PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Another day, another gadget. For $25 per day, or $75 for the entire tournament, fans at the Players Championship can rent something called a Kangaroo TV. It hangs around your neck with a strap, weighs maybe a pound, and allows you to watch the telecast while you're out baking in the sun. I would liken it to the "black box" that Peter Kostis takes with him while roaming the fairways for CBS, except that Peter has never let me near his black box. He must have heard about my stormy relationship with computers.

Whenever I touch anything more high-tech than a hair dryer, it goes into convulsions and ceases to work. (When I touch a hair dryer, it just looks at my scalp and laughs.) Anyway, the PGA Tour has been kind enough to let us writers use the Kangaroo TVs for free, because the tour knows we only pay $25 for luxury items, like a suit of clothes. The sight of a reporter actually walking a golf course is noteworthy in itself, so the prospect of us being out in the heat watching what we usually watch in an air-conditioned press tent stopped traffic at the Stadium Course. Or maybe it's just my advanced age.

One lady saw me fiddling with my Kangaroo TV and asked if I needed help. I think she thought it was my dialysis machine. If it was, I would be in trouble, because, not surprisingly, I had problems with all the buttons. Besides the actual telecast, you can punch in just the action at the fabled 17th hole, or go to the scoreboard, or the stat center or create a search for your favorite player. I don't have a favorite player, which is just as well because I couldn't get past the screen welcoming me to the Kangaroo TV world and offering "simple instructions".

I didn't bother using the earplugs, either, because there was nothing to hear. I have no idea what you do with a Kangaroo TV in the rain, but according to the grim weather forecast, we'll find out Sunday. You could never carry a Kangaroo TV around at the Masters, where you can't bring anything through the gates except your wife, but I'm not going to knock progress. When I returned the gizmo, the lady noticed I had barely dented the five hours of battery time. "Didn't you like it?" she asked.  "Oh, very much," I replied. "I'm just saving energy."

--Bob Verdi

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Jeff Maggert withdrew from the Players last night due to the death of his older brother Barry, who died in a plane crash in Colorado.

According to the Carbondale (Colo.) Valley Journal, Barry Maggert, 55, died Thursday, when the plane he was piloting crashed in the mountains west of Denver. The Gilpin County Sheriff's office said Maggert and a 23-year-old passenger were bound for Boulder and the graduation of Maggert's son, Lee, when the crash happened. The unidentified passenger survived and called 911. Barry Maggert's twin sons Lee and Bryant are both 23 years old.

Jeff Maggert, who shot 72 in the first round of the Players, withdrew after learning of the tragedy Thursday night. Commissioner Tim Finchem released a statement offering condolences to Maggert and his family.

"This is obviously a tragic accident, and our thoughts and prayers are with Jeff and his family," Finchem said. "The PGA TOUR is here with any support we can offer the Maggerts during this difficult time."

--John Antonini

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Whatever happened to Craig Perks? Well, the 2002 winner of the Players Championship is at this year's tournament. He just didn't bring his clubs, which is understandable since he announced his retirement after the 2007 season.

"I don't know that I needed to 'announce' it," said Perks. "I just wanted to walk away quietly, which is what I did."

At 41, Perks is beginning a career as a teacher. Also, he's doing some broadcasting this week on the world TV feed, and with "Live @ the 17." He's scheduled to drop in on the Golf Channel, too.

Last but not least, Perks attended the Champions Dinner. "I was honored and proud to be there, just as I was honored and proud to win this tournament," said Perks.  "I might have been a one-hit wonder, but nobody can take that away from me."

Alas, his 2002 triumph that included chip-ins on Nos. 16 and 18, Perks never won again on the PGA Tour. At the end of that season, he studied statistics and saw his name near the bottom in several categories.

"So, I made a complete overhaul of my swing," Perks said. "It didn't work.  Then I tried to go back to my old way, and wound up caught in between. I made one cut the last two years and was just awful. I felt like I was an embarrassment to the game, and maybe even a distraction to playing partners. I played a lot of practice rounds by myself, and hit a lot of balls at the corner of the range."

Perks is creating a performance institute in Broussard, La., near Lafayette, where he settled after completing college at Southwest Louisiana. That's a long way from his home in New Zealand, but he met wife Maureen while in school, and their two children are also quite content in Cajun Country.

Asked if he wants to be the next Butch Harmon--a world-class teacher who doubles as a TV analyst--Perks said that given the support he received from his family through tough times, "I'd rather be a world-class husband and father."

