The Polter Golf Association

Leave it to the PGA to acid wash one of its more colorful stories. Robert Landers, the Texas farmer who beat long odds to qualify for the Senior Tour, must forgo his blue jeans to comply with the PGA’s persnickety dress code. Not to worry - Landers’ sponsor, Dickies Workwear, is sticking by him.

“I never imagined I’d be representing them on the Tour,” said Landers, who sold Dickies’ for about 20 years at Mitchell’s department store in Azle.

And Landers won’t abandon his footwear of choice.

“I’ll play in tennis shoes,” he said, “unless I find a course where I need to wear golf shoes.”

What? You mean the PGA doesn’t have a shoe code?

Taking the bull elk by the horns

Talk about your unsanctioned rodeos. Ty Murray, the six-time world champion all-around cowboy, was recently ticketed for chasing an elk with a snowmobile.

The ticket - issued while Murray signed autographs at a Denver western clothing store - could result in a $1,233 fine and the revocation of hunting privileges for one to three years.

Wildlife official Robert P. Thompson said photographs taken from a convicted poacher’s Colorado home show Murray “sitting on top of, or to the side of, a cow elk that is lying down.”

Does the PRCA award buckles for bulldogging elk?

From the home office in Sioux Falls, S.D.

David Lettermen recently enlisted the help of some of the New York Rangers to recite one of his Top 10 lists - “Ways the Rangers Spent Their Time Off” during the NHL lockout. A sampling: Glen Healy: “Joy riding on the Zamboni.”

Mike Richter: “Skeet shooting on the White House lawn.”

Nick Kypreos: “You know that adorable skating bunny? That was me!” Adam Graves: “Playing golf with the Yankees.”

Brian Leetch: “Keeping my stick waxed if you know what I mean.”

Mark Messier: “Doing Stanley-Cup sized Jello shots.”

Owl’s well that ends in a TKO

Feathers flew when Temple met St. Joseph’s last week. During a timeout, the avian mascots got into a playful boxing match - but later, the punches were real. Temple’s Owl knocked off the head of St. Joseph’s Hawk and a security guard broke up the fight.

And then John Chaney took off the Owl suit and went back to coaching, right?

The last word …

“That’s the first person he’s defended this year.”

- ESPN’s Craig Kilborn, on the Bullets’ offense-first Don MacLean getting into a brawl while defending a girlfriend