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ByDougFerguson TheAssociatedPress AUGUSTA, GA. Dustin Johnson withdrawing from the Masters was shocking enough. Then Charley Hoffman delivered a surprise of his own. In a raging wind that left most players celebrating any- thing around par, Hoffman ran off seven birdies over his last 11 holes Thursday for a 7-under 65 that gave him a four-shot lead over Masters newcomer William McGirt. So tough was Augusta Na- tional in gusts that approached 40 mph that Hoffman and Mc- Girt were the only players who broke 70. Hoffman didn't have reason to believe he would be one of them after a pair of three- putt bogeys early in the round. "After that, I can't remember missing a putt," he said. Hoffman's four-shot lead was the largest at the Masters for the opening round since Jack Burke Jr. had a four-shot lead in 1955. Lee Westwood, who has the credentials as the best player to have never won a major, ran off five straight birdies late in the af- ternoon and salvaged a 70. Only eight other players broke par, a group that included Phil Mickel- son, Olympic gold medalist Jus- tin Rose and Sergio Garcia. Rory McIlroy, needing only a green jacket to complete the ca- reer Grand Slam, used a nifty short game to stay in the mix. He saved two tough pars after missing the green in the wrong spots on Nos. 10 and 11, ran off three birdies in the middle of the back nine, and closed with an- other good par save for a 72. Johnson never got a chance to see how he would fare. Just under 24 hours before the world's No. 1 player was to set out in search of a fourth straight victory, he was headed down- stairs at the home he is renting to move his car in a downpour when he slipped while wearing socks and landed on his left el- bow and lower back. He tried to play. He wanted to play. Even after warming up, when he felt pain upon im- pact on two out of every three swings, he headed to the put- ting green to give it a shot. But that's as far as Johnson got. In- stead of going to the first tee, he took a sharp right toward the clubhouse and soon was on his way home. "I can't do it," Johnson said. "I don't feel there's any chance of competing." Therehavebeenfourotherplay- ersatNo.1intheworldwhodidn't play a major. But noneas abruptly as this when at the top of their game. Johnson had won his last three tournaments and was the betting favorite at the Masters. Worse yet, he expects his back to feel good enough to play by the weekend. "If it would have happened on Monday, I don't think we'd have any issues. But it happened Wednesday," he said. "To have a freak accident happen, it sucks. It sucks really bad." Not having Johnson around didn't make the Masters any easier. The wind was so strong that it blew golf balls some 6 feet on the greens as Adam Scott and defending champion Danny Wil- lett were getting ready to putt. The par-5 15th hole, histori- cally the easiest at Augusta Na- tional, was the ninth hardest be- cause of strong gusts and a back pin. No need to explain that to Jordan Spieth. One shot spun back into the water. Another shot went well over the green. He made a quadruple-bogey 9 and shot 75. GOLF HOFFMAN SOARING AT THE MASTERS CHRISCARLSON—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Charley Hoffman birdied the 14th to reach 4under in the first round of the Masters tournament on Thursday. Damn. Could have had the scoop last week. My daughter teaches school in Oakland. She doesn't teach at Technical High— Oakland Tech to the locals—but said that a few of her students had been there re- cently. "Marshawn Lynch was on the track doing sprints," my daugh- ter informed me. "My students said he was really working hard and was getting in shape." Right, I thought. Then rolled my eyes. The rumors of a Mar- shawn Lynch comeback have been in the air approximately since forever. Or specifically, since the day he officially "re- tired" from the Seattle Se- ahawks. Remember how on Su- per Bowl Sunday 2016, Lynch tweeted out that picture of his football cleats hanging from the telephone wire? Almost im- mediately, murmurs began that Lynch was just kidding and would be returning to the NFL imminently. All were false. But this time, the rumors are not rumors. Lynch must have climbed up that telephone pole and retrieved his cleats. Accord- ing to multiple reports, he spent Wednesday at Raiders head- quarters in Alameda and in- formed the team that he intends to unretire if they will give him a job. Prediction: They will give him a job. It's more than a sensible idea for to have Lynch, an Oakland native, come back and play for his hometown