Golf Threesome’s Week Gets Off To A Rocky Start
Paul Azinger entertained his playing partner, John Daly, with a most unusual fishing story. One with a scary New York twist.
While he cracked up Daly during Thursday’s first round of the PGA Championship in Mamaroneck, N.Y., Azinger wasn’t laughing Wednesday when a group of rock-throwing teenagers forced him and fellow tour players Phil Blackmar and Mike Standly to abandon a fly-fishing lesson at a Westchester Park.
“Here we are out there in the grass throwing three fly rods, and these four hoodlums, or five kids - probably between 14 and 17 - kind of went walking through the park,” Azinger said.
“They were telling us about all kinds of bad things about our mammas and stuff and shooting us moons, and then they started surrounding or hiding around trees - and I’m not really noticing and they’re starting to throw stuff at us, these little crab apple things. And they’re coming up short and they go and start picking up asphalt. And then there’s a couple more of them. They’re throwing asphalt at us, rocks, big chunks. And it’s coming up short and then they’re getting more aggravated that we’re not leaving
“We finally decided we needed to go in case 15 of them showed up and circled us. I’ve never been treated so disrespectfully by anybody in my life… . It was uncomfortable, but then I thought about where I was. I thought this is probably normal.”
Azinger, the 1993 winner at Inverness, opened with a 68.
Pavin’s father dies
Golfer Corey Pavin’s father, Jack, died of a heart attack at age 70, causing his son to withdraw from the PGA Championship.
Jack Pavin died at his Oxnard, Calif., home Tuesday morning.
Daly’s cap
John Daly not only played like the late Ben Hogan with an opening 66, but looked the part as well with a white Hogan-style cap.
“After Hartford, Ely Callaway (Callaway Golf’s founder and CEO) asked me, ‘is there any way we could get a hat on you?,” Daly said.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m not a big cap wearer because it bothers my forehead when I sweat.’ So I said, ‘Why don’t we build a Hogan hat.’ … It sits on my head, and it doesn’t even feel like it’s on there.”
But there is a downside.
“I’m getting teased,” Daly said. “Everyone’s calling me Clarence Rose (a journeyman tour player who also sports a Hogan cap). I didn’t know I lost that much weight.”
Faldo off to slow start
Nick Faldo did little to salvage a dreadful run in majors, shooting a 75 and receiving a warning for slow play.
“I just played badly - as simple as that,” Faldo said.
The English star missed the cut in defense of his Masters title, was 48th in the U.S. Open and 51st in the British Open.
He brushed off the warning for slow play on the 10th hole.
“Why are you making a meal out of that?” he asked. “You’re just looking for something negative all the time. It happens all the time.”
Divots
Jack Nicklaus, attempting to make the cut in all four majors for the first time since 1991, opened with a 74. Nicklaus, 57, a five-time PGA champion, was 39th in the Masters, 52nd in the U.S. Open and 60th in the British Open… . Spain’s Ignacio Garrido shot a 70 in his first-ever round in the United States. Garrido, 25, sixth in the European Ryder Cup standings, is the son of former Ryder Cup player Antonio Garrido… . Ben Crenshaw, scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery on his right foot after the tournament, opened with a 77.