--Bob Verdi

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- On Wednesday afternoon at the Players, a TV crew was testing its audio by throwing ice cubes in the pond that surrounds the 17th green to mimic the sound of a golf ball plopping in the water. That audio got a workout during Thursday's opening round, when 20 balls found the pond, leading to a bunch of double bogeys, a couple triples and one quadruple-bogey 7. At just 148 yards, a wedge for most players, No. 17 could be had in the morning calm but caught up fast thanks to a gusty afternoon tailwind. In the end, 105 of 141 players hit the green and 22 made birdie, but more good rounds died at 17 than anywhere else. Here's how five pros played it on Thursday:

MATT KUCHAR
Score on 17: 7
First-round score: 78
When Kuchar stepped onto the 17th tee, the wind was blowing harder than it had all day. His tee shot landed just past the pin but took a giant leap into the pond. Hitting from the drop area (85 yards from the hole), Kuchar again flew the ball too far. Rinse and repeat. A second try from the drop area, his fifth shot, cleared the bulkhead fronting the green by two steps, setting up a two-putt for quad and 41 on his opening nine (he started on No. 10).

TIM CLARK
Score on 17: 6
First-round score: 77
One of the few players to hit 9-iron on 17, Clark liked his shot in the air, only to see it bounce once, twice, three times and dribble off the back and into the water. He nearly dumped his next shot, from the drop area, into the hazard. Big relief, but it didn't last long. Three putts from the front of the green led to a triple-bogey 6.

ERNIE ELS
Score on 17: 6
First-round score: 72
Els' triple on 17 was particularly tough to swallow because he played the first 16 holes in two under. With the wind gusting at his back, he tried to lay off a wedge, after putting his sand wedge back in the bag, but chunked it in the water short. He played from the drop area, skidding his next shot through the green and nearly into the pond again, then took three to hole out. The good news: He regrouped and birdied the difficult finishing hole to post an even-par round.

ANDRES ROMERO
Score on 17: 4
First-round score: 77
In Wednesday's practice round, Romero was horsing around behind 17 green, hitting flop shots and chipping up the walkway that leads onto the island. Little did Romero know he'd actually have to hit one of those shots on Thursday. His tee shot carried the green and rolled down the walkway into the rough. It didn't help that the path is surfaced in fast-running artificial turf; his ball might have stopped in real grass. After hitting a spectacular pitch off a downslope that released 15 feet by the hole, Romero two-putted for bogey. Disaster averted.

PHIL MICKELSON
Score on 17: 2
First-round score: 70
Playing in the calm morning conditions, Mickelson went back to his bag three times before settling on a wedge for his tee shot. It proved worth the extra strategizing, as Mickelson stuck his ball to four feet and rolled in the birdie putt. He bogeyed 18 but still finished  two under, four off Sergio Garcia's first-round lead.

TOP 5 SHOTS OF THE DAY ON 17:
Tommy Armour III: 17 inches (birdie)
Dean Wilson: 2 feet, 5 inches (birdie)
Paul Casey: 2 feet, 10 inches (birdie)
Johnson Wagner: 3 feet, 5 inches (par)
Phil Mickelson: 4 feet (birdie)

--Peter Morrice

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- New-look Stewart Cink shot a nifty, little 71 Thursday at the Players that included three birdies in his first four holes and a water ball on 17. With six top-10s in 10 events this year, Cink is third on the tour's money list and third in FedEx points, but it's something he did off the course that made heads turn during round one at TPC Sawgrass. Cink shaved his head.

"I've seen a lot of myself on TV this year and didn't like seeing the band of black going around the back of my head," Cink said. "I wanted to look 35, not 55. I don’t know if it's in or out, but it's in to me. There's no going back."

Cink said that, out of the blue, a company called Head Blade sent him a gadget. "It has a loop that fits around your finger and you just run your hand over your head," he said. "It gives you a smooth shave."

Cink said he wasn't embarrassed or disturbed that the company singled him out for the product. "Not at all," he said. "They sent it to my agent at the Masters, and I got it a week later."

After discussion with wife, Lisa, Cink used the razor for the first time a week ago. "It takes 10 minutes, including the lather," he laughed. As for his round, Cink said the "Cinkmeter reads adequate and not fulfilling of potential." His 71 leaves him tied for 23rd.

--John Antonini

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The marquee pairing among the morning groups at TPC Sawgrass is the threesome of Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Rory Sabbatini. All three wowed the gallery by making birdie on the par-5 16th, before Mickelson got the fans into a frenzy by hitting his approach on the island-green 17th hole to four feet. He made the putt for birdie to get to two under through eight holes but couldn't keep the momentum going on 18, making bogey on his ninth hole of the day to finish his first half of the course at one under. (Stenson, who bogeyed 17 after his tee shot into the water, finished the front nine at one over, while Sabbatini was at even par).

