---

Bar Chat

04/10/2023

Jon Rahm....Masters Champion...

Add-on posted early Wed. a.m.

Masters Rewind

--Jon Rahm hailed his Masters victory as “incredibly meaningful” after securing his second major (11th PGA Tour title…fourth this calendar year) on the 40th anniversary of his idol Seve Ballesteros claiming a second win at Augusta National.  Sunday also would have been Seve’s 66th birthday.

“History of the game is a big part of why I play and one of the reasons why I play, and Seve being one of them,” said Rahm.  “For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his win, his birthday, on Easter Sunday, it’s incredibly meaningful.”

Rahm finished his round by scrambling for a superb par.

“To finish it off the way I did, an unusual par, very much a Seve par, it was [unintentionally] a testament to him, and I know he was pulling for me today,” Rahm added.  “This one is for Seve.  I knew he would be up there helping and help he did.”

--Brooks Koepka said after his final round, and his miserable 75, while Jon Rahm was carding a 69, that while he came up short (T2), the performance of himself, Phil Mickelson (T2) and Patrick Reed (T4) proved “We’re still the same people.  So I mean, I know if I’m healthy, I know I can compete. I don’t think any of the guys that played this event thought otherwise, either. When Phil plays good, we know he’s going to compete.  Reed, the same thing.

“I think that’s just manufactured by the media that we can’t compete anymore; that we are washed up.”

But that’s not a true statement.  Clearly, as the golf world knew, Brooks was healthy again and after his first round, he was going to be a factor.  Patrick Reed is just 32, same age as Koepka, and no one ever said he couldn’t compete.  Phil is a different story.  He has literally done zero, nada, since winning at Kiawah in 2021.  It’s well-chronicled.  His 65 on Sunday was indeed out of nowhere, his best final round at Augusta ever, and for this he deserves praise.

But Phil Mickelson can’t compete on the PGA Tour on a regular basis, that’s a fact.  Hell, he has one top ten in 10 stroke-play LIV events…with a field of 48.

The Masters is a totally unique tournament.  Look at Fred Couples.  It’s so cool he can still make a cut at age 63, but it’s because it’s Augusta and both he and Phil know the course as well anyone, to state the obvious.  Jack Nicklaus finished T6 in the Masters in 1998 at age 58!  Yet, the last time he had a top ten in a U.S. Open was in 1982 when he was 42!

As I wrote Sunday, “LIV did well…so it’s Game on for the PGA Championship.”

But LIV is lucky that the three performed the way they did because otherwise the narrative is very different.

Joaquin Niemann was next on the list of LIV performances and he was T16.

Then it’s down to Harold Varner III, T29.

In other words, five of the top 30.  Which is about what most of us thought they’d do.

Cameron Smith was T34.  Dustin Johnson T48.

Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio, Jason Kokrak and Bubba Watson didn’t make the cut.

The PGA Championship will be a good test of where the LIV golfers really stand.  A course, Oak Hill, few will have played more than a handful of times.

As for my feelings toward Mickelson, for good reason he took four months off last year after his controversial comments about the PGA Tour and the Saudi monarchy’s history of human rights abuses.

It wasn’t just a coincidence that the Masters on Sunday was followed by “60 Minutes” and a story on Saudi sportswashing.  For good reason, many of us think LIV is a bad joke.

But Phil has a bigger worry coming up…the Billy Walters book, due out in August, which as I’ve pointed out many a time, could be deadly for Phil.  And I’m sure Walters will get his own “60 Minutes” segment to discuss his many tales and relationship with Phil the Thrill.

--Steve Politi / NJ.com

“Phil Mickelson pumped his fist once, then twice, as he walked to retrieve his ball from the cup on the 18th green. He had just birdied for the fifth time in seven holes. The gallery rose to its feet to give him the kind of ovation he used to always hear at Augusta National – and, until he turned back the clock on this afternoon, the kind he hadn’t heard at all this week….

“ ‘I’m hesitant to say too much right now,’ Mickelson said in a brief interview. He was, after all, the leader in the clubhouse….

“In many ways, though, Mickelson was carrying himself like a man who had won another green jacket long before Rahm finished. He accepted congratulations from Augusta National members on the clubhouse porch. He hugged his wife, Amy, who sneaked into the room where he was signing his scorecard for a 7-under par 65. It felt like 2010 here again.

“And then you looked closer. Then you saw the ‘HyFlyers’ logo on his hat and shirt, the one that looks like it might be the symbol for an alien confederation on a Star Trek reboot.  [Ed. I thought it had Aryan overtones.]  Then you remember that he is representing LIV Golf, the upstart tour that exists only to sportswash the Saudi royal family.  Then everything felt different….

“ ‘Today is hopefully a stepping stone to really kick start the rest of the year and continue some great play because I have a unique opportunity,’ Mickelson said.  ‘At 52, no physical injuries, no physical problems, being able to swing a club the way I want to, to do things in the game that not many people have had a chance to do later in life.’

“He’s right.  But now he gets to do it in Singapore and Spain, in London and (yes) Bedminster.  The LIV event at Trump National a year ago was only notable for three things: 1. Tickets that sold for a buck on StubHub. 2. Donald Trump blowing kisses to the crowd. 3. A heckler screaming ‘DO IT FOR THE SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY’ as Mickelson prepared to hit his first tee shot on Thursday.

“Mickelson threw away much of his good-guy image for $200 million from the Saudis, the same people he called ‘scary to get involved with’ and that have a ‘horrible record on human rights.’  But it wasn’t just a chunk of his soul that he lost. He also lost the opportunity to stare down a top player like Jordan Spieth and, as he did on Sunday, beat him….

“And now he disappears….

“This week was a reminder of what that decision [to go to LIV] cost.  Mickelson will leave Augusta and go back to playing for microscopic audiences on the CW.  He’ll have three more majors this year to chase the adrenaline rush he felt on Sunday afternoon. He better have enjoyed that ovation on the 18th green, because he might not hear anything like it for a long, long time.”

Dan Wolken / USA TODAY

“Every year, they change something about this place.

“When the week-long Masters circus leaves town, players come back 12 months later to a new tee box or a rebuilt green or trees in different places than they once were.  It’s all part of the ever-evolving story of Augusta National, a timeless piece of land where tradition and beauty obscure the reality of its desire to remain on the sport’s cutting edge.

“But ultimately, there is a simple reason this is the biggest event in golf.  Year after year, decade after decade, Augusta National has a knack for identifying the best player in the world.

“And right now, there’s no doubt who holds that title.

“In a sport as unpredictable as golf, where the history books are filled with one-off major winners while great players struggle to put all the pieces together when it matters most, Jon Rahm cane to Augusta and did exactly what he’s been doing for several months.

