They Wouldn’t Have to Code These Drives

Mark McGwire’s long-distance home runs have been the highlight of the baseball season. So how far does he hit a golf ball?

An infrequent golfer, McGwire made an indelible impression on PGA Tour player Billy Andrade, who was McGwire’s partner at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1991 and 1993.

“Hank Kuehne [the reigning U.S. Amateur champion] says he hits it farther than Tiger Woods,” Andrade told John Strege of Golf World magazine. “If you put Kuehne, Woods and Mark together, you’d have a hell of a long-drive contest.

“Mark drove the third hole at Pebble (341 yards from the white tees). He didn’t get on the green at the fourth (an uphill 303-yarder), but he was pin high.”

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More McGwire: Said Andrade: “Fundamentally, he has a beautiful golf swing. If you put it on video, it would be flawless.”

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Trivia time: Which are the only seasons that UCLA had unbeaten football teams?

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Sack session: Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, commenting on the Dolphins sacking Buffalo Bill quarterback Rob Johnson eight times in a Sept. 13 game:

“By the end of the game, Miami’s defenders were wearing bumper stickers on their helmets: Honk If You’ve Sacked Rob Johnson.”

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Easy hire: Mike Littwin in the Rocky Mountain News, commenting on the Denver Nuggets hiring relatively inexperienced Mike D’Antoni as head coach:

“My guess is that D’Antoni was in the room. You know how the Nuggets are on nationwide searches. They’re very big on them just so long as they don’t include a plane ticket or a long-distance phone call.”

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Opinion: Ron Rapoport in the Chicago Sun-Times: “A friend called to ask why Roger Maris isn’t in the Hall of Fame. Because he’s a lifetime .260 hitter, I said.

“[Maris] was an above average ballplayer who had one supernatural year. That is one of the beauties of baseball: All kinds of players can step into the limelight and be Willie Mays for a day, or even a year. Does that make them eligible for the Hall of Fame? I don’t think so.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1968, USC opened the season by defeating Minnesota, 29-20, at Minneapolis, scoring two touchdowns in the last four minutes.

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Trivia answer: 1939 and 1954. The Bruins had four ties in 1939, an NCAA Division I-A record they share with the 1937 Temple and 1991 Central Michigan teams.

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Much to do about nothing: Temple’s four ties were all scoreless.

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And finally: Steve Rosenbloom, writing in the Chicago Tribune: “Kentucky Coach Hal Mumme and his pass-crazy offense that highlights quarterback Tim Couch has rankled some of the longtime SEC Bubbas who like their conference to run the ball, mister.

“Well, tough.

“ ‘This is the reason the South lost the war,’ Mumme said. ‘Let’s all form one mass formation and get killed by one cannonball.’ ”