It’s Pretty Tough to Get a Lower Score Than This

Golf World magazine called it a “course in one”--a player going from the first tee to the 18th hole in one stroke.

It happened last month to 56-year-old Neville Rowlandson. Teeing off on the first hole at Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club in Suffolk, England, Rowlandson deflected his drive off a marker in front of his tee.

The ball caromed to the right, went 25 yards, struck the pin on the 18th green and dropped into the cup.

Trivia time: Michael Johnson has won 52 consecutive 400-meter finals. Who was the last person to defeat him and when?

Here comes the judge: When the World League of American Football recently opened the 1996 season, three Japanese nationals became the first players of their country to play in a professional football game.

The trailblazers are linebackers Shigemasa “Judge” Ito and Takahiro “Tank” Ikenque of the Rhein Fire of Dusseldorf and Takura Abe of the Amsterdam Admirals.

Here comes the broom: Bernie Bickerstaff, Denver Nugget coach and general manger, plans to do some spring housecleaning.

“We’ve got a lot of fat rats sitting around making money, and they don’t have the class to deal with it,” he said. “The only way you change them is to get rid of them.”

Cruel: Headline in the New York Post on the firing of New Jersey Net Coach Butch Beard: “NETS SHAVE THEIR BEARD.”

Good riddance: Greg Lloyd, the Steelers’ all-pro linebacker, has issued an ultimatum to the club: Make him the highest paid linebacker in the NFL, or he’s gone. Response from Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“There’s no doubt Lloyd is immensely popular among most fans. But there are some people, including this writer, who find his thuggish on-field behavior detrimental to the game and the team.”

All-name team: The SportsLetter of the Amateur Athletic Foundation has researched some players with colorful names for the Women’s Professional Fastpitch softball league, which will begin play in 1997: A sampling: Tiff Tootle, Dorsey Steamer, Debbie Doom and Amy Windmiller.

Cold facts: Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Stan Belinda has taken a hard look at his team and has this blunt assessment: “I’m sick of hearing that we’re better than this. We’re not better than this. Look at our record.”

FYI: Golfer John Daly turns 30 today.

Trivia answer: Antonio McKay in an indoor meet on Feb. 24, 1989.

And finally: Indy car driver Michael Andretti has been put on probation for running into other cars during races. His alibi has been “I didn’t see him.”

Three drivers--Robby Gordon, Mauricio Gugelmin and Paul Tracy--showed up at a drivers’ meeting at Long Beach with T-shirts that read: Michael Andretti Driving School for the Blind.