“Rarely has there been a more fitting Masters champion.

“On the course where Jack Nicklaus made his legend, Tiger Woods asserted his otherworldly dominance and pretty much all the generational players have managed to win, Rahm and Augusta National added to the story this week….

“At 28 years old and now with a second major title on his resume, the Spaniard didn’t just win the tournament – he absolutely crushed the field in a way that felt much more magnificent than his four-stroke margin of victory….

“ ‘If there’s anything better than accomplishing something like this, it’s making history,’ said Rahm when informed he was the first European player to win a Masters and U.S. Open.  ‘It’s hard to explain.  Out of all the accomplishments and many great players who came before me, it’s a humbling feeling.  It’s a pretty good duo of majors.’….

“Rahm, more than anyone else in golf right now, seems built to last.

“Sure, he has gone through rough patches like everyone else on tour. It doesn’t always click.  The foundation of Rahm’s game is so strong and solid, though, that he legitimately has a chance to win the Grand Slam this year if he’s playing well.

“Is it likely to happen?  Of course not.

“But when you’re one of the best drivers of the golf ball, one of the most accurate iron players and in the top echelon of chippers and putters…you have a chance to win every time you play….

“Rahm is a terrific and popular Masters champion. Even on a day where he was paired with Koepka, an American, the Spaniard garnered the bulk of the crowd support because golf fans know how much he appreciates the tradition of the game and what these big titles mean….

“And yes, Rahm’s decision to stick with the PGA Tour and be one of its biggest defenders in the feud with LIV Golf last year matters, too.

“ ‘Yeah, money is great…but would my lifestyle change if I got $400 million?  No, it wouldn’t change one bit,’ he said last year.

“That’s a man chasing history and a legacy. That’s someone whose name belongs on the list of Masters champions.  And that’s a player who Augusta National, as it often does, identified as the best golfer on the planet.”

Christine Brennan / USA TODAY

“Here’s a message from the leaders of men’s golf, especially Augusta National Golf Club, for Spain’s Jon Rahm:

“Thank you.

“Thank you for winning the Masters so LIV Golf didn’t.

“Thank you, they all must be saying, for saving us from ourselves.

“Rahm rescued Augusta National from the ignominy of having to put a green jacket on LIV Golf escapee Brooks Koepka, currently suspended by the PGA Tour, who led by four strokes when the day began and ended up losing by four, a massive eight-shot swing in Rahm’s favor.

“With his spectacularly steady victorious play over a marathon 30 holes Sunday, Rahm also saved Augusta National from the utter embarrassment of having to place another green jacket on the shoulders of the late-surging Phil Mickelson, in many ways the epitome of the greedy, preposterous world of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed league that is using men like Koepka and Mickelson to help ‘sportswash’ a laundry list of the kingdom’s atrocities.

“Wait, what? Phil?  Him?

“Yes, Mickelson, the 52-year-old, three-time Masters champion, became the oldest player in history to finish in the top five at a Masters with a surprising seven-under-par 65 in the final round… What an interesting development that was.

“With Koepka trading shots with Rahm on the back nine for more than two hours, and with Mickelson’s name just hanging out there, as noticeable as a neon sign, and with another LIV man, Patrick Reed, also in the hunt, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman had to be absolutely giddy watching from afar….

“But LIV’s presence at the top of the leaderboard meant that basically every third shot being shown in the late afternoon and early evening Sunday on CBS was hit by a LIV golfer.  How about that?  CBS ended up giving the no-cut, exhibition-style, silly golf tour more publicity than it will ever get itself with its underwhelming TV deal on the CW Network….

“Let us make no mistake what Koepka, Mickelson, Reed and the other 15 LIV golfers who arrived here have done. They left their regular tour jobs to go into the ‘sportswashing’ business with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the mastermind of the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, as well as his golf-bro buddies in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the nation responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States and abysmal human rights violations against women….

“One golfer who was adamant that he would never leave the PGA Tour for LIV’s fat paychecks is Rahm….

“ ‘Shotgun (start), three days to me is not a golf tournament.  No cut. It’s that simple,’ Rahm said.  “I want to play against the best in the world in a format that’s been going on for hundreds of years….

“ ‘I play for the love of the game… I’ve always been interested in history and legacy, and right now, the PGA Tour has that.’

“That man won the Masters Sunday. And because he won, LIV lost.  That’s the story. That’s the headline.  At the end of the day, that’s really all that matters.”

--Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson, through their performances, did pick up major Official World Golf Ranking points, which is huge for them, as it’s right now the only way for them to pick up same.

Koepka moved from No. 118 pre-Masters to 39; Reed from 70 to 45; and Mickelson from 425 to 72.

Being in the top 50 virtually guarantees you’ll play in the majors.

The movement for the other LIV players was insignificant.

--Ten of the last 12 majors have been won by players under age 30, with Rahm and Collin Morikawa each taking two of them, and then you have DeChambeau, Matsuyama, Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Fitzpatrick and Cameron Smith.

--Rory McIlroy, after missing the cut last week, opted out of this week’s RBC Heritage, no reason given.

It’s significant in that it’s the second time Rory is missing a designated event, when the tour had said you can only miss one without being penalized in the Player Impact Program, though this is up to the commissioner.

Next year, there is no requirement for PIP players to play in them all.

--In a big blow for Wake Forest fans, and golf fans all over, Will Zalatoris, who withdrew from the Masters just before the first round due to his back issues, had surgery over the weekend and will be out for the rest of the PGA Tour season.

He’s just 26 and was on the verge of superstardom when last year he suffered a back injury and he’s been struggling since with nagging pain.

Zalatoris posted on Instagram: “After careful consideration and seeking multiple medical opinions, I underwent a successful microdiscectomy on Saturday.  As much as I hate not being able to play the rest of this season. I am happy that I am already seeing the benefits of the procedure.  Playing and living in pain is not fun.  I look forward to making a full recovery and seeing everyone in the fall.”

MLB

--Just a few items for the record from Sunday that I missed:

Pittsburgh’s talented young shortstop Oneil Cruz is out for 10-12 weeks after fracturing his ankle during a collision at home plate in a game against the White Sox, Pirates winning 1-0.

In the bottom of the sixth, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a bouncer to third baseman Yoan Moncada, with runners on first and third.  Moncada picked it up and threw it home to White Sox catcher Seby Zavala, who collided with Cruz as he ran to home plate.

Zavala had to leap to field the throw but landed just in time to tag out Cruz.  But in the process, Cruz’s left foot fell awkwardly behind him and made hard contact with Zavala’s left leg, resulting in the injury.

