A Breaking Four-Foot Putt Turning Point for Mowry

Golfer Larry Mowry, 50 and now competing on the PGA Senior Tour, gave up alcohol 10 years ago, on May 28, 1979.

“The first day after I quit, on the very first hole, I had this four-foot putt, with a big break, on a real crusty, hard Bermuda green,” Mowry said. “And that used to be the type of thing where I’d reach for my plastic squeeze bottle, which I’d have filled with some vodka and (soda). And I’d nurse that around the course.

“But I got up over that putt and thought, ‘My God, I hope it goes in.’ And it did, smooth as silk. And to this day, I say that was a gift from God. If I’d missed, I can’t honestly say that I wouldn’t have sent somebody back to the clubhouse (for liquor). But when it went in, I realized I didn’t need a drink to soothe my nerves.”

How much did Mowry drink?

“Let’s put it this way: If there was a good party in town, I knew where it was,” he said. “I’d usually be going out when most guys were coming in. Back in those days, I was the type of guy all mothers warned their daughters about.

“I played a lot with a hangover. I shot a lot of 74s that were really great rounds for the condition I was in. I got divorced, you know, did all the stuff that drunks go through.”

Trivia time: In 1963, the most valuable players in the National Football League, American Football League, National League and American League all wore No. 32. Who were they?

A perfect match: NBC sportscaster Marv Albert and wife Benita celebrated their 25th anniversary last Sunday. Albert said he met his wife when his employer, radio station WHN, sent him out to Shea Stadium to get fan reaction on the first night game played there.

Benita, a Queens College graduate, was working at Shea as an usherette.

“As an excuse to meet here, I interviewed her,” Albert said. “Then I wangled her phone number out of the Mets’ front office and called her. The final test was to ask her what elements make up a pitcher’s ERA. She gave me the formula, and the rest is history.”

Like father, like son: From 12-year-old Tommy John III, talking about his approach to pitching: “I can throw pretty hard. But I throw slowballs to stupid kids who swing at everything.”

Trivia answer: Jim Brown, Cookie Gilchrist, Sandy Koufax and Elston Howard.

Quotebook Denver Nugget Coach Doug Moe, who openly disdains rookies, on Nugget rookie Jerome Lane: “For a total schmuck, he’s not a bad kid.”