Pulling Rank At the Slam

Ben Curtis's father, Bob, was one of several fans at the PGA
Grand Slam of Golf who complained about overzealous--and
sometimes rude--marshals at Poipu Bay Golf Course in Kauai,
Hawaii. The offending marshals, it turns out, were actually
soldiers brought in from the U.S. Army Hawaii and the 25th
Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks on Oahu for the week. Bob
Curtis complained that they made fans wait to cross fairways even
when the golfers were more than 300 yards down the fairway. "They
didn't have any common sense," said Curtis, who is the
superintendent at Mill Creek Golf Club in Ostrander, Ohio.

Corey Pavin equaled his best finish on Tour in the last eight
months on Monday, but he wasn't playing. He was caddying.
Believed to be the first major champion to loop at Q school,
Pavin was on the bag of Jay Delsing, his former UCLA teammate.
Delsing, 43, finished 28th to regain his PGA Tour card after
three years on the Nationwide tour and offered this assessment of
his rookie bag-toter: "He only dropped the putter cover a
half-dozen times and lost my driver cover a couple of times, so
he did great."

Having a driver's license was not a prerequisite for getting a
private parking space at the Office Depot Father/Son Challenge at
ChampionsGate Golf Resort in Orlando. Four underage
competitors--Javier Ballesteros (age 13), Stefan Langer (13),
Shaun O'Meara (14) and Qass Singh (13)--had personal spaces,
complete with nameplates, adjacent to their dads'.

Golf Plus will next appear in the Jan. 19, 2004, issue of SI.

THE POLL
VOTE AT SI.COM/GOLF

THIS WEEK: After marrying Elin Nordegren, will Tiger Woods win
more or fewer majors than the eight he has already won?

LAST POLL: Did Jack Nicklaus make the right call when he agreed
to share the Presidents Cup?

Yes....72%
No....28%

--Based on 2,703 responses to our informal survey