But Seriously, Folks, Maltbie Is a Player

Roger Maltbie probably has been better known for having a good time than for his professional golf career, but it should be noted that Maltbie won five times on the PGA Tour, so he had to be doing something right. Now, Maltbie is trying to do something else right. Play the Senior PGA Tour, be competitive and still maintain his sense of humor. It should be an interesting challenge, once Maltbie, 50, gets over his initial shock of playing his first senior event this week, the Transamerica.

His biggest adjustment?

“I have a hard time believing I’m really this old,” Maltbie said.

Best known for his work on NBC’s golf telecasts, Maltbie is under contract with the network through 2005 and he intends on playing no more than six senior events a year. Maltbie wants to play well, but he knows he has his work cut out for him.

“Look at me,” Maltbie said. “I’m a mess. I’m overweight, I haven’t stretched any, I’ve lost my range of motion. What else is there? I can’t cry about it. That’s just the way it is.”

Maltbie says he went months without touching a club and years without practicing, which tells you all you need to know about his devotion to the competitive part of the sport. All Maltbie wanted to do was enjoy himself and treat golf as a game. It’s pretty much the same way he treated his career.

“I mean, if I was going to be the next Jack Nicklaus, I’d have gotten that done by now,” he said.

Maltbie has no illusions of winning this week at Silverado Resort ... but if he did?

“Let’s put it this way,” he said. “You’d only have to be within 100 yards of me.”

Mark This Down

Meanwhile, Mark McCumber is marking his third week on the senior tour. Two weeks ago at Sacramento, McCumber shot three rounds of 69 and tied for 24th. He tied for 48th the week before at the SAS Championship at Raleigh, N.C.

“The scores they’re shooting out here, well, just try to shoot 65 every day, it’s not that easy,” he said. “There are a lot of birdies being shot out here. It’s impressive.”

Also impressive, or at least noteworthy, McCumber says, is that he’s even out here playing. Since 1996 when he tore his rotator cuff and then ruptured a disk in his neck and found swelling in his spinal cord, McCumber has been all but idle.

“I never thought I’d play again,” he said.

Specialists eventually traced his spinal cord problem to a virus, and McCumber felt well enough to resume his career. He says he has permanently lost feeling in part of his left hand, but he has gotten used to it. McCumber plans to play 15 to 20 events in 2002, even though he knows he probably could increase his income by playing more often.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that you’re better when you’re 50,” he said. “If you’re 56-57, you start losing some of your playing skills. I know a lot of guys told me to front-load the schedule the first four or five years on the senior tour. I’m not going to do that.”

The last time McCumber played a pro event in California was in 1994, when he won the PGA Tour Championship at the Olympic Club. Two years later, McCumber didn’t know if he would ever play again.

“It’s been a long journey,” he said.

Tiger Update

Tiger Woods has made his debut as an author with the release of “How I Play Golf,” from Warner Books. Some 1.5 million copies of the 306-page book ($34.95) have been printed. Suggested subtitle: “Like Nobody Else.”

The Toms Toms Club

Anyone who tells you he already knows this is obviously fudging: Only one player has won more PGA Tour events since 1999 than David Toms ... Woods.

Toms, David Duval and Phil Mickelson have won five. Woods has won 22 in that span.

Daily Daly News Item

Big John Daly finishes second last week at a European PGA Tour event in Germany, then enters this week’s PGA event at Las Vegas.

Reaction: Wonder where will he do better, the golf course or the casino?

More Daly

He leads the PGA Tour with an average of 305.9 yards on his drives, better than his record 305.6 that he set last year. If Daly successfully defends his title, it will be his 10th driving distance crown.

Hail Hale

News item: Hale Irwin is randomly searched three times in the Honolulu airport before boarding his flight to Los Angeles.

Reaction: Wonder if they found a large amount of cash, since he had just won $225,000 at the senior event on Oahu.

Socks and Bonds

Arnold Palmer was sitting in the owner’s box at Pacific Bell Park on Saturday before the San Francisco Giants’ game against the Dodgers and Barry Bonds walked to the end of the dugout to shake his hand.

Said Palmer: “I congratulated him for his great season, but he didn’t really want to chat about that.”

So what did Bonds want to talk about?

“He asked if I could give him some golf lessons.”

Buffalo Dave?

Dave Stockton is a partner in a bison-raising venture. The herd numbers about 130 head. Stockton says he hasn’t named any of the buffalo except one--a female with an orange shock of hair.

He calls it Denise.

“After Dennis Rodman,” Stockton said.

Lawsuit Update

News item: Greg Norman’s Internet business sues Brittania.com, complaining about non-payment of fees, and Gary Player sues GaryPlayerGolf.com, complaining about non-payment of fees.

Reaction: In keeping with the proper tone, the lawsuits were also filed online, on Seeyouincourt.com.

Birdies, Bogeys, Pars

The Jim Murray Memorial Classic will be played Monday at Lakeside Golf Club in Toluca Lake. The event benefits the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation. Details: (310) 476-8948.

The Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership 13th Annual Invitational will be played Oct. 22 at Wilshire Country Club. Details: (310) 474-4370 ext. 307.

The Palos Verdes Lions Club’s third “Swing for Sight” tournament will be played Oct. 26 at Los Verdes Country Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. The event benefits the City of Hope, the Southern California Eye Institute, Canine Companions for Independence and other charities. Details: (310) 541-6680.

The LPGA’s Safeway Classic, which was canceled because of last month’s terrorist attacks, will still donate $1 million to charities in and around Portland, Ore.