A skirmish broke out at home plate as the Pirates were just frustrated over the injury.

--Also Sunday, Nelson Cruz became the third oldest player in the NL/AL since 1901 with a 6+ RBI game, driving in six in the Padres’ 10-2 win at Atlanta.

Cruz is 42, and only Barry Bonds and Carlton Fisk were older when they drove in six; Fisk the record holder at 43 and 281 days while with the White Sox in 1991.

Fisk was a fulltime player back then, 134 games for Chicago, driving in 74 runs, and Bazooka Joe says: “Carlton even made the All-Star team in ’91!”

--Monday, Tampa Bay became the first major league team since the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers to open the season with 10 straight wins, getting a solo homer from Brandon Lowe in the eighth inning to beat the Red Sox, 1-0.

The 1987 Brewers and 1982 Atlanta Brave share the major league record for the best start to a season at 13-0.

It was, however, the first game the Rays didn’t beat their opponent by at least four runs.

Lowe has homered in three straight games with nine RBIs.

--Max Muncy hit 35 home runs in each of 2018-19 for the Dodgers, and then 36 in 2021, but slumped badly in 2022 to 21 homers with a .196 batting average and .713 OPS.

Muncy then started out this season 4 for 33, .121, with home run.

So Monday he went through an extended early batting practice  to tweak his swing, adding a “back step” to his hitting motion, a small, left-footed tap that synced up his mechanics as he put it.

And lo and behold, Munch went 3 for 3, two home runs, including a grand slam, seven RBIs, as the Dodgers beat the Giants 9-1.

--The Phillies hammered Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara for nine runs in four innings, on the way to a 15-3 win over the Marlins.  Alcantara, who had pitched a shutout in his last outing, saw his ERA balloon to 5.79.  It’s hard to work that down to 3.00.

--The Yankees lost to Cleveland 3-2 Monday, as rookie Anthony Volpe continued to struggle, 0 for 3, his average down to .129, 4 for 31.

--But the Mets’ Max Scherzer came back from his brutal outing in Milwaukee to throw five one-hit innings as the Metsies beat the Padres 5-0.

--Tuesday, the Mets’ offense then went limp, again, falling to San Diego 4-2, just five singles.

The Mets, 6-6, are batting just .214, last in the National League.

--The Yankees (7-4) rebounded with an 11-2 win over Cleveland last night, Franchy Cordero, the opening day free agent signee, with his third homer.  Gerrit Cole improved to 3-0, 1.40, with seven strong.

--The Orioles’ Ryan Mountcastle tied a franchise record with nine RBIs in the Orioles’ 12-8 win over the A’s.  Mountcastle homered twice, including a grand slam, matching the RBI mark held by Jim Gentile (1961) and Eddie Murray (1985).  Growing up it seemed like every baseball fan knew about Gentile’s mark…he had a cool baseball card (smashing 46 home runs and driving in 141 that season).

--The Marlins’ Luis Arraez became the first Marlin in franchise history to hit for the cycle, 4 for 5, in a 7-3 win over Philadelphia, Arraez off to a phenomenal .537 start, 22 for 41.

--Tampa Bay did it again, now 11-0, 7-2 over Boston, four home runs, including another by Brandon Lowe.  The Rays now have 29 homers, tying a record for the first 11 games held by the 2000 Cardinals, while the pitching staff, 1.73 ERA, has yielded 19 earned runs.]

--Shohei Ohtani threw seven scoreless, allowing one hit, though five walks, in the Angels’ 2-0 win over Washington, Ohtani lowering his ERA to 0.47.

--Rookie Ji-Hwan Bae hit a dramatic 3-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give Pittsburgh a 7-4 win over the struggling Astros.

--For the first 1 ½ weeks of the season, the MLB batting average is up 16 points to .249, a rise from .233 during a comparable period at the start of last season, though admittedly the weather sucked last year.

Stolen bases are up 30%.

And the average game time is down 31 minutes, on track to be the sport’s lowest since 1984.

--An original Met, you could say the first Met, Hobie Landrith, died the other day in Sunnyvale, Calif., at the age of 93.

The Mets and Houston Colt .45s (now Astros) were founded as 1962 National League expansion teams.  A draft was held, the two teams alternating picks in selecting players the other eight N.L. teams viewed as expendable…some old, some young, clearly not any real top prospects.

The Astros selected first, Eddie Bressoud, a shortstop with the Giants, and then the Mets chose Landrith, a catcher also with the Giants.

When reporters asked Mets Manager Casey Stengel why Landrith, 31 years old, was anointed as the first Met, he replied: “You gotta have a catcher or you’d have a lot of passed balls.”

Landrith caught Mets starter Roger Crain in the franchise’s first game, April 11, 1962, facing the Cardinals in St. Louis.  Craig had been selected from the Dodgers as the Mets’ sixth draft pick.  St. Louis won the game 11-4, Landrith went 0 for 4 and committed an error, and the Mets were off and running, so to speak.

Landrith would only play in 23 games for the Mets, batting .289, 13 for 45, with one home run.

But the homer was a pinch-hit, game-winning upper deck shot at the Polo Grounds off Milwaukee Braves future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn.

In June of ’62, Landrith was traded to Baltimore for first baseman Marv Throneberry, part of an earlier trade.  Throneberry would hit 16 home runs for the Mets the rest of that season, but committed a staggering 17 errors at first in the 89 games he started.

Landrith played 14 seasons, but only had 1,929 at-bats, hitting .233.

As for Eddie Bressoud, the Astros traded him to the Red Sox after they had drafted him in the fall of 1961, and Bressoud had three very solid seasons with Boston, before spending a year with the Mets, 1966, hitting 10 home runs.

--In college baseball….

Baseball America’s Top Ten (a/o 4/10)

1. LSU
2. Florida
3. Wake Forest
4. Vanderbilt
5. South Carolina
6.Arkansas
7. Stanford
8. Virginia
9. East Carolina
10. Louisville…swept then-No. 9 Boston College this weekend and now hosts the Demon Deacons this coming weekend.

NBA

--Entering the first play-in games Tuesday….

The Timberwolves took on the Lakers in a 7-8 game, Minnesota without Rudy Gobert, who was suspended one game for punching teammate Kyle Anderson in the regular season finale over the weekend.

And L.A. won it, 108-102 in overtime, LeBron James with 30 points and 10 rebounds.

But what an ending in regulation…Dennis Schroder appeared to secure the win with a 3-pointer with just 1.1 seconds to go.  But Anthony Davis inexplicably fouled Mike Conley on a 3-point attempt with just .1 seconds on the clock and Conley knocked down all three free throws to force overtime.

