Masters tiers: Ranking all 96 players from favorites to hopefuls

There was something about the eyes. Jonathan Randolph had just seen one of the “Star Warsâ€� movies, and when he looked at that puppy he and his wife Lacy had adopted, well, let’s just say a light dawned. “I just kept looking at these dogs and they looked like Yoda; eyes way off the side and stuff,â€� Randolph says. “So that was in the back of my mind. When we found her, Yodi for some reason just came out. “Seemed like a good dog name.â€� Indeed, and the name stuck. So did Yodi, a brown and black and white Chihuahua, who has traversed the PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour with Randolph for nearly three years now. Randolph and his wife have recently added another traveling companion, too. Their son, Boyd, was born in March, and made his first trip – with Yodi in tow, of course – to A Military Tribute At The Greenbrier in July. “We said it was a traveling circus before, because we had a dog with us,â€� Randolph says with a grin. “And now we’ve got a baby. “It’s a lot more bags and stuff, but when they’re able to be on the road with me it’s just so awesome. It makes you feel a little bit more like home.â€� There are days when an excited Yodi entertains her humans by running circles around the hotel room. And she’s happy to help Randolph when he practices putting on the carpet, picking up golf balls and bringing them back to him. Yodi is still getting used to the new addition to the family, though. When Lacy picks Boyd up, for example, Yodi clamors to be in her arms as well. “She’s definitely gotten jealous, but also shows off like crazy when she knows he’s watching and she’s playing,â€� Randolph says. “She’ll start high stepping around and doing stuff to make him happy, which is pretty awesome.â€� In time, though, Randolph knows the Yodi and Boyd will be thick as thieves. “She’s got a new best friend,â€� Randolph says. “She just doesn’t know it yet. He’s been grabbing at her and doing that fun stuff. … Her life is going to get a whole lot more interesting when he gets mobile and can grab her. “For now, she’s got it made.â€� Yodi, who will be 3 years old in December, joined the family in early 2016. The couple was looking for a dog and Lacy had owned Chihuahuas in the past. When Randolph headed to South America to open the Web.com Tour season, the puppy stayed behind with Lacy at the couple’s home in Oxford, Mississippi. Once the Web.com Tour went stateside in March, their adventure began. “She’s been to almost 40 states,â€� Randolph says. “She’s well-traveled.â€� Yodi is remarkably calm for a breed that is known to be a bit skittish. And she’s perfectly content when Randolph puts her in a carrier and takes her on a plane. “She just sits there and looks at everything,â€� Randolph explains. “We’ve never gotten a complaint. So it’s a credit to her, not to us.â€� Yodi has been a positive influence in other ways, too. The first time Yodi came out to the golf course during competition, Randolph finished birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie-par at the 2016 BMW Charity Pro-Am. A year ago at the Albertsons Boise Open, the puppy watched as he played the final three holes in 7 under for the week. “I’m not going to say she’s a good luck charm, but good things happen when she’s around,â€� the Ole Miss grad says. On Tuesday, Yodi made her second straight appearance in the media center at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Randolph’s a member at the Country Club of Jackson, which hosts the tournament, and tied for third last year. “She had a good run here last year so she’s allowed to come back, I guess,â€� Randolph says. “I had my best finish on TOUR the only time she’s ever come to the media center, so it’s good to have her back in here.â€� The family has also been there for the not-so-good times, too, though. Take a month ago when Randolph found himself back at the Web.com Tour Finals after finishing 174th in the FedExCup. He thought his game was rounding into form but he ended up missing the cut in three of the four events – a stretch he called “one of the most devastatingâ€� of his career. Lacy, Boyd and Yodi were waiting for him beside the 18th green, though, and suddenly life was good again. “Just to have them there — it’s hard to put into words, you know, like what that’ll do for you,â€� Randolph says. “But it’s pretty awesome to have the little guy on the road. “Last year I said we were a traveling circus. We are legitimately a traveling circus now with the baby and the dog and everybody, but it’s like the most fulfilling thing ever.â€�

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Like the 143 other players in the field, Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello came to THE PLAYERS Championship last month only to see it canceled after one round due to the coronavirus pandemic. Unlike those other players, Cabrera Bello has yet to return home. For now, he and his family remain in the area. Accidental Floridians, if you will. “We’ve only been able to make decisions with the information we had at the time,� Cabrera Bello, who shot a first-round 68, said in a phone interview from his rental home in the Ponte Vedra Beach area. His wife Sofia and their 8-month-old daughter Alva Margareta are with him, as are his manager Richard Rayment plus Rayment’s wife Gabby and their daughter Nikki. The six, who normally live in the same apartment building in Dubai, have been scrambling like many others to shelter in place after many travel options became unavailable to them amid the COVID-19 crisis. “After THE PLAYERS,� Rayment said, “we thought, OK, what are we going to do?� The idea of getting on an airplane for the long trip back to Dubai was unappealing, and travel restrictions were going up fast. Where to go? What to do? Bernd Wiesberger of Austria, one of Cabrera Bello’s fellow competitors, caught one of the last flights back to Europe. “We decided to rent a place for two weeks,� Rayment said, “and then things changed quickly. The UAE closed its borders, so we had to find another home and got the one we’re in now for a month and possibly one more. So really we’re just here, on lockdown a long way from home. It’s crazy, what’s happening. “I’ve made so many calls I could be a travel agent here,� he added with a rueful laugh. Not that he’s complaining; he knows they’re among the lucky ones. Like all touring pros, Cabrera Bello, who stayed at the Sawgrass Marriott for tournament week, is used to being on the move. He had planned on going from THE PLAYERS to the Valspar Championship in Tampa, the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, then the Masters in Augusta, Georgia. Rayment’s daughter, a lawyer, was going to be at Augusta National for the first time. Then everyone’s plans fell apart. Since THE PLAYERS was canceled, Cabrera Bello hasn’t played much golf. He may go out for a quick nine or hit balls around dinner time to limit contact with others in this social distancing environment. The news from Spain and in America is grim, but Cabrera Bello checks it regularly. Sometimes he puts a piece or two into a puzzle. He’s twice driven to Orlando to see his coach, David Leadbetter. When he must go shopping for groceries or other necessities for the family, he always takes precautions. It’s the new normal, and it’s how he’d want others to behave around his 89-year-old maternal grandmother, Egda. His only surviving grandparent, she lives with his parents back home in Gran Canaria, Spain, and all are doing well, he said. So are his siblings, and his friends. “I speak with them every other day, and send texts,� he said. “My brother is in Malaga, my sister in London. My wife’s family, her mom lives in Portugal, and her dad in Sweden. They are all safe and healthy. It’s more a concern for our grandparents who are high age and higher risk.� His mother, he added, is a doctor in a dialysis clinic, and has been told by the authorities in Spain to stand by in case she’s needed. So far, Gran Canaria has not emerged as a hot spot. Back in Ponte Vedra Beach, Team Rafa plan to stay for the rest of April and into May, at which point they might have enough information to decide what to do next. Maybe Cabrera Bello, who made the first-ever albatross at the 16th hole at THE PLAYERS in 2017, will even know enough to begin to formulate a schedule for what’s left of 2020. Meanwhile, he’s taking it slow and reconnecting with family and friends. He checks in with other Spanish golfers such as Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm via What’s App, and has especially appreciated his extended time with new daughter Alva Margareta. “I like to set up routines like a normal family instead of seeing her for a week and then being away for a week,� Cabrera Bello said. “I’ve seen her for like 2-1/2 months straight right now, and it’s absolutely beautiful to watch the little improvements that she goes through every day. You try something with her and she can’t do it, and a week later she’s doing it. “We’re going to learn to enjoy every single day because in the blink of an eye things can change so dramatically,� he added. “The hardest thing is to see so much suffering and worrying about loved ones. I know the end of the tunnel is somewhere, but I just don’t know where it is.�

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