How such a lockout would affect Miller, who makes it a point to avoid the dressing room, is unclear, but obviously the players feel that something must be done about what they perceive as negative coverage by the media in general and Miller in particular. Norman and other players cited Miller's comments during the Honda Classic and the Freeport McDermott Classic as examples. At the Honda, Miller, referring to corpulent winner Tim Herron, said that "fat guys don't choke." At New Orleans, Miller joked that a rash of first-time winners had created "the NBC Hooters tour" and spent, in the opinion of some of the players at the meeting, too much time dwelling on Tom Watson's putting problems.

Miller says the players, who left the locker room question unresolved, are mistaken if they think their gripes will make him change his style. "If being accurate and expressing my views of what I just saw comes out negative, so be it," says Miller, who recently signed a new five-year contract with NBC. "They're the ones who hit the bad shots. I praise 'em when they're good, and I have to be accurate when they're bad. The viewer wants to know if a golfer screwed up. What's good for the game is to be upright and frank."

Although NBC must walk a fine line between its business relationship with the Tour-the network has contracted to broadcast six Tour events a year through 1998-and objective tournament coverage, Dick Ebersol, NBC's president for sports, is Miller's strongest supporter. "Golfers are probably, as a group, among the brightest in dealing with the media," he says, "but Johnny has been a whole new experience for them. He may not be popular in the locker room, but he is in the living room."

No Aussies Needed

Craig Parry thinks the lords of Augusta have something against Australians. How else to explain his exclusion from the field of next week's Masters? "They just don't seem to recognize golf in Australia," says Parry, who led the Australian tour's 1995 money list and won this year's Australian Masters.

The Masters makes provisions for international players who might not otherwise qualify by extending a small number of invitations. This year six nonexempt foreign players were invited. Parry, who has played in four Masters and led the '92 event after three rounds, was not among them. "No Australians are invited," he says, "but it's not just the Masters. I don't get invited to the U.S. Open, either."

Foreign Legions

If you think foreign players are dominating the LPGA now, wait a couple of years: The stream of international players is likely to turn into a torrent. Already U.S. college teams are looking like the United Nations. Consider UCLA and San Jose State, the first- and second-ranked teams, respectively, in the country. Three of the four Americans starting for the Bruins were born in Korea. They are joined in the lineup by a Frenchwoman. The Spartans start a Swede, a Dane, a Scot, a Norwegian and a lone American. The collegiate individual rankings are also bereft of native-born Americans. Seven of the top eight players were born in other countries.

"They are better than we are, flat-out better," says Mark Gale, San Jose State's coach, who prefers foreigners because he thinks kids in the U.S. are coddled. "A lot of Americans play well in their own environments, with Mom and Dad watching," says Gale. "But when they get away, they tend to not be so mature. I like the foreigners because of their high maturity levels. They travel so far to play, and that shows they have no doubt about what they can and want to do."

Jackie Steinmann, the UCLA coach, is especially impressed with the focus and drive of her Korean-American players. "When they decide to do something, they go after it," she says. "Their culture is like that. I think it comes from the parents, who expect so much more of their kids than American parents do. I should know, I've got three kids."

Last week at the Ping/ASU Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., San Jose State and UCLA finished third and fourth, respectively, behind winner Arizona State, the nation's third-ranked team, which has in its lineup a Mexican, a Sri Lankan and a Swede. The Mexican, Vinny Riviello, tied for the individual title with Mhairi McKay, a Scot from Stanford.

Toy Story

The new gizmo of choice on the PGA Tour is a yardage rangefinder that provides highly accurate measurements through the use of laser optics. Although not allowed in competition, the rangefinders can be used in practice rounds to figure distances over water and to double-check yardage books.

Tour players, course architects, instructors, college coaches and caddies have been lining up to buy either the DME ($250), the Bushnell ($300) or the Swarovski ($3,000) models. All of them provide in one second the precise distance of any object up to 1,000 yards away. Fuzzy Zoeller's caddie, Cayce Kerr, represents Swarovski on Tour and has sold 79 of the devices to such people as Ben Crenshaw, John Daly, Ernie Els, Peter Jacobsen, David Leadbetter, Davis Love III, Sandy Lyle, Jim McLean, Johnny Miller, Larry Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Vijay Singh, Rick Smith and Kerr's boss, Zoeller.

"I just tell them to leave the check in Fuzzy's locker," says Kerr, who has a pager and a cell phone to keep up with business calls. "The product really sells itself. These guys want to get their hands on any little edge they can."

The Short Game

Two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer injured his shoulder playing volleyball with friends and had to withdraw from the Players Championship. Langer suffered a deep bruise while diving for a ball and was in so much pain that he was rushed to a hospital by ambulance for X-rays. He had to withdraw from this week's BellSouth Classic in Atlanta but still hopes to play in next week's Masters.... Starting in November the LPGA, like the Senior and PGA tours, will hold a season-ending tournament for the top 30 players on the money list. The $700,000 event will be played at the Sheraton Desert Inn in Las Vegas.... Talk about tough pin placements. One contender five-putted and three others four-putted the 18th green during the final round of the European tour's Madeira Island Open. Jarmo Sandelin of Sweden escaped with a two-putt and a one-stroke win over Paul Affleck of Wales. "I barely touched my ball and said 'please' to it all the way to the hole," Sandelin said.... Hale Irwin, at 50 the oldest player in the Players Championship, warmed up for the Tradition, the Masters and the PGA Seniors by shooting five under at Sawgrass to finish 46th. "My main focus has to be the Senior tour," says Irwin, who is that circuit's leading money winner this year, "but there's still part of me here, and there always will be. I've got to get my licks in, then go back and play where I'm supposed to play.''... Muffin Spencer-Devlin, who announced that she is gay (SI, March 18), last week received the 1996 Woman of Courage award from the National Organization for Women.