Canadian Open Not Kind to Canadians

There were 32 Canadian golfers entered in the Canadian Open, but only eight made the cut and none made it to the winner’s circle.

Said winner Bob Murphy, claiming too much pressure is placed on the Canadians: “One day, somebody like Dave Barr or Dan Halldorson will delight all the wonderful golf fans here and win. But people here have to be patient.”

Patient? The last Canadian winner was Pat Fletcher in 1954. That was 32 years ago.

Putt Powell of the Amarillo Globe Times, writing about John McKay, recalled when the USC coach received the Houston Touchdown Award in 1967.

He said that McKay, when told that he would be allowed seven minutes to accept the award, said: “I usually bow that long.”

Trivia Time: What are the first names of Bo Jackson, Bo Schembechler and Bo Belinsky? (Answer below.)

Nancy Lieberman, the only female player in the United States Basketball League, told Kevin Simpson of the Denver Post that learning the plays is the least of her problems.

“We don’t exactly have Phi Beta Kappas in this league,” she said.

Add Lieberman: She plays for the Springfield Fame, coached by former UCLA and NBA guard Henry Bibby.

“I think Henry’s a great coach,” she said. “I’d think he was greater if he played me more.”

Would-you-believe-it dept.: The Dodgers are 0-29 in games they’ve trailed after seven innings.

Tom Seaver, on why he expects to be the No. 4 or 5 starter for the Boston Red Sox: “A pitcher who’s 39 or 41 years old should not be the No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 3 pitcher on your staff.”

Why not? Warren Spahn was 21-13 and threw a no-hitter at age 40. At age 42 he was 23-7.

Wait a minute: Said Pacific Coast League umpire Pam Postema, explaining why she threw Las Vegas Manager Larry Bowa out of a game: “When he called me a blankety-blank, I decided to ignore it. But when he called me a blinkety-blank, he was gone.”

You figure it out.

Lee Trevino says his swing is so unorthodox, he wouldn’t expect any golf teacher to approve of it.

“It’s like having a bad haircut,” he said. “You don’t want anyone to know where you got it.”

From the Denver Post: “The Washington Bullets are sending 7-7 Manute Bol to physical trainer Mickey Shillstone in mid-July for eight weeks of workouts that Shillstone guarantees will add 25 to 35 pounds of muscle and 12 to 16 inches of vertical jumping ability to the league’s tallest, skinniest player. How confident is Shillstone, who gets most of the credit for bulking up Michael Spinks from a light-heavyweight to a heavyweight? Unless Bol gains 25 pounds and adds 12 inches to his vertical leaping ability, the Bullets don’t have to pay Shillstone.”

If you invite Wade Boggs to dinner, don’t worry about him being late.

Of his father, a former Marine and Air Force man, he told the Hartford Courant: “Dinner was always at 5:30, and if you weren’t home at 5:30, you didn’t eat. So you learned to always know where the clocks were in your friends’ houses, and to this day I always notice clocks. I woke up at precisely the same time every day for 18 years. If I woke up, say, 30 minutes late, I was out of sync all day.”

Trivia Answer: Vincent Jackson, Glenn Schembechler, Robert Belinsky.

Quotebook

St. Louis Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog, empathizing with the players who are fighting slumps: “I’ve had some of those batting averages myself.”