COMMENTARY : He Really Got a Feel for Course

Looking for something to do? Try taking a shot at Jon Gallagher’s record on a golf course. Starting at dawn’s early light (4:30 a.m.), Jon knocked off 368 holes in 16 hours, making him the champion of several states for holes completed. He belted 1,680 shots and could barely feel his hands, but he raised $5,000 for cancer research.

Talk up Nolan Ryan performing so capably at age 42 all you want, but as much of a marvel is John Walker. It was nearly 15 years ago the New Zealander became the first man to break 3:50 in the mile. An Olympic gold in the 1,500 meters (1976) and 110 sub-four-minute miles later, Walker won a 3,000-meter run over an Olympic-level field last week in Stockholm at age 37. He’s completing 17 quality years on the European summer circuit, the loftiest and toughest grind in track.

After winning a half-dozen tournaments last year, Andre Agassi is down to zero this year and being blasted away during the early rounds of tournaments. The annoying little head case is in the habit of bailing out of matches when the going gets tough, up to and including a run for the bus in the deciding match of the Davis Cup loss to West Germany. Still, at Stratton Mountain, Vt., last week, he heard “Andre, we love you,” from young fans.

If Chris McCarron, the jockey who got his start at Maryland tracks and who just recorded his 5,000th victory, stays in the game as long as Bill Shoemaker (41 years) and holds to his average of 333 wins a year, he’d end up astride 13,650 winners.

Meet director Frank Zarnowski says there’s a heckuva chance the Mount St. Mary’s track record of 8,097 points will be broken this weekend when decathletes and heptathletes from the United States, Canada and Japan stage a two-day meet beginning with the juniors Saturday morning. There will be no admission charge.

An outfit in New York has started a high-speed hydrofoil ferry system from lower Manhattan to New York Mets games out in Queens. Of course, a scenic tour up the East River over to Flushing Bay for $15 does not avail one of the old-fashioned charm of riding the subway to Willets Point. Can being shot out of a cannon from atop the Pan Am Building in mid-town and landing on the screen behind home plate be far behind?

Chances are Mike Tyson, after his days as a demolition expert are past, will never make it as a boxing promoter. The heavyweight champ has this strange notion that “the best fighters in the world should fight each other.”

Some career total lines that might surprise you: Johnny Bench’s plaque in Cooperstown reads .267 (average) with 2,048 hits, 389 homers and 1,376 RBI. Carlton Fisk owns a .271 mark with 2,019 hits, 330 homers and 1,130 RBIs (and still counting).

Put these melting-pot names in the trunk upstairs: Erika Stokes, Hilliary Grivich, Amanda Uherek, Kim Zmeskal, Kelly Pitzen and Amy Scheer. They’re the 12-year-old pixies gymnastics guru Bela Karolyi is readying for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

An interesting co-feature to the Alex Stewart (23-0, 23 KOs) vs. Andrew Stokes heavyweight bout at the Felt Forum in New York Thursday night will be a voter registration drive with the first 50 registrants gaining free admission to the bouts.

Besides learning the language, Danny Ferry has something to shoot for as he heads off to Italy to start his pro basketball career. Recently, La Gazzetta dello Sport voted Bill Bradley, D-N.J., as the best American player ever in Italy. Grabbing the place and show positions were Bob McAdoo and Spencer Haywood, respectively.

My immediate impression upon learning Sept. 10 has been declared Sparky Anderson Day in Michigan was, are the 39-70 Detroit Tigers on the road?