First Things First for One Old Triathlete

The phenomenal success of the Senior PGA Tour has spawned many imitators.

Too many, if you ask us.

Count among them the Legends of Triathlon series, for the 40-and-over swim-bike-run and write-on-your-leg- with-a-grease-pencil set.

Now as you age, you can go from Ironman to Rust Man.

Scott Tinley, 40, has won all three of this year’s “Legends” races, but the September issue of Outside magazine reports he has earned only $6,000, with only one race remaining.

By contrast, the magazine points out, golfer Graham Marsh won $232,500 for winning the 1997 U.S. Senior Open alone.

“I mean, you know, at least the winnings have covered my bar tab,” Tinley said.

*

Add senior tours: Former LPGA president Judy Dickinson said the Lilly Legends series for women golfers over 40 should be thanked . . . “for getting Jan Stephenson to admit she’s 40.”

*

Trivia time: A street near the Green Bay Packers’ offices--formerly Gross Street--has been renamed Holmgren Way, honoring Coach Mike Holmgren after the Packers’ Super Bowl victory last season. Another Green Bay street bears the name Lombardi Avenue.

Name at least one more U.S. roadway named for an NFL coach.

*

Lick this habit: Errant shots and reckless cart drivers aren’t the only health hazards on the golf course, the August issue of the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter reports.

Watch out for golf-ball liver, an illness detailed in the British Medical Journal.

“In Ireland, a 65 year-old retired engineer who played golf every day experienced lethargy and abdominal discomfort, had dark urine and jaundice and was finally diagnosed with acute hepatitis.”

The problem: licking the golf ball, thereby ingesting various pesticides and herbicides used on the course, which in the Irish golfer’s case reportedly included Agent Orange.

“If you play golf, try to resist the urge to polish the orb in this manner,” the Wellness Letter advises. “Use a damp cloth instead, or better yet, the ball washer.

“Also, if you take your shoes off while walking the greens, it’s probably a good idea to wash your feet and change your socks afterward.”

Spikeless we’ve heard of, but shoeless?

*

Trivia answer: Correct responses include George Halas Drive in Canton, Ohio; Jimmy Johnson Street in Port Arthur, Texas, and the Don Shula Expressway in Miami.

*

And finally: AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi, on the fame of his soccer team: “In international surveys, AC Milan comes behind the Mafia and pizza as the country’s best-known labels. We want to continue AC Milan’s international allure.”