A Look Back: Oct. 8 1961: Tony Lema wins the Hesperia Open. 1989: Donnie Hammond shoots a 22-under total to win the Texas Open by seven strokes over Paul Azinger. 1989: Gary Player wins the RJR Championship on the Senior PGA Tour. 1995: Brad Bryant wins the Walt Disney Oldsmobile Classic by one stroke over Hal Sutton and Ted Tryba. 1995: Anders Forsbrand wins the Linde German Masters by two strokes over Bernhard Langer.

Equipment
Dunlop Slazenger Group Americas Inc., maker of the Maxfli A10 golf ball, denies recent statements Callaway Golf made in a recently filed lawsuit. Callaway says the A10 ball borrows on patents it owns, while DSGA officials say it intends to contest the lawsuit and "is satisfied that the outcome will be to completely vindicate the company's position."
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At the PGA Tour's Michelob Championship, a total of 77 players wore Black Widow cleats by Softspikes than all other plastic cleats combined. Also, