WIVES' TALE

The wife of a professional golfer flashes across the public
stage very briefly, usually as just the other half of a victory
hug. But at the Ryder Cup the players' wives are part of the
story.

The status of Nick and Gill Faldo's marriage and the midweek
engagement of Fred Couples and Tawnya Dodd seemed to generate as
much conversation as the golf itself.

Gill responded to stories in Britain that her marriage was in
trouble by saying that she didn't "know anything about a
divorce." She and her husband were frequently seen holding hands
and behaving like an affectionate married couple.

Still, her edginess concerning the British tabloids was evident
at the start of the week when she couldn't find her room key,
and visions of The Daily Mirror under the bed and The Sun of
London in the closet caused her to have the locks changed and
new keys issued--right before she found the key in her pocket.

Couples was no less edgy. As he and Dodd were getting ready for
Wednesday's black-tie gala, Couples said there was something
else he wanted Dodd to wear. She held out her hands, palms up,
"thinking that it was a necklace or something, and he slipped on
the ring," she said.

All Couples said after that was "O.K., let's go," prompting Dodd
to ask what the large cluster of diamonds on her finger meant.
"Oh, it doesn't mean anything," said Fred.

Dodd had pinned him down on his intentions by the time the team
boarded a bus for the party, and as she moved to the front to
allow the ring on her outstretched hand to make the
announcement, Couples slunk to a seat in the back. "He was
hiding back there; it was so precious," said Julie Crenshaw.
"Ben told him, 'Your mulligan will be your best.'" By way of
explanation, Julie, Ben's second wife, added, "They call second
wives mulligans."

The 26 members of the American team--the captain, his players and
their wives--had dinner together every night at a single round
table, and they would go around the circle, each speaking his or
her mind or telling a joke. Peter Jacobsen was the acknowledged
dining-room star, particularly on Friday night when he was
clearly still smarting from his math muff yet able to joke about
it. It was no laughing matter later that night.

"Peter kept getting up," said Jan Jacobsen, and Peter admitted,
"I got hardly any sleep at all. I thought about that 7th hole
all night long."

By week's end all the wives could count on long nights with
sleepless husbands.

--Robinson Holloway

COLOR PHOTO: RICK STEWART Sarah Strange and the wives were part of the team. [Sarah Strange and other women waving American flags]