He Hit Another Perfect Shot With This Driver

Tom Cushman in the San Diego Union-Tribune, writing on Tiger Woods’ popularity at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach:

“The shuttle driver was fluttering like a hummingbird. ‘I’ve never been this excited before,’ she said to several passengers.

“ ‘I’m the author of three books. I’ve had people stand in line for 30 minutes to get my autograph. But mine is nothing compared to his.’

“Fifteen minutes earlier, the lady had delivered Tiger Woods to the driving range. Along the way he’d autographed her cap. You had the feeling she planned to wear it to bed.”

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The legend still grows: Mike Littwin in the Rocky Mountain News on Woods: “Comparisons don’t hold. Nothing holds Woods. Nothing contains him. Nike likes to splash those outsize murals on the sides of buildings to suggest its clients are larger than life.

“For Woods, the mural treatment would be redundant.”

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Trivia time: What was the Lakers’ starting lineup in 1972, when they won their first NBA championship since moving to Los Angeles from Minneapolis?

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Pillow talk: The Boston Red Sox recently played 13 games in 13 days in five cities. A reporter asked Red Sox Manager Jimy Williams to sum up the trip in one word.

“Pillows,” he said. “We saw a lot of different pillows.”

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Ho hum: Ron Rapoport in the Chicago Sun-Times: “Oscar De La Hoya might retire? Oh, sure, just the way Joe Louis, Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, Thomas Hearns and all those other boxers throughout history retired and never changed their minds.

“Fighters fight. De La Hoya will too. Count on it.”

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The Jackson file: Dr. Jack Ramsay, former NBA coach and television analyst, on Phil Jackson:

“He’s an unusual guy. As a player, he was a gangly, off-the-bench, long-armed defender. He was one of the first I ever saw who would leave his man and help slow down the point guard, just redirect the pace of the game, then return to his man.

“‘He was a very, very smart and annoying player who would score just enough to keep you honest.”

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More on Jackson: Rick Telander in the Chicago Sun-Times: “[He] is a complex, aloof, thoughtful, introspective, occasionally contradictory and irritating man who just happens to win all the time.”

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Now, he’s Mr. Outside: Dave Kindred writing in the Sporting News on Shaquille O’Neal’s 14-foot jump shot in the NBA title game:

“So astonishing was the move, so unexpected in its athleticism and grace [to say nothing of its success], so much fun when his work is usually no fun at all, that it served to remind witnesses of what O’Neal has said all along: ‘I’m a player, not a dunker.’

“If this is true, and the jump shot is only part of the evidence that it is, then we’ve seen only the first in a series of Laker championships.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1932, Jack Sharkey scored a 15-round split decision to win the world heavyweight title in New York.

Looking back again: On this day in 1964, Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a perfect game against the New York Mets. The no-hitter gave Bunning one in each league.

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Trivia answer: Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, Jim McMillian and Happy Hairston.

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And finally: Dave Anderson in the New York Times on Woods: “He’s the Microsoft of golf. If the other pros could find a judge to split him in two, they would.”