Course Was so Hard, It Was Hard to Admit It

Just about everyone who witnessed the golfers struggling during the final round of the U.S. Open could see that Shinnecock Hills Golf Club was too severe, even for the best players in the world.

Everyone, that is, except for the U.S. Golf Assn., which had defended its setup even as it received harsh criticism from players, fans and the media.

Thursday, however, the USGA changed its tune.

USGA Executive Director David Fay spoke with guest host John Feinstein on “The Jim Rome Show” and acknowledged that in an effort to make the course as difficult as possible, the USGA had lost control.

“In this attempt to get the course very difficult, in this attempt to get the course near the edge, we went over the edge,” Fay said. “It was not by design. It quickly got away from us.”

Guess it takes the USGA a few days to focus its hindsight.

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Check the bargain bin: Florida State’s 1993 and 1999 national championship football trophies, valued at about $30,000 each, were stolen from a display case outside Coach Bobby Bowden’s office last weekend.

So far there are no suspects.

Perhaps employees at Dillard’s department store finally got revenge for the 1999 theft involving Florida State players Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles.

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Trivia time: Who was selected second in the 2003 NBA draft, between top pick LeBron James and third pick Carmelo Anthony?

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Not all that bad: Grenada’s soccer coach, Ali Debellotte, said about half a dozen angry Grenadian fans surrounded and harassed him after a 3-2 home loss to the United States in a World Cup qualifying match.

“They shouted that Grenada is the worst team in the world,” he said.

Actually, Grenada is No. 138. Montserrat, at No. 205, is the worst.

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Looking back: On this day in 1948, Joe Louis knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott in the 11th round in New York, successfully defending his heavyweight title.

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Thanks: Mike Wise of the Washington Post applauded Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban after learning that the Mavericks had agreed to take problematic Washington Wizard players Christian Laettner and Jerry Stackhouse in a trade for Antawn Jamison.

In 2001, Cuban traded for Juwan Howard, another underachieving Wizard.

“Ladies, gentlemen, Washington basketball junkies everywhere: Put your hands together and give it up for Mark Cuban, the man who makes more Wizard problems go away than the merciful end to each regular season,” Wise wrote Thursday.

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Trivia answer: Darko Milicic, by the eventual NBA champion Detroit Pistons.

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And finally: Peter Vecsey of the New York Post says the Lakers can find only one coach better-suited to coach Kobe Bryant than Rudy Tomjanovich.

“As for Tomjanovich, Kobe can’t find a more compatible, non-confrontational, coachable coach accomplished at instructing players to get the ball to their official scorer,” Vecsey wrote. “The only way Rudy T. doesn’t get the job is if he’s beaten out by Kobe’s au pair, Jim Gray.”