PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.--Golf takes a backseat to no one in its love of acronyms. You can be DQed, DNSed and WDed. We've been MOIed and CORed. And, even though the season is still in its infancy, 37 innocent victims have already been MDFed (made cut, did not finish), their reputations left in tatters, except for D.J. Trahan, who got MDFed one week and won the next. But don't think the Cinderella story of one solitary player can blunt the ignominy of the masses.

M, D and F have become the scarlet letters of the PGA (there they go again) Tour. In truth, it sounds as if these poor souls have, in fact, done something just a little bit naughty, if not bordering on the morally reprehensible--and the tour wasn't supposed to test for that until July. If you prick them, do they not bleed? If you tickle them, do they not laugh?

Apparently not, because so many players are irate about MDF that the policy, in the proud and historic tradition of the FedEx Cup, is on the fast track to tweekdom at the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles where it will likely get PACed by the Player Advisory Council.

In fact, the wicked 37 are guilty of nothing more egregious than not familiarizing themselves with something called Green Sheets, which apparently explained in language a ferret could understand that if too many of them didn't play badly enough in the first two rounds to miss the 36-hole cut on their own, the tour would courageously take matters into its own hands and lop off their hybrids, thus making network television safe for all mankind and allowing "American Gladiators," or some such thing, to begin glistening, grunting and growling on schedule.

Imagine the confusion this must have caused during a very difficult and somewhat embarrassing transition period. Like mongrel dogs, players began showing up unexpectedly at their homes Friday night. No doubt the living-room conversations went something like this: "Sit down, honey, I have something to tell you." Sniff, sniff. Sob. "I'm MDF."
"You're what?"

"MDF. It just happened. Honest, I never intended to stray to the short side. One thing led to another. It didn't mean anything to me, honey. Really, it didn't."

Of course, Rule 78 deep-sixed the disenfranchised 37 because if more than 78 players make the 36-hole cut then the number of players allowed to keep their courtesy cars for the weekend is reduced to the number closest to 60. Everyone else is dismissed with last-place money and the home version of the FedEx Cup point system as lovely parting gifts. It happened first in Hawaii and then, like flu, migrated to the mainland in San Diego. This was supposedly OK because few players ever made the cut on the number and went on to win. On the other hand, legions have made the cut on the number and gone low enough on the weekend to be able to finance a lock in the Panama Canal. So how come you get that chance one week and not the next?

"There are a lot of things we have to do for TV," says Arron Oberholser, "but this shouldn't be one of them."

The rule does bring to mind the proverbial camel--a horse designed by committee. It was meant to avoid threesomes and slow play. But there are other ways to get there. They could trim to 65 or institute an additional 54-hole cut. Of course, they could just play faster, too.

One thing is certain. This year someone will go into the record books for most Massively Dysfunctional Finishes, all-time.

--Jim Moriarty

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.--One is dark-haired with a dark complexion and a powerful lower body that unwinds into the ball like Tiger Woods. The other is blond and lean, his skin weathered like driftwood, and he slides into the ball exactly the same way he did when he drove it better than anyone else in the world. Greg Norman has spent the past two days on the Monterey Peninsula playing golf not just with his son but, perhaps, with his heir, too.

Norman, who turns 52 on Sunday and is the oldest player in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, can, as 20-year-old Jason Day put it to his caddie, teacher and mentor, Colin Swatton, "still mint it." Norman is partnered with Gregory, his 22-year-old son and an aspiring golfer, while fiancee, Chris Evert, has looked on from behind the gallery ropes. But it is Day whose name went up on the leader board after two rounds, and it is Day who may well be Norman's spiritual son, at least when it comes to being the next great Australian player in that seemingly endless list of Aussie talents.

Though they had played together once before the AT&T, Day and Norman don't know one another well. Not yet, anyway. They've scheduled a more relaxed practice round in Mexico at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in two weeks on a course Greg designed. So far, Norman appreciates Day's game mostly from afar and is none too solicitous.

"It's consistently solid. He doesn't make too many mistakes," says the two-time British Open champion. "Putts well. Makes a lot of good four- and five-footers when he needs to. All around good game, I would say. There are a lot of 20-year-olds out there hitting a thousand golf balls a day trying to be better. I wish him well. I just hope it works out for him."

