His Trade Was Stroke of Genius

During the Million Dollar Challenge in Sun City, South Africa, a couple of weeks ago, Ernie Els spotted a putter he liked. Not in the pro shop, being carried by another golfer.

“I played with the guy one morning,” Els told London’s Sunday Times. “The putter looked really good and I swapped [with] him.

“This putter is worth maybe $50 and I gave him a Scotty Cameron that’s worth about $5,000, so he got a good deal out of it.”

So did Els, who used his newly acquired putter to shoot rounds of 67-66-64-66, winning the tournament and a lot more than $5,000.

Trivia time: Muhammad Ali once went three rounds with which NHL player?

The no’s have it: President Clinton might think Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame, but Mike Littwin of the Rocky Mountain News won’t be voting to put him there.

Wrote Littwin, “If there’s anything we learned in the latest Rose imbroglio, it’s that Rose is still a jerk [he wants back into baseball for the money] and that the Lords of Baseball [I make Bud Selig a minor earl, at best] are being as stubborn as Rose is being sleazy.”

Back at the Rose Garden: “The bad news on the second-chance front,” writes Dave Kindred in the Sporting News, “is that Bud Selig appears to be less forgiving than Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Comparative shopping: The Seattle Mariners offered Ken Griffey Jr. $135 million for eight years. Junior turned them down.

For the same amount, Mariner owners could give Seattle a Major League Soccer team for the next 79 years.

Being all he can be: “I expect that in the near future, we will be 11-0,” new Army Coach Todd Berry said.

Didn’t anyone tell him the Black Knights are coming off a 3-8 season? And a loss to Navy?

Special delivery: Third baseman Todd Zeile had a message for the Texas Rangers when he left the team.

“I think I have a better chance to win a World Series ring in New York,” he said.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Randy Galloway found that difficult to swallow, pointing out, “Did Todd get his New York teams mixed up? He signed with the Mets.”

Trivia answer: Dave Semenko.

And finally: After pleading guilty in England to 15 charges of fraud, theft and false accounting, racehorse owner Allan Leonard might think twice about some of the horses he has had in his stable.

According to the Independent on Sunday newspaper, among them were four named Exit To Rio, No Extradition, Creative Account and Mock Trial.