team. It's some- thing that both parties need desperately. From his actions over the past 14 months, Lynch obvi- ously has an itch to play football again and is dying to scratch it. He spent the last year popping up here and there around the Bay, looking alternately happy and uncomfortable and . . . just weird. One night last spring, he even showed up at a Sharks game and opened up the dress- ing room door to allow the team onto the ice. Lynch is 30 years old, three years younger than Frank Gore and two years younger than Adrian Peterson. Even though Lynch's body absorbed much wear and tear over his seasons in Buffalo and Seattle, he surely has some miles left in the tank if he's motivated to put down the gas pedal. He must be. Other- wise, he wouldn't have knocked on the Raiders' gate Wednes- day and started talking. Keep in mind that to do so, Lynch needed permission from the Seahawks, who still own his contract. So we know that he wanted this enough to have his agent make such a phone call. Lynch is plainly desperate to prove to his old neighborhood that he can give them some thrills and touchdowns. As for the Raiders ... well, do I really need to explain why they NFL COMMENTARY Why Lynch, Raiders need each other desperately DAN HONDA — BAY AREA NEWS GROUP A's pitcher Andrew Triggs allowed one unearned run in 52/3 innings to earn his second major league win. By Jimmy Durkin Bay Area News Group OAKLAND Andrew Triggs walked the first batter he faced Thursday, never a good omen. But the A's No. 4 starter even- tually settled into a nice groove after being handed a lead and helped Oakland earn a split of their season-opening series with the Los Angeles Angels with a 5-1 victory. "As the game went along, it seems like his stuff got a little bet- ter," A's manager Bob Melvin said of Triggs, "and then got a lead and got some confidence behind it." Triggs retired 10 in a row at one point to earn the second win of his major league career. The only run he allowed over 5 2/3 innings was unearned and although he battled some control issues, he al- lowed just four hits. He credited improved fastball command as a reason for his turnaround. "You want to hit the glove ev- ery single time and when you're not doing that every single time, you know there's something you need to hone in on," Triggs said. "It wasn't way off but you really want to be as sharp as you can be." The first three innings were the somewhat shaky ones for Triggs. After that leadoff walk, he re- tired the next three battles, then allowed a hit and another walk in the second inning before escap- ing trouble. Yunel Escobar singled to lead off the third and the wet outfield may have contributed to an error by Rajai Davis that allowed him to move up to second base. Esco- bar scored on a groundout by Al- bert Pujols — the error made it an unearned run — and that was the start of the 10 straight set down by Triggs. The A's gave Triggs that lead to work with in the bottom of the third and an error in the Angels outfield assisted them too. With Adam Rosales at first, Marcus Semien singled to center and the ball skipped past Mike Trout to allow the run to score and Semien to reach third. Khris Davis gave the A's the AMERICAN LEAGUE Triggs,A'searnsplitwithAngels By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group PHOENIX Giants Triple-A pitcher Jose Dominguez was suspended 142 games without pay after testing positive for a performance enhancing drug, Major League Baseball an- nounced on Thursday. Dominguez was in major league camp with the Giants this spring after signing as a mi- nor league free agent and was among the final cuts, but was not a serious contender to make the opening day roster. He tested positive for me- tabolites of Stanozolol, an an- abolic steroid, the league an- nounced. It was his second positive test for a banned per- formance enhancer. The Giants already had moved to replace Domin- guez when they signed right- hander Ryan Webb to a minor league contract a few days af- ter the Milwaukee Brewers re- leased him. Webb, 31, has a 3.43 ERA over parts of eight seasons with the Padres, Mar- lins, Orioles, Indians and Rays. He had a 5.19 ERA in 18 appearances with Tampa Bay last season. Dominguez's suspension comes a couple days after the league handed down 50-game suspensions to Giants minor league catchers Cody Brick- house and Ty Ross 50 games after testing positive for drugs of abuse. MLB Gia nts' Triple-A pitcher suspended 142 games Mark Purdy PURDY PAGE 2 A'S PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, April 7, 2017 MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1