Summer sends vacationers flocking to the San Diego area, many of them bringing their golf clubs with them. Mild temperatures, great courses, superb conditions. What's not to love?

But there may be a better time to head to San Diego for golf: Fall.

The courses are still in great shape, crowds are smaller, deals abound and the humid, cool and sometimes overcast weather known as the marine layer isn't quite so persistent.

"It's the perfect time to play golf in San Diego," said Shawn Cox, director of golf at The Grand Golf Club in Del Mar. "You're getting the benefit of the perfect weather, the courses are in great shape and at offseason prices."

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The San Diego area has become one of the world's top golf destinations, with around 90 courses in diverse settings from the beaches to the mountains. The list of courses includes some of the best in the country, including The Grand, Maderas Golf Club, La Costa Spa and Resort, Aviara Golf Club and Coronado Municipal. The most recognizable is up the coast from downtown San Diego at La Jolla's Torrey Pines Golf Course, site of U.S. Opens and an annual PGA Tour event.

Summer brings golfers from around the world to play and enjoy the mild Southern California weather. But here's a little secret: Summer is also when the marine layer is most persistent.

Contrary to popular belief, the Pacific Ocean is typically still cold during the summer, particularly in the early months. When the cooler surface air over the water meets the warmer inland air, it creates a temperature inversion. That mixing of air masses leads to the marine layer, which often gets pushed onto land by the wind. By the time fall arrives, the ocean temperature has risen and the inland temperatures have dropped, leading to less of a marine layer.

Temperatures during the fall are often in the 70s and 80s with lots of sun.

"It's some of the best weather all year," said Scott Bentley, assistant deputy director for the golf division of San Diego Parks and Recreation, which operates Torrey Pines. "The nights are cool and crisp, but the days are warm and dry. And the marine layer tends to go away, so we see more sunshine. It's just a great time of year."

The courses also match the weather in fall.

Unlike the spring, when the courses are still rounding into shape, fall offers a chance to play courses that have grown in during the nice weather of the summer months and are often in perfect shape.

Many of the courses will overseed with rye grass sometime during the fall, which leads to wet conditions for a short while, but the courses round into shape quickly and again are in perfect condition.

"The courses have had the whole summer with the nice weather, the Bermuda has popped, the tee boxes, the fairways, the chipping around the greens, it's almost like hitting off a driving range mat on every shot," Cox said.

Fall is also a great time price-wise. Many course in San Diego raise rates for the summer months, but prices come down once fall hits, often coming down to the same as winter rates.

Several resorts offer packages where guests get deals on hotel stays and tee times. The Fairmont Grand Del Mar has a Canyon to Coast package that offers two nights, two rounds of golf at The Grand Club and access to tee times at Torrey Pines. 

La Costa has a Stay and Play package that includes three nights, one round at each of its two courses and daily breakfast. Wherever you go, there's a deal to be had and great weather to go with it.

This article was written by John Marshall from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

NAPLES, Fla. — Lydia Ko blasted out from in front of the steep edge of a bunker and raised her arms playfully when it dropped for par. She ended the first round of the CME Group Tour Championship one shot out of the lead, and she looked like the Ko of old.

Her comments immediately after the round spoke to what kind of year it was.

"It would be good to finish the season with a top 10. I would be pretty happy with that," Ko said.

Top 10?

This from someone who reached No. 1 in the world at age 17, who won her first LPGA Tour event as a 15-year-old amateur and won every year since then. That streak ended in one of the most surprising developments of the year on the LPGA Tour.

Ko failed to win a single tournament. She finished 13th on the LPGA money list, after earning more than $2 million each of the last three seasons.

She paid a steep price for making so many changes all at once. Ko left coach David Leadbetter for Gary Gilchrist, she sacked her caddie late last year (she once went through seven caddies as a rookie) and she left Callaway for PXG.

"I think she has handled it extremely well," said Judy Rankin, a Hall of Famer and television analyst. "But I can't imagine that she doesn't lay her head on the pillow at night and think: 'What happened? Where did I go? Was that not real?' Part of it is just growing up. Part of it is in golf, and maybe all the way through life, I'm not sure you come to that point where you've grown up just enough to know things can go wrong. And then they begin to."

Ko had three runner-up finishes this year, losing the final-round lead to Lexi Thompson in Indianapolis. She failed to register a top 10 in the traditional majors until tying for third in Evian, the major reduced to 54 holes.

Ko never thought it was that bad.

"Obviously, winning a championship is a huge deal, but sometimes it's overrated when you haven't won," Ko said. "You're still playing well, but just haven't won. I feel like it's been that kind of year. I think everybody has little ups and downs. To me, I think it was important to finish on the higher note, which I feel like that's what happened."

She tied for 16th in Naples and soon was on her way to South Korea for three weeks of fun (mainly concerts) and no golf.

THE OPEN QUALIFYING

Geoff Ogilvy has been playing the Australian Open every year since he was low amateur in 1995, with the exception of 2000, when he was going through Q-school on the PGA Tour. Lately, it has brought him nothing but heartache.

Along with being his national open, this is the first in the "Open Qualifying Series" to earn a spot at Carnoustie next summer. The leading three players at the Australian Open not already eligible will qualify for the The Open Championship.

A year ago, Ogilvy was poised to win the tournament until a tee shot into the trees on the 16th led to double bogey. He tied for fourth and missed The Open spot because Aaron Baddeley had the higher ranking. The previous year, Ogilvy again was in good shape until he hit into the water on the 17th. He missed the spot in The Open by two shots.

