A Great Day: 264 Over Par for Charity

Kevin McCandless played 180 holes of golf--that’s 10 rounds--in one day last week at Braemar Country Club in Tarzana. He started at 6:30 a.m. and took 12 hours 50 minutes to hole out after taking 974 strokes--264 over par. It was part of a Red Cross fund-raiser for fire victims through pledges.

“Considering I’m a 20-handicapper, I’m not disappointed with the score,” the Illinois businessman said after averaging 97.4 for the day. “The last 23 holes were played with a Nitelite ball that won’t go quite as far as a regular ball. Not that anything was going very far at that time.”

Trivia time: Who were USC’s first All-American basketball players?

Not our Vinnie: Associated Press TV columnist John Nelson, commenting on the Skins Game:

“It’s hard not to like Arnold Palmer, unless you have to listen to Vin Scully gushing about him for two days. That’s what the Skins Game on ABC was over the weekend--two days of unrepentant rooting.”

Boola, boola: Yale University can claim the past two Presidents. But when was the last time an Eli was among the NHL goal-scoring leaders?

Well, there’s one now. Ottawa right wing Bob Kudelski, a former King, is among the league’s elite this season. He has 20 goals in 22 games, a pace that would net him 76 goals.

Are you sure? ABC play-by-play announcer Mark Jones must be an ancient history buff.

After Penn State came from a 37-17 deficit to take a 38-37 lead against Michigan State last Saturday, he gushed: “This is the biggest turnaround since Paul on the road to Damascus.”

Say that again: Stanford defensive end Tyrone Parker, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle on his final year with the Cardinal:

“It’s part of life--you win some, you lose some. Unfortunately, this year, we’ve won more than we’ve lost.”

Want to lose weight? Mt. Everest climbers burn an average of 5,100 calories a day at altitudes of up to 29,000 feet, reports Richard P. Carpenter of the Boston Globe. That compares with the 3,300 or so calories that a marathon runner burns during a race.

Fine whine: Christian Laettner of the Minnesota Timberwolves seems to be worrying more this season about the work of NBA referees than he is about his own play. Laettner was ejected for the second time in Minnesota’s first 10 games when he told referee Joe Crawford to shut up.

“He’s going to have to control himself, because it’s not going to help matters as his career goes on,” Minnesota Coach Sidney Lowe said. “We depend on him a great deal and if he can’t get a call in this league, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”

Trivia answer: Johnny Lehners, guard, and Jess Mortensen, center, in 1930.

Quotebook: Announcer Tim McCarver, on his former baseball associates: “The best way to avoid ballplayers is to go to a good restaurant.”