L.A., who now faces Memphis in the first round, came back from down 15 in the second half.

Minnesota will now face the winner of OKC-New Orleans tonight for the opportunity to face 1-seed Denver.

Atlanta beat Miami, 116-105, and now goes up against Boston in the first round, while the Heat face the winner of the Bulls-Raptors for the chance to face 1-seed Milwaukee.

Stuff

--The Boston Bruins set the single-season win mark Sunday night, win No. 63, 5-3 over the Flyers, thus breaking the record of 62 held by the 2018-19 Lightning and the 1995-96 Red Wings.

The Bruins’ David Pastrnak had a hat trick, the third goal being No. 60 for him, a huge accomplishment.

Boston, 63-12-5, with 131 points, is one point shy of the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, 60-8-12, but the Canadiens played in an era without overtime when games ended in a tie.  The Red Wings set the initial wins record before the shootout that has given Boston four more.

And then Tuesday, the Bruins won again, 5-2 over Washington, to set the points mark.

--Christopher Bell won Sunday night’s dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.  Bell had grown up a dirt racing sensation and that experience helped the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to his fifth victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.  Tyler Reddick was second.

--But this is a headline NASCAR doesn’t want to see…driver Cody Ware was placed on indefinite suspension after being charged with assault and strangulation in a domestic violence incident in Mooresville, N.C., as reported by the Winston-Salem Journal.

Ware was booked Monday morning on charges of assault by strangulation inflicting serious injury and assault on a female.  He was placed in jail with bond set at $3,000. 

NASCAR officials issued the indefinite suspension Monday.

Ware is the driver of the No. 51 Ford Mustang car and races full-time in the Cup Series, driving for his father’s team, Rick Ware Racing.

The assault apparently occurred April 3.  Ware had said that he would miss Sunday’s race at Bristol for personal reasons.  Matt Crafton replaced him.

Ware had raced in the Cup Series since 2017.  His best finish in 97 career starts is sixth place last August at Daytona.

--Sprint car driver Justin Owen of Harrison, Ohio, died from injuries he suffered when his car crashed during a race in southeastern Indiana, the U.S. Auto Club announced.

Owens’ car struck the outside wall and flipped several times along the third turn in a qualifying race Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway, USAC said.

The 26-year-old Owen was the reigning track champion at Lawrenceburg with two feature wins and the title in 2022.

--There was a vicious shark attack off the coast of Hawaii on Sunday.  A surfer was in serious condition after a tiger shark chomped him near Waikiki in Honolulu.

People at the scene had applied a tourniquet to the 58-year-old man’s right leg when paramedics arrived.  They performed advanced life support and took him to the emergency room.

“He was awake, conscious, breathing the entire time,” a spokesperson for the Honolulu Emergency Services Department told USA TODAY.

According to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the 8-foot tiger shark “returned and was acting aggressively” while other surfers helped the man ashore.

The beach at Kewalo Basin was closed, but reopened Monday.

It was Hawaii’s fourth shark encounter this year.  There were five attacks in 2022, including one in which a woman went missing while snorkeling with her husband in Maui County.

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

-----

[Posted early Sunday p.m.]

Add-on by noon, Wed.

Stanley Cup Quiz: Name the ten teams to win at least three Stanley Cups since 1970. Answer below.

The Masters…as it happened…

--When I turned on the Masters Thursday and saw Brooks Koepka, I immediately thought, if he does well so be it.  You know my thoughts on LIV Golf.  I didn’t want a LIV player winning this event, that’s for sure.  But some more than others.  I have no problems if Koepka seals the deal.

And so after the first round….

Koepka -7
Jon Rahm -7
Viktor Hovland -7
Cameron Young  -5
Jason Day -5

Fred Couples, age 63, -1

Tiger Woods +2

Rahm’s round of 65 was special, having double-bogeyed, four-putted the first hole.

But as I noted last week, clearly Brooks Koepka was once again healthy.

In the past 20 years of the tournament, only Tiger Woods (twice) and Phil Mickelson (once) have been winners after being outside the top 10 on the first day.

Friday, we knew the rains would eventually come, but they held off until around 3:30 p.m., so many of the players got their second rounds in, including Koepka, who backed up his 65 with a 67.  As more than one commentator described it, it was surgical.  He was also fortunate not to have to come back early Saturday to finish his round.

Koepka, if he were to win, will become just the 20th player in golf history with five or more majors. 

But as play was being suspended for the day, Friday, three trees fell down by the 17th tee, miraculously not injuring any of the patrons.

--Thirty-nine golfers needed to finish up their rounds on a rainy Saturday morning, including Tiger, who bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18 to finish +3.

After two rounds….

Koepka -12
Rahm -10
Sam Bennett (A) -8
Collin Morikawa -6
Hovland -6

Sam Bennett?  He’s a 23-year-old from Texas A&M, the defending 2022 U.S. Amateur champion, who after round two said, “I knew my golf was good enough to compete out here.  I found myself in a situation that now I’ve got a golf tournament that I can go out and win.”

Bennett is becoming famous for the tattoo on his wrist, which reads: “Don’t wait to do something.”  He told reporters it was the last thing his late father wrote, eventually dying from complications with Alzheimer’s.

No amateur has won the Masters, but three have finished as runners-up.

Meanwhile, Tiger barely made the cut, +3, only because Justin Thomas, +4, struggled coming in in the morning’s worst weather.  [And after, controversially, Thomas late in the round agreed to be mic’d up…which you can be sure few top players will agree to in the future, especially in a major.  Rory did it Friday, and then missed the cut after finishing Saturday, but it’s not comparable to JT’s situation.]

Tiger had said earlier in the week that due to the pain he experiences in his battered leg, “I don’t know how many more (Masters) I have in me," and that was before a first round that was painful to watch, let alone painful for him.

But he grinded to make his 23rd consecutive cut, tying Fred Couples and Gary Player for the longest streak in the tournament’s history.

Earlier, Tiger’s caddie Joe LaCava, told the New York Post, “He’s pretty banged up.  If it wasn’t Augusta he probably wouldn’t be playing.”

LaCava added: “I can’t imagine him trying to go 27-plus holes [in one day] around here,” when talking about the impact of the weather forecasts.

Speaking of Couples, he became the oldest in Masters history to make the cut, 63 years, 6 months, at +1 (71-74).

Alas, after they started round three, the rains intensified and play was suspended Saturday at about 3:15 with the leaderboard at that moment being….

