Daly’s Drive Only a Chip in Comparison

Step aside, John Daly . . . Meet the new “King of the Long Drive.”

Pro shop salesman Brian Pavlet of Phoenix shattered the world record for the longest drive--previously 412 yards as recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records--with a 435-yard 3-inch blast at the national long drive competition in Murray, Utah.

To put it in perspective, Daly was the first player to reach the 17th green in the U. S. Open at Baltusrol, N. J., in two strokes with a mammoth 325-yard drive and a 310-yard approach. Still, he was more than 100 yards shorter than Pavlet’s record-breaker at the Mick Riley course in Utah.

Trivia time: Only one driver has been running at the finish of all 11 Indy car races this season. He also is fourth in laps completed and fifth in miles completed, yet ranks only 26th in points. Who is he?

Changing times: Forget Nicaragua’s obsession with baseball.

Thousands of people turned out for a weekend of chariot racing as more than 90 gladiator look-alikes in imitation Roman helmets and breastplates took to the streets of the Nicaraguan capital in the second annual running of Managua’s Ben Hur chariot races.

Radio coverage of baseball was preempted as three stations broadcast the final in which defending champion William Murillo covered the 100-meter course in 9.5 seconds.

From the bench: Golf Digest reveals that new Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a golfer who is left-handed but learned to play with right-handed clubs. It also reports that she “has a game that mirrors her judicial style: She aims left, swings right and hits down the middle.”

For No. 40: Nigel Mansell celebrated his 40th birthday by winning an Indy car race last Sunday at Loudon, N. H. He also made a statement with a cap that read, “Look 30, Act 20, Feel Like 60, Must Be 40.”

Bucking tradition: John Gagliardi, football coach at St. John’s University in Minnesota, was recently honored with the creation of the Gagliardi Trophy, to be given annually to the NCAA Division III football player of the year.

“I always thought that when a person received something like this honor, they should at least have the decency to be dead,” Gagliardi said.

For the record: The San Francisco Seals catcher who caught a ball dropped from a blimp in 1939, breaking his jaw, was incorrectly identified in a Morning Briefing item Tuesday. The player was Joe Sprinz.

Religious experience: Southern Methodist defensive back Richie Butler is also an ordained Baptist minister. While studying this summer in Rome, Butler wrote a letter to Pope John Paul II and received a call inviting him to a private Mass at the Vatican.

“It was like a taste of heaven on earth,” Butler said. “Not many people ever get such an opportunity in their lifetimes, especially a Baptist.”

Trivia answer: Hiro Matsushita of San Clemente.

Quotebook: Luis Alicea, St. Louis Cardinal infielder, on smokeless tobacco and baseball: “Being in baseball and not dipping or chewing is like being in a bar and not drinking a beer.”