Image Credit: SB Nation Every year since 1960, the Par 3 contest at Augusta National is an interesting prelude to the Masters. It is full of fun and frivolity, in stark contrast to the seriousness of the Masters, which has announcers talking in hushed, reverent tones. There has never been a player who has won the Par 3 contest and the Masters in the same year, although Raymond Floyd came close in 1990, losing the Masters in a sudden-death playoff to Nick Faldo, who won the coveted green jacket for the second consecutive year. Floyd’s attempt to record the Par 3 and Masters win came undone on the second hole when his iron shot went into the water. Had he won, it would have been the first player to win a Masters in four consecutive decades.

Image Credit: PGA Tour Some random thoughts for the golf world: Jordan Spieth looks be to be back in form from two years ago after a somewhat disappointing season in 2016. His four-stroke win in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was stunning, if only because he came into Sunday’s final round with a resounding six-shot lead and essentially had to play cautiously or, according to his caddie’s suggestion, “boring golf.”

Image Credit: PGA As Jon Rahm made a 60-foot putt from off the fringe to register an eagle on the final hole of the Farmers Insurance Open – a shot that would lead to his first PGA Tour victor – did you notice the brand name of the ball? It was a TaylorMade TP5x.

Image Credit: Forbes The news about Tiger Woods attempting to return to competitive golf on a regular basis, coupled with the equipment he is using, are generating a huge buzz in the industry and, to an even bigger extent, the mainstream sports world. When one of the greatest stars of this generation is coming back after what was considered a possible end to his career because of injuries, combined with the fact he is 41, people take notice. This is 21 years since Woods took the golf game by storm and then went through a roller-coaster of events on and off the golf course.

As the leaves start to change and the temperature begins to drop, many of us are trying to squeeze in the last few rounds of the year. However, for the pros on the PGA Tour, the season is just starting to ramp up. With 10 tournaments scheduled for the fall, there will be plenty of golf on TV to hold you over until the return of spring. This week we take a look at these early-season tournaments and how they may affect the rest of the PGA Tour season.

In most sports, everything that occurs during the season is a stepping stone, building to an exciting, grand and often lucrative finish. A championship. A way to crown the best team or individual, not just of any given weekend, but of the entire long and hard-fought season. However, for much of the history of golf, this pinnacle of achievement was lacking. Of course, the Majors were then and still remain the most important tournaments in the sport and it is unlikely that any other competition will be able to change that. But in the past, once the majors had come and gone, the golf season just petered out. Little recognition was given to the player who had performed the best day-after-day, week-after-week. Well, in 2007 that all changed.