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Legal
Mizuno USA, Inc., announces that it has taken legal action against several online organizations who have misappropriated Mizuno product photography and corporate logos.
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Associations
The National Golf Foundation's Golf Project Report, formerly known as the Course Construction Activity Report, is live on its Web site. The redesign, which now includes real time search functions on golf course related construction projects in the U.S., is updated daily.
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People
Softspikes, Inc., promotes Bruce Lehnhard to Senior Distributor Manager. Lehnhard assumes overall responsibility for all of Softspikes' domestic and international distributors.
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Business
The VGM Club offers all First Tee Chapters complimentary memberships as part of the VGM Club's on-going policy of supporting the golf and club industries.
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Sponsorship
Putting Greens Direct announces that Paul Stankowski has agreed to a long-term endorsement deal with the company. Stankowski joins Davis Love III as the second PGA Tour player to become a company representative.
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Golf Pride Grips will sponsor the 16th Hospice of Scotland County charity golf tournament in Laurinburg, N.C., April 23-24. Since 1986 proceeds have totaled over $1.2 million with Hospice of Scotland County being the sole beneficiary.
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Instruction
The John Piatt Company introduces the LevelHead Golf Neck-Tie, a training aid for golfers who have trouble keeping their heads level during the swing.
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Tournaments
The PGA Club Professional Championship, the showcase for the country's finest PGA Professionals, will make its first visit to The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Resort in Kiawah Island, S.C., June 23-26.
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Virginia seeks to continue its eight-match winning streak at the 19th Virginia-West Virginia Matches at the par-70, 6,610-yard The Homestead's Cascades Course on Saturday-Sunday, April 27-28 in Hot Springs, Va.
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Events
The Golf Association of Philadelphia opens its 106th season on April 21 with the GAP Team Matches, one of 46 events set for the Association's 2002 season. The highlight of the season will be the Philadelphia Open Championship at Pine Valley Golf Club on July 15.
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Colleges
Arizona State will host the 30th ASU Thunderbird/SAVANE Men's Invitational April 12-13 at ASU's Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz.
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Players
Senior PGA Tour player Dana Quigley will make his sixth consecutive appearance at 63rd Senior PGA Championship at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, June 6-9.
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Laura Diaz, who captured her first career victory at the recent Welch's/Circle K Championship in Tucson, Ariz., will play in the 11th annual Chick-fil-A Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez April 29-May 5 at Eagle's Landing Country Club in Stockbridge, Ga.
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Travel
Sports Express now offers to pick up golf clubs and luggage from home, office or country club and deliver directly to any resort or destination in the United States, England, Scotland or Ireland.
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The newly renovated, AAA four-diamond award-winning LaPlaya Beach and Golf Resort, a Noble House Resort, is offering several value-added packages until Sept. 30.
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Hyatt Grand Champions Resort is undergoing a $60 million expansion that will result in a luxurious 480-room hotel with a total of 88,000 square feet of meeting space and a brand-new 30,000 square foot spa.
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Reader's Forum With the arrival of the year's first major, the winner of the Masters will become the only player with the chance to win the coveted Grand Slam -- or will he? Open for debate is whether the Grand Slam is confined to the calendar year or can a player, like Tiger Woods in 2000-01, be entitled to the Grand Slam by winning the four major titles over two calendar years? Let us know your opinions by sending your responses to stuart@gpagolf.com with the subject line RE: Grand Slam. Also include your first name and last initial.

Five Quest
Augusta National Chairman W.W. "Hootie" Johnson

Q. Last year you surprised us all with the answer to this question, so let me ask it the same way. Is this course today exactly the way you want it to be?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: Well, I think I'd answer that like Mr. Roberts responded to the lady that told him that he had a perfect tournament. He said, "Thank you very much, but we really never get it right." And that may be true with the golf course.

Q. When did these changes and this revision, whatever you wish to call it, become an absolute act to be done? When was the decision made?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: Well, you know, we do -- it takes us a while to make a decision down here, but the rapid pace of change has kind of speeded up our decision-making process. Last year, before the tournament, we did have the intention of -- we recognized that we had to make some changes to some of the par 4s; we needed to strengthen them. And then during the tournament, we felt like what we were seeing that if we had other opportunities, that we needed to take advantage of those, also, to try to keep pace with the change that was going on in the game, like at 8 and 13.

Q. As I recall, sometime during the tournament last year, you had Tom Fazio, and you mentioned his name.

HOOTIE JOHNSON: Well, he and I were down on 11, and Phil Mickelson, we saw his drive come down there. We thought somebody had chipped out of the woods. (Laughter.)

After he made his shot, I went down and went under the rope, and he was 94 yards from the green. I told Tom, I said, "Heck, man, no question about what we are about, and we should be more aggressive with what we are doing."

Q. How many of those 285 yards do you figure you'll use this week? Are you going to play them all the way back or what?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: Well, Will can make a final decision on that based on the wind.

I expect on every hole that we changed, we'll use all of it; maybe not all on the same day.

Q. With all of the rain we had last night, the course, obviously is playing much differently today. Do you anticipate that you will be able to get the course back to the sort of speed and firmness of the greens by the weekend? What's the outlook for that?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: We hope so. We would like to have -- we had it like we wanted it Sunday and Monday. That would be what we would hope to achieve.

Q. Which is what?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: Whatever it was on Sunday and Monday. (Laughter.)

Q. Were you more concerned with the scores these guys were shooting in relation to par, or more concerned with the fact that they kept reaching for a wedge every time?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: We were not concerned with the scores. We never really gave that a lot of consideration. Of course, the short club, I guess leads to the score. We just hated that time after time, pulling out sand wedge or pitching wedge to par 4s.

Q. This is a question outside of competition. You have overseen more changes here than perhaps any other previous chairman. One of the things here is the exclusivity of the merchandise. Why is it that it is exclusively just sold on-course and do you ever foresee it being sold on the Internet, catalogs, things like that?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: Well, we think a piece of clothing or souvenir here is kind of special to the people that have been here, and while our merchandise sales are important to us, we don't feel the need to go on the Internet and trivialize the merchandise.

Q. Along the same lines, can you talk about the whole aura, the lack of commercialism, no cell phones on the course, what are you trying to create down here and how hard is it to keep that going?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: Well, we just work at it real hard. I don't know how to -- I really don't know how to answer that.

Q. What's the idea behind it all?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: Well, I think that what we do, I think that Mr. Roberts and Bobby Jones set a pace for excellence and for courtesy and doing the right thing. We just try to continue that.

Q. How do you feel about the changes, particularly on the 18th hole, was there a feeling that that hole had become not as dynamic a finishing hole?

HOOTIE JOHNSON: I feel real good about the 18th hole. (Laughter.) And that's no tongue-in-cheek. I feel good about the 18th hole.

Click here to read the complete transcript.