Mickelson, the defending champ, is looking to become the first player to repeat as Players champion, and he knew it wasn't going to be easy. "The greens are faster and firmer, and because of that, the greens being so small, they're tough to hit," Lefty said in a pre-tournament interview. "They're two feet faster on the Stimpmeter than they were last year and because of the firmness the ball runs out a lot more on your approach shots, and it's difficult chipping."

Only four defending Players champions have finished in the top-10 the following year: Jack Nicklaus (T-5) in 1977; Mark McCumber (T-6) in 1989; Tom Kite (T-5) in 1990; and Adam Scott (T-8) in 2005. McCumber came the closest to repeating. He was two shots off the lead entering the final round, but shot 74 Sunday to finish four back of winner  Kite.

Meanwhile, Masters champion Trevor Immelman withdrew before his round because of an illness. Immelman said he woke up early in the morning with an upset stomach and vomiting and returned to his Orlando home to recover.

--John Antonini

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Without question, the happiest face around this Players Championship belongs to Greg Rita, a popular veteran caddie who showed up from his nearby home to visit many friends on the PGA Tour.

Rita, 52, hadn't been at a regular event for a year, because he had been working for Scott Hoch on the Champions Tour. Then in September, Rita collapsed and was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Surgery was performed Nov. 7, and he's endured it all since--radiation, chemotherapy, seizures, pneumonia, spinal tap.

"But this is the greatest therapy of all," said Rita, whose presence at the course brought things to a screeching halt as players, caddies and tour types dropped whatever they were doing to greet him with smiles and hugs.

Although Rita wears a scar around his head and has dropped some weight, he looked like a man who is up for the fight against cancer.

"I'm going to will this thing away," said Rita, who caddied for Curtis Strange's consecutive U.S. Open victories in 1988 and 1989 and was on the bag when John Daly won the 1995 British Open.

Besides his appearance at the Players, Rita got to hang out with many of his buddies a couple evenings ago when Paul Fusco, Steve Flesch's caddie, and wife Pam had some of the boys over to their house not far from where Rita and wife Kelley reside.

"A great night," said Greg, who undergoes physical rehab almost daily because, as he says, "my body has been torn up." Rita anxiously awaits his next MRI in June--"I pray it's clean"--and takes 40 pills a day, but he doesn't require any medicine to retain a goal he set when doctors delivered the bad news.

"Our son Nicolas is 3," said Rita, a serious Boston Red Sox fan. "When he turns 5, I'm taking him to Fenway Park."

--Bob Verdi

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Is it any wonder why things get done so efficiently, so often, so peacefully at the Masters? I think not, not after listening to Chairman Billy Payne's state-of-the-art press conference Wednesday morning.

It is an annual affair, and unlike so many gatherings in other sports, this one rarely takes on a contentious tone. One reason for that is, if there's something that needs to be fixed at the Masters, it just seems to happen. I'm sure there are committees to which Payne must report, but at an intensely private institution with a rich history and deep pockets, it's probably infinitely easier to create more room for patrons to leave their cars. You just buy up some land near Augusta National GC and designate it as a parking lot.

No task seems too large or too small for Payne and his fellow green jackets, which is not to suggest that the Masters and the club don't have "issues." There is a new policy this year that allows children ages 8 to 16 to enter free when accompanied by an accredited patron. This is a way for boys and girls to see golf at its finest, according to Payne, and also to watch how spectators are supposed to behave at a golf tournament.

Payne is mighty proud of this concept at an institution that is perceived as being quite exclusionary. And that begat a question from the audience: If a 10-year-old girl comes through the gates Thursday, falls in love with the place and decides she would like to join someday, how do you tell her she can't? Payne's reply: There's the tournament and then there's the club, and he's not going to discuss how fellow members wish to operate the other 51 weeks every year. He'll deal with Masters week.

He takes the next question with a smile. If Billy Payne were baseball commissioner, I don't think it would take him 10 years to figure out why all those home runs were being hit 10 years ago. Just a hunch, but I think he would have caught on sooner.

-- Bob Verdi

HUMBLE, Tex. -- Nine-hole scores of 29 tend to brighten one's outlook, and though Fred Couples isn't necessarily envisioning a second green jacket, he has expectations beyond extending his cut streak at the Masters to 24.

"If I can go putt well I can compete," Couples said Saturday, after shooting a 67 that included a seven-under-par 29 on his second nine (the front nine) at Redstone G.C. The surge moved him into the top 10 at the Shell Houston Open.

"I feel like I'm playing pretty well. I feel like I can go out and shoot under par again."

