Cherish Bill Murray; Solving Augusta's Fax Woes

Ray Gustini

Today in sports: A scorecard smudge nearly doomed golf's top-ranked player at Augusta, Bill Murray gives Cubs fans something to cheer about on opening day, and the BCS is coming around on a college football playoff system.

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Luke Donald was nearly disqualified at the Masters yesterday for signing an incorrect scorecard, but then he wasn't, once everyone realized a balky fax machine was to blame for making his 5s look like 3s. (No, we don't know why the fine people at Augusta National are faxing scorecards, or who they are faxing them to. Suffice it to say, faxing is taking place though.) Donald laughed off his hour-long stint in golfing purgatory, while the cartridge should give more ammunition to anyone who thinks the club should extend a bid to new IBM CEO Virginia Rometty. She could help with that. [ESPN]

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Still not juiced about the start of baseball season? We get that. But take a gander at Bill Murray throwing out the first pitch at yesterday's Cubs opener. He throws the ball, but not before cavorting around the diamond for nearly 40 seconds, as Bill Murray is wont to do. You say, "Oh, that's silly" and "Oh, Bill Murray does something like this at every major Chicagoland sporting event." Both are which are true, but come on: it's Bill Murray on opening day. Lighten up, Francis. [Yahoo Sports]

 

Ooh, this is interesting: USA Today has obtained an internal memo from the beleaguered folks who run The Bowl Championship Series outlining potential changes to college football's postseason format. The proposals include an honest-to-goodness four team playoff, as well as a "plus one" model that would basically be the same thing as the four team option, except it would allow for the traditional Big 10-Pac 12 matchup in the Rose Bowl game. In typical BCS fashion, the playoff system is not referred to as a playoff in the memo -- they opt for "four-team event," which is moderately hilarious. The BCS powers-that-be are holding their annual meeting later this month in Florida, where the subject is bound to discussed in greater vague detail. [USA Today]

 

Send the little ones out of the room for this: the University of Arkansas has placed football coach Bobby Petrino on administrative leave after he sustained a serious motorcycle accident on Sunday, only to have it emerge that he had a passenger, a 25-year-old, female passenger, who also happens to be an employee of the athletic program. Making matters worse in the fact that Petrino -- who is married -- apparently wasn't fully truthful with higher-ups in the Arkansas athletic department about his relationship with the motorcycle-riding lady in question. Petrino, ever the stand-up guy, has issued a statement blaming pain medicine for the inconsistencies in his story. [ESPN]

 

Ohio State forward/one-man wrecking machine Jared Sullinger will declare for the NBA Draft. Sullinger played two seasons in Columbus and is projected to be a lottery pick in this June's draft. [CBS]