Heard On The Range

CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz and Paul Marchand, the head pro at
Shadow Hawk Golf Club in Houston, gave former president George
H.W. Bush a 900-square-foot synthetic putting green--dubbed 41
National Golf Club--for his 80th birthday during festivities on
May 25 at Walker's Point, the president's retreat in
Kennebunkport, Maine. "The president breaks out in hives when he
thinks about practicing," says Marchand, "but now he's
considering breaking his no-practice rule." To inaugurate 41
National, former Tour commissioner Deane Beman won an impromptu
putting contest.... Some Champions tour caddies complained to
tour officials when Margo McMillan, who works for Bobby Walzel,
among others, and is one of the circuit's few female loopers, was
allowed to ride in a cart at the May 21-23 Allianz Championship
because she is pregnant.... The trial in the lawsuit brought by
the state of Connecticut against the private equity firm headed
by Teddy Forstmann, Vijay Singh's friend and sponsor, was
scheduled to begin on June 1 in Rockville, Conn. Forstmann,
Little & Company has been accused of improperly investing and
losing $125 million of the state's pension fund.... At the
FedEx, Michael Clark II whiffed twice trying to hit a ball that
was lying against a tree while making a quadruple-bogey 8 on the
9th hole during an opening-round 81. Clark rebounded with a 62 on
Friday to make the cut by one shot.... Mathias Gronberg went
through three caddies during the second round at the TPC at
Southwind. After an argument on the 4th hole, Gronberg's regular
caddie, Garry Edwards, quit, and spectator Robert Ramsey agreed
to carry the bag. Ramsey had to leave at the turn, so another
fan, Robert Cato, finished the loop.

--R.L., Farrell Evans

COLOR PHOTO: PAUL MARCHAND (PUTTING GREEN) PUTT-PUTT Bush's birthday green in Maine has four holes.