TEE

Graphic tees are all the rage, and we can understand why. There are so many varieties - bold, cutesy, retro, tongue-in-cheek, edgy rock 'n' roll - that the wearer of the right one speaks volumes to the world without ever saying a word. Conveying a message is what the best fashion does, whether the message is, "I'm rich," "I'm a fashion victim," "I'm serious," "I'm funny" or "I just don't give a good gosh darn." It doesn't really matter what your clothes say, as long as they say - as in this case - what you intended.

The Maryland Million Classic looks to be such a wide-open affair that Clem Florio, the Laurel Park oddsmaker, deemed Perfect to a Tee the morning-line favorite at the very cool odds of 4-1."That's OK," said Linda Albert, the horse's trainer. "He never gets any respect."You can't say that about his trainer. Albert, 40, has emerged as one of Maryland's top conditioners of thoroughbreds. Last year, she won her first Maryland Million races: the Lassie with Perfect Challenge (at non-respectful odds of 30-1)

The appropriate horse won the biggest race on the second-biggest day of racing in Maryland. His name: Perfect to a Tee.The 7-year-old gelding captured the $200,000 Maryland Million Classic yesterday at Laurel Park, holding off the dramatic late charge of Steak Scam, a gelding 2 years younger.Perfect to a Tee's trainer, rising star Linda Albert, said afterward that she worried early in the race that her horse, running snug against the rail, might become stuck inside traffic. But when Perfect to a Tee reached the final turn of the 1 3/16-mile race, his jockey Alcibiades Cortez swung the favorite to the outside and into the clear.

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Tiger Woods, David Duval and Mark O'Meara spent yesterday practicing together, preparing for a tournament that all three would love to win.The highly anticipated Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship begins today, bringing the world's best golfers together in a single-elimination format that will be both entertaining and unpredictable.There will be pressure from the opening tee shot. Half of the 64 players at La Costa Resort and Spa will be eliminated by tonight.

It was the lifelong dream of John Henry Thormann III to own a tavern filled with happy and noisy people.Mr. Thormann, who was 54, died Saturday from complications of pneumonia at Sinai Hospital. He had been the owner and proprietor with his wife of J. R. Tee's Restaurant and Sports Tavern in Essex since 1991."He had worked as a sprinkler fitter for 27 years with Local 536 and after retiring in 1992, went to work full time in the bar that we had bought a year earlier," said his wife of 13 years, the former Rayna Deshner.

A golf course for disadvantaged youths may be built in wealthy Howard County as part of a national program to broaden the game's appeal.Led by C. Vernon Gray, an east Columbia Democrat and Howard County Council chairman, the organizers hope the Rouse Co. will donate a 50-acre parcel near Interstate 95 in Columbia, sources say.Gray, who became involved with the private, non-profit First Tee program through the National Association of Counties, is organizing a...

POTOMAC -- It is not enough that Fred Funk has to contend with mental demons after his tie for second in the Colonial last week; now he has to deal with a physical ailment."

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Those dark green patches of thicker grass framing the smooth fairways of Augusta National are what most golfers call rough. Here at the 63rd Masters, the new growth and other course changes might be called blasphemy.The threesomes who will tee off in today's first round are the norm at PGA Tour events, as is the practice of having the same three play together in the second round. Neither has been done here since 1962.What's next, giving the champion a red jacket rather than a green one?

Trainer Linda Albert looked around the paddock at Laurel Park yesterday as her horse, Perfect to a Tee, was being saddled for the $100,000 Congressional Handicap."

Frank Ferguson recorded one of the finest competitive scores in the history of Baltimore Country Club's East Course yesterday, firing a 7-under-par 30-3363 en route to a runaway victory in the 27-hole Henry-Griffitts Middle Atlantic PGA Head Pro Championship.Ferguson, 39, and in his ninth year at Washington Golf & Country Club in Arlington, Va., had 12 birdies in posting 63-3396, leading runner-up Chip Sullivan, a former MAPGA Section champion (69-34103), by seven strokes.Former BCC assistant Charlie Briggs, now at the Burning Tree Club, was the only other one in the 85-man field within 10 shots of Ferguson, as he shot 69-35104.

A city homicide detective investigating the shooting of Joseph Woah-Tee, a native of Liberia and a leader in the Pen Lucy community who intended to run for president of his homeland in 2011, is reaching out to the public in hopes that someone will provide information that will lead to the man's killers. No arrests have been made despite flooding the Pen Lucy neighborhood with an artist's rendering of two suspects in Woah-Tee's death May 31, Detective Arthur Brummer said. Brummer said Woah-Tee, 60, was shot about 3:40 a.m. as he stood behind the counter at Gaimei Nangbn Multi-Purpose Neighborhood Center in the 4300 block of York Road, a center he founded in 1990 that offered GED classes to those seeking to improve their lives.

