Double Eagle

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Of the players who made the cut in the 58th Masters, Jeff Maggert finished tied for last. His 3-over-par 75 yesterday put him at 17-over 305.But Maggert went home to Houston last night with something no else in the field -- not even the champion, Jose-Maria Olazabal -- had.A double eagle.And a place in Masters history."It was exciting," the low-keyed Maggert said after he became only the third player ever to double-eagle a hole at Augusta National.Gene Sarazen did it in 1935, Bruce Devlin in 1967.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Shaun Micheel knows what he'll do with the ball he used to make a double eagle Sunday. "I've got it hidden away in my secret pocket in my golf bag," he said. "I'll probably give that one to my mom." Micheel's mother, Donna , is in the final stages of liver and brain cancer. "I'm really playing for her," the 41-year-old Micheel said after shooting an opening-round 69. Micheel topped that Sunday by recording just the second double eagle in U.S. Open history.

Macon Moye of Charlotte, N.C., recorded the first double eagle in tournament history, and he and partner Buddy Marucci of Berwyn, Pa., used a share of the day's low round, a 67, to move into contention in the ninth annual Chesapeake Cup at Caves Valley Golf Club yesterday.Jerry Courville and Joe Sommers, a Connecticut twosome that won the cup in 1995, also shot 4-under-par 67 and joined Moye-Marucci at 135.The pairings of Cliff Harris-Jamie Crow and Craig Carson-Bob Young each shot 3-under-par 68 to remain one-two.

Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed and the Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle, by David Tripp. Free Press. 384 pages. $26. On March 6, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the United States off the gold standard, banned new gold coins and condemned to the melting pot nearly a half-million $20 gold pieces struck with a 1933 date but not issued. A few escaped. David Tripp tracks the fugitives across six decades and several continents, through a king's palace and a Secret Service sting operation and into bright day at a Sotheby's auction two years ago. It is an evocative trip.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Shaun Micheel knows what he'll do with the ball he used to make a double eagle Sunday. "I've got it hidden away in my secret pocket in my golf bag," he said. "I'll probably give that one to my mom." Micheel's mother, Donna , is in the final stages of liver and brain cancer. "I'm really playing for her," the 41-year-old Micheel said after shooting an opening-round 69. Micheel topped that Sunday by recording just the second double eagle in U.S. Open history.

POTOMAC -- Scott Dunlap, in the midst of the best season of what has been an on-and-off PGA Tour career, highlighted his 3-under-par 68 with the third double eagle of his professional life during the first round of the Kemper Open at TPC-Avenel yesterday.Starting at No. 10 on the 7,005-yard, par-71 course, Dunlap had one birdie and one bogey on the back to turn even, then birdied the first and bogeyed the fifth to still be even going to No. 6.At the 520-yard dog-leg right hole, he hit driver, and had 219 yards to the hole.

When Fred Kern and Alex Sotir were local football coaches, they had no idea they would be business partners one day.Their venture is Bel Air Golf, a soon-to-open driving range on Route 1 at Reckord Road, between Kingsville and Mountain Road in Harford County.The paths of Kern and Sotir have crisscrossed over the years, first as coaches, when Sotir came from Rochester, N.Y., to be the head coach at Johns Hopkins and Kern (Poly/University of Maryland) was head coach at Calvert Hall; and most recently after the Kerns' return to the area after a 20-year absence.

Love gets rare double eagle, but Brooks takes lead at NECMark Brooks opened the second round of the NEC World Series of Golf by going birdie-eagle -- 3-3.That meant he only lost one shot to Davis Love III.Love birdied the first hole at Firestone yesterday, then ripped a 6-iron shot 180 yards and into the cup for a rare double eagle -- only the fifth on the PGA Tour this season, the first in the history of this tournament and the first of Love's six-year pro...

Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed and the Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle, by David Tripp. Free Press. 384 pages. $26. On March 6, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the United States off the gold standard, banned new gold coins and condemned to the melting pot nearly a half-million $20 gold pieces struck with a 1933 date but not issued. A few escaped. David Tripp tracks the fugitives across six decades and several continents, through a king's palace and a Secret Service sting operation and into bright day at a Sotheby's auction two years ago. It is an evocative trip.

Centennial's Denny Chapman won the Eagles' most important game of the season yesterday thanks to a ninth-inning double by John Tokasz.Chapman (3-0) pitched nine innings, allowed three hits and struck out 15, as No. 16 Centennial rallied for a 3-2 victory against No. 9 Atholton. Both teams had been 4-0 in league play.It was an impressive performance for Chapman at Atholton in front of his future college pitching coach, Kevin O'Sullivan of Virginia."I remembered my sophomore year when I left a game after seven innings against Atholton, and then we lost it in the eighth, so there was no way I was taking myself out of there today," Chapman said.