Couples, 48, spent five days last week working with Butch Harmon at his golf school in Las Vegas, and is attempting to rein in his miscreant backswing. "I get long and drop underneath and hit them high and to the right," he said.

The sessions with Harmon were designed to prepare Couples for the Masters, but the fact that he's already seen a payoff has him looking forward to a good week at Augusta National.

"My goal is to go play and do well," he said. "And if I happen to make the cut one more time, that's a nice thing." But, he cautioned, if he went there simply with a goal of making the cut, he might put himself in jeopardy of missing it.

"My goal is to go play in the tournament and do well," he said.

--John Strege

HUMBLE, Tex. -- Six Australians have won the Shell Houston Open, including the last two (Stuart Appleby in 2006 and Adam Scott last year), a run of success for which there is no plausible explanation, not even that offered up by Matt Goggin on Friday.

"It's wide open," he says of Redstone G.C., site of the tournament since 2003. "Maybe we're just better on courses you don't have to think around, the just smash-it-and-go-find-it type thing. You dumb it down for us and we do all right."

Goggin, 33, is attempting to join the Aussie litany; his second-round score of eight-under 64 at Redstone lifted him into contention, three strokes behind leader Johnson Wagner.

"Scotty and Stuey, they belt it a million miles and take advantage of the par 5s," says Goggin. "That's how they play. This a perfect golf course for them. No rough. Geoff (Ogilvy) is no slouch in that area, either. It's probably more my strength."

Goggin, who is seeking his first PGA Tour victory in this his seventh season, had a pair of eagles on his front nine on Friday, including a holed 8-iron shot from 162 yards on the fifth hole. He also holed a bunker shot on the par-5 eighth for eagle. "All of a sudden, I didn't hit a bad shot for the rest of the day," he said. "That sort of really got things going."

--John Strege

HUMBLE, Tex. -- Johnson Wagner's father, Tommy, used to teach computer sciences at the Military Academy at West Point, so when things go wrong with Johnson's computer he has someone to whom he turns to repair it. So it would seem that for those occasions when his golf game goes awry, he'd want someone on whom he could rely to fix it. So it would seem.

Instead, Wagner, a second-year PGA Tour member from Charlotte, N.C., decided during the winter that he did not need a teacher, that he would fend for himself. Four straight missed cuts early this year convinced him otherwise. "I was wrong," he said.

So Wagner went back to his former teacher, Bobby Heins, the head pro at Old Oaks C.C. in Purchase, N.Y. They began working together after the PODS Championship a month ago, and the first significant dividend was paid Thursday at Redstone C.C. in Humble, Tex.

Wagner shot a nine-under-par 63 that included an eagle-birdie finish to share the first-round lead with Adam Scott at the Shell Houston Open. To boot, Wagner regained a share of the course record that he surrendered to Scott earlier in the day. Last year, Wagner shot a 64 in the third round of the tournament to set the standard.

"I looked online this morning and saw he (Scott) was five- or six-under through eight and said, 'oh, boy, there it (the course record) goes.' Walking down our first hole I looked over at my caddie (Steve Hale), we saw the board and he was nine under with one to go. I said, 'there it goes, it's gone.' "

"Well, the day is not over yet," Hale replied presciently.

Wagner attributes the round to the work he has done with the coach he thought he no longer needed.

--John Strege

MIAMI -- While it's true the only thing more boring than a weather delay at a golf tournament is a Pauly Shore film festival, there were, nonetheless, a few interesting developments before and after the deluge washed out play at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral Saturday. It's fascinating how every Spring the whiff of distant flowers at Augusta brings out the red numbers in golf's finest players as each attempts to firm up their games for the year's first major championship.

Everyone knows Augusta National is one of Tiger Woods' "happy places," as the CA Championship leader Geoff Ogilvy calls the courses where Woods so often dominates. The third-round threesome was among the players returning to finish  Easter Sunday morning with Ogilvy assuming a four-shot lead at 16 under par. But while Woods was busy wrestling the Aussie tag-team duo of Adam "Facebook" Scott and Geoff "The Flying Quote" Ogilvy, others were coming into shape, too.

Among the notable names was Vijay Singh, the 2000 Masters champion who finished in the top 10 there every year from '02 through '06. Earlier this year Singh couldn't keep his "new" swing under control and he lost the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in a playoff. This week, he changed from a standard-length putter back to the belly and led the group of five players at minus 12.

While Singh made the biggest move Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning with a nine-under 63, another familiar name from the last two Masters, Tim Clark, got to 11 under before he dropped a shot from a tough lie in the wet rough Sunday morning on the 16th. "I really struggled the start of the year," said Clark, who was runner-up to Phil Mickelson at Augusta in '05 and shared the halfway lead last year. "Last week I found my swing again and that felt great and that gave me confidence coming here and I just had to figure out what I was doing with the putting. I got that sorted this week. I'm looking forward to Augusta now. You don't want to be going there playing badly. Now that I feel like I'm playing well, you kind of get excited to go back and play."