Koepka -13 thru 6
Rahm -9…6
Bennett -6…6
Patrick Cantlay -5…13
Matt Fitzpatrick -5…11
Morikawa -5…7
Hovland -5…7

Woods +9…7

Tiger was clearly in excruciating pain playing in the dreadful conditions and it was zero surprise when he withdrew Sunday morning.  He faced the prospect of playing 28 holes Sunday. It would have been impossible, Tiger blaming a flareup in his plantar fasciitis. 

Woods would never do this, but he should play the Heritage at Hilton Head, next year, a very flat track. 

I’m guessing Tiger does not make a go of it at the PGA Championship (Oak Hill) or the U.S. Open (Los Angeles CC), but does target the Open Championship at flat Royal Liverpool.

--As play resumed Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET, Koepka bogeyed No. 7, while Rahm birdied it and just like that the lead was two.  Both then birdied No. 8 and we were off and running.

And at the end of the third round, 11:50 a.m. ET, Koepka and Rahm were still atop, both with one-over 73s.  But Viktor Hovland had made a move with his 2-under 70.

Koepka -11
Rahm -9
Hovland -8
Cantlay -6
Hideki Matsuyama -5
Russell Henley -5

--The leaders in the fourth teed off at 2:33 p.m. ET, Koepka and Rahm, and after six holes…

Rahm -10 thru 6
Koepka -9…6
Hovland -6…6
Henley -6…7
Gary Woodland -6…9
Jordan Spieth -6…14

And after nine….

Rahm -10…thru 9
Koepka -8…9
Spieth -8…17
Freakin’ Phil Mickelson -7…17
Henley -7…10

And after fifteen….

Rahm -12…thru 15
Koepka -8…15
Prickelson -8…F
Spieth -7…F
Henley -7…16
Patrick “Dick” Reed -7…F

And Jon Rahm closed it out….Praise Jesus, on His day….

Rahm -12
Mickelson -8
Koepka -8
Spieth -7
Reed -7
Henley -7

The leaders played 30 holes today!

Koepka was classy.  No doubt he is thinking of ways to jump back.

So huge for us PGA Tour fans…but LIV did well…so it’s Game on for the PGA Championship.

Much more in the Add-on Wednesday.

---

--The aforementioned Rory McIlroy played poorly, missing the cut by three shots, 72-77, the 77 representing his third worst score in the Masters. 

So he remains without a green jacket that would place him in the Grand Slam club*, and will have to wait another year.

*Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger.

Normally, Rory is good at postmortems, but he opted not to speak after his round Friday.  He seemed so at ease coming in.

Among the others missing the cut were the aforementioned Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia (thank God) and Bubba Watson.

--LIV Golfer Harold Varner III unloaded on the Saudi-backed tour that’s paying him $millions in guaranteed money.

Varner’s primary target was his issue with LIV’s claim that it wants to grow the game, an agenda that LIV Golf and CEO Greg Norman have been pushing since it began last year.

“They’re full of shit.  They’re growing their pockets,” Varner said in an interview with the Washington Post of his fellow LIV players.  “I tell them all the time, all of them: You didn’t come here to f---ing grow the f---ing game.”

When Varner left the PGA Tour to join LIV last August, he said it was “too good a financial breakthrough” to pass up. 

He said when he joined LIV its public relations officials sent him the same talking points, and he ignored them.

“I play golf so I can change the direction of my family’s life,” Varner said.  “And that’s it.”

--Joel Beall / Golf Digest…written Sat. p.m. …and as we would see, perhaps a bit premature.

“The Masters could have been the mortal blow for LIV Golf.  Its members considered personas non grata by both players and patrons, the tournament closing avenues for future entry, the formidable players on its roster ejected so quick and hard that Greg Norman’s proclamation of a LIV celebration on the 72nd green would have joined a long and distinguished class of Masters stumbles by the Great White Shark.  The façade of relevancy the league desperately clings to would be demolished, allowing the game to finally move on from this year-long circus because unserious things do not warrant serious attention.

“Yet it is Saturday evening at Augusta National and the sport is 30 holes away from donning a green jacket on a black hat, which would loudly and incontrovertibly state the circus remains in town and it’s here to establish residency.

“Dramatic as that sounds it is fastened in truth… The Koepka of now looks like the Koepka of old, a Koepka many thought was done, including Koepka himself, turning a once-distressed asset into a superstar acquisition for LIV.

“If that was all, this conversation is not happening.  Koepka has done his best to distance himself from LIV.*  He seems to know it’s a trainwreck, that it is incapable of taking a step forward without stepping on its other foot, and wants us to know he knows.  Koepka wears no LIV apparel, he was not part of its lawsuit against the PGA Tour and he refuses to speak ill of his past comrades.  He made his deal, one that many find morally indefensible, and that decision makes him among them…but he is not one of them….

“(But of the 18 LIV players) that teed it up at Augusta National, 12 made the cut… yes, there are 30 holes to go, and should the LIV boys falter get ready for a stream of ‘I guess they couldn’t handle 72’ jokes.  But how LIV has performed as a whole is no laughing matter.  These guys are, and remain, good….

“The week was not without its pitfalls. LIV lost its appeal to the DP World Tour’s suspensions and fines in a European court, and the PGA Tour won another battle in its ongoing litigious clash in the United States. Though its players have been mostly welcomed the league itself is not; representatives and leaders of other tours and organizations are on property but LIV’s chief, Norman, remains a pariah, and as long as he’s in charge it’s unlikely LIV will be formally welcomed. While Norman may get a LIV player in the green jacket, it’s highly doubtful the other 17 players will be there to greet the winner off the 18th green.

“But it may happen. In spite of its trappings – perhaps in spite of itself – LIV Golf has backed up its bombastic claims at Augusta National.  It doesn’t mean LIV is now winning the war, only that the war will continue. Which, for the rest of golf, seems like a loss.”

*Koepka said Friday in an interview that his injury and ineffectiveness spurred his departure to LIV.  When asked if the decision would have been harder had he been healthy, Koepka said: “Yeah, probably, if I’m being completely honest.  I think it would have been.  But I’m happy with the decision I made.”

NBA

--Milwaukee earned the No. 1 overall seed and home-court advantage for the entirety of their time in the NBA playoffs, after defeating Chicago 105-92 on Wednesday.

The No. 1 seed in the West was decided Wednesday as well…Denver.

Boston is No. 2 in the East, Philadelphia No. 3.

--Brooklyn wrapped up the sixth playoff spot in the East, Friday, with a 104-81 win over Orlando.  The Nets will face Philadelphia in the first round.

The winner of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game on Tuesday, Atlanta at Miami, draws Boston in Round 1; while the 9-10, Chicago at Toronto winner, will open against the top-seeded Bucks.

