GOLF / THOMAS BONK : Jacobsen Finds Out That This Isn’t a Pickup Game

Now we know what Peter Jacobsen’s problem really is. He can’t count.

“Peter obviously didn’t take any high math at Oregon,” said Lanny Wadkins, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain.

Jacobsen, who gets a lot of laughs mimicking his golf peers, made himself the object of some good-natured kidding after mistakenly picking up his ball in Friday afternoon’s better-ball match.

Playing with Brad Faxon, Jacobsen didn’t know that Faxon had lost a shot by driving into the creek on the seventh hole. Faxon made his putt for a bogey five.

But Jacobsen thought it was for four, so he picked up his ball, denying himself a chance to make par and allowing David Gilford to win the hole with a par putt.

“I was pretty upset about that . . . for not having a handle on the situation,” Jacobsen said Saturday.

Wadkins thought the best way to handle Jacobsen was to give him a dose of his own medicine. He walked to the eighth green and offered Jacobsen and Faxon the use of a mathematician the rest of the way.

Faxon kidded Jacobsen at the U.S. team’s dinner Friday night.

“He said ‘Peter, I have one fork. And I have one glass here,’ ” Jacobsen said. “I love to find the humor in every situation, even if I am the butt of the joke.”

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License to ace: Costantino Rocca on his hole in one Saturday: “It’s my seventh, but I’ve never won a car.”

Rocca, who has won three points for Europe, was asked if he thinks he can walk on water: “I think I go down like a stone.”

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Coffee, tea or crown? When Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, flew into Rochester on a commercial airliner from New York, he was mistaken for a flight attendant by one passenger, who asked him if it was the flight to Rochester.

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No Love lost: Davis Love III waited until the U.S. team led, 5-3, after Friday’s opening matches of the Ryder Cup to knock anyone who criticized how the team was made.

“We got knocked around by the golf magazines saying we didn’t have any experience and shouldn’t be here, that the selection process was wrong and we didn’t have any guts,” Love said.

“We’re out to prove we’re the best 12 Americans you can get. This is it. The top American players are here.”

The United States then lost three of the four alternate-shot matches Saturday morning.

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Hale, Hale: Three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin will play in the $800,000 Ralphs Senior Classic at Wilshire Country Club Oct. 20-22.

Irwin became eligible for the Senior PGA Tour when he turned 50 in early June. He won the Ameritech Senior Open in July. Jim Colbert, Bob Murphy, Dave Stockton and J.C. Snead are also in the Ralphs field. Jack Kiefer is the defending champion.

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Land sharks: John Daly has agreed to play in the $1.1-million Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout, Nov. 17-19 at Sherwood Country Club.

Daly, who won the British Open at St. Andrews, joins Arnold Palmer, Fuzzy Zoeller, Raymond Floyd, Peter Jacobsen, Greg Norman, Fred Couples and Brad Faxon in the 20-player field.

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Golf Notes

The second Mighty Ducks tournament will be held Oct. 5 at Tustin Ranch Golf Club. The event benefits Disney GOALS, to create after-school and weekend hockey programs for youths. Details: (714) 704-2773. . . . The ninth Tom Hollenstein tournament will be played Oct. 16 at Calabasas Country Club. The event benefits the Paralysis Project of America. Details: (818) 887-1692. . . . Former six-time former state amateur champion Donna Travis has joined the teaching staff at Rio Hondo. . . . The 19th Freeman Hospitals Foundation Celebrity event will be played Oct. 9 at MountainGate in Bel Air. The event benefits the hospitals’ community wellness programs. Details: (310) 491-1000.