Nick's News

CBS AND Golf Channel analyst Nick Faldo (below) made as much news as he covered last week. Word leaked that Faldo will work the weekend rounds of the McDonald's LPGA Championship (June 7--10) for Golf Channel, even though CBS will be broadcasting the PGA Tour's Stanford St. Jude Championship the same weekend. It's a nice attention-getting coup for the LPGA major, and after all, why should the women be spared Faldo's lacerating wit?

Faldo, who will turn 50 on July 18, also said that he will make his Champions tour debut at the July 26--29 Senior British Open at Muirfield, where he won the first of his six majors 20 years ago. "A Senior Open title at Muirfield to go with my two regular Open Championships there is certainly my goal," Faldo said. Faldo has not won any event since the 1997 Nissan Open. He last played at Muirfield in the 2002 British Open and finished 59th.

? DROP THE C
Scott Hoch is best known for missing a two-footer to lose the 1989 Masters and for blowing a seven-shot Sunday lead at the '95 Shell Houston Open, after which he famously said, "That's Hoch as in choke, and you can print it, boys." But on Sunday, Hoch held on to his 36-hole lead for a two-shot victory at the FedEx Kinkos Classic in Austin, his first Champions tour win. Afterward he declared that he was glad to get a new lease on his golfing life. "The PGA Tour was what it was," Hoch said. "This is different." ... For the first time in his 36-year pro career, Tom Kite will be absent from qualifying for or playing in the U.S. Open. "It was really tough on me because I always loved the Open, it was a big part of me," said Kite, the 1992 winner. "But there are too many senior events I want to play, and Oakmont is not my absolute most favorite course for an Open."

? MORE WOE
The hard times continue for Darren Clarke, whose wife, Heather, died of cancer last Aug. 13. Clarke has missed the weekend in his last four starts, is on his third swing coach in six months ( Butch Harmon to Ewen Murray to David Leadbetter), and two weeks ago he injured his hamstring playing with his son Conor. Clarke struggled through the first round of the Wachovia, but he withdrew after shooting a 76, hoping additional rest would allow him to get through this week's Players.... Olin Browne headed to Sawgrass angling to finish a tournament for the first time since last October, when he opted to rest a torn ligament in his right hand. He attempted to return earlier this year but WD'd from the Hope and the Buick Invitational, citing a wrist injury. Last week Browne withdrew from the Wachovia, betting that another week off would do the trick.

? SUGGESTED WOODS BABY NAME
TPC Nordegren.