ShareThisThe schedule says the PGA Tour began play in New Orleans Thursday, as did the LPGA Tour in its regular stop outside Phoenix. Players will stick wooden pegs into the ground and launch shots into the desert and the bayou, eyeing the customary, oversized paychecks.But trust us on this: Many of them already are thinking about Augusta National and Mission Hills.Golf season officially started Jan. 3 in Maui, but it moves into another realm in the next two weeks. First the LPGA stages its inaugural major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship in the Southern California desert (April 3-6). Then Tiger Woods and Co. make their annual pilgrimage to Augusta, Ga., for the Masters (April 10-13).The anticipation runs high on both fronts, for entirely different reasons. Lorena Ochoa sits atop the heap on the women's side, but she does not have a Tiger-like track record in majors. Ten different players have won the past 10 LPGA majors, and the start to this season -- victories by Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer and Ochoa -- only fueled expectations for a tantalizing, wide-open season in the marquee events.On the men's side, the compelling question involves Woods and his quest for the Grand Slam. He stirred the chatter with his uncommonly bold offseason words, describing the Slam as "easily within reason." Then he stirred the chatter even more by winning his first four starts of 2008, counting one European Tour event.Woods will not win every tournament he plays this year, as Geoff Ogilvy cemented a victory Monday at Doral. But Woods will ride an astonishing wave into Augusta National: In his last 11 stroke-play events, including the European Tour event and his own unofficial tournament, he has won nine times, tied for second and finished fifth.That doesn't give him license to make a profanity-laced threat toward overzealous photographers, as he did Sunday (Woods would be wise to curb his temper in public view). But it fills the next couple of weeks with anticipation, waiting to see what will happen in Augusta.NATIONWIDE ON TAP: The tentative field for next week's Nationwide Tour event at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, Calif. includes several recognizable names. Among them are Bob May, who engaged Woods in a riveting duel at the 2000 PGA Championship and Chris Riley, the onetime Ryder Cup player trying to reclaim full status on the PGA Tour.Another name also jumps off the list: Tripp Isenhour.Isenhour found himself in the headlines this month, when he was charged in the death of a protected red-shouldered hawk in Orlando in December. Isenhour was filming a television show at the time, became angry because the hawk was making noise and hit several golf balls at the bird, ultimately killing it.Isenhour later apologized and insisted he was only trying to scare the hawk, though witnesses told authorities he said at one point, "I'll get him now." Isenhour was charged with cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird, both misdemeanors. The Humane Society called for the PGA Tour to take action against Isenhour, though it's unclear if the tour did (it doesn't disclose disciplinary measures).At any rate, Isenhour, a 39-year-old former Georgia Tech star, lost his PGA Tour card after finishing 152nd on last year's money list. He has four career Nationwide Tour wins, including the 2006 Wine Country Championship at Wente.(E-mail Ron Kroichick at rkroichick@sfchronicle.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
As April nears, Tiger, Ochoa adopt major mind-set
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