It Can’t Be as Easy as She Makes It Seem

Barbara Allen, a 63-year-old retired social worker from Columbia, Mo., who carries a 15 handicap, used a seven-iron to record her third hole in one in the last two months at the Columbia Country Club. If that isn’t enough, what do you think of this?

“The thing that comes to mind is it’s so easy to do,” she said. “As soon as I hit the ball, I knew it was headed for the flag. I had the same feeling as when I hit my other ones.”

Simple as that.

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Add holes in one: The National Hole In One Assn. estimates the chances of making an ace are 1 in 12,500.

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Trivia time: What was the first event held in the Forum?

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A bit excited: After Kansas State had upset Oklahoma last weekend for its first victory over the Sooners in 23 years, the Wildcats’ radio play-by-play announcer, Mitch Holthus, went slightly berserk.

In a tape acquired by XTRA, Holthus screams: “It’s over! This game’s over! This ballgame’s over, and you listen to me closely! Listen to me closely! Because, for the first time since Exodus, Chapter 14, the Red Sea has been parted, and Pharaoh’s Sooner chariot has been swallowed up! Because (Coach) Bill (Moses) Snyder says, ‘Let my people go from 23 years of Sooner bondage!’ We’ll wind it on out for Kansas State--because K-State winning, 21-7, over Oklahoma, it’s a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big Kansas State victory over Oklahoma.”

Holthus is a 1979 graduate of Kansas State.

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Ladies’ choice: A poll of Cal State Northridge’s championship women’s volleyball team finds Magic Johnson and Joe Montana the most popular choices as favorite athletes. Also named were Michael Jordan, David Justice and Nadia Comaneci.

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No three-putts: Ben Crenshaw has long been considered one of golf’s premier putters, but even he wasn’t prepared for his performance over the last two rounds in winning the Bayhill Classic in Orlando, Fla., this year. Crenshaw used only 50 putts.

That is the equivalent of 22 one-putt greens in 36 holes.

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Simple arithmetic: From Bruce Keidan of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after the Houston Oilers were penalized for having too many players on the field:

“For a guy who’s supposed to be a defensive genius, Buddy Ryan certainly has a difficult time discerning between 11 and 12. Here’s a hint, Buddy: When your four defensive backs line up behind four linebackers and four defensive linemen, you’ve got too many men on the field.”

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Overrated: How important are blocked shots in the NBA? The two teams with the most last season were Philadelphia with 566 and Denver with 565. Both were lottery clubs.

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Trivia answer: A hockey game on Dec. 30, 1967. The Kings lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-0.

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Contradiction: In his Breeders’ Cup biography, Tom Sanford, 45, of Pasadena, co-owner of Sprint entry Music Merci, lists horse racing as his favorite pastime other than “drinking and chasing wild women.”

The next line reads: “My wife also enjoys the races, and we usually go every weekend.”

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Quotebook: ABC announcer Mark Jones, on Arizona quarterback Dan White: “Against USC, he looked like Dan Marino. Against Washington State, he looked like Dan Quayle.”