There’s Nothing Like Getting an Early Tee Time

The St. Croix Country Club in Calais, Maine, is the easternmost golf course in the United States.

As such, it had the chance to stage the first tournament of 2000, and club officials were making sure it did.

If all went according to plan, at 12:01 a.m., club pro Mike Horne hit the first shot of 2000, followed by St. Croix board member Fran Leighton-LaCoutte. At that point, the tournament was to have been suspended because of darkness and resume at 9 a.m.

Awaiting the winner in the field of 72 will be a month’s worth of movies, two free nights in a local hotel or 200 gallons of fuel oil.

Whatever keeps you warmer.

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Trivia time: How old was British champion jockey Lester Piggott when he won his first race?

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Plat it again, George: The 63-21 pasting that Illinois handed Virginia in the Micronpc.com Bowl at Pro Player Stadium in Miami on Thursday did not sit well with Cavalier Coach George Welsh.

As a result, he’s going to make his players relive the moment.

“I’d like to burn the tape,” Welsh said. “But I’m going to make them watch it in January.”

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Not his cup of tea: Although impressed by the Illini’s performance in Florida, Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune was less enamored of the announced attendance of 31,089.

“This thing might have been called a bowl, but to hold the crowd, a saucer would have been enough,” he said.

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Time travel: Sports Illustrated went to great lengths to gather all 20 players on the world champion U.S. women’s soccer team together for a recent shot.

Even more difficult to come by, but equally appealing, was the series of photos inside the magazine--of Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and friends as youth players.

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License, please: Antonio Freeman was perhaps not the best choice the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could have made in its campaign to use NFL players in road safety promotions.

Not long after the agency had printed 15,000 posters featuring the Green Bay Packer wide receiver, Freeman, minus seat belt, drove over a curb and into a light pole.

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Good for him: Then there’s Bryan Cox, the New York Jet linebacker who has been fined more than $140,000 by the NFL for various infractions during a nine-year career. He was awarded the Kyle Clifton “Good Guy” Award by the club’s administrative staff.

The award is presented to the player who displays professionalism and courtesy to teammates, staff and coaches. Cox received the Dennis Byrd Award a year ago for leadership on the field.

Cox was fined $10,000 by the league last season for a hit against Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair.

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Game, set and match: Boris Yeltsin’s retirement Friday as president of Russia means he can now pay more attention to his tennis game.

It was Yeltsin, after all, who sent a congratulatory telegram to Yevgeny Kafelnikov after the Russian player had gained the No. 1 spot in the world rankings.

“As a person who plays tennis, I understand how difficult it is to achieve such a result,” Yeltsin wrote.

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Trivia answer: Twelve.

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And finally: St. Louis Ram Coach Dick Vermeil doesn’t want to get into a squabble over whether Kurt Warner or Marshall Faulk should be the NFL’s most valuable player.

“If I had a vote, I’d tear it up and wouldn’t use it,” Vermeil said.

Ram tight end Roland Williams has a better idea.

“I wish they could give the M and half the V to Kurt, and the rest of the V and the P to Marshall,” he said.