Tour

Unlike some volleyball players on the Toyota Pro Beach East Tour, Jason Hodell and Jason Bartholow have families and full-time jobs. However, if last year's results from the Baltimore stop are any indication, this pair should not be taken lightly. Hodell and Bartholow are teaming up again in this weekend's tour event at Rash Field after finishing second a year ago. Toyota Pro Beach East Tour Today and tomorrow; Rash Field; seating is free to the public Schedule: Today: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; tomorrow: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (final around 3 p.m.)

INSIDE TODAY WHAT THEY'RE SAYING TODAY'S SUN COLUMNISTS The pain of preseason injuries David Steele tackles the risk of players getting injured in preseason games. Sports baltimoresun.com/steelepress Giants' game plan Mike Preston discusses the Giants' physical play against the Ravens last night. Sports baltimoresun.com/preston OTHER VOICES Mike Dresser on gas emergencies -- Maryland Edward Gunts on architecture -- Today 5 THINGS TO DO TODAY Season the Microphone -- Check out the Unison Collective, Tislam the Great, Mzery and more at the Season the Microphone Mondays event at the New Turntable Club, 2139 Jefferson St. $5 before 11 p.m. and $10 after.

WASHINGTON -- During his rookie season on the PGA Tour in 1996, Tiger Woods and his father, Earl, set up a foundation to help disadvantaged children. They eventually opened a learning center near the family's California home. The only thing that Woods and his father talked about but never accomplished was starting a golf tournament to benefit the foundation. Earl Woods died last year, but the tournament has now become a reality. During a jam-packed news conference at the National Press Club, Woods and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announced yesterday that the AT&T National will be played July 5-8 in the Washington area.

The 78 players who will tee off today in the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Baltimore Country Club in Timonium are going to be facing one of the most challenging tests on the Champions Tour, on one of the more historic venues in the country while playing for the tour's biggest overall purse. But what exactly are they going after in the golf season's final major championship? Is it the satisfaction that comes from conquering the 7,003-yard course, the longest on the Champions Tour?

Scanning the leader board at the LPGA Championship, you notice a couple of Chos, two Davies, four Lees, five Parks and nine Kims. Out of 149 names in yesterday's opening-round field, though, there are really only two that draw the attention of the casual sports fan, and both have done their part this week to illustrate what it means to be a professional golfer. Annika Sorenstam told us what to do; Michelle Wie showed us what not to do. The past several days - which began with Wie's curious withdrawal at the Ginn Tribute Hosted By Annika and continued with a public reprimand from Sorenstam and a Team Wie meeting with the LPGA's top boss - might ultimately push forward an important and inevitable realization: For the first time since Wie began making waves four years ago, the young golfer finds herself needing the LPGA just as much as the tour needs her. And if both are going to move forward and feed off each other profitably, they'd better come to a quick understanding that what's best for Wie is best for the tour and vice versa.

Leaving the small screen behind for a national tour, this year's American Idol contestants have lost some glitz but regained some grit. The stage can range from a climate-controlled city arena to the sticky, sweaty grounds of a rural state fair. Jam sessions - yes, with guitars - are encouraged. And the season's cultural punching bag, Sanjaya Malakar, has stage presence and a moonwalk. But most important, nobody went home last night. "You're not competing against anyone or anything. You're going out there and doing what you love to do, which is sing," Lakisha Jones said before last night's show at 1st Mariner Arena.

The bold-faced names of the 19th century are all here -- the Sheppards, the Pratts, the Abells --resting in a vast garden graveyard surrounded by some of East Baltimore's toughest neighborhoods. And Wayne Schaumburg knows exactly where to find them. Since 1985, the recently retired city schoolteacher has been leading October and May walking tours of Green Mount Cemetery, where "Baltimore's best are laid to rest," as he likes to say. Nestled among the greenery in the 68-acre necropolis are eight Maryland governors, seven Baltimore mayors, countless local luminaries and one presidential assassin.

By now, Chris Prybylo can deliver the blueprint verbatim: A 4,000-square-foot House of Dew entertainment area, 6,000 yards of freestyle motocross dirt, a hulking vertical ramp and more than 50 semi loads of machinery. "It's essentially a big Lego set. We have well over 10,000 pieces of equipment," said Prybylo, senior director of events for the AST Dew Tour. Everything has been assembled, and from tomorrow through Sunday, the Camden Yards sports complex will host the first of five stops on the 2007 tour.

Horse racing Real Quiet remains at New Bolton Real Quiet, the 1998 Kentucky Derby winner whom syndicate manager Mike Jester expected to be released from the New Bolton Center perhaps as early as last week, remains under care at the facility in Kennett Square, Pa. "Real Quiet was admitted because he was sore in his hind end," Dr. Dean Richardardson said last night. " ... We discovered that he had relatively difficult to diagnose infections in both hind feet. They are responding well to treatment."