Not exactly the wow factor. And Day has yet to avail himself of the opportunity to find out what made the Shark swim. "When I saw a Nicklaus or a Watson or Trevino or Floyd, I always picked their brain. Absolutely," said Norman, who replied, when prompted, that Day hadn't asked his advice about much of anything.

The young Aussie, who was barely alive when Norman ruled golf, instead chummed with young Gregory. "We got off pretty quick," said Day. "We were always talking about, like, riding motorbikes, snowboarding, watching cartoons, funnily enough."

After Day won the Junior World Golf Championship and turned pro, he got into seven events in '06 on the PGA Tour and made five cuts. But, he was so shy, he wouldn't associate with the other players, preferring to hang out in the caddie pens with Swatton. The backstory of Day, losing his father to cancer at 11 and then losing his way as an adolescent, is well known. Just as well known are his highly publicized comments about wanting to take down Tiger Woods, something Day regretted saying not so much because he aspired to anything less than being the World No. 1 but because he was afraid, when he finally met Woods, that the man he looks up to so much might look down on him.

"He idolizes Tiger," Swatton says. "Tiger changed his life." It was Swatton, golf and a book about Woods that ultimately turned Day's life around at 15, beginning with daily 5 a.m. practice sessions. At Spyglass Hill on Friday, on the downhill par-5 seventh hole, Day smothered a 2-iron on his second shot. It looked destined to one-hop into the water, front and left of the green. Instead, the ball plugged just outside the hazard. It wasn't exactly a miracle at soggy Spyglass, but it was a nice piece of good fortune. Day took a drop, then one-hopped a little half wedge to two feet for birdie.

Day has his teacher on his bag, a steady girl, Ellie Harvey, who he was introduced to at Mavis Winkles Irish Pub in Twinsburg, Ohio, and a healthy right wrist after a cortisone shot, therapy and three and a half months off at the end of last year. Fresh from a solid week in Scottsdale, he chose to rest rather than play practice rounds, despite having never seen any of the three AT&T courses, including the one that requires the most courting and where he'll play today, Pebble Beach. He opted to trust Swatton instead, an approach that has worked out nicely for a young man who needed some looking after.

"The thing with me," Day said of his game, not his life, "is I make a lot of mistakes and I make a lot of birdies. So, if I can minimize those mistakes, I can hopefully go out there and win." Clearly, he's learned from his. Maybe that's why he didn't need Greg's advice. Not yet, anyway.

--Jim Moriarty

(Photo: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.--OK, so Bill Murray was missing and an elderly lady didn't get thrown into a bunker. Even the ice cream vendors were safe. Still, the annual 3M Celebrity Challenge on Wednesday at mostly sunny Pebble Beach Golf Links was its usual entertaining self. Six two-man teams contested for $29,000 in charity money, and the best golfer of the bunch and his partner--musician Kenny G and ESPN announcer Chris Berman, wearing a Maui Tacos hat--earned $26,000 for getting the ball up and down from behind the 18th green in the five-hole shootout.

Kenny G is a scratch player and takes his golf seriously. At least he tried to on the first tee until George Lopez cracked to the large gallery, "Any women with size-18 waist pants, please bring them up here for Kenny."

He is slender as a saxophone, but drilled his drive down the center of the fairway, drawing applause from the fans. Huey Lewis, Don Cheadle and Carson Daly also acquitted themselves well, while burly Kevin James, who is partnering in the tournament proper with even burlier John Daly, belted one long and left.

Poor Andy Garcia. A fine actor and tough 10-handicapper, he addressed his ball only to hear a voice (Lopez) shout from behind, "I love you Andy!"

Garcia backed off, identified the culprit and yelled back, "That's what you said last night."

Kevin Costner counseled first-time participant Eric Close.

"Just try to relax," he said. "Your adrenaline really gets pumping."

Then Costner sliced his tee shot into the trees.

Lewis, whose band "Huey Lewis & the News" still tours to appreciative crowds, simply loves golf. Asked to assess the state of his game, Lewis said, "You know, golf is the one thing in my life I keep getting better at." Lucky guy. He's an 11-handicapper and will team with buddy and fellow music buff Peter Jacobsen in the pro-am.

