Smiley Faces? OK, but Not if He Misses Cut

Ever wonder how a professional golfer identifies his ball when two or three are playing the same brand? They all have favorite markings they apply before starting play.

Ernie Els, who will defend his U.S. Open championship this week, draws a line through the Maxfli logo. Fred Couples always plays a No. 6 Titleist with a dot squeezed between the number and the “ l “ in the ball’s name.

Bernhard Langer changes his markings from time to time. When he’s playing well, he makes “smiley faces” on the ball.

Trivia time: Who was the only man to play in the World Series and the U.S. Open golf tournament?

What more can he do?Eric Owens, who hit a game-winning single for Cincinnati in his first official at-bat in the majors and added a pinch single the next night, was sent back to the minors after the game. The Reds optioned him to triple-A Indianapolis.

Lesson from the top: When Steve Young went back to Greenwich, Conn., High to honor one of his former teachers, he gave students a talk about education.

“Education is the most important tool a person can develop,” the 49er quarterback told an assembly. “When I’m done with football, I’m going to have a law degree and an education to get me places.

“I can’t walk into an employer with only a football career as my sole credential. I’ve got a solid education, and that’s my ticket.”

Arnie closes Open book: Arnold Palmer will miss this week’s U. S. Open for the first time since he played as an amateur in 1953.

“Certainly, I’m going to miss being there, but it’s done and that’s the way I’m going to look at it,” said Palmer, 65.

“Growing old is not bad. I’m enjoying it, and I enjoy the challenge of still playing and hitting the golf ball and hitting it hard.”

Numbers game: In North Carolina, where Dale Earnhardt and his Chevrolet are legends, small children are taught to count, “One, two, Earnhardt, four, five, six. . . .”

Etiquette?The Pine Valley course in New Jersey is considered one of the top U.S. golf courses, but it has one unusual characteristic:

Sand traps are never raked.

New visitors: Invitations to the 1996 Olympic Games will not be issued officially until July 19, but Atlanta officials already have received indications that Iran, Iraq and Cambodia plan to participate. Cambodia has not taken part in an Olympics since 1972 and has never won a medal.

Good reason: The St. Augustine Tigers of the American Football League are looking for a place to play.

Last year, when they paid $500-a-game rental to the St. Joseph Academy, their largest number of paying spectators at a game was 34.

“We’re not going to stop playing football,” owner-coach Jerry Easton said. “We just have to figure out where.”

Trivia answer: Sam Byrd, who played in the 1932 World Series with the New York Yankees and in five U.S. Opens during the ‘40s and ‘50s.

Quotebook: Robin Finn of the New York Times, on conditions during a rainy match on the clay courts of the French Open: “. . . a Grand Slam match using balls so wet and heavy they resembled clay-coated dumplings.”