--The Knicks, already locked into fifth and a playoff with 4-seed Cleveland, went to New Orleans Friday night and played without Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson and Mitchell Robinson, but put up a game effort in a 113-105 loss to the Pelicans, in what was a massive game for New Orleans and their home fans.

Entering Sunday’s final games….

Western Conference….

5. Clippers 43-38
6. Golden State 43-38
7. Lakers 42-39
8. New Orleans 42-39
9. Minnesota 41-40
10. Oklahoma City 39-42

I do have to add that New Orleans’ Zion Williamson remains out with an injured hamstring for at least the play-in round, meaning he has played all of 29 games this season, and 114 total in his four-year career.

Knicks commentator Wally Szczerbiak blasted Zion in the pre-game discussion, in Wally’s nice way, wondering how Williamson can’t help his team by playing at least 20 minutes a game off the bench.

And we settled the chaotic West…8 Minnesota at 7 Lakers, to face 2 Memphis.  10 OKC at 9 New Orleans, to go up against 1 Denver.

Clippers were 5, Warriors 6.  Sacramento 3, Phoenix 4.

--The Mavericks were eliminated from reaching the play-in tournament Friday night, and as a result the Knicks may not wind up with a first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.

Though they were still in contention for the 10th and final seed in the Western Conference, the Mavs sat a number of top players, including Kyrie Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr., and played Luka Doncic just one quarter in a 115-112 home loss to the Bulls.

The Knicks hold the right to the Mavs’ first-round pick as part of a 2019 trade, but only if it isn’t in the top 10.

But who expected Dallas to miss the playoffs, let alone the play-in tournament?

There is a chance Dallas’ pick could slide back during the lottery, but right now it is 10th.

The Knicks sent their lottery protected first-round pick to the Trail Blazers in the Josh Hart trade.

If the draft pick doesn’t convey this year, it would have the same protections the next two years.  After that, it would become a second-round selection.

Well, the NBA announced Saturday it will investigate Dallas’ decision to sit key players, “including the motivations behind those actions,” NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said Saturday afternoon.

None of the Mavs’ key players, including Doncic, was playing in Sunday’s season finale against the Spurs.

Mark Cuban paid a $600,000 fine in 2018 for publicly admitting the Mavs were tanking.

--In College Basketball….

North Carolina point guard Caleb Love announced he is transferring to Michigan.

Creighton point guard Ryan Nembhard announced he was entering the portal, and now becomes a top ten portal selection.

Duke center Dereck Lively II announced he is declaring for the NBA Draft, the guy I called a “loser” after his pathetic effort in a loss to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The freshman Lively was typical of Duke’s recent one-and-doners: “I love Duke, I love everyone here,” he said in announcing his decision.  “This has been an amazing experience for me.  I will be entering my name into the 2023 NBA Draft.”

Whatever.

Kentucky star Oscar Tshiebwe declared for the draft, but he has left open the option to return for one more season.  He has until May 31 to withdraw his name if he chooses to go back to school.

Unlike Dereck Lively, Tshiebwe is making the right move.  He was the consensus National Player of the Year in 2022 after averaging 17.4 points and 15.1 rebounds.  He didn’t repeat as POY this season, but still led the nation in rebounding at 13.7 per game.

But he’s not a surefire pick, thus the reason for keeping his options open.

UConn sophomore Jordan Hawkins also entered the 2023 draft, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.  In ESPN’s draft projections, he’s about No. 15, but we’ll see.

The draft is June 22.

Gonzaga landed a transfer, Steele Venters, a 6-foot-7 wing from Eastern Washington, the Big Sky Player of the Year for 2022-23, averaging 15.3 points and 37.1% from 3 last season, after 16.7 and 43.4% the season before.

MLB

***I’m not attempting to cover Sunday’s games…except for one very special team, below, Tampa Bay.

--Mets fans are psyched over the performance of Japanese import Kodai Senga, who had a second straight solid start, six innings, one run, in the Mets’ 5-2 win over the Marlins Saturday at Citi Field.

Senga and his “ghost pitch”/forkball has yielded 2 earned in 11 1/3, 14 strikeouts, in his two starts, both wins.

But perhaps most encouragingly for Mets Nation, he has already shown a toughness we were looking for and he is clearly embracing the New York experience.

I liked what reliever Adam Ottavino told the New York Post:

“He’s been wanting to be over here for a long time.  He’s got a great translator, he’s got good people with him. He’s very confident, which is great.  He has an edge to him I think underneath, and I think that’s gonna serve him well.”

It’s only two outings, but with the injury to Justin Verlander, and a shaky Max Scherzer, as the Post’s Steve Serby put it, Senga’s been a godsend. [Verlander, by the way, is convinced he’s back by late April.]

Separately, the Mets signed former All-Star catcher Omar Narvaez to a one-year, $8 million contract with a player option for 2024 worth $7 million, but he was placed on the injured list Thursday with a calf strain and is expected to miss two months.

So the Mets called up top prospect Francisco Alvarez, a catcher with mammoth power.

--The Rays beat the A’s Saturday 11-0 to go to 8-0, the best start since the 2003 Kansas City Royals.  Remarkably, all eight wins have been by four or more runs, Tampa Bay becoming the first team since the 1884 St. Louis Maroons to accomplish this feat out of the gate. 

As you might imagine, thru Sat. the Rays had MLB’s top OPS and ERA.

And then incredibly, Sunday, Tampa Bay beat the A’s a second time by the same 11-0 score!  Drew Rasmussen threw seven innings of one-hit ball, and that’s all the A’s got.

So it’s 9-0…all nine by more than four runs. Amazing.

--Detroit (2-6) and Oakland (2-6) are off to the kinds of starts you’d expect.  [The Tigers were 66-96 in 2022, the A’s 60-102.]

OK…I can say after today’s action, they are both 2-7.

--Last year the Pirates were 62-100, but they were 5-3 thru Saturday, thanks in no small part to outfielder Bryan Reynolds.

Reynolds has been calling for a reworked contract, or a trade, after hitting 24 and 27 home runs for Pittsburgh the last two seasons, and as he’s not a free agent until 2026.  But he’s still a Bucco today and off to a rather torrid start…5 home runs, 14 RBIs in the eight contests, a 1.432 OPS.

--A la Bryan Reynolds, can you believe the start Boston’s Adam Duvall has had?  The 34-year-old with tremendous power hit just .213 for Atlanta last season, and was at .233 for his career coming in, albeit 163 home runs in 2,770 at bats prior to his one-year, $7 million free agent deal with the Red Sox.

So, in his first seven games, 29 ABs, Duvall had five double, four home runs, 14 RBIs, a .483 BA, and a 1.683 OPS.  Good gawd!