Critic's Pick -- Film crews trail singer Beyonce Knowles amid her 2007 world concert tour in The Beyonce Experience (8 p.m., BET).

For six years, the Wiyos ground out a living on the road, playing hundreds of shows in the U.S. and abroad. This year, all that relentless gigging finally paid off. The Wiyos, a little-known four-piece band from New York, got an opportunity most bands dream of - the chance to open for legends Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp on a 28-date summer tour. Friday, that tour brings them to Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen. Even now, after a few stops on the tour, the members of the Wiyos wonder just how they earned the opening spot on a bill with such heavyweights.

A roundup of recent flight data and travel news: Pet-setters. Last week, Pet Airways took off from BWI Marshall Airport on its inaugural flight that caters to cats and dogs. My colleague Andrea Walker was at the airport and reported that the flight to Chicago (where some pets were making a connection) included a Bernese Mountain dog, a Labrador retriever, four cats, a Boston terrier and a variety of other pets. One-way fares start at $149, but the flights are already sold out for the first two months.

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.

MARANA, Ariz. -Last seen amid the Torreys in June, Tiger Woods materialized yesterday morning amid the saguaros, luring one of the thicker practice-round galleries. Eyeballs resumed their craven need to tag along as he played and walked the 18 holes of the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club northwest of Tucson on the eve of golf's most momentous return since Ben Hogan at Riviera in 1950. The droves followed him past the prickly pear and the barrel cactus and the dreaded cholla that jumped out and stabbed one guy in the shoulder, and they often marveled at the guy in the blue-striped shirt and gray slacks.

As Loren Roberts took his victory walk down the 18th fairway at Baltimore Country Club during the final round of the inaugural Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship last year, he was greeted with polite applause. Tom Watson and Fred Funk drew significantly louder cheers. It didn't surprise Roberts, who was about to win by six strokes. "You have one guy who's a legend and the other guy who's very popular and is from Maryland," Roberts said recently. "I was just happy to be winning the golf tournament."

Price, Cook, Zoeller say yes to Constellation event GOLF The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship announced yesterday that Nick Price, John Cook and Fuzzy Zoeller have committed to the Champions Tour event Oct. 9-12 at Baltimore Country Club. Price, a World Golf Hall of Famer, has won 43 tournaments, including three major championships. Cook has won 11 PGA Tour events as well as the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1978. Zoeller has won 10 tournaments on the PGA Tour. The Senior Players Championship also announced that Tom Watson, who had previously committed to play in this year's tournament, has withdrawn, as he is scheduled to have hip replacement surgery.

Yes, Europe can be expensive, and yes, the dollar is taking a battering against the euro. But, no, that doesn't mean there are not good deals on the Continent. Consider: *A 7-Day Classic Spain & Portugal package from Gate 1 Travel starts at $1,529, including round-trip airfare from select U.S. cities and four-star hotels. The escorted tour visits Madrid, Segovia, Avila and Salamanca in Spain, and Fatima and Lisbon in Portugal. Included are daily breakfasts and one dinner with wine, an air-conditioned coach, tour managers and local guides, two nights' lodging in Madrid, an overnight in Salamanca and two nights in Lisbon.

There's a lot of justifiable hand-wringing going on among those associated with golf that without Tiger Woods, the profile index of the PGA Tour will slip to something approximating that of pro bowling or curling. As a result, there's talk among golf commentators about how the PGA needs to begin promoting other players so that there won't be such a huge drop in interest - especially in TV ratings - when Woods isn't playing. (A much-quoted Los Angeles Times article indicated that when Tiger played and was in contention, the ratings on CBS and NBC golf telecasts were up an average of 111 percent.

With hits like "Alive" and "Jeremy," Pearl Jam quickly shot to the forefront of the alternative-rock music scene and became one of the most popular rock bands of the '90s. The band members have been selling out stadiums and arenas for almost two decades, all the while maintaining their organic Seattle roots. The band is on a 12-stop tour of the Eastern United States this summer, its first American tour since 2006. They play at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Verizon Center, 601 F St. N.W., Washington.

This week, when the Broadway cast of Cry-Baby launches into its second-act number "Misery, Agony, Helplessness, Hopelessness, Heartache and Woe," the rendition may be particularly heartfelt. It was announced yesterday that the $12.5 million production will close after Sunday's matinee. But that doesn't necessarily mean you won't be seeing Cry-Baby on a stage near you. And you'll certainly be hearing from John Waters, whose 1990 cult film inspired the Broadway musical. "I don't think this means the death of John Waters the musical," says Chris Caggiano, a musical theater professor at the Boston Conservatory and a lifelong Waters fan. "I think there are other possibilities, though they may be off Broadway."