Time to go for it

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF.-  The 18th hole at Mission Hills Country Club's Dinah Shore Championship Course is known as one of the best finishing holes in golf. It's a par 5 with the ultimate risk/reward setup: water along the entire left side of the fairway, bunkers on the right and an island green that's close enough for long hitters to reach in two, but only if they can carry the water in front and stop the ball quickly enough to avoid running it off the back.

But this year, thanks to a restructuring of the grandstands surrounding the 18th green (presumably a cost-cutting move by Kraft Nabisco; there's now one finishing-hole grandstand fewer than before), there's a grandstand placed like a backstop directly behind the green, stopping hot approaches from rolling into the water behind it. So on a day like today, when the tee has been moved up and there's no wind, we're likely to have a large number of players attempting to reach the green in two.

--Stina Sternberg