Playing Golf

Lorraine S. Knox, a homemaker and golfer, died of lung cancer Wednesday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 61. Lorraine Snyder was born and raised in Portsmouth, Va., where she graduated from high school. After her 1963 marriage to Louis P. Knox III, who survives her, the couple moved to Towson and later settled in Timonium. Mrs. Knox began playing golf in 1961. She was an active member and former president of Pine Ridge Women's Golf Association and Mount Pleasant Women's Golf Association.

Bob Lentz birdied the last three holes to finish off a round of 5-under-par 34-32 - 66 at Clifton Park Golf Course yesterday and edged Jeff Amrhein, 35-32 - 67, for the qualifying medal in the annual Match Play championship of the Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation. Both players collected six birdies. The finish by Lentz matched a similar effort in last month's Spring Publinx round at Clifton when he opened with 68 and ended fourth. He had one bogey when he missed the 15th green, and Amrhein had two. The leader, 37, a finalist in this event several years ago, admitted to not driving the ball well, but a solid series of recovery shots kept him in position for birdie opportunities.

If experience counts for anything at this weekend's Greater Baltimore Classic, consider golfer Clyde Hughey a serious contender. We're not talking about golfing experience, of course. He barely has a lick of that. At least, that is, compared to some of the seasoned pros and major champions set to tee it up Friday at Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley. But life experience? You can bet Hughey, 53, measures up well against anyone. "I didn't grow up on a country club and never played on a golf team," said Hughey, one of 78 Senior PGA players scheduled to compete in the three-day tournament.

FEELING FRANTIC? Got 20 hours' worth of work that you intend to plow through today? Join the crowd. It turns out that Tuesdays, on balance, are the work days in which we get the most done. That's from a survey of executives released this year by a national firm that provides temporary financial professionals. Mondays, as everyone knows, are tied up with meetings and water-cooler talk. How was your weekend? It comes in second as the most productive day of the week. After Tuesdays, the work week just falls off a cliff, according to executives' estimates of how much actually gets accomplished when.

How I Play Golf, by Tiger Woods. Warner Books. 306 pages. $34.95. Think Like Tiger, by John Andrisani. G.P. Putnam's Sons. 192 pages. $23.95. Tiger Woods got his first course-management lesson from his father, Earl, while playing the Navy golf course near his home in Cypress, Calif. Tiger drove the ball behind a large clump of trees. Prodded by Earl, Tiger finally realized the only safe shot he had was to chip the ball back into the fairway and try to hit it on the green and one-putt for a par. Not bad for a 3-year-old.

They stand on each side of the green, taking turns putting a large, yellow ball to a target about 10 feet away. Hayley, tall and blond, stands on the right, wearing a bright orange hat and a light blue skirt, matching the color of her eyes. Mallory, with dark hair and a playful smile that's missing two front baby teeth, stands on the left, giggling and leaning on her putter. Both love golf and want to become better at it, which is why they joined 20 other girls at Chartwell Country Club in this putting exercise that is part of the LPGA's Girls Golf Club of Baltimore, which holds sessions once a month until October.

Quote: "We know what we have to do. If you win, you're in [the playoffs]. If not, you're playing golf on Oct. 2." - Red Sox reliever Derek Lowe It's a fact: The Yankees' Denny Neagle has won his past four decisions. Who's hot: The Athletics have hit 23 homers in their past 11 games. Who's not: The A's Ben Grieve has hit into a major-league-leading 29 double plays this season, one short of the franchise record of 30 set by Billy Hitchcock in 1950. On deck: Pedro Martinez (16-5) and the Red Sox face Charles Nagy and the Indians in the finale of a three-game series between American League wild-card contenders.

Four years ago this month, New Yorker Glenn Steuerman became the first double-lung transplant patient in Maryland in an operation at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Within two weeks he moved himself to a comfortable suite at the Harbor Court Hotel. He did everything his doctors told him, but he quickly tired of them. One day when they were running two hours late, he hailed a taxi to Penn Station and boarded a train home. Aside from a ski trip a few months later to Utah, which ended with his Baltimore doctors radioing instructions to the medical team carrying him down the mountain, he's had only a minor complication.

Women may be American heroes in soccer, but Joseph B. Adamiak's wife, Myong, got different treatment when the couple recently tried to play golf together as guests at the Turf Valley Resort and Country Club in Ellicott City.Waiting to tee off at their scheduled 9 a.m. Saturday start time, they were told a male member had complained and women are not allowed on the club's "A" course before noon on weekends. She was hurt and embarrassed; he was furious."I got hot. This is 1999," said Adamiak, an Air Force retiree who urged a boycott of the club in a letter to the editor published July 25 by The Sun. "I just thought it was archaic and chauvinistic."

The Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association golf season will find players and teams adjusting to a revised scoring system and, at times, chattier play.Applying stricter U.S. Golf Association rules, the MIAA has adopted a new points system that allows for a team to earn a maximum of 21 points instead of the previous 18.Essentially, in addition to each golfer being able to score a point for winning the first and last six holes, each pair of golfers in all three groups can earn an extra point for their respective teams through a best-ball scenario.