O.b.

Typical Los Angeles fans: On the eve of the Office Depot Championship about two dozen LPGA players road-tripped to Dodger Stadium for Amy Alcott Night, at which the honoree threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a 7:10 game against the Giants. ( Alcott delivered a decent fastball on the outside corner.) Unfortunately for the players, the shuttle bus provided by the tournament departed from Chavez Ravine at 9 p.m., which meant that they had to leave the game in the bottom of the fourth inning.

?Forget Magnolia Lane, the real portal to the Masters is Augusta Regional Airport at Bush Field, where million-airs arrive in their private aircraft. So many planes are expected to descend on the area this week that the FAA will implement special protocols to avoid midair gridlock. Before firing up the G-V, be sure to check out the details at news.aopa.org.

? Pat Croce, the manic former president of the Philadelphia 76ers, has signed on as the chief spokesman and promoter for the PGA Tour's Pennsylvania Classic. "I don't have any contacts in golf, but give me a few names to call and 111 shake the trees," Croce told (threatened?) The Philadelphia Inquirer.

?A nonfactor to start this season, Se Ri Pak has finally rounded into form, thanks, in part, to two important men in her life. After five victories in 2001, Pak parted ways in the off-season with her teacher, Tom Creavy, because he wanted a higher salary. After contract negotiations led to a nice raise, Creavy reunited with Pak the week of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. She tied for ninth, and last week won the Office Depot. More important, her father, Jong Chul, has rallied after a siege of high blood pressure. Amid exaggerated press reports that her father was gravely ill, Se Ri spent a long off-season tending to him in South Korea. Now he has responded to treatment, and Se Ri is on the mend too.