Golf Notes January 30

Charles Howell III never thought he would get his first lawsuit before his first PGA Tour victory.

The rookie of the year was sued last week by agent Rocky Hambric, who cited wrongful termination and breach of contract for Howell leaving him to sign with IMG. Howell had four years left on a 5 1/2 -year contract with Hambric.

``It's pretty disappointing, but I'm not going to let that distract me,'' Howell said.

The lawsuit claims that Howell defaulted on a $195,000 promissory note to Hambric, who used the money to arrange a leased jet for Howell. The suit seeks repayment, plus commissions for the final two years of the Callaway Golf contract Hambric negotiated.

Hambric's lawyer, Bret Madole of Dallas, told Golfweek magazine the agent sued because of the considerable time and money he spent developing Howell.

``When Rocky started seeing a return from his investment, Charles started looking for ways out of the deal,'' Madole said. ``He knew Rocky couldn't begin making money on the deal for the first couple of years because he had to spend too much of his own money.''

Howell said one reason for the split was that Hambric negotiated a deal for him to be playing editor for Golf Magazine, even though Howell said he never gave him consent or signed a contract.

``Signed a contract?'' Howell said. ``I never saw a contract.''

WHAT POSSE?

Such was the hype over Ty Tryon's rookie debut that some made it sound as though his yoga instructor sat with him on the practice range at the Phoenix Open.

Yes, the 17-year-old has quite a posse around him -- two swing coaches, two massage therapists, a trainer, sports psychologist, caddie, tutor, image consultant, agent and the yoga instructor.

But it's not a traveling circus.

David Leadbetter was in Phoenix early in the week to help Tryon and his other clients, like Charles Howell III. Tryon's other swing coach, Kevin Smeltz, stayed for the two rounds.

The rest stayed home, tending to other clients.

``They don't follow me around everywhere,'' Tryon said. ``People think I have a tour bus going around, following me, like I have my car and a bus full of people behind me.''

Noting that he stayed in the luxurious Princess hotel, Tryon added, ``I couldn't afford to put them up where I was staying.''

NOMINATED

Marlene Hagge could be the next member of the LPGA Hall of Fame.

A veteran's committee unanimously approved Hagge as a candidate, and it now goes to a vote of the LPGA membership to determine if she gets elected.

Hagge, a founder of the LPGA in 1950, won 26 times. Her best season was in 1956 when her eight victories included the LPGA Championship. Her performance by today's standards would be worth 27 points, the amount needed to qualify for the Hall of Fame.

BAD HABITS

John Daly no longer drinks as much as he once did and has tried to cut back on sweets. Part of his turnaround was getting off anti-depressant medication.

But he still smokes a cigarette per hole, and that's something that won't change.

``Hell, I've quit too much other (stuff) to worry about quitting smoking,'' Daly said. ``There's probably two things I'm not going to quit -- sex and smoking.''

GOOD OL' DAYS

Paul Azinger has noticed a significant increase in the amount of money companies pay players to use their equipment. That's quite a change in lifestyle from when he first joined the PGA Tour in 1982.

``When I first was out here, you paid $2 for a bucket of balls on the range. Isn't that wild?'' he said. ``When you got to a tournament that had free range balls -- whoa! -- you hit some balls that week. Otherwise, you had to bring some cash if you wanted to hit balls.''

Now, the ball not only are free, but they are available in several different models.

A SWITCH TO THE SWOOSH

The change did not bring as much attention as when Tiger Woods made the switch, but it was quite traumatic for Steve Flesch when he left Titleist to play the Nike Tour Accuracy DD.

Flesch said the Ping TiSI driver and Titleist Professional ball were a perfect match, but for whatever reason, he wasn't getting the same results with Ping and the Titleist Pro V1.

He said he got out of his Titleist contract about 15 minutes before he teed off Thursday in the Phoenix Open -- then shot 64 for the first-round lead. He wound up 10 shots back.

CASUAL WATER

The amount of spitting that takes place on the golf course has not gone unnoticed by the guardians of the game.

The Royal & Ancient Golf Club has introduced an item on expectorating in their latest ``Decisions on the Rules of Golf.'' According to the Daily Telegraph in England, a club pro came across saliva in the line of his putt.

``I don't know that we really wanted such a decision in the 2002 book, but we felt this was a situation which had to be dealt with,'' Grant Moir of the R&A said.

The R&A decided that saliva can be treated either as ``an abnormal ground condition'' covered under Rule 25-1, or a ``loose impediment'' covered under Rule 23-1.

Under the first option, players can drop away from the saliva by using the same rules that apply to casual water. Under the second option, they can remove the saliva.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said players were reminded last year that spitting is poor etiquette.

``It's also not sanitary,'' he said.

DIVOTS

The Palmer Cup, matches that pit college players from the United States against Britain and Ireland, will alternate sites between the United States and Ireland for the next three years. It will be played this year at Doonbeg, then Kiawah Island in 2003 before returning to Ballybunion in 2004. ... With two weeks to go before the field in the Match Play Championship is set, Bob May is No. 65. Should he move up one spot, he would play Tiger Woods in the first round, a rematch of their duel in the 2000 PGA Championship.

STAT OF THE WEEK

John Daly never took longer than 18 seconds to hit a shot in the final round of the Phoenix Open.

FINAL WORD

``If you have to acquire a taste for it, it must not be worth trying in the first place.'' -- Charles Howell III, who has never tasted alcohol.

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