They Make Major Points

Who is Jean-Francois Remesy and why does he matter?

Remesy, 30, a Frenchman from Nimes, has a chance to join countryman Thomas Levet on the European Ryder Cup team this week with a good showing in the BMW International at Munich, Germany.

Remesy, just behind Paul McGinley in Ryder points, had a wrist injury but still tied for 17th in the PGA Championship.

The Europeans have won six of the last nine Ryder Cup matches with players such as Remesy playing major parts, so keep an eye on him. If he doesn’t make the team on points, captain Bernhard Langer may choose him as a wild card.

But Langer, who can pick only two, may have a lot of players worthy. Depending on what happens in Munich, Langer could have to choose among Fredrick Jacobson, Luke Donald, Colin Montgomerie and Alex Cejka. Ian Poulter, David Howell and Paul Casey will clinch berths on the team simply by making the cut.

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Michelle Wie, who tied for sixth in the Wendy’s Championship for Children, impressed Lori Kane, a four-time LPGA tournament winner.

“She’s got it all,” Kane said. “I just hope she keeps enjoying it. I was nowhere near ready to be out here at 14.”

Wie shot a six-under-par 282. In her other LPGA events this year, she was fourth at the Kraft Nabisco, tied for 12th at Kingsmill, tied for 13th in the U.S. Women’s Open, tied for 19th in the Safeway International and tied for 33rd in the Evian Masters.

In the last two years, Wie has played 13 LPGA Tour events and has three top-10 finishes. She has failed to make the cut once, last year in the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic.

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There is no question that the LPGA was relieved when heavyweight sponsor Kraft Nabisco changed the date of its tournament to avoid television conflicts with the PGA Tour’s Players Championship.

The numbers haven’t been pretty. Going head to head, the Kraft Nabisco had a 0.7 rating Saturday and a 0.8 rating Sunday on ABC, while the Players Championship had a 2.6 Saturday and a 3.7 Sunday on NBC.

In 2003, the ratings showed the Kraft Nabisco with a 0.9 Saturday and a 1.3 Sunday, the Players Championship with a 2.9 Saturday and a 3.7 Sunday.

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Stewart Cink, who capped a great week after being selected to the Ryder Cup team by winning the NEC, said he turned his game around after working with Preston Waddington, a therapist in Florida.

Cink said he was afraid of missing three-foot putts and was looking at it the wrong way, instead of as a simple matter of a ball rolling into a hole or staying out. He said he was allowing the way he played to affect the way he felt about himself.

“It’s too much to ask a person to perform under that kind of stress and add all this sense of self on top of it,” Cink said. “It’s psychoanalyst mumbo jumbo, I guess, but I’ve really gotten to a place where I’m accepting of my mistakes.”

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Last weekend was the 50th anniversary of Arnold Palmer’s winning the U.S. Amateur, and this weekend, Palmer is conducting the Arnold Palmer Turning Point Invitational at the Country Club of Detroit, where he won in 1954.

Palmer and 30 other U.S. Amateur champions will play in the two-day event that begins Sunday, with a one-day pro-am Monday.

Champions with Southern California ties who will play include Phil Mickelson (1990, San Diego), Mark O’Meara (1979, Long Beach State), Mitch Voges (1991, Simi Valley) and Sam Randolph (1985, Santa Barbara and USC).

The event is expected to raise $5 million to establish the Arnold Palmer Education Fund to help children at Cornerstone Schools in Detroit for urban children. Details: www.turningpointinvitational.org.

Tiger Woods, of course, is a three-time U.S. Amateur champion from Cypress, but he has a commitment -- a junior clinic and exhibition Saturday at the future site of the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim. Construction of the 35,000-square-foot facility is expected to begin next month.

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Kermit Alexander, Dick Bass, Willie Buchanon, Andy Carey, Don Ford, Pam Teeguarden, Jay Johnstone, Ed Ratleff and host Marlin McKeever will play Monday in the San Clemente Sunrise Rotary Club celebrity tournament at Talega Golf Club in San Clemente. The event benefits Laura’s House, a shelter for victims of domestic abuse. Details: (760) 632-7770.

The 26th NFL charity classic will be played Sept. 27 at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park. It benefits the NFL’s Caring for Kids charities. Details: (949) 263-0727.

The 12th Arthritis Foundation, Orange Country branch, tournament will be played Oct. 14 at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo for the benefit of arthritis programs and research. Details: (714) 436-1623.