Situation Gives New Meaning to Driving Range

Even though the weather was dry Monday when the PGA Tour returned to Pebble Beach for the final round of the AT&T; National Pro-Am, players were allowed to pick up their ball, clean it and place it within a club’s length of where it landed--because that was the rule in effect when the tournament was suspended in February.

It might have been a fortunate situation, however, as the tournament was resumed one day after the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a vintage car show that had the 18th fairway filled with cars.

“Because we have the lift-clean-and-place rule in place, we’re not going to have a problem with tire marks on the fairways,” said tournament spokeswoman Cathy Scherzer.

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Trivia time: John Olerud won the American League batting championship in 1993 with the Toronto Blue Jays and is leading the National League this year with a .352 average for the New York Mets. Who is the only player who won batting titles in both leagues?

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Brotherly homers: Aaron Boone couldn’t follow brother Bret’s example by hitting a home run in the same game the other night against Montreal, but the Cincinnati Reds’ third baseman says it wasn’t always that way.

“We went back to back a lot of times in Wiffleball” Aaron said.

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The best: Frankie Crosetti, 87, who played shortstop with Babe Ruth and has seen all of the Yankee infielders since, says Derek Jeter is “at the top” of any list of New York shortstops.

“He makes plays I never could have even thought about,” Crosetti said.

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Beg your pardon: One thing San Francisco 49er Coach Steve Mariucci doesn’t want is Jerry Rice hurt again. In scrimmages, Rice is not supposed to be hit. When cornerback Tony Blevins inadvertently bumped into the legendary receiver during a drill, he said, “Sorry, I didn’t know it was you.”

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Fair warning: The Angels had better hope they don’t meet the Cleveland Indians in the playoffs. Closer Troy Percival is 0-5 with a 7.50 earned-run average against them.

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It’s the uniform: How does Mark Langston explain the difference in his home and road records with the San Diego Padres? He is 3-1 with a 2.16 ERA at home, 1-3 and 9.00 on the road.

“Maybe I’m allergic to gray,” he says.

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Cardboard curtain: Six Soviet players pictured on postcards in the Spirit of ’72 exhibit at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto were not actually members of the team that took part in the historic Summit Series.

The six players in question were members of Soviet squads during the 1960s and early ‘70s, but not the ’72 club that lost the series to Canada, 4-3-1.

Mike Trenton, who lent the postcards to the exhibit, acquired them in Moscow in 1972 for a pack of gum.

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Trivia answer: Ed Delahanty, .410 with Philadelphia in the National League in 1899 and .376 with Washington in the American League in 1903.

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And finally: LPGA golfer Rosie Jones, on what she would like to be if not a professional golfer:

“I’d be an international thief or FBI agent. I like a bit of excitement.”