Singh and Clark weren't the only ones cobbling something together in advance of Augusta. After a mediocre opening to his season, all of a sudden Jim Furyk was on the leader board with Singh at 12 under. Mike Weir, the '03 Masters champion, was five under in his third round. Retief Goosen, who finished second at Augusta last year, had his best showing of the season last week at Bay Hill and worked his way into the logjam at minus 12, too. The Masters defender, Zach Johnson, is a shot behind Clark.

There were two names missing from the list of usual suspects, however. The first was Ernie Els. The winner at the Honda Classic just three weeks ago was six over par for the tournament but suffering from the flu all week. "I'd like to put some good rounds together when I start feeling better," Els said. "Obviously, I've got the Houston tournament before the Masters."

Not part of the conversation was Colin Montgomerie, who came to the CA needing a high finish to earn an invitation back to Augusta. His opening rounds of 75 and 74 left him with the stunned and vacant look more often associated with people trying to change planes at Miami International.

-- Jim Moriarty

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Zach Johnson still hasn't made up his mind what he's going to serve at the past champions dinner on Tuesday night at Augusta National during Masters week, though he has noticed the time is growing short. He remains committed to his Midwestern roots and figures corn and pork will probably work their way onto the menu. His wife, Kim, comes from the Florida Panhandle so there may be a little shrimp in the offing, too. "Some kind of surf and turf," he says.

As for his game, it's beginning to round into form but Johnson doesn't plan on doing much different in preparation for his defense. "I'll emphasize my wedges a little more and work on the speed of my putts," says the man who laid up on all the par fives and still played them 11 under par in 2007. "Nothing very different. It's worked before."

-- Jim Moriarty

As expected, the PGA Tour named Fred Couples captain of the U.S. Presidents Cup team, but that was not the only news made by the tour Tuesday. Greg Norman will be Freddie's opposite number, assuming the captaincy of the International team for the tournament to be held at Harding Park in San Francisco in September, 2009. Couples and Norman replace Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, who have been the event's captains since 2003.

In other news, Rule 78 is no more. The PGA Tour Policy Board agreed to abandon immediately the controversial cut policy that reduced the weekend field to low 70 plus ties if more than 78 players made the cut. Under the new regulation, if more than 78 players make the cut at a regular PGA Tour event all will compete in the third round. There will be an additional cut after 54 holes to the low 70 players plus ties. Players missing this cut will receive prize money and FedEx Cup points in accordance with their finish.

The policy board agreed to revisit the rule after the Player Advisory Council suggested changes be made. The players were upset that they would not have a chance to improve their position in the standings despite making the cut. They cited players such as Brad Faxon and Jose Maria Olazabal as golfers who made the cut on the number, but played well enough on the weekend to win the tournament.

Zach Johnson, who was elected chairman of the PAC addressed the subject a week ago. "You're talking about the livelihood of the players, which is something the PAC is not taking lightly, the players are not taking lightly, and the board is not taking lightly," he said. "This issue not only encompasses cuts, money, etc., [but also] pace of play, retirement, a lot of issues."

Commissioner Tim Finchem said the tour would continue to monitor the idea of a smaller two-round cut to 65 players, plus ties.

The policy board also approved several other changes. The field at the season-ending Children's Miracle Network Classic, Nov. 6-9, has been reduced from 132 players to 128 and the field at the Memorial tournament has been increased from 105 players to 120. Also, the Fry's Electronics Open will move to The Institute, a San Jose, Calif., course in 2010. The Institute is owned by Fry's Electronics and the tournament will be renamed the Institute Championship. It will become an invitational event with a 120-player field.

Also, Bob Harig of our sister website, ESPN.com, reports that the order of the Florida Swing tournaments will switch in 2009. The Arnold Palmer Championship will get the prime final position on the four-event swing. The new order has the Honda Classic leading off, followed by the WGC-CA Championship at Doral, the PODS Championship and Palmer's event at Bay Hill.

--John Antonini

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- Reverence for the Riviera CC continues to abound among PGA Tour players, a sentiment that occasionally is expressed with a caveat, that it remains a gem in spite of some of its changes.

"They've changed it a little bit, but they haven't ruined it," said Scott Verplank who, heading into the final round, stands tied for fourth in the Northern Trust Open, six shots behind leader Phil Mickelson.