About the pro-am: For those of you sitting in the cold, looking forward to watching Saturday's featured foursomes on CBS, here's a preview of what most are predicting will be a sun-splashed day at Pebble Beach: Jason Gore-Carson Daly and Pat Perez and surfer Kelly Slater; Jacbosen-Lewis and Craig Stadler-Glenn Frey; Paul Stankowski-Garcia and Daniel Chopra-Lopez; Brandt Snedeker-Peter Ueberroth and Phil Mickeslson-Alan Mulally; D.J. Trajan-Costner and Jonathan Kaye-Thomas Gibson; Mathias Gronberg-Danny Gans and Brent Geiberger-Close; Bob Burns-Ray Romano and Daly-James; and Charley Hoffman-Kenny G and Dean Wilson-Cheadle. Don't expect to see much serious golf.

--Mark Soltau

Beginning with his first PGA Tour victory at the 1991 Northern Telecom Tucson Open as an amateur, Phil Mickelson has won 12 times at tournaments that use multiple courses. His last such victory came at last year's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, a five-shot victory over Kevin Sutherland that proved rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated. At the time, Mickelson hadn't won since the 2006 Masters, and presumably was still feeling the effects of his historic collapse at the U.S. Open in June 2006.

Mickelson won last year's Pebble event with uncanny accuracy. He was one of five winners in 2007 to hit more than 80 percent of his fairways during the victory, and he tied for the lead in greens hit with 57. According to the tour's ShotLink database, Mickelson hit the green 40 of the 45 times he was in the fairway that week, showing that when he's on his game, it doesn't matter if he has to rotate between courses.

Spyglass Hill and Poppy Hills once again join Pebble Beach in the AT&T's rotation. All three courses were on the tough side a year ago, ranking in the harder half of all venues the tour used in 2007. Pebble Beach, ranked 10th, yielding a scoring average of 73.397. Spyglass was 17th at 72.855 and Poppy Hills was 27th at 72.089. But the wind blew hard on the Monterey Peninsula in rounds one and three a year ago. By the time it died down Sunday, the final-round scoring average at Pebble had dropped to 70.60.

--John Antonini

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.--Early sights and sounds at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where the weather is sunny and expected to remain that way through Sunday. There is still a chill in the air--sweaters and wind shirts are the attire of choice--and fairways are soggy from 17 consecutive days of rain, but nobody is complaining.

Well, one guy is. Former champion Arron Oberholser withdrew Tuesday for the second straight year because of bursitis in his right shoulder. Last year, he was unable to defend his title due to a bulging disc in his back. Oberholser, who had hand surgery last October, was hoping to make his 2008 PGA Tour debut this week.

"Two years in a row I have to hang around, but I can't play," said Oberholser, who will host a party for his main sponsor, Dockers, on Saturday.

On the flip side, Vijay Singh was all smiles at Pebble Beach Golf Links, where he took a moment to soak in the beauty surrounding the 18th tee, one of the prettiest holes in the world. Vijay even took time to speak with a TV crew and reporter, then signed autographs.

He's back to using a small putter, is experimenting with different models and grips, and says it's time to start making more putts.

Day to remember
Actor/comedian George Lopez, a Pebble Beach resident who hosts the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, flagged down 20-year-old Australian Jason Day on Tuesday. "Hey Jason, people say you swing just like me," Lopez said. "Show me your swing." Day obliged. "Does it look like this?" he asked. "It does now," said Lopez.

Hall for Volcano
Steve Pate, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, was inducted into the California Golf Writers Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Nicknamed the "Volcano" for his fiery, on-course demeanor, Pate tied for fifth in a Nationwide Tour event in Mexico last week and received a sponsor's exemption to play this week at Pebble Beach. "They lost my luggage for three days and I didn't shave," said Pate, 46. "I started wearing Ben Franklin glasses and guys started calling Grandpa."

Look who's here
The 180-player amateur field includes 84 players with handicaps of 9 or lower, and 37 with 5 or less. In other words, a lot of these CEOs can play. . . . Sportscaster Al Michaels is playing in the AT&T for the first time. He's an 18-handicap at Bel Air Country Club in Los Angeles. . . . Greg Norman is playing with his son, Gregory, a 2-handicapper at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla. Norman's fiancée, Chris Evert, is coming to the tournament on Thursday with two of her three children from ex-husband Andy Mill: Alex, 16 and Nicky, 14. . . . Harry Crosby, whose father Bing started this tournament, is playing with a 2-handicap out of New York's Deepdale Golf Club.