Forget the Open, Faldo Should Try Bay to Breakers

The U.S. Open will be played at the Olympic Club in San Francisco June 18-21, and Nick Faldo is already there working on his game.

Faldo is 40 and hasn’t won a tournament in 15 months. The English press, mainly the tabloids, have written him off. Faldo doesn’t think he’s done. In an interview with Art Spander of the Oakland Tribune, he said:

“They write that I’m finished. All that sort of thing. But considering I have only 12% body fat and am working hard, I feel I’ve got plenty more in me.”

So body fat, or lack it, is the key to success in golf. If so, all hackers should go on a diet.

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Trivia time: Who holds the record for points in an NHL playoff game?

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Frustration: Cincinnati Manager Jack McKeon on how differently the Reds and their opponents handle pitches:

“With their guys, if they get a 3-1 pitch, it’s out of the park or up the alley. With our guys, they foul it off.”

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What’s next, purple? On a dare from teammate Roger Clemens, Toronto Blue Jay first baseman Carlos Delgado recently dyed his hair blond. The next day, Clemens did likewise. Since then, Shawn Green, Jose Cruz Jr., Ed Sprague and Alex Gonzalez have followed suit.

Comment from Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle: “The Jays have struggled on the field, so management may be taking a never-say-dye attitude.”

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Stop it! John Aquino, a reader to the San Francisco Chronicle: “I understand that as part of the fight agreement, the loser of the Foreman-Holmes bout has to to join the Spice Girls under the name ‘Old Spice.’ ”

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Ticky-tacky: Track & Field News reports the women’s relay team at Ranum High in Denver was disqualified because one of the runners had a bra on that was a different color than the other three runners.

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ZZZZZ: Bill Wallace of Knight Ridder News Service:”Question: Do you know why so many people are playing soccer? Answer: So they don’t have to watch it.”

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FYI: In an NBA finals game against Chicago on June 5, 1991, the Lakers made 21 of 22 free throws. Nonetheless, they lost the game.

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Looking back: On this day in 1995, the Houston Rockets set an NBA finals record by making 14 three-point field goals against Orlando.

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Trivia answer: Patrik Sundstrom of New Jersey, three goals and five assists for eight points against Washington on April 22, 1988, and Mario Lemieux of Pittsburgh, five goals and three assists for eight points against Philadelphia on April 25, 1989.

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And finally: Shirley Povich, the famed Washington Post sportswriter who died Thursday at 92, writing on Lou Gehrig being honored by the Yankees in 1939 after amyotrophic lateral sclerosis had forced him to quit the game:

“I saw strong men weep this afternoon, expressionless umpires swallow hard and emotion pump the hearts and glaze the eyes of 60,000 baseball fans in Yankee Stadium.

“Yes, and hard-boiled news photographers clicked their shutters with fingers that trembled a bit.”