Courtier’s Daughter Will Stay on Course

Ivan Lendl’s daughter Marika, at 13 the oldest of five sisters, wanted to be a tennis player, but her tennis-playing father -- who never liked the grass -- persuaded her to take up golf instead.

Lendl, who won all the Grand Slam tournaments except Wimbledon, said he didn’t want her to play tennis “because it’s hard on a girl’s body” and “golf is easier for them and you can play it all your life.”

Marika, who recently competed in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, says her father, who belongs to four golf clubs, takes the sport very seriously, but he’s still a dad and she’s still his little girl.

“I make deals with him,” she said. “I’ll tell him that I’ll practice for a while if he’ll let me go to the mall.”

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Trivia time: More punts were returned for touchdowns last season in the NFL than ever before. How many?

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Strong reply: After Theo Fleury was handed a six-month suspension for violating terms of the NHL’s substance-abuse program at the end of last season, the Chicago Blackhawks waived him without informing him, prompting Fleury to intimate that the team had a weak character.

Steve Rosenbloom, with a response and a not-so-fair farewell, in the Chicago Tribune: “We already know how weak your character is. We find out every three months how weak your character is when you blow your aftercare program. We don’t like you. We don’t trust you. Stay away. Any questions?”

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Sturdy stuff: NASCAR driver Johnny Benson couldn’t bear to part with his favorite superspeedway car, a Pontiac with chassis No. 4518. When his racing team retired the car, he had it hauled to a salvage yard where it was crushed into a cube.

It’s now in his home, serving duty as a coffee table.

“Hey, it was a great car,” he said. “I didn’t want to get rid of it, so we put it to some good use.”

OK, but now you need a crane to rearrange the furniture.

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Santa Claus story: If you’re thinking that relative unknown Ben Curtis is the most obscure winner of the British Open, you’re probably wrong, according to Open historian Bev Norwood. That honor would have to go to David “Deacon” Brown, who won at Musselburgh, Scotland, in 1886.

Brown was the town chimney sweep and a pretty good golfer. Because they had an odd number of players that year, tournament officials sought out Brown -- who was diligently working and covered with soot -- to fill out a pairing.

They gave him a bath and clean clothes and he shot 79-78 to win by two strokes over Willie Campbell.

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Winning ugly: Lou Holtz, South Carolina’s coach, told Southeastern Conference football writers that he hadn’t altered his way of life since Mike Price’s infamous strip-club fall from grace: “I haven’t changed my lifestyle at all. Maybe that’s one of the advantages of not being very good-looking or very well-built.”

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Trivia answer: 22.

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And finally: Aerosmith’s lead singer, Steven Tyler, admiring the Stanley Cup, which New Jersey Devil Jay Pandolfo brought by during his day with the Cup: “This is the only thing that has seen more parties than us.”

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-- John Weyler