On May 31, 2009, JOSEPH husband of Cecelia Woah-Tee. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME EAST, 1101 E. North Avenue on Friday 8:30 A.M to 3 P.M after which time the family will receive friends at Centennial-Caroline Street United Methodist Church, 1029 E. Monument Street from 6 to 8:30 P.M. The family will also receive friends at the above church on Saturday at 9 A.M. Funeral services will follow at 10 A.M.

Notah Begay III was once a rising star on the PGA Tour. All four of his victories came in 1999 and 2000, before he was 28. Then he started experiencing back problems. He was forced back to qualifying school last year and is playing on tour full time again. But the results aren't there; he has made the cut just three times in 13 events. "It's been so long, I don't really know that I do have it in me anymore," Begay said. "You just got to, somehow, come to terms with that." Begay thus spends much of his time dealing with his foundation, which educates Native Americans on health and wellness issues.

A few hours before Joseph Woah-Tee made a fatal trip early Sunday to his Pen Lucy community center, the Liberian educator and activist met with a childhood friend to discuss making another run at his native country's presidency. Woah-Tee, 60, ran a determined campaign for Liberia's top political post from his Baltimore home in 2005, finishing 14th out of 22 candidates despite having lived in Baltimore since 1978. Woah-Tee was gearing up to try again in 2011. "He was planning for Liberia, setting up plans for his country," said Jalo Whyte, who knew Woah-Tee for 50 years.

Gunmen kill owner of Pen Lucy social hall The owner of a Pen Lucy social hall was shot and killed during an attempted robbery there early Sunday. Police said Joe Woah-Tee, 60, was standing behind the counter at Gaimei Nangbn Multi-Purpose Neighborhood Center in the 4300 block of York Road about 3:40 a.m. when a man entered and asked about renting the center. A witness told police that shortly after the man was told that a $10 holding fee was required, the man told Woah-Tee to give him money and reached through the opening in a security window.

Slayton House Camp of the Arts and Conservatory Camp will hold an open house from 10 a.m. to noon Feb. 14 at Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Green. Exhibits, tours of the facilities and discounts for early registration will be offered, and parents will have an opportunity to see firsthand what their children will experience at camp. Information: Kathy Verheul, 410-730-3987 or 301-596-4883. Artists sought Slayton House Gallery is accepting applications from artists interested in exhibiting at the gallery during the 2009-2010 season.

What: Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship When: Tomorrow through Sunday with first round Thursday Where: Baltimore Country Club at Five Farms (East Course), Timonium Purse: $2.6 million ($390,000 to the winner) Format: 78 professionals, 72-hole stroke-play event with no cut Defending champion: Loren Roberts; defeated Tom Watson by six strokes. TV: Thursday and Friday, 1:30-4 p.m. on Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 4-6 p.m., chs. 11, 4 Schedule: Tuesday, practice round, 9 a.m.; Wednesday, pro-am, 7:20 a.m. and noon tee times (gates open at 7)

OFF THE TEE -- Kevin Van Valkenburg argues that it's more fun to cheer for imperfection -- and that's why Phil Mickelson, not Tiger Woods, is the guy to watch in the Masters. baltimoresun.com/thelifeofkings More students are applying to more colleges, such as an Annapolis High School student who sought entry to 10 and was accepted at nine.

AUGUSTA, Ga.-- --The murmurs erupted into a chorus of cheers when each man took his place at the first tee box. What year was this? 1968? 2008? If it weren't for the digital cameras held high along the short fairway, like flickering torches lighting the path to the green, you'd never know. And you wouldn't care. The first round of golf I'd ever witness at Augusta National wasn't a threesome as much as a Mount Rushmore ripoff: Jack Nicklaus, 68, who first played here in 1959 and has won six green jackets in 45 Masters appearances; Arnold Palmer, 78, who first played here in 1955 and has four wins in 50 tries, and Gary Player, 72, who has won three times and tees off for the 51st time today.

For a big fella, that John Daly really gets around. Just two days ago, I was writing about Daly's weekend and how it seemed like he was headed in a real bad direction from the way things went on the Florida Gulf Coast. He had failed to make a cut again this year, was hanging out drinking beer at a place called the Hooters Owl's Nest off the 17th hole and then burned some time at the Philadelphia Phillies' spring training camp when he could have been working on his short game. I caught some heat from Daly fans whose basic message was: Lighten up and get off the guy's case.