News And Notes

Newsman Has Prez's Number

Bill Clinton's politics might be moderate, but when it comes to scoring his golf game, he's more liberal than Ralph Nader. That, at least, is the view of CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller, who is an expert on the First Scorecard. "He told us he shot a 79 the other day," Knoller said last week from Martha's Vineyard, where the President was vacationing, "but that was immediately cast into doubt because we saw him take three tee shots on the 1st hole."

Having covered every vacation Clinton has taken while in office, Knoller has put together an extensive log of the President's golf game. He notes, for instance, that during Clinton's 1995 vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyo., the President spent 55 hours and 36 minutes playing 206 holes, averaging 85.1 per round. Knoller stresses, however, that his tallies have not been independently corroborated and that he must rely on accounts provided by the President. "The press does not have access to most of the holes he plays," Knoller says, "so a lot of times I have to take him at his word. The first time he said he broke 80 was in San Diego, when no one was there to see it."

Clinton spent the past three weeks on Martha's Vineyard, and Knoller was back on the beat. By the newsman's accounts, the President played 180 holes in 48 hours and 31 minutes, finishing with an average score of 82.73. (This does not include Clinton's 18-hole score of 44 when he accompanied Chelsea to a miniature golf course in Vineyard Haven last Friday.)

Knoller says that his exhaustive record keeping is mostly a function of the idle time that confronts the press corps when the President is on holiday. "But I do think it's interesting that golf is one of the only pursuits that this guy hasn't conquered," he says. "Rhodes scholar, law school, five-term governor, a two-term Presidency—he's done all of that. But he's still aggressively trying to conquer the game of golf, and I think that both attracts and frustrates him to no end."

Bad Greens, Good Golf On the European Tour

Despite reclaiming the top spot on the money list with his 10th-place finish in last week's European Masters, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Colin Montgomerie was in full pout over the condition of the greens at Crans-sur-Sierre. "I have had enough," said Montgomerie on Sunday. "This is not acceptable golf under any circumstances. I will find somewhere else to play next year."

For once, nobody was rolling their eyes after Montgomerie's outburst. Although he shot a 62 on Sunday to win the tournament, Costantino Rocca concurred with Montgomerie, describing the condition of the greens as "very poor." Nick Faldo offered this description: "They were soft underneath but crusty on top, a bit like my omelettes."

Faldo, though, wasn't complaining about his performance. After finishing out of the top 30 in eight of his previous 12 starts, he finished sixth at Crans-sur-Sierre. Faldo credited a video camera he recently gave his caddie, Fanny Sunesson, for her 30th birthday for his resurgence. "As I watched myself on the camera, it leapt out at me that I was lifting my head on the backswing," he said.

His game seemingly rehabilitated, Faldo is sure to ease doubts about his worthiness as me of Seve Ballesteros's two captain's picks for the European Ryder Cup team. "My game has definitely improved," Faldo said. "This is the most solid golf I've played since winning the Nissan at Riviera."