--The White Sox’ Elvis Andrus got his 2,000th career hit Wednesday and I have to admit, I never thought of him as a 2,000-hit guy, but while his best days are probably behind him, there he is…a very solid career…nine seasons of 150+ hits for Texas.

--In a 12-8 loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday, Dodgers starter Noah Syndergaard yielded six runs in four innings, with his fastball averaging only 93 mph, which is worrisome as L.A. is counting on him.

--I missed for my Add-on that Tuesday night, the Marlins’ Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara tossed a three-hit shutout, 1-0 over the Twins, in a game that took only 1:57.  There was only one sub-2:00 nine-inning game from 2020-22.

--Funny story Saturday as the Chattanooga Lookouts defeated the Rocket City Trash Pandas 7-5…without recording a single hit.

The Trash Pandas (great name), the Double-A affiliated of the Angels, tossed a seven-inning no-hitter, but they yielded seven runs in the top of the seventh via five walks, four hit batters, a run-scoring wild pitch and a dropped fly ball on the potential final out, with the bases loaded.

Rocket City starter Coleman Crow exited after six innings, striking out six and walking two against the Reds’ Double-A affiliate.

The culprit who dropped the fly ball was Jeremiah Jackson, a 2018 second-round pick.  But he’s now in Bar Chat!

--A bat belonging to Babe Ruth was sold for a record $1.85 million, breaking a record for baseball bats that was previously held by a different Ruth bat.

Hunt Auctions announced the sale of the “Polo Grounds” bat, a hefty 44.6-ounce piece of lumber made by Hillerich & Bradsby, on Wednesday.

The bat’s record price was achieved thanks in part to being photo matched to a picture of Ruth in action during the 1921 season, his second with the Yankees.  The team still played in the Polo Grounds then – the original Yankee Stadium would open in 1923 – and Ruth broke his own MLB record, set the previous year, by blasting 59 home runs.

After his playing days, Ruth’s $1.85 million bat was displayed at the Polo Grounds.

--In College Baseball, No. 3 Wake Forest (Baseball America) swept North Carolina State in a doubleheader today, after the first of the scheduled 3-game series was postponed, 6-4, 6-3, the Deacs now 28-4, 12-2…which is pretty freakin’ awesome.

NHL

--The Boston Bruins (61-12-5) need two more victories to break the NHL record for single-season wins.  They’re also six points away from owning that single-season record, too.

Make that one…as Boston tied the NHL record with a 2-1 victory against New Jersey, win No. 62, tying the record held by the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings and 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning.

So the Bruins geared up to break the record Sunday at Philadelphia, but it was after I go to post.

--Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid became the first player in 27 years to reach 150 points in a season with a goal and an assist in the first period of his team’s 6-1 victory over San Jose on Saturday.

McDavid notched his 87th assist and his 63rd goal. [And then added his 64th goal in the third period.]

Mario Lemieux last attained the milestone when he had 161 points in 1995-96.

McDavid is just the sixth to record 150 in a season, joining Wayne Gretzky (nine times), Lemieux (four times), Phil Esposito, Steve Yzerman and Bernie Nichols.

--Penguins star Sidney Crosby notched career point No. 1,500 Saturday, with two goals and an assist in a 5-1 win against Detroit. Crosby, 35, has 91 points on the season.  Pretty strong.

He is the 15th NHL player to hit the 1,500 milestone.

--In College Hockey’s Frozen Four semifinals Thursday, form held as 2 Quinnipiac beat 1 Michigan 5-2, and 1 Minnesota defeated Boston University 6-2…so a championship of 1 vs. 2.

And Quinnipiac won their first title, Jacob Quillan scoring just 10 seconds into overtime after teammate Collin Graf tied it in the third period.

Quinnipiac had been runner-up twice prior to yesterday.  Congrats to coach Rand Pecknold and crew.

NFL

--Jets fans continue to wait for Aaron Rodgers and for the completion of a trade between New York and Green Bay.

The story now is that the wait will continue until the second round of the upcoming draft.

The Packers have backed off the Jets’ 13th overall pick, but the Jets hold two consecutive second-round picks (42nd and 43rd overall) that will end up playing a role in the impending deal.

Mike Florio / NBC Sports:

“Frankly, it makes plenty of sense at this point to not agree to the trade until the pick the Packers will be acquiring is on the clock… That will give the Jets, as a practical matter, 10 minutes once pick No. 42 is on the clock to do the deal… That’s how the Packers should want it, frankly. As a general proposition of draft strategy, it always makes sense to acquire a pick when that pick is on the clock.”

Peter King of NBC Sports predicted a similar timeline:

“Since Rodgers would be unlikely to be at the dawn of the Jets offseason program April 17, the big date is the 28th because that’s when it’s most realistic the first draft choice would be exchanged between the teams.”

--As for the Ravens and Lamar Jackson, Baltimore GM Eric DeCosta said this week that the team could take a quarterback in the first round of the Draft, which is either an admission of moving on from Jackson or yet another negotiating tactic.

Premier League

Arsenal continues on top, but the plot has thickened as the Gunners managed only a 2-2 draw against Liverpool, the lead cut to six, Manchester City with a game in hand.

Saturday, City whipped Southampton 4-1.

Newcastle held third via goal differential over Manchester United, Newcastle beating Brentford 2-1, United over Everton 2-0.

Tottenham stayed in touch, a 2-1 win against Brighton.

And Frank Lampard made his return to Chelsea and it meant nothing, the Blues falling to Wolverhampton 1-0.

Standings (28/30 of 38)…Played…Points

1. Arsenal…30 – 73
2. Man City…29 – 67
3. Newcastle…29 – 56
4. Man U…29 – 56 …Champions League line
5. Tottenham…30 – 53
6. Aston Villa…30 – 47
7. Brighton…28 – 46
8. Liverpool…28 – 43

16. Leeds…30 – 29
17. Everton…30 – 27 …relegation line
18. Nottingham…30 – 27
19. Leicester…30 – 25
20. Southampton…30 – 23

Stuff

--We note the passing of Harry Lorayne, age 96.  You have to be of a certain age, read old, to remember him.  But he was a magician and memory expert who was a favorite guest of Johnny Carson back in the day.  He would summon the names of roomfuls of strangers in a single setting, rattling off entire small-town telephone books and telling astonished audiences what was written on any page of a given issue of Time magazine.

As the New York Times’ Margalit Fox wrote:

“Fleet of mind and fleet of mouth, Mr. Lorayne was a sought-after guest on television shows…appearing on ‘The Tonight Show’ some two dozen times.

“Mr. Lorayne had begun his professional life as a sleight-of-hand artist and well into old age was considered one of the foremost card magicians in the country.  As both magician and mnemonist, he was a direct, gleeful scion of the 19th-century midway pitchman and the 20th-century borscht belt tummler.

