DATE: Friday, March 21, 1997                TAG: 9703210866

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

                                            LENGTH:   59 lines

WILL A BUCK PER STROKE BE PAR FOR THE COURSE?

Money matters: So you think $75 for greens fees and use of a cart at the yet-to-be-built TPC course in Virginia Beach sounds steep? Call Kingsmill and see if you can get any sympathy. Starting April 1, the cost of playing 18 at the River Course is $125. And we thought Rhinos tickets were expensive.

Futurewatch: The women's NCAAs won't make the big time until the female basketball tournament inspires office pools. It will happen.

Idle thought: Sharing the wealth is fine, but there are times when ODU All-American point guard Ticha Penicheiro needs to take more looks at the basket.

Shipped out: Apparently, having an aircraft carrier is no guarantee of success in the men's basketball tournament. Otherwise, Wake Forest and Navy still would be playing.

Commerce: On sale at ``ESPN - The Store,'' located at DisneyWorld, is a talking Keith Olbermann doll. Shouldn't that be a smirking Keith Olbermann doll?

Mythmakers and spin city: The .500 conference record, the string of first-round losses in the NCAA tournament, the gradual shrinking of its basketball reputation . . . everything wrong with Indiana hoops must be the fault of those lazy, uncoachable, mixed-up Hoosier upperclassmen. To reach any other conclusion would be to suggest that Bobby Knight is out of touch with today's game. We can't have that, now.

Stat stuff: The worst record in major league baseball in the '90s belongs to the New York Mets.

Spring thing: If the Orioles don't reach the World Series this year, it won't be for lack of defense. There isn't a better infield in baseball than Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Bordick, Robbie Alomar and Rafael Palmeiro.

Don't blame him: The new chocolate ``Chipper Bar'' is named after Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, who says he doesn't like chocolate. ``I don't think these things up,'' he explained. ``I just sign the papers.''

Go figure: Lefty Driesell isn't the only recognizable name connected with the Georgia State basketball coaching vacancy. Reportedly, the school also held interviews with former Northwestern coach Ricky Byrdsong, former Memphis coach Larry Finch and former Pitt coach Paul Evans. What is it about Georgia State that we should know?

One they missed: Stanford's Brevin Knight, the best guard in the NCAA tournament, played high school ball in New Jersey but was not recruited by the ACC, Big East or Atlantic 10.

For what it's worth: Three basketball coaches who reached this year's Round of 16 - Clemson's Rick Barnes, Providence's Pete Gillen and Stanford's Mike Montgomery - were thought at one time or another to be in line for the Virginia job that eventually went to Jeff ``Home Alone'' Jones.

Computer operated: With Steffi Graf and Monica Seles up on blocks for so long, that sporty little Swiss model Martina Hingis is guaranteed a move to No. 1 in the rankings any day now.

Father knows best: Instead of cashing in on his Super Bowl season by traveling the country making speeches, Green Bay Packers coach Mike Holmgren took the road less traveled - the one leading back to his wife and family. He canceled his radio and TV shows and turned down lucrative appearance fees in order to spend more time at home. That makes him a double winner.

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