Jacket Isn’t the Only Thing That’s Green

Golfers competing in next week’s Masters will be vying for first-place prize money, the traditional green blazer and a lifetime exemption to the tournament.

But all participants will leave Augusta National enriched by the experience because of a tournament compensation policy that makes everyone a financial winner.

Reported Cliff Schrock of Golf Digest:

--Unlike regular PGA Tour events, players receive money even if they miss the cut. Last year, they earned $1,500 for 36 holes.

--Past champions who attend but do not compete receive an honorarium. Last year, each banked more than $1,000.

--Doug Ford, the 1957 champion, earned $27,575 in 17 Masters he finished. He has collected $30,300 in honorariums since. Gene Sarazen, the 1935 champion, won $5,077 in 17 finishes. Sarazen, 90, has pocketed $26,602 in honorariums.

Add Masters: The tournament awards a pair of crystal goblets for each eagle. Raymond Floyd is the all-time toast of the tournament with 32 career goblets.

Trivia time: Which basketball coach has the highest winning percentage in the NCAA tournament, with a minimum of 10 games?

Up close and personal: The USA Network, which gave the world the helmet cam, has been nominated for a Sports Emmy award for Innovative Technical Achievement.

John Nelson of the Associated Press sees a trend: “Not yet invented--but likely to vie for next year’s award--are the tail cam for horse racing, the rudder cam for the America’s Cup, the tutu cam for figure skating, and the wet nose cam for the Iditarod sled dog race.”

Scrambling for fans: The Frankfurt Galaxy of the World League is enticing prospective season-ticket buyers with a promotional campaign that proclaims, “The Egg is Back.”

German fans refer to the oval-shaped football as an egg.

Alone at the top: Bjorn Borg’s retirement from tennis in 1982 when he was at the height of his career stunned John McEnroe and threw him into an extended funk he has not forgotten.

“I was tripped out about it for over a year,” McEnroe wrote in Tennis magazine. “Imagine like the Lakers just calling it quits at the peak of their dynasty. Think of the void that would leave. Imagine how the Boston Celtics would have taken that.”

Ouch! Mark Grace of the Chicago Cubs demonstrated anything but grace when trainer John Fierro showed him a special abdominal exercise that requires one person to step on the hands of his partner to hold them down.

Grace stepped on Fierro’s hand with his spikes on and broke one of Fierro’s fingers.

Bad news, Bob: After last Sunday’s 117-93 loss to the Boston Celtics, Coach Bob Weiss of the Atlanta Hawks wondered, “Did the Globetrotters win any easier?” They didn’t, defeating the Washington Generals, 73-65, earlier Sunday at Boston Garden.

Double steal: Last summer during the Tour de France, several of Greg LeMond’s Z team bicycles were stolen from the team truck.

Thieves struck again at the Tirreno-Adriatico race in Italy on March 12. This time the heist included a truck that carried five $4,000 bikes, about 20 wheels, 50 spare tires and an assortment of personal items. Estimated loss was $100,000.

Trivia answer: Michigan Coach Steve Fisher, who has an 11-1 record (.917 percentage) in the NCAA tournament.

Quotebook: Tom Pagnozzi on the mental strain that might prevent him from reaching his goal of catching 162 games for the St. Louis Cardinals: “I’m already brain-dead, so what does it matter?”