Hawk grants fan's request by teeing off
The Green Bay Packers report for training camp next week, so Aaron Rodgers and A.J. Hawk spent their final free weekend in Lake Tahoe, Calif., playing in the American Century Championship Celebrity Golf Tournament.
Both have been regulars at the tournament, but Hawk experienced a first this week when a fan asked to be tackled during Thursday's practice round.
Hawk obliged.
"The guy was a big guy, too, so I was kind of worried for a second," Hawk said. "I wasn't sure if I should do it or not, but his buddies were the ones egging me on, saying, 'Kill him. Do it, take him down.'
"I hit him pretty solid, right in the ribs with my shoulder. It felt good. I thought for a second that the guy might turn when I was coming, he might turn on me and try to hit me. So I said I kind of have to give it my all. I didn't want to go to the ground.
"I really thought I was going to rip my pants as well, but I didn't. So that was a victory."
Numbers game
The Rules of Golf state that a golfer can carry a maximum of 14 clubs in his bag during a round
Henrik Stenson finished his first round of the British Open on Thursday with 13 clubs, the byproduct of a heated moment on the 17th hole when he snapped an iron over his leg before handing the pieces to his caddie.
"I've lost count of how many drivers, fairway woods and wedges I've murdered," Stenson told Golf Digest in September.
Justin Rose had a different problem to begin his first round Thursday as he started with just 13 clubs. When he arrived at Hoylake, he noticed the driver in his bag didn't feel right. After further inspection, he realized it wasn't.
"I picked it up, and that's not my shaft," said Rose, who opened with an even-par 72. "That club should have been given to someone else, and mine was actually given to that person and driven down to Bedford [England]."
Rose's caddie, Mark Fulcher, had a few drivers made for some of his friends and the Englishman's "gamer" inadvertently was mixed up with the new clubs.
Rose's driver was brought back to Royal Liverpool Golf Club and returned to him as he played the third hole.
"I knew I would have it by the time I really needed it out there toward the seventh and the back nine," Rose said. "The way the course was playing I knew I wasn't going to require the driver for a good couple of hours into my round."
Now warming up
The San Diego Padres have selected a spirited 105-year-old woman with a good sense of humor to throw out the first pitch Sunday before their game at Petco Park against the New York Mets.
Agnes McKee of Oceanside, Calif., said she is ready for the pitch.
"I have no idea how I got to be this old," McKee told Fox5 San Diego on Friday. "I am very honored to do this. It's exciting, and I hope I can get through it. I was really glad I got up this morning. I was afraid I wouldn't."
Honored as she is, McKee didn't spare the Padres with her harsh assessment of the franchise.
"I haven't been very into the Padres because they don't ever win any games," said said.
McKee said she has practiced her underhanded toss between games of bridge and bingo.
QUIZ
When were the earliest known written rules of golf produced?
ANSWER
The Gentlemen Golfers of Leith wrote 13 rules for Articles and Laws in Playing at Golf on March 7, 1744, for a tournament in April.
Sports on 07/19/2014