Byron Nelson was on the 1939 Ryder Cup team that never got a chance to play
at Ponte Vedra Country Club in Florida. Even now, he remembers the empty feeling
when word came from Britain that it would not be sending a team.
Only it had nothing to do with golf.
``We were so disappointed that England had gotten into the war,'' Nelson said
Monday from his home in Roanoke, Texas. ``That was the big thing -- not that we
couldn't play the Ryder Cup, but for that reason.''
It was the first time since the Ryder Cup began in 1927 that the matches were
not played. They were canceled until after World War II and resumed in 1947.
For those who thought this year's Ryder Cup should have been played as a stand
against terrorism and to resume normal schedules, Nelson said, ``I don't buy that.''
``I think people are flying now, but the problem is still overseas flights,''
he said. ``What if you get over there and something happens? Then you're stuck.
I think it was a wise decision.''
The '39 team, with Walter Hagen as the captain, wound up playing matches in
1940 against a team put together by Gene Sarazen, who was upset at being left
off the team. The Ryder Cup team won, 7-5, and raised $15,000 for the American
Red Cross.
This year's matches have been postponed one year.
TIGER & MIKE
Tiger Woods celebrated his five-year anniversary as a pro by playing 54 holes
in New Jersey with Michael Jordan.
``I don't want to say we had a lot of games going, but there wasn't enough
room on the scorecard to keep track of them,'' Woods said on his Web site.
He said Jordan's game has improved so much that Woods was not sure which player
would show up at the course -- the one who scores in the 70s and 80s, or the guy
who posted a 69 during one of the rounds.
``I give him the right amount of strokes so we can have a nice challenge,''
Woods said.
He did not say which courses they played, how many strokes he gave Jordan or
who won.
``When he's good, he can be very good and difficult to beat,'' Woods said.
``When he's not ... well, let's just say he made a nice donation to the Tiger
Woods Spending Fund.''
MISTAKEN FOR O'MEARA
It was bad enough for Mark O'Meara when fans used to misidentify him as Mark
McCumber. During the Canadian Open two week ago in Montreal, he was mistaken for
a caddie.
A story in the Montreal Gazette on the Monday after the tournament quoted the
owner of a local YMCA as saying O'Meara and Tiger Woods worked out four out of
the five days, that the fee was waived and that patrons were respectful in giving
them privacy.
One problem. Steve Williams said O'Meara never went to the YMCA with Woods.
``It was me,'' the caddie said.
Both are gray around the edges, but that's where the similarities between O'Meara
and Williams ends.
It wasn't the first time O'Meara had name problems in Canada. Last year at
Glen Abbey outside Toronto, a television reporter saw O'Meara walking by and tried
to get an interview.
``Mike! Mike! Mike!,'' the reporter shouted at him.
Finally, O'Meara stopped and bristled.
``It would help if you would call me by my correct name,'' he said.
``OK,'' the reporter said in mock apology. ``Michael.''
BACK TO BUSINESS
After canceling the Safeway Classic last week in Oregon, the LPGA Tour plays
its final full-field event of the season this week at the Asahi Ryokuken Augusta
International Championship in South Carolina.
The tournament will determine the top 90 on the money list who will keep their
cards for next season, and the rookie-of-the-year award.
Of the 21 rookies, the race has come down to two players -- Hee Won Han of
Korea and Becky Morgan of Wales.
Neither player has won this year, and Han didn't even have exempt status for
the 2001 season. She made it through Monday qualifying seven out of 11 times this
year and claims five finishes in the top 30, with a tie for 10th in Austin, Texas,
her best showing.
Morgan has missed only one cut in 15 tournaments and has five finishes in the
top 25, her best a tie for seventh in the Longs Drugs Challenge.
Han can clinch the points-based award by finishing in the top six. Morgan has
to finish at least seventh and hope that Han finishes below 20th.
If Han wins, she will be the third Korean to win rookie of the year since1998.
CADDIE SHORTS
The PGA Tour has changed its policy on what kind of shorts caddies can wear.
Call it the Steve Williams Rule.
When the tour approved caddies in shorts two years ago, it stipulated that
they wear only PGA Tour-issued shorts that were khaki or navy blue. Williams has
been paying fines every week for wearing his own shorts, especially black on Sunday.
The new policy allows for caddies to wear any color and brand, so long as they
are not cargo shorts, cutoffs or gym shorts.
The result? Williams is facing another fine for wearing shorts with pockets
on the outside, which are deemed to be cargo shorts. He said the tour never defined
cargo shorts, and plans an appeal.
DIVOTS
The Texas Open, which dates to 1922 and includes Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan and
Byron Nelson among its past champions, is not going anywhere. Once in jeopardy
of being replaced, it is expected to announce a deal with a new title sponsor
next week...Seventeen-year-old Ty Tryon will have to wait to make his professional
debut. After the Tampa Bay Classic was canceled, the highschool junior decided
against traveling to Paris for the Lancome Trophy.
STAT OF THE WEEK
A record 18 players earned at least $1 million in 1997. Already this year,
18 players have gone over $1 million without having won atournament.
FINAL WORD
``You need guys excited about being there, and we weren't going to be. You
need guys with good attitudes, and we would have been saying, 'What are we doing
here? This is stupid.''' -- Mark Calcavecchia on postponing the Ryder Cup.
