Golf Central

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what day Arnold Palmer became a true American icon, but you may as well go with this day in 1960, when Arnie won the Pensacola Open for his third win on the trot and the 17th of his PGA Tour career.

It was a thrilling one-shot victory, with Palmer sinking one-putts on nine of the last 10 greens and making birdies on the last two to beat Doug Sanders. It was the near-midpoint of Palmer's period of domination in the early '60s, and it cemented Arnie's king-like status in the state of Florida, which continues today: Especially this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill ...

What a fine mess John Daly has gotten us all into, huh? Well, most of us not directly involved with Long John are just fine, thanks ... but it goes to show that perhaps only the 300-pound shadow of JD is large enough even to send a certain Big Cat skulking back into the dark for a day or two. Nearly ... SG Matthews takes you through another week of Daly dramas and the rest of the 10 Things We've Learned ...

It could only be John Daly, and in his usual bumbling way, he really didn't do that much wrong. But what an amazing week of havoc Daly caused, just by being John Daly. Over the years, he's lost millions in gambling, had three divorces and more scrapes that most people have in a lifetime - as well as those two major titles. But SG Matthews recaps how the last seven days have been stunning even for your garden-variety off-the-rails 41-year-old, 300-pound folk-hero golf star ...

Just as most of you legions of golf fans are drawing a collective breath and wondering: "Well, can he really do it again?" ... along comes some bright young whippersnapper to put Tiger Woods into perspective. Jack Rivers tells us about some of golf's amazing streaks that will have your head spinning ...

hen a man with a CV most journalists would envy (and most people in other lines of work would kill for) has to defend himself, you know something's a bit wacky in this new-fangled world of the intranet and space-age what-not, and thingies that you have to remember passwords for, our own SG Matthews writes ...