Toughest Test for a Pro Golfer Is Qualifying to Become One

John Daly, the PGA champion, calls the PGA Tour qualifying school “a fifth major” because, he says, it is the most nerve-racking tournament of them all.

“The pressure is tremendous, you get so focused on playing your best shot every time, you start forcing shots,” he said before leaving for the Hawaiian island of Kauai and the PGA Grand Slam tournament Tuesday and Wednesday, when he will face Ian Woosnam (Masters), Payne Stewart (U.S. Open) and Ian Baker-Finch (British Open) in a 36-hole match of 1991’s major champions. “If you have to do all three stages (of the school), by the time you get to the finals, you are completely stressed out mentally and physically.

“Knowing that every shot might mean the difference between making the tour and going home to try to find the money to try again the next year, is tougher than playing in a major.”

Novel idea: Billy Packer, CBS-TV’s college basketball analyst, claims: “There should be no college players on the Olympic team.”

Instead, he would rather have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain for the two remaining spots not filled by NBA players. “If they want to have honorary positions, offer them to Kareem or Wilt, the two greatest players in our country who have never played in the Olympics. Hey, Wilt would go! For 10-12 minutes a game--and that’s all the 11th or 12th man is going to play at most--either of them would make a greater contribution than any college player.”

Trivia time: A number of senior golfers, such as Al Geiberger, Billy Casper, Jim Dent and George Archer, use their sons or daughters as caddies. Who does Jerry Barber use?

Global team: Drake’s basketball team in Des Moines, Iowa, includes a center from Italy, a guard from Yugoslavia, twins from Maryland, a forward from UCLA and a coach’s son from California.

Mark Raveling’s father is the USC coach, and Darrin Dafney is the transfer from UCLA.

Close call: During the exhibition season, Charles Barkley said that if his Philadelphia 76ers could play New Jersey every night, they would go through the regular season with an 82-0 record.

But it took some late heroics by Barkley Wednesday night to make sure his team went at least 1-0 against the Nets, as his four points in the final 18 seconds were needed to give the 76ers a 107-105 victory.

Music man: Chuck Noll, the Steeler coach, explained his philosophy of football to Pittsburgh reporter Steve Hubbard:

“I’m not particularly interested in scrambling and creating, because that’s where you create interceptions, that’s where you create problems. We don’t want jazz musicians. We want classical musicians.”

Trivia answer: His grandson, Jeff Barber, 24.

Quotebook: Former heavyweight contender Joe Bugner, on learning that his son, Joe Jr., was embarking on a career as a prizefighter: “I would rather he was a dustman (trash collector) or a road sweeper than a professional boxer.”