Golf Notes November 13

Arnold Palmer puts an amazing record on the line this week when golf's silly season gets under way at the UBS Warburg Cup.

The United States has never lost a cup when Palmer was captain.

Palmer was 2-0 as a Ryder Cup captain, including 1963 when he won four matches at East Lake as the last playing captain. He was captain at the 1996 Presidents Cup, when the Americans squeezed out a 16 1/2-15 1/2 victory.

And he was captain of the inaugural UBS Warburg Cup last year, beating counterpart Gary Player as the United States won by a single point.

Is he that good?

"I don't know about that," Palmer said with a hardy laugh. "There was never a year where you could just walk in and win. It always came to a breaking point, and we've been able to edge out."

Among silly-season events, the UBS Warburg is one of the most entertaining.

Played this year at Sea Island Golf Club, it features 12-man teams from the United States and the "Rest of the World." Six players are from the 40-49 age group, and the other six are 50 and older.

After two days of team matches, the fun starts Sunday when captains can manipulate the draw to provide compelling matchups.

Player returns as captain of the Rest of the World team and will face Palmer again.

Another singles match is likely to feature Ryder Cup captains Curtis Strange and Sam Torrance. The only way this match doesn't take place is if Torrance wants to go out early and Strange prefers to go last.

The mystery is whom Palmer sends out to play Nick Faldo. Among the choices are Scott Hoch and Raymond Floyd (Faldo beat them both in Masters playoffs) or Paul Azinger, who has never lost to Faldo in four Ryder Cup matches.

HALL OF FAME EXHIBITS: The World Golf Hall of Fame is making room for a Deutschmark, alligator skin golf shoes and the Ryder Cup shirt worn on Sunday by the 1999 team at Brookline.

Those are among the mementos from this year's class of inductees.

The Deutschmark comes from Bernhard Langer, who says he was the only PGA Tour player to use the German coin as a ball mark.

The family of the late Harvey Penick is donating his favorite alligator skins shoes, along with a transcribed script of his popular "Little Red Book" on instruction.

Ben Crenshaw is loaning the burgundy Ryder Cup shirt with photos of former teams, while Tony Jacklin will put on display the driver he used to win the 1969 British Open.

PRICE IS RIGHT: Phillip Price beat Phil Mickelson in a pivotal singles match that carried Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup. He was one of the guys captain Sam Torrance had in mind when he said, "Out of the shadows come heroes."

And out of the Ryder Cup, this hero wound up at Q-school.

It seems odd that Price could star in the Ryder Cup, then one month later join hundreds of no-name wannabes in the first stage of qualifying.

European tour players are exempt to the second stage if they're in the top 100 in the world ranking, or if they're among seven candidates no lower than 25th on the money list.

Price was neither, so he went to Red Wolf Run outside Houston for an additional stage, and his road to the PGA Tour got even longer.

"I spent three days there playing 10 holes," Price said.

Heavy rains made the course unplayable, and the entire field had to finish the first stage on the TPC at Heron Bay in Coral Springs, Fla.

"I wasn't a happy man," the soft-spoken Welshman said.

Price finished third and returned immediately to Britain so he could prepare for the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama.

Next stop is the second stage in ... well, Price isn't sure.

"I've got to go back to Orlando to play, somewhere in Orange County. Some 'Pink Panther' name," he said.

That would be the Crooked Cat at Orange County National.

"I knew it was something like that," Price said.

LAND OF TRUMP: Dorothy Delasin thought she lost her spot in the season-ending ADT Championship on the LPGA Tour when she closed with a 73 in the Mizuno Classic.

That left her one stroke behind Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, a difference of $1,799, which was just enough for Meunier-Lebouc to swap places with Delasin at No. 30 on the money list.

Turns out Delasin still gets to go to Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla., next week because Hee-Won Han (No. 14 on the money list) is not playing.

OPEN ALCOHOL: USGA executive director David Fay was intrigued by Europe's decision to ban alcohol consumption beyond the concession area, although the policy might not be adopted at the U.S. Open.

"I hate to see prohibition come back," Fay said. "There are times when a nice, cold beer in the early afternoon tastes good."

Fay said the USGA reviews its alcohol policy every year. The current policy is to stop sales after the leaders make the turn.

"I don't think limiting alcohol sales to only the corporate tents is a good thing," he said. "The incidents we've had in the past have pretty much come from people getting fueled in the corporate tent, barking something out, and going back to the comfort and sanctuary of their tents."

DIVOTS: Byron Nelson is the recipient of the Graffis Award from the National Golf Foundation. It recognizes lifelong contributions to golf in the tradition of Herb and Joe Graffis, the brothers who founded the NGF in 1936. ... Phil Mickelson plans to use the new Titleist ball in the offseason. Lefty calls it the Pro V1-X, although he's not sure if it will be sold under a different name. ... Nick Dougherty has been voted rookie of year on the European tour. He was 36th on the Order of Merit.

STAT OF THE WEEK: Fred Funk was a runner-up four times without winning. The last players to finish second that many times without a victory were Davis Love III and Tom Lehman in 1999.

FINAL WORD: "With my playoff record, I'm delighted." - Colin Montgomerie, 0-7 in playoffs on the European tour, after he and Bernhard Langer decided to split the title in the Volvo Masters when their playoff was stopped after two holes because of darkness.

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