Macon Moye of Charlotte, N.C., recorded the first double eagle in tournament history, and he and partner Buddy Marucci of Berwyn, Pa., used a share of the day's low round, a 67, to move into contention in the ninth annual Chesapeake Cup at Caves Valley Golf Club yesterday.Jerry Courville and Joe Sommers, a Connecticut twosome that won the cup in 1995, also shot 4-under-par 67 and joined Moye-Marucci at 135.The pairings of Cliff Harris-Jamie Crow and Craig Carson-Bob Young each shot 3-under-par 68 to remain one-two.

POTOMAC -- Scott Dunlap, in the midst of the best season of what has been an on-and-off PGA Tour career, highlighted his 3-under-par 68 with the third double eagle of his professional life during the first round of the Kemper Open at TPC-Avenel yesterday.Starting at No. 10 on the 7,005-yard, par-71 course, Dunlap had one birdie and one bogey on the back to turn even, then birdied the first and bogeyed the fifth to still be even going to No. 6.At the 520-yard dog-leg right hole, he hit driver, and had 219 yards to the hole.

Mount Hebron's girls and boys doubles teams earned championships yesterday, leading the Vikings to the team title in the Howard County tournament at the Wilde Lake Tennis Club.Mount Hebron, which came into the rain-delayed tournament with its first regular-season title since 1984, received eight points for its doubles victories and finished with 28 points.Wilde Lake was second with 23 points, followed by River Hill 17, Centennial 13, Glenelg 11, Oakland Mills 8, Hammond 6, Howard and Hammond, 5 each.

Centennial's Denny Chapman won the Eagles' most important game of the season yesterday thanks to a ninth-inning double by John Tokasz.Chapman (3-0) pitched nine innings, allowed three hits and struck out 15, as No. 16 Centennial rallied for a 3-2 victory against No. 9 Atholton. Both teams had been 4-0 in league play.It was an impressive performance for Chapman at Atholton in front of his future college pitching coach, Kevin O'Sullivan of Virginia."I remembered my sophomore year when I left a game after seven innings against Atholton, and then we lost it in the eighth, so there was no way I was taking myself out of there today," Chapman said.

When Fred Kern and Alex Sotir were local football coaches, they had no idea they would be business partners one day.Their venture is Bel Air Golf, a soon-to-open driving range on Route 1 at Reckord Road, between Kingsville and Mountain Road in Harford County.The paths of Kern and Sotir have crisscrossed over the years, first as coaches, when Sotir came from Rochester, N.Y., to be the head coach at Johns Hopkins and Kern (Poly/University of Maryland) was head coach at Calvert Hall; and most recently after the Kerns' return to the area after a 20-year absence.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Of the players who made the cut in the 58th Masters, Jeff Maggert finished tied for last. His 3-over-par 75 yesterday put him at 17-over 305.But Maggert went home to Houston last night with something no else in the field -- not even the champion, Jose-Maria Olazabal -- had.A double eagle.And a place in Masters history."It was exciting," the low-keyed Maggert said after he became only the third player ever to double-eagle a hole at Augusta National.Gene Sarazen did it in 1935, Bruce Devlin in 1967.

Mount Hebron's girls and boys doubles teams earned championships yesterday, leading the Vikings to the team title in the Howard County tournament at the Wilde Lake Tennis Club.Mount Hebron, which came into the rain-delayed tournament with its first regular-season title since 1984, received eight points for its doubles victories and finished with 28 points.Wilde Lake was second with 23 points, followed by River Hill 17, Centennial 13, Glenelg 11, Oakland Mills 8, Hammond 6, Howard and Hammond, 5 each.

Springer soars, Funk falters in Atlanta ClassicMARIETTA, Ga. -- Mike Springer, who played last year on the Ben Hogan Tour, opened with five straight birdies yesterday on his way to a 9-under-par 63 for the second-round lead in the BellSouth Atlanta Classic.Springer had a 36-hole score of 131, 13-under on the 7,018-yard Atlanta Country Club course. It gave him a one-shot lead over Tom Kite, who had a 68-132.First-round leader Fred Funk, a Laurel, Md., resident and former University of Maryland coach, took a double-bogey-6 on the first hole and a bogey-4 on the third.

Love gets rare double eagle, but Brooks takes lead at NECMark Brooks opened the second round of the NEC World Series of Golf by going birdie-eagle -- 3-3.That meant he only lost one shot to Davis Love III.Love birdied the first hole at Firestone yesterday, then ripped a 6-iron shot 180 yards and into the cup for a rare double eagle -- only the fifth on the PGA Tour this season, the first in the history of this tournament and the first of Love's six-year pro...