"They haven't ruined it" smacks of damning it with faint praise. Several greens have been expanded by architect Tom Fazio and his design associate Tom Marzolf, though not necessarily as a counter to their tending to shrink over time. They've been expanded in places where there has never been green before, contrary to architect George Thomas' original design.

"I haven't been all that impressed with some of the changes," Verplank said, "but the golf course is so great. As long as you don't do anything too major, it's a brilliant place. They changed some of the greens a little bit, and it seemed to be a little bit out of character with Riviera, but it's still great. Every great golf course goes through stages of changing it and tinkering with it and all that. It would be pretty hard to mess this one up too much."

-- John Strege

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- Fred Couples' 48-year-old back may have a tendency to stiffen up, but his locution remains as supple as ever, his sentences bending in directions that would challenge English teachers attempting to diagram them.

After his round in the Northern Trust Open on Friday, Couples was asked how much longer he'll continue to play at Riviera C.C., now that the Champions Tour is on the horizon.

"I have two more years I hope," he said, "and then next year when I'm 50, I don't know where the seniors are. If they give me a spot (in the Northern Trust), I'd rather play here than a senior event. So I'll be here a couple more years at least. It's my favorite course. I'm not going to not."

Not going to not?

"I'm not going to not play," he replied. "They are going to have to keep me from not playing."

Understood. Couples is not going to not play a golf course on which he has won twice and finished second on three occasions. Consecutive rounds of one-under-par 70 that easily advanced him to the weekend will only reinforce his affection for Riviera. Couples is tied for 23rd, eight shots behind leader Phil Mickelson.

Meanwhile, his back has been cooperating of late to a degree that has him optimistic about the future.

"I've got a heat pack on it right now, which feels good," he said. "But I think this will be a nice year. If I can get through it, I'll be very happy about that."

--John Strege

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- John Daly is inimitable, which, most would agree, is surely a good thing. One of him is sufficient. But whatever one feels about him, he's difficult to ignore, and not simply because of his growing girth.

After shooting 69 in the first round of the Northern Trust Open Thursday, he spoke of the flu that has bothered him the last couple of days and how he was grateful to have swapped pro-am times with Phil Mickelson the day before, "because an hour earlier for me, I could catch the Willie Nelson concert last night."

A Willie Nelson concert would seem an odd elixir for flu. But this is John Daly's world.

"Me and my caddie both got the flu," Daly said. "The last two days have been brutal."

A decent round is the kind of medicine his golf game needed. This marked only the second time in 11 rounds this year that Daly has bettered 70. "It's nice to finally get off to a decent start," he said. "I made a good putt on one and made a really good birdie on three and then [another] on five. You get off to a start like that, and you feel like you can feed off it for the rest of the day."

Daly said he put a new shaft in his putter, one a half-inch longer. "Butch [Harmon, his instructor] wants me to shorten my stroke, so I added some length. I figure it makes it a lot easier to do that."

-- John Strege

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- The PGA Tour's revised cut policy for 2008 will barely make it through the West Coast swing, as the Players Advisory Council voted unanimously to alter weekend qualifications yet again during a meeting this week in Los Angeles. Full-field events will return to the low-70-and-ties stipulation used before the start of the season, with a 54-hole cut being added if the number of final-round competitors still exceeds 78.

However complicated or trivial the revision may seem, the "double cut" gives tournaments an extra chance to reduce fields to a manageable size, particularly when daylight and frost delays are significant issues early in the season. It also gives players one more chance to shoot themselves back into contention, which was the primary gripe among those who opposed the original modification when it went into effect last month.

The tour's policy board will vote on the latest proposal when it gathers at the Honda Classic in two weeks. Board member Joe Ogilvie said he saw no reason why the revision wouldn't go into effect almost immediately, which would end a brief but tumultuous issue that claimed unusually large numbers of players on two separate occasions.

At the Sony Open in Hawaii, the first full-field event of '08, low 70 plus ties meant that 87 players would have qualified for the weekend. The revision lowered the actual cut by one stroke, however, leaving 18 players out of the tournament, each of whom collected just less than $10,000 in prize money. Two weeks later in San Diego, 19 players were on the original cutline and sent home. At that point, it had become clear that the modification would soon be reconsidered.

"The tour recognized this was a very unpopular decision and has done something to rectify that," said Olin Browne, a former member of both the policy board and the PAC. "Good for them to see something that wasn't well-received by the majority of us. The board makes policy and we have to live by it, and there will always be decisions the players disagree with. The question is whether that decision in the best interests of the PGA Tour. I don't think the players saw how this benefited anyone."

