Weekley finds a new golf hazard

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have opted to skip the PGA Tour season opener in Hawaii this week; Boo Weekley nearly missed the Mercedes-Benz Championship too, though not by choice.

The Associated Press reported that Weekley was detained at a Florida airport when security found two bullets in his carry-on bag.

“They put the red flags on me,” Weekley said. “I had the cops there. I thought I was going to jail.”

Weekley said the bullets were leftovers from an off-season hunting trip and he didn’t see them when packing. The airport security machines found them, though.

After explaining the situation, Weekley finally got through security and arrived in Hawaii in time to make his Thursday tee time.

“I just begged and pleaded,” he said. “I just sat there and shook my head like I was an idiot, you know? They confiscated the bullets and then broke down a bunch of stuff.”

Trivia time

The Mercedes-Benz Championship is limited to players who won a PGA tournament the previous season and has undergone four name changes since its inception in 1953. What was its original name?

Tapped out

The New York Jets pulled a fast one on fans for their season finale last Sunday when the team banned the sale of beer at Giants Stadium.

The move was intended to curb fan rowdiness, especially near Gate D, when male spectators often implored female fans to bare their breasts.

“We had fewer crowd control problems [Sunday] than we would normally run into during a football game,” said stadium spokesman James R. Minish.

The beer ban was not announced before the game and during the game fans chanted “We want beer!” The Star-Ledger of Newark reported.

The team said it would reinstate beer sales next season but is considering a limit or a cutoff time for the taps.

Could’ve been worse

Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan set 31 NCAA records during his three years with the Warriors, including 131 touchdown passes.

But in his last game, the Sugar Bowl loss to Georgia, he didn’t have a touchdown pass, had three interceptions, fumbled twice and was sacked eight times.

But Brennan, who spent seven nights in jail in 2004 and was dismissed from Colorado after walking drunk into a woman’s dorm room then pleading guilty to trespassing and burglary charges, said his Sugar Bowl performance wasn’t the end of the world.

“For me, it’s a gigantic disappointment,” he said. “I’m sure now it’s going to leave me up for all the analysts and everybody to take their shots on me, and that’s life. Luckily, I’ve been through a lot tougher things in life.”

He smells a rat

Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing listed “snake-wrangling” as a hobby in a preseason questionnaire.

That information made the team media guide, but roommate Derek Fine, a Kansas tight end, said there’s no way it’s true.

Fine said he and Reesing were at home one day when a mouse ran into the room. Reesing was startled and jumped onto the futon.

“This is a mouse,” Fine said. “I’m pretty sure he’s not a snake wrangler.”

Attacking their turf

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor isn’t quite as concerned about facing the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the NFL playoffs as he is about playing at Heinz Field.

“That field is terrible,” Taylor said in a conference call with Pittsburgh reporters. “That’s a lawsuit pending. That’s ridiculous.”

Taylor went on to say that the team should invest $1 million in an artificial surface.

So, the traction wasn’t that great when Taylor had 147 yards rushing on that field Dec. 16 in a 29-22 Jaguars victory?

Trivia answer

The Tournament of Champions.

And finally

Texas Tech Coach Bobby Knight isn’t so sure that Eddie Sutton should have come out of retirement at age 71 to coach San Francisco.

Sutton remains stuck on 798 victories after the Dons lost his first two games.

“If I’d have been him, I would have found something better to do,” Knight said.

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peter.yoon@latimes.com