Golf : I’m Sorry, the Doctor Is Out--on the Course

When Greg Norman injured his left wrist playing in the second round of the U.S. Open and was forced to withdraw, he quickly called Norton Baker, his orthopedic surgeon in Orlando, Fla.

But Norman couldn’t reach Baker right away.

Baker was on the golf course.

Instead of flying to Orlando Friday afternoon, Norman went to Birmingham, Ala., and was examined by Dr. James Andrews at the Alabama Sports Medical and Orthopedic Center.

The severity of Norman’s wrist injury, originally thought to be a ligament tear, was downgraded to a sprain. Andrews said Norman should take 10 days to 2 weeks off.

Norman was examined Saturday by Baker in Orlando.

Jack Nicklaus went back to a wooden driver at the U.S. Open, the one he used from 1972-78.

Where has it been?

“My son Jackie has been using it,” Nicklaus said. “I took it out of his bag”

Mike Nicolette, the first-round co-leader in the U.S. Open, lost his exempt status because he did not place among the top 125 money winners in either of the last two years.

Nicolette still has his tour card, though, because he won at Bay Hill in 1983.

He won in a playoff with Norman, of all people.

“Greg three-putted the first playoff hole and gave it to me,” Nicolette said. “So I shook his hand and said, ‘Thank you very much.’ ”

Who is American golf’s player of the century?

We’ll find out Monday when it’s announced as part of the Centennial of Golf in America, organized by Golf magazine and Ohlmeyer Communications.

Arnold Palmer, Nicklaus, Nancy Lopez and Greg Norman are scheduled to play in the Hero-Am tournament at St. Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., Monday as part of the centennial.

However, Norman’s wrist injury probably means he’ll have to scratch.

Tom Watson, Peter Thomson and the late Robert Harlow were chosen as the 1988 inductees to the PGA-World Golf Hall of Fame by the Golf Writers Assn. and will be inducted in November.

Watson has won eight major titles: the Masters in 1977 and ‘81, the U.S. Open in ‘82, and the British Open in ‘75, ‘77, ‘80, ’82 and ’83. Watson graduated from Stanford and turned pro in 1971. He has won 32 PGA events and $4.7 million, more than anyone but Jack Nicklaus.

Thomson, of Melbourne, Australia, currently plays on the PGA’s senior tour. He has earned more than $1 million in a career that started in 1950. He also won the British Open five times, 1954-56, ’58 and ’62.

Harlow left the newspaper business in 1921 to manage Walter Hagen and Joe Kirkwood in an exhibition series that led to a worldwide tour. He managed the PGA of America’s tournament bureau from 1930-35.

The Soviet Union could be represented for the first time at this year’s British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s in July.

Soviet sports official Boris Chaplin, who has signed an agreement to build the first golf course in the Soviet Union, has been invited by Michael Bonallack, secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.

Bonallack said that he had written to the Soviets and pointed out to them that the Royal and Ancient was the governing body for golf and made the rules for everywhere outside America, and that the Soviet Union would therefore be affiliated with them at St Andrews.

“I told him we would be delighted to discuss golfing matters if they would like to come to Lytham for the Open championship,” said Bonallack. There has been no reply.

Golf Notes

Donna Watson won the 65th Los Angeles City Women’s championship at Encino Golf Course. Watson, of Yorba Linda Country Club, won the 72-hole event by seven shots with a 214. She is 23, a junior at Cal State Long Beach. Heide Voorhees, 15, of Woodley Lakes was second with 221, and Marie Kuhn was third with 226.

Carmel Highland Country Club will be the site of the 1988 Junior Golf Program Monday and Tuesday. Junior players will receive instruction from PGA professionals. For information, call (213) 279-0700.

The Don Drysdale Hall of Fame golf tournament will be played Jan. 4-7 at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort in Indian Wells. The event, which raises money for youth charities in the desert, is expected to have in its field such baseball names as Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Brooks Robinson and Ernie Banks as well as football legends Chuck Bednarik, George Blanda, Elroy Hirsch and Otto Graham.