Meanwhile, The Open will have similar qualifiers at the Joburg Open on Dec. 7-10 (three spots) and the Singapore Open on Jan. 18-21 (four spots).

LPGA Q SERIES

The LPGA Tour is revamping the final stage of its Q-school that essentially will direct more players to the Symetra Tour and determine priority strictly on the scores from the final stage.

It will be called Q Series, and the final stage will be two 72-hole tournaments with a cumulative score.

The field will be 108 players.

Commissioner Mike Whan said the best players in college or coming from other nations, such as South Korea, can still get an LPGA Tour card by winning a tournament or finishing equal to top 40 on the money list from tournaments with no cuts.

The LPGA will still have two stages of Q-school. This year, he said, about 80 players from the two stages will play in the final stage. That won't be the case next year. Whan said the final stage will consist of Nos. 101-150 on the LPGA money list and Nos. 11-30 on the Symetra Tour money list. He said the top five players from the college golf rankings published by Golfweek will get into the final stage, and perhaps some 10 players who are among the top 75 in the world ranking.

The rest of the field will be filled from players who advance from the second stage. Those who don't will have a Symetra Tour card.

"The superstars of the time will still get through," Whan said. "But generally speaking, most players will get to Stage II, play a year on the Symetra Tour and play their way onto the LPGA."

Meanwhile, he said, the average purse on the Symetra Tour next year will be about $140,000. That's up from an average of $90,000 a few years ago.

RIDLEY CHOICES

One month into the job as Augusta National chairman, Fred Ridley has a couple of roles to fill.

Ridley wanted to wait to appoint his successor as chairman of the competition committees because the club also lost Rob Chapman, the chief executive of Inman Mills in South Carolina, who died in August at age 66. Chapman, a popular member among the players, was head of the Cup and Tee Markers committee.

"There are a couple of committee selections that are going to have to be addressed, one of them sadly because of the passing of our dear friend Rob Chapman," Ridley said when he took over. "And I'd like to announce them at the same time."

Ridley said he was pleased to at least have options.

"When I started with the competition committee, we had a limited number of numbers who were involved, interested and proficient in the rules," said Ridley, a former USGA president. "We have a half-dozen members who are really good."

DIVOTS

Mike Whan wore a Miami Dolphins jersey (No. 23) to celebrate an announcement last week that CME Group has agreed to extend its title sponsorship of the Tour Championship and the Race to the CME Globe through 2023. … Austin Cook made only two bogeys (or worse) over 72 holes to win the RSM Classic. The only other player to do that in 2017 on the PGA Tour was Justin Thomas, who made two bogeys at the TPC Boston. … Four of the eight winners from the fall schedule had never won on the PGA Tour — Ryan Armour, Patrick Cantlay, Patton Kizzire and Austin Cook. … Elaine Farquharson-Black has been appointed captain for the second time of the Britain and Ireland team for the Curtis Cup. The matches are June 8-10 at Quaker Ridge in New York. … Nine of the top 20 players from the final Race to Dubai standings are playing the Hong Kong Open this week, led by Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Sarah Jane Smith finished 50th on the LPGA money list this year with $411,933. Five years ago, Jennifer Johnson finished 50th on the money list with $245,999.

FINAL WORD

"Some people have asked me if I feel an obligation to give back to the game. I rather think of it as a privilege." — Katherine Kirk of Australia.

This article was written by Doug Ferguson from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand shot 3-under 68 to lead in the Evian Championship second round on Saturday, and could join her younger sister Ariya in the golf majors record book.

Seeking to be the first sisters to both win majors, Jutanugarn's 9-under total was four shots clear of three players in the clubhouse, including Jennifer Song of the United States, whose 65 was best among the morning starters.

China's Shanshan Feng and American Angela Stanford were also on 5 under after carding 68s.

Victory on Sunday for the 23-year-old Moriya would make the Jutanugarns the first sisters to win majors since the LPGA was founded 67 years ago.

The 21-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn, who was top-ranked this season, won the 2016 Women's British Open.

"I probably don't feel that bad playing on the golf course rather than watching my sister play," said Moriya Jutanugarn, who recalled feeling "nervous, excited" last year when finishing her round to watch Ariya win at Woburn, England.

The fifth women's major of the season is a 54-hole event after weather-affected play Thursday was wiped from the record.

Jutanugarn had chances to match her 65 from Friday's first round though let birdie chances slip after consistently accurate approach shots.

"I played pretty solid today," the 32nd-ranked Jutanugarn said, "couldn't make a little more putts."

On the course in the afternoon, first-round leader Sung Hyun Park, the U.S. Women's Open champion, dropped shots at the first and third holes, then birdied the par-5 seventh to trail Jutanugarn by two.

Park was playing in a stellar group of the world's three best players with No. 1 So Yeon Ryu, her fellow South Korean, and No. 2 Lexi Thompson of the U.S.

Former No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand, the 2015 Evian winner, and Ayako Uehara of Japan each picked up three shots to be 6 under.

Ariya Jutanugarn won't be playing Sunday when her sister chases history. A second-round 74 left her 9 over and far below the cut line.

Defending champion In Gee Chun of South Korea, whose 21-under total then set a majors record, shot a second straight 70 to be 2 under.

This article was written by Graham Dunbar from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.