The Saga of ‘Li’l Ben’ Has Happy Ending

Ben Crenshaw’s stolen golf clubs have all been returned--including “Li’l Ben.”

At first, Crenshaw’s famous putter, one of his most-prized possessions, was missing when his bag, which had been stolen out of Crenshaw’s car in May, was returned to wife Julie at their home in Austin, Tex.

However, Julie thought the prized putter was among the clubs, and she telephoned Crenshaw in Scotland, where he was competing in the Scottish Open, and told him “Li’l Ben” was back. “We both cried,” she said.

About an hour later, it was discovered the famous putter--given to Crenshaw 25 years ago by his father--was still missing.

The man who returned the clubs, Dan New of San Marcos, Tex., had purchased them for $100. After returning the clubs to Julie Crenshaw, he collected a reward and went home.

But after learning Li’l Ben was still missing, New located the individual who originally sold him the clubs and found the putter in that individual’s trunk.

“We were up, then we were down, and now we’re up,” Julie Crenshaw said. “Maybe that’s the end of the saga of Li’l Ben.”

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Bad timing: A few weeks after his appointment as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ new coach, Bill Cowher found himself seated beside a woman at a chamber of commerce luncheon. He introduced himself and asked what she did.

“I’m the mayor of the city of Pittsburgh,” Sophie Masloff replied.

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Trivia time: What player hit 50 or more home runs for two different teams?

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Life’s darkest moment: Quazzie, the mascot for the Florida State League Osceola Astros, was invited to participate in the FSL all-star game at West Palm Beach, Fla. But Quazzie forgot a part of his uniform and had to sit out the game.

Imagine that: After all the fuss Eric Lindros raised about not wanting to play in Quebec, the teen-age superstar will probably make his NHL debut on the ice against the Nordiques Sept. 19. That is when the Philadelphia Flyers host Quebec in their first exhibition game. The same two teams play the next night in Quebec.

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Oops, Forbes: Reader Dirck Z. Meengs of Westlake Village writes to say that a recent Morning Briefing item was in error when Forbes magazine’s FYI supplement was quoted as saying the word yacht came from the Dutch word jacht , meaning “to throw up violently.”

Meengs says Forbes erred, that as a noun, jacht means yacht; as a verb it means hunting, shooting, chase, or pursuit of a yacht; to give chase to or be in pursuit of (a ship).

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Autograph collection: Larry Laoretti, the cigar-chomping Senior PGA player, offered an alternative to signing balls, caps, visors or scorecards. He gave a cigar to Tamara Pedersen, a tournament volunteer. On it, he wrote: “Tamara, please don’t smoke this cigar. Love and kisses, Larry Laoretti.”

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Good riddance: When A.J. Foyt auctions off items of his racing collection next month at Indianapolis, one of them will be what’s left of the tub from the Elkhart Lake crash two years ago in which Foyt suffered two shattered feet and legs in what he called “the most painful accident of my career.”

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Trivia answer: Jimmy Foxx, 58 with the Philadelphia A’s in 1932 and 50 with the Boston Red Sox in 1938.

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Quotebook: Tom Heinsohn, when asked why he choose basketball over football for a professional career: “If I was going to get beat up, I wanted to be indoors where it was warm.”