“By the 1960s, Mr. Lorayne was best known for holding audiences rapt with feats of memory that bordered on the elephantine.  Such feats were born, he explained in interviews and in his many books, of a system of learned associations – call them surrealist visual puns – that seemed equal parts Ivan Pavlov and Salvador Dali.

“Mr. Lorayne demonstrated his act on the night of July 23, 1958, when, in his first big break, he appeared on the TV game show ‘I’ve Got a Secret.’

“While the host, Garry Moore, was introducing members of the show’s panel, Mr. Lorayne was at work in the studio audience, soliciting the names of its members.

“He was then called onstage.  Mr. Moore asked the audience members who had given Mr. Lorayne their names to stand.  Hundreds did.

“ ‘That’s Mr. Saar,’ Mr. Lorayne began, pointing to a man in the balcony.

“ ‘Mr. Stinson,’ he continued in his rapid-fire New Yorkese, gathering speed. ‘Miss Graf.  Mrs. Graf. Miss Finkelstein. If I can see correctly, I believe that’s the Harpin family: Mr. and Mrs. Harpin; there was Dorothy Harpin and Esther Harpin.  Mrs. Pollock.  And way in the corner – it’s a little dark there – but I believe that’s Mrs. Stern.’

“And so it went, through scores of names, each impeccably recalled.”

Lorayne claimed he could handily memorize the names of 500, or even a thousand, people in a single outing.  He said: “You have to take the name, make it mean something and then associate it to one outstanding feature on the person’s face.”

For example, a man in the audience was named Theus, so Lorayne “thought of the United States: ‘the U.S… It’s spelled T-H-E-U-S.  And I picked out his character lines, from the nose down to the corner of the lip, and just drew a map of the United States there.”

I remember Lorayne, aside from his talk-show appearances, for his friendship with the New York Knicks’ Jerry Lucas, who adopted Lorayne’s methods and was famous for being able to memorize pages of the Manhattan phonebook.  Lucas and Lorayne wrote, “The Memory Book”, a New York Times best seller, and I bought Lucas’ card tricks, which sadly, I never learned.

But as Margalit Fox notes, “Mr. Lorayne’s attainments are all the more noteworthy in light of the fact that he grew up in poverty, struggled academically as a result of misdiagnosed dyslexia and concluded his formal education after only a single year of high school.”

Lorayne grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  His father was a garment cutter.

The family was poor – beyond poor, Lorayne often said.

“They were professional poor people,” he told an interviewer, invoking his parents. “I remember having a potato for dinner.”

Young Harry often brought home failing grades on an exam – due to his dyslexia – and his father would beat him.

As Fox writes; “One day, Harry had an epiphany. If only he could learn to memorize, he realized, his problems would end.  At the library, he found a shelf of dusty books on memory training, some dating to the 18th century.  Most were beyond him, but he fought his way through."

Using elementary versions of the techniques he would later employ professionally, he began earning perfect marks.

Young Harry watched men in the neighborhood do card tricks.  He stole milk bottles, recouped the deposits, bought his first deck of cards and began to practice.

Lorayne ended up with a regular gig doing close-up magic at Billy Reed’s Little Club on East 55th Street.

Fox: “The actor Victory Jory, a keen amateur magician, visited the club often to catch Mr. Lorayne’s act.  One night, performing at Mr. Jory’s table, Mr. Lorayne realized he had exhausted his vast repertoire of card tricks. Seeking to keep Mr. Jory entertained, he idly tossed off a stunt in which he recalled the location of all 52 cards in a shuffled deck.

“Mr. Jory raved so much about the feat, Mr. Lorayne wrote, that he realized his future lay in memory. He made it his act, beginning at Catskill hotels.”

--I was reading an article on the dispute between India’s wildlife conservationists and those who say the effort to protect it is too high for the locals.

As in the case of the tiger, whose population is now 3,167, or more than 75% of the world’s tiger population.  Great!  The numbers in India have been growing thanks to the conservation program that began 50 years ago.

“India is a country where protecting nature is part of our culture,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Sunday as he was touting the population of tigers exceeding 3,000.  Other big cats, lions, leopards, snow leopards, pumas, jaguars and cheetahs are part of the new conservation effort.

But the locals say they are being displaced, and in particular, local communities of indigenous peoples are prohibited from entering forest regions.

Tough!  Go Tigers.

--Taylor Swift and British actor Joe Alwyn have called it quits.  The two did a great job in keeping their relationship relatively under wraps since 2016 and the split is reportedly ‘amicable.’

So, guys, Taylor Swift is available.  Understand you have to deal with 623 million fans, worldwide, none of whom are yours, and you are likely to be assassinated through her music, left a mental mess on the side of a rural dirt road. 

--I went to see the Rascals Saturday night…well, two of them, Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish, backed by a solid band.  And thanks to LT, I met Felix in his dressing room before the show started.  What a cool 80-year-old, who is very energetic and still has a solid voice.  We talked about the “Ed Sullivan Show” and he said one time, the band was gaga over a female performer who was rather hot, but he couldn’t remember her name, so now I’m trying to figure out who it would have been, talking 1967.

Felix also said the Rascals could have done much more if the other band members weren’t so “crazy,” as he put it.

But when you think of these Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, just look at the following Billboard Top 20s from 1966-68.

#1…Good Lovin’
#20…You Better Run
#16…I’ve Been Lonely Too Long
#1…Groovin’
#10…A Girl Like You
#4…How Can I Be Sure
#20…It’s Wonderful
#3…A Beautiful Morning
#1…People Got To Be Free

Pretty, pretty good.

Top 3 songs for the week 4/9/66:  #1 “(You’re My) Soul And Inspiration” (The Righteous Brothers)  #2 “Daydream” (The Lovin’ Spoonful)  #3 “19th Nervous Breakdown” (The Rolling Stones)…#4 “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” (Cher) #5 “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” (SSgt Barry Sadler)  #6 “Nowhere Man” (The Beatles)  #7 “Secret Agent Man” (Johnny Rivers)  #8 “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (B.J. Thomas)  #9 “Sure Gonna Miss Her” (Gary Lewis and The Playboys)  #10 “California Dreamin’” (The Mamas and the Papas… ‘A’ week…)

Stanley Cup Quiz Answer: Ten to win at least three Stanley Cups since 1970….

Montreal 8
Edmonton 5
Pittsburgh 5
New York Islanders 4
Detroit 4
Tampa Bay 3
New Jersey 3
Colorado 3
Chicago 3
Boston 3

Add-on up top by noon, Wed. 

---