It Seemed Like a Good Idea, Until the Cows Came Home

Robert Landers, a farmer from Azle, Tex., who recently made his debut on the Senior PGA Tour, had a problem with sand shots, mainly because of a lack of practice.

So he built his own trap on the farm by hauling sand from a nearby river and filtering it to make it closer to the finer grain found on golf courses.

“He didn’t hardly get it built before the cows got to sleeping in it,” his wife, Freddie, told the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Star. “They liked the cool sand, and Robert would be too nice to shoo them out of there.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the Riviera Country Club record for the lowest nine-hole score?

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Go for it: Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle: “The point is, baseball has tilted off its axis, and if your grandma decides she wants to try out for the White Sox, you have to at least take her out in the back yard and see if she’s got any breaking stuff.”

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Freeloaders: The recent NFL scouting combine workouts in Indianapolis were a waste of time, according to Bill Tobin, vice president of football operations for the Indianapolis Colts.

“Nearly 25% of the players we invited . . . took the plane fare, took the hotel room and didn’t work out,” Tobin told Will McDonough of the Boston Globe. “It’s absurd. It’s getting worse every year.”

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Golfing fix: Want to get out of a golfing slump? Try Mac O’Grady’s method.

Trying to help Seve Ballesteros, he and Ballesteros filled a shoe box with photographs of Seve taking ugly swings. Then, they drove out into the desert and buried the box.

“We buried all my bad habits, and I have kept all the good ones,” Ballesteros said. “It was the happiest funeral I have ever attended.”

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Chair time? After losing to Michigan on Sunday, 61-50, with his team shooting only 29.6%, Indiana basketball Coach Bob Knight was asked if the Hoosiers stay after practice to work on shooting.

“No, we don’t allow them to shoot,” he said sarcastically. “We spend almost no time working on shooting. We practice our entrance and exit to the locker room.”

Want to try it?Rodeo cowboy Pat Yancy in an interview with John P. Lopez of the Houston Chronicle:

“If you could imagine the greatest accomplishment you’ve ever had in your life, the greatest thrill of your life and the feeling it gave you--then double it. And you’re still not close to the feeling of riding a bull.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1980, the U.S. hockey team defeated Finland, 4-2, for the gold medal in the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y.

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Trivia answer: Andrew Magee with a 28 on the front nine in the 1991 L.A. Open.

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Quotebook: George Karl, Seattle SuperSonic coach, on coaching in the NBA: “The more I’m in it, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”