His Parents Didn’t Push Him, but the Game Just Pulled Him

The parents of Nick Faldo probably never compared notes with Marv Marinovich, the father of USC quarterback Todd Marinovich.

Marv reportedly programmed Todd to the point of sending him to other kids’ birthday parties with his own treats. The goal was a healthy, athletic body.

Faldo’s folks went another way, according to Brian Creighton of Reuters. “We wanted Nick to be an actor,” Joyce Faldo said. “We took him dancing and to elocution lessons. We tried to interest him in music.”

When Faldo was in his early teens, a telecast of Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters attracted him to golf.

Said Mrs. Faldo: “Finally, we realized he was only interested in sport.”

Trivia time: Who was the last member of the Pittsburgh Pirates to lead the National League in home runs?

Hard slider: As soon as Nolan Ryan gets his 300th victory, a segment of America’s male population can cash in on the occasion. Because Nolan Ryan is 43, the company whose razor he endorses is poised to give away free samples to every 43-year-old man. If everyone eligible responded, a company spokesman said, it would give away 1.4 million razors.

Add Ryan: The New York Yankees, whom he faces tonight at Arlington Stadium, haven’t beaten Ryan in 13 years. But they’re only 10th on his all-time victim list. Kansas City tops that category with 23 losses, followed by the Chicago White Sox with 20 and Minnesota with 19. Among opposing pitchers, Paul Splittorff leads the victim list with seven defeats. Dave LaPoint, Ryan’s opponent tonight, has never lost to him.

Boz in Oz: Now that Brian Bosworth’s shoulder injury has forced his retirement, the former Seattle Seahawks’ linebacker will try to collect on a $7.3-million insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London.

John Clayton of the Tacoma Morning News-Tribune looked into other athletes’ policies with the insurance firm.

Clayton learned that Boris Becker has $10 million of kidnap coverage. And Jackie Joyner-Kersee is covered “in case she sleeps in or if a lost taxi driver makes her late for an important event.”

The golf revolution: When the LPGA holds its Big Apple Classic at the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle, N.Y., on Aug. 6, the golfers will be treading hallowed ground.

It’s not exactly on a par with the Royal & Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews, Scotland. But the Wykagyl course was built in 1904 on the site of a British fort where, in 1776, grenadiers reportedly hit practice shots with clubs they brought from Scotland.

Willing subject: Pat Calabria of Newsday wrote this week that during the French Open, NBC was having trouble getting commentator Jimmy Connors to interview male tennis players.

“I can’t interview that guy,” Connors would say. Or: “He’s stupid.” Or: “I don’t even know that guy.” Or: “That guy hasn’t talked to me in years.”

Finally, the network people asked Connors if there were any players whom he got along with and could interview.

Connors thought about it, then said: “Yeah. Eddie Dibbs.”

Trivia answer: Willie Stargell, with 44 in 1973.

Quotebook: Thoroughbred trainer Wayne Lukas, on weight-conscious jockey Laffit Pincay: “I flew coast to coast with him. When we took off in L.A., he ate one-half of an unsalted peanut. When we landed in New York, he ate the other half.”