- The rain-delayed ANZ Ladies Masters finally got started Friday, with players posting predictably low scores on the rain-saturated Royal Pines layout.  Not to be overshadowed by last week’s young stars Ji-Yai Shin and Kristie Smith, 24-year-old Australian Nikki Garrett is leading the field with a five-under-par 67, and with play nearly complete, things are so tightly bunched that 49 players sit within four shots of the lead.  Smith fired a strong 68 to head an 10-player 2nd-place logjam while Shin (70) is tied with Japanese stars Ai Miyazato and Sakura Yokomine.  The veterans have also made an early mark, with last week’s winner Karrie Webb and fellow Aussie Rachel Hetherington in at 69, and 44-year-old Laura Davies joining the group at 70.

- To answer my own question regarding which celebrity the networks will obsess over in Bill Murray’s absence, an obvious possibility might be George Lopez who, if he makes good on his pre-tournament promise to wear a kilt, just might end up hosting both the Hope and the Crosby before it’s all said and done.  But from what coverage I’ve seen, the early leader appears to be...leverage buyout specialist Teddy Forstmann?  Why doesn’t CBS just let Peter Kostis do an instructional soliloquy?  If taken in the proper spirit, his dazzle-them-with-techno-blather approach to swing analysis is the funniest thing in golf.  Just once, I’d like to see an amateur try to control their spine angle on the downswing.  Just once...

- If a spate of missed short ones in Dubai is any indicator, the magic that Sergio Garcia found last year with the belly putter might fast be running out.  It is no secret that Garcia has struggled with the blade over the last few seasons, but given his top-shelf ball-striking, he manages to remain surprisingly competitive regardless.  But Garcia is now 28, and while 15 international wins is nothing to sneeze at, his putting woes (not to mention some fatalistic comments after his ’07 Open Championship loss at Carnoustie) are enough to make one wonder if he’ll ever actually reach the highest rungs of the golfing ladder.  Is there precedent for a superior ball-striker with a genuinely balky putter competing among the game’s elite?  Ben Hogan and Harry Vardon certainly managed it – but it’s worth noting that each had won multiple Major championships before the life-altering circumstances (a car accident and tuberculosis, respectively) that led to their battles on the greens.  Despite eight top-five Major finishes, Sergio's career record is not quite that confidence-building, and so I wonder…

- Operating a bit under the radar, Zimbabwe’s Marc Cayeux followed his victory at last week’s South African Masters by birdieing six of his last 11 holes en route to an opening 65, and a share of the first-round lead at the inaugural African Open.  Cayeux was joined at seven-under-par by South African Jake Roos, with the pair standing two up on a group of five players headed by 15-time Sunshine tour winner Desvonde Botes and former PGA Tour player Deane Pappas.

Thursday’s Round of the Day

Marc Cayeux’s above-mentioned 65 was impressive but for sheer importance, it cannot hold a candle to the 65 posted by Jyoti Randhawa in the opening round of the inaugural Emaar-MGF Indian Masters.  With pre-tournament marketing pushing the Masters as India’s arrival in the world of modern professional golf, Randhawa’s round – which included eagles on both back-nine par 5s – not only claimed the lead but also injected the tournament the sort of domestic credibility its promoters could only dream of. 

Overnight UPDATE: Do we have a Round of the Day jinx here?  Last Saturday Ernie Els made it into the silver box with a red-hot 65, then hit it in the water at the 72nd to lose the Dubai Desert Classic to Tiger Woods the very next afternoon.  Now it's Jyoti Randhawa's turn, for he just followed up yesterday's fabulous 65 with a robust 77, leaving the rapidly improving Damien McGrane with a two-shot lead roughly halfway through the second round in India.