-- John Hawkins

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- The quality of the course and its role in history ought to have been sufficient to envelope the PGA Tour stop at the Riviera CC in prestige, but that hasn't always been the case with this event known over time as the Los Angeles Open, the Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open, the Los Angeles Open (again), the Los Angeles Open Presented by Nissan, the Nissan Los Angeles Open, the Nissan Open and now the Northern Trust Open.

Northern Trust, at least, has the right idea; it has attempted to upgrade the tournament, mostly in ways that would get the players' attention: by raising the purse by $1 million (to $6.2 million),  by reducing the number of amateurs in a pairing to three, and by giving everyone in the field a courtesy car.

"The pro-am today was great," Justin Rose said. "The first group, I think they played in just over four hours, which is kind of unheard of in a pro-am."

The course, one on which Ben Hogan won the Los Angeles Open and the U.S. Open in 1947 and the L.A. Open again in '48 (hence Riviera's nickname, "Hogan's Alley"), is an attraction, but only since the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship was scheduled for the following week at a Western location has the field helped return some of the prestige to the event.

Seventeen of the top 20 players in the World Ranking are entered (only Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Henrik Stenson are missing) in this, a tournament that began in 1926 and has been won by Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Nick Faldo and Els.

Palmer's name, incidentally, turned up on a chart last week referencing some of the highest scores made on individual holes. It showed Palmer making a 12 on one hole in the Northern Trust Open in 1961. Palmer no doubt remembers the 12 (made at Rancho Park GC in Los Angles), but surely he can't remember making it in the Northern Trust Open.

-- John Strege

A shoulder injury has caused Brett Wetterich to withdraw from the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship next week and casts doubt on the long hitter's entire 2008 season. Wetterich played the 2007 season with a sore left shoulder and injured it further when he slipped on some ice in the off-season. An initial MRI showed a torn labrum. An operation could sideline him for 6-9 months, but Wetterich is seeking a second opinion.

Anthony Kim is the immediate beneficiary of Wetterich's withdrawal from the Match Play. The 66th-ranked player in the world now qualifies for the matches at The Gallery at Dove Mountain in Tucson and gets the unenviable task of playing Tiger Woods in the first round. (Ernie Els had already announced his intention to skip the event, getting 65th-ranked J.B. Holmes into the field.)

Arron Oberholser, who withdrew from the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am because of bursitis in his right shoulder, was considered a candidate to skip the Match Play, but he said Monday afternoon that he's going to play. "I'm going to play for sure," he said. "In my mind there's no doubt. Sooner or later I have to test it out in competition."

Barring more withdrawals before the championship begins Feb. 20, here's a look at first-round matchups:
Tiger Woods vs. Anthony Kim
Arron Oberholser vs. Tim Clark
K.J. Choi vs. Rod Pampling
Scott Verplank vs. Soren Hansen
Vijay Singh vs. Brad Dredge
Paul Casey vs. Nathan Green
Aaron Baddeley vs. Justin Leonard
Lee Westwood vs. David Toms
Sergio Garcia vs. Peter Hanson
Niclas Fasth vs. Boo Weekley
Justin Rose vs. Brendan Jones
Toru Taniguchi vs. Nick O’Hern
Geoff Ogilvy vs. Robert Allenby
Trevor Immelman vs. Brandt Snedeker
Steve Stricker vs. Pat Perez
Stuart Appleby vs. Andres Romero
Adam Scott vs. Daniel Chopra
Richard Sterne vs. Woody Austin
Angel Cabrera vs. John Senden
Martin Kaymer vs. Nick Dougherty
Henrik Stenson vs. Jerry Kelly
Stewart Cink vs. Shingo Katayama
Jim Furyk vs. Jonathan Byrd
Retief Goosen vs. Charles Howell III
Rory Sabbatini vs. Colin Montgomerie
Stephen Ames vs. Robert Karlsson
Padraig Harrington vs. Camilo Villegas
Iam Poulter vs. Miguel Angel Jimenez
Zach Johnson vs. Anders Hansen
Luke Donald vs. Mark Calcavecchia
Hunter Mahan vs. Mike Weir
J.B. Holmes vs. Phil Mickelson

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.

On Thursday afternoon at the PGA Tour's FBR Open, Ben Curtis was eating lunch with Geoff Ogilvy's wife, Juli, and fellow PGA Tour player Steve Allan, when he noticed Allan didn't look well. Asked if he was OK, Allan responded that he thought he was choking and Curtis sprung into action, performing the Heimlich maneuver on the 34-year-old Australian.

