Now It’s Tee Time in Peking

Golf, Chinese style: The Peking International Golf Club, with a lush 18-hole, $10.7-million course, opened Sunday in a hallowed valley north of Peking where 13 Ming Dynasty emperors are buried.

The course is the first to open in the Peking area and the fourth in China, whose Communist government once shunned golf as a pastime of rich capitalists but now is encouraging the building of courses to bring in foreign currency. Surely the locals, who bring home an average of $27 a month, won’t be using the course.

Individual membership to the club, to be paid in Japanese yen, is the equivalent of $21,875, while a corporate membership, limited to two people, is twice as much. Non-members can play a round with a caddy--70 Chinese women have been trained in toting clubs--for $40 on weekdays, $60 on weekends.

Good call: ABC boxing commentator Alex Wallau, prior to Saturday’s Mike Tyson-Marvis Frazier, boldly predicted: “The question is not if Tyson will knock out Frazier but when. “

The knockout came 30 seconds into the fight.

Add fight: Beforehand, Joe Frazier said of Tyson: “Now they put him in a class with Joe Frazier. Why pick on me? He’s in no class with me, no way, shape or form.”

Yeah, he might be even better.

How’s that department: After the fight, Tyson said: “I never intend to hurt anyone. But every punch I throw, I throw with bad intentions. They’re meant to hurt you, knock you down, knock you out.”

Safety Dextor Clinkscale of the Dallas Cowboys wants to be paid what he thinks he’s worth, or not be paid at all.

He has asked for $300,000 this year, $400,000 guaranteed the next and only $250,000 the third, Skip Bayless of the Dallas Times Herald reported. The Cowboys have offered $215,000, $235,000 and $265,000.

“I want to play football,” Clinkscale told Bayless. “But I’m going to play for what I’m worth or I’m going to play for free. If the NFLPA says I have to accept a salary, I’ll give it to my Mom, or the Cowboys can give it to their favorite charity.”

Staying power: Scott Stankavage, a free-agent quarterback for the Denver Broncos, is either a glutton for punishment, or very determined. Stankavage, already cut by the Broncos four previous times, is back for a fifth time trying to make the team.

One thing that hurts Stankavage’s chances is the Broncos keep only two quarterbacks, which probably would change if the NFL owners vote to enlarge their rosters. How badly would Stankavage like to see that happen? “I’ve talked to the Mafia a few times, and I’ve had some people stationed outside the courthouse at the USFL trial in New York,” he said.

Another Magic in the NBA?: If Orlando, Fla., ever lands an NBA franchise, it will be known as the Orlando Magic.

So far, there is no stadium, no players and no franchise--just a name. It was selected from 4,296 entries in a contest. The other three finalists were Heat, Juice and Tropics.

John Salas, who submitted the winning entry, said: “Magic was one of the last ones I entered. I just put it in at the last minute. Every place I travel, everybody refers to us as a Mickey Mouse town.”

Disney World, known as the Magic Kingdom, is located in the Orlando area.

Quotebook

Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd, after pleading guilty to a 1983 speeding charge of driving 87 m.p.h. in a 55-m.p.h. zone: “They were complaining about my not getting to the ballpark early, man. All I was trying to do was get to the ballpark early.”