Spontaneity sparked some Golf news in '05
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-28 09:10

Robert Allenby had not played Doral in four years. He was walking by a row of lockers looking for the gold plate with his name on it when he gave up and asked the attendant, who showed him a locker with his name written on masking tape.

"You must have been one of the late entries, but we're working on it," the attendant told him. "We should have it up this afternoon, don't you worry. But it's great to see you again. We've missed you the last few years. It's great to have you back here."

Allenby was impressed with such star treatment, and was leaving to eat lunch when the attendant called after him.

"Oh, by the way Stuart, you get the upper and lower lockers," he said.

Allenby and Stuart Appleby are best friends from Australia who often are mistaken for each other, for no reason other than the spelling of their names.

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Tiger Woods wasn't playing his best at Bay Hill, and he knew it. Waiting on the tee at the par-3 17th toward the end of the third round, he muttered to himself, "I (stink). I'll probably miss the cut next week."

Someone standing next to the tee reminded Woods that he since he left Stanford after two years and didn't get his degree, he was stuck playing golf for a living.

"I could always go to night school," Woods replied.

And what would be his major? Something like economics?

Woods smiled when he heard this.

"I don't need economics," he said. "That's why I left school in the first place."

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Predictions can be a dangerous business in golf, although Adam Scott nailed one.

He was at the Sony Open discussing his plans for the early part of the season when someone asked why he was taking a month off from the PGA Tour.

"For a tour that tries to follow the sun, it seems we play under water a lot of the time," Scott said.

While there were weather issues on the West Coast, rain wasn't a factor until Scott returned to the PGA Tour at the Nissan Open, where only 36 holes were completed. Six of the next eight tournaments were delayed by rain, and Scott played in five of them.

Scott, by the way, won the Nissan Open in a playoff. But because it was only 36 holes, the PGA Tour didn't count it as an official victory. That means the 25-year-old Aussie did not qualify for the season-opening Mercedes Championships next week at Kapalua.

That's too bad. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous.