The Pulse: Tiger tees off, WNBA snubs and Rodgers/Jackson stalemate

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Good morning! You’re the No. 5 seed in my heart.

While You Were Sleeping

Clips solve the puzzle

The Clippers edged the Lakers, 125-118, last night in what might’ve been the most important game between the two teams in years. Both entered the night tied in the Western Conference standings. How things stand:

• The Clippers — who have won 11 straight against the Lakers somehow — stay in the top six and place the Lakers firmly in the Play-In. The Pelicans are tied with the Lakers in the standings, but don’t have the tiebreak advantage. The Warriors and Clippers are tied just above them.
• The Bucks clinched the best record in the NBA with a win over Chicago, while Denver sealed up the No. 1 seed in the West thanks to the Pels’ win over the Grizzlies.
• Dallas is still alive, which feels incredible. A huge win over Sacramento gives the Mavs a chance to snag the No. 10 seed from the Thunder with two games left.

See the full standings here. Buckle up.

TV Guide

Quiet in the gallery

The Masters officially begins this morning. We aren’t quite at March Madness levels of work avoidance on the official Pulsemeter, but it’s in the neighborhood. Pull up a stream or put it on TV in the background.

Some notable tee times:

• 10:18 a.m. ET: Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele
• 10:42 a.m.: Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Cameron Young
• 1:36 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa and Sam Bennett
• 1:48 p.m.: Rory McIlroy, Tom Kim and Sam Burns

Outside of Tiger, Kim might be the weekend’s best story. Just 20, the Korean wunderkind has stormed onto the golf scene with charisma and impossible iron play. A year after earning temporary status on the PGA Tour, he has two wins and an exclusive sponsorship from Nike.

Brendan Quinn has a fantastic feature on Kim that’s worth your time today. If he plays well, the spotlight will be his.

Elsewhere … sort of: There’s a potential crack in the LIV armor courtesy of Harold Varner III, who took the tour’s talking-points guide and set every page on fire in a Washington Post feature story. Varner said LIV players who talk about growing the game are “full of sh—,” and that they’re only in it for the money — which he is totally fine with, to be clear. Varner is part of golf’s middle class, which makes his LIV vs. PGA decision a little different than those top-level guys. The LIV bonus check made a huge difference for Varner.

It feels like someone will leave LIV soon. Maybe Varner is the guy. Something to keep an eye on.

Explainers

Snubbing a top-10 pick?

UCLA’s Charisma Osborne said yesterday she will return to the Bruins for a fifth season, despite being a projected top-10 pick (The Athletic had her mocked at No. 6) in the upcoming WNBA draft. Osborne isn’t the first to forgo that projection, either.

To someone more attuned to the men’s game, that probably sounds baffling. How is someone giving up that status to…