Golf Central

Ms Pepper has a big mouth and knows how to use it – as does all-round flake Dennis Rodman, who should be celebrated for nothing if not the fact that he wore a wedding dress to promote his autobiography. But it’s not all good news, as we reveal that two famous cowboys head for the corral in the sky, the England cricket captain gets the chop and the Pope almost meets his maker sooner than intended

Not only was Dottie Pepper a fierce competitor with boiling lava circulating in her veins (which, incidentally, earned her the nicknames ‘Snotty Dottie’ and ‘Hot Pepper’), she was also a damned good golfer, so we celebrate her on this, the 18th anniversary of her victory in the LPGA Crestar Classic. It was one of 17 Tour wins, two of which were Majors, in a stellar career that was sadly cut short by shoulder injury. She has since worked as a TV commentator and created a huge row when at last year’s Solheim Cup she (accurately) referred to the Americans as ‘Choking, freaking dogs’ after the first day’s play, thinking her microphone was no longer live. Oh, and she’s also one of those women players who we would most like to spend some quality time with – if you know what we mean, and we think you do.

May 13 is a day of mixed fortunes for the Catholic Church. Pope Agapitus I began his reign in 535, and in 609 Pope Boniface turned The Pantheon into a Catholic Church. But probably the most significant event happened in 1981 when Pope John Paul II (so named because of his love of The Beatles) was shot four times as he blessed the crowds in St Peter’s Square, Rome. At the time of the shooting his Holiness was riding in a public place, packed with 20,000 people, in a vehicle that was made almost entirely of Perspex so that he could be easily seen. How on earth did the would-be assassin manage it?

It was also a bad day for screen cowboys, because both Gary Cooper (1961) and Dan Blocker (1972), who played ‘Hoss’ in Bonanza, died.

In 1977 the England cricket captain, Tony Greig, was sacked after it was revealed that he had been secretly recruiting players to take part in Australian millionaire Kerry Packer’s commercial cricket ‘circus’, as it was sniffily known. It all started when Packer’s Channel 9 TV station bid for the rights to screen Australian domestic and international cricket, but were turned down. Like all rich boys who are thwarted, Packer said: ‘In that case, I’ll buy up the best players and start my own tournament.’ It didn’t last, but it did introduce us to day/night games.

Eid milaad saeed! (to men) or Kul sana wa inta/i tayeb/a! (to women), if you’re Arabic. We’re not, so we’ll sing Happy Birthday to:
Joe Louis, (71) arguably the punchiest, most prolific pugilist of all time
Terry Dill, (69) a little known golfer who has won once on the US Seniors Tour and who also won the par-3 competition at the Masters, which is probably why we’ve never heard of him
Dennis Rodman (47), heavily tattooed, multi-pierced, cross-dressing, hair-bleaching, head-butting, groin-kicking, Madonna-dating NBA basketball legend. Don’t ever grow up, Dennis.