A Hole That Really Puts Golfers in One

The British Open will be back at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf, next month and it won’t be surprising if controversy swirls around the 17th hole, the famous Road Hole. No. 17 calls for a tee shot over the corner of a hotel and the green is tilted toward a bunker.

It was there in the 1978 Open that Tommy Nakajima dropped from the leader board when he putted off the green, into the bunker, and took four more strokes to get out. After settling for a nine, he was asked if he had lost his concentration.

“No, I lost count,” he said.

Peter Jacobsen suffered disaster there while challenging Nick Faldo in 1984, only to tell reporters, “I love the hole. It’s an honor to say I’ve been eaten alive by it.”

Trivia time: What school had the best intercollegiate record for all sports in Division I men’s and women’s competition during the 1994-95 school year.

Tennis tidbits: Things you’ll be hearing soon as NBC heats up promotion of its Wimbledon TV coverage:

Pete Sampras thinks Andre Agassi’s goatee is weird, Agassi says Sampras is a mommy’s boy, and they just can’t agree who’s better, Magic or Bird.

“I think you’re more of a Charles Barkley type of guy,” Sampras tells Agassi in one promo.

The fans speak: Headline in the Sacramento Bee: “Fans call for Raiders to return, not Davis.”

Kids know best: Clyde Drexler’s three children are 5, 3 and 20 months. What was their reaction to their father’s battling through the NBA playoffs to help the Houston Rockets win?

“My kids said, ‘Dad, you’re working too long,’ ” Drexler said.

Take that, Mac: In her retirement from singles tennis, Martina Navratilova is working as a TV analyst during men’s tournaments. John McEnroe has protested that women are not qualified to analyze the men’s game. Navratilova’s response:

“I don’t need to see a ball coming at me at 120 m.p.h. constantly to know what it feels like. Most of the men can’t handle it either.”

Giving thanks: Race driver Ernie Irvan made a small down payment on a big debt of gratitude when he invited about 30 nurses and other staff members from St. Joseph Mercy Hospital near Ann Arbor, Mich., to be his guests at the Miller 400 last Sunday at Michigan International Raceway.

Last August, Irvan was airlifted to the hospital when he was critically injured in a crash during practice at Michigan.

The hospital group watched the race in air-conditioned comfort, with plenty of food and drink provided, in a new sky box near Turn 2 on the two-mile oval.

Strong praise: Houston Rocket Coach Rudy Tomjanovich may be a candidate for the cover of the Continental Basketball Assn. yearbook after his comments on picking up Charles Jones and Mario Elie from the league.

“I can’t believe how much I believe in the CBA, and the kind of people you get from the CBA,” Rudy T. said of the pair who helped the Rockets win their second consecutive NBA title.

Family men: Members of UCLA’s 1940 track team held a 55th reunion at Carl McBain’s Hidden Hills home. McBain was captain of that team, which included middle distance runner Tom Bradley, the future mayor, and long jumper Jackie Robinson, the future baseball Hall of Famer.

Eleven members and two managers were present with their wives. Remarkably, 12 of the 13 were with their original wives, and No. 13 has been married 35 years to his second wife.

The way you look: At the request of his wife, Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona has undergone a cosmetic operation to improve his image.

“I had them trim my jowls, because [she felt] they were totally unaesthetic,” said Maradona, 34. “I want to look good for her.”

Trivia answer: Stanford, with championships in men’s gymnastics, water polo and tennis, and in women’s volleyball and swimming-diving.

Quotebook: Hall of Fame football coach Wallace Wade: “The best you do is not good enough unless it does the job.”