It was the second time in less than a week that a professional golfer saved a life. Early Monday morning, while traveling from Los Angeles Airport to his hotel in Riverside, Calif., Nationwide Tour player Esteban Toledo witnessed a two-car collision in which one car flipped over, trapping its passengers inside. Toledo went to the car, which had smoke coming from under the hood, and pulled two women out. He stayed with them until medical personnel arrived. Both women were treated at a hospital and Toledo, who was commended for his bravery by paramedics, said he spoke with the girls' mother later in the week to find out they were doing well.

--John Antonini

A record crowd of 83,657 got to see Charles Warren grab the first-round lead at the FBR Open on Thursday, and as Larry Dorman writes in the New York Times, that's 10,657 more than the capacity for the 73,000-seat University of Phoenix Stadium, the site of Sunday’s Super Bowl. It's possible with the Super Bowl in town that attendance figures this week at TPC-Scottsdale will exceed the record 536,767 from 2006. One can only imagine how big the crowds would be if Tiger Woods were here.

Instead, Tiger's playing on the European Tour this week at the Dubai Desert Classic. Not surprisingly, he's leading the tournament after rounds of 65-71. Of the prominent names, Henrik Stenson (68-70) is two back, Sergio Garcia (68-71) three back and Ernie Els (68-72) four behind.

Bob Smiley, who's a TV writer and contributor to ESPN.com's golf coverage, wrote an entertaining piece about following Tiger on Thursday.

The best part is obvious, Smiley writes: There's no one here. Last week at the Buick, I had to buy an $85 periscope just to catch a glimpse of the greatest golfer in the world. So far in Dubai, the crowd is never more than one or two deep, which means all the things players say to each other that you normally can't hear, you can. The best line of the day came from Colin Montgomerie after Tiger drilled a drive on the 485-yard par-4 sixth hole. Monty waited until the ball came to a stop some 315 yards away, then said with a smirk, "This kid's got potential."
      The one rule that no one seems particularly worried about (except for Tiger's caddie Steve Williams) is the fact that almost everyone in the gallery has cameras. And not the little cameras people hide in their pockets in the U.S. I'm talking about big ones with 12-inch zooms. The most egregious rule breaker was the guy next to me on No. 10 who filmed Tiger's tee shot with both his video camera and still camera--at the same time.But to be fair, what can you expect when the crowd is almost 100 percent tourists? Unlike every other tournament in the world, no one here is actually from Dubai. People from India and England make up most of the crowd, but over the course of the round I pick up German, French, Chinese, even Russian. According to Ali, a Dubai-based Brit I meet along the 13th hole, golf is gaining popularity in Dubai, but at the end of the day most Arabs find golf "completely boring.
      The comment reminded me of my taxi driver from the airport. When he asked why I was here, I said, "to watch Tiger Woods," which was met with the surprising answer of "Who?" "Tiger Woods?" I said. And then, not believing I had to add it, "The golfer?"
      Finally, it clicked. "Ah. Yes," he said, then kept driving. It wasn't exactly the exciting response Nike, Gatorade and Buick expect to be generated by their biggest spokesman.

In preparation for its first foray into drug testing beginning July 1, the PGA Tour held two separate meetings last week before the Buick Invitational. Players were informed about details, prohibited substances and procedures. Several golfers voiced objections to the possible scenario of being examined in their homes, even during off-weeks. Inasmuch as the tour's policy was not collectively bargained, because golfers do not have a union, some think the scope of the system could constitute a violation of privacy.

"There is no question in my mind what they've done is not right," said Frank Lickliter II. "Not only did the tour ram this thing down our throats, they're telling us they can come knocking on my door on Christmas Eve and ask me for a urine sample. Are they kidding? They're passing that off as legal? I can tell you one thing for sure, if some inspector guy comes around with a cup in his hand, he's going to have a hard time getting on my property. And then he's going to have an even harder time getting off my property after I'm done with him."

Lickliter aired his complaint during the afternoon seminar attended by several dozen fellow pros. He said that later on, commissioner Tim Finchem told him not to worry. "Tim said even though it's written in the policy that they can test us anytime, anywhere, nobody will be coming to our houses," Lickliter went on. "Well, that's nice of Tim to tell me that while I'm still hot. Meanwhile, it's still there in black and white on a piece of paper that they can do whatever they want. This isn't like baseball, where the players have to approve whatever measures management tries to impose on them. They just threw this at us and told us, 'This is the new law.'"

Finchem said that drug testing is not his favorite pursuit, but "it unfortunately can't be avoided. This is part of the world of sports today. Testing by definition is a process that speaks to the notion that you don't believe a player when he says he's following the rule."

Finchem rued that such a mindset is "counter to the culture" of golf, where participants call penalties on themselves and therefore "something that's troubled me for a long time." Finchem concluded that drug testing as such will be "difficult for the players, and difficult for all of us as we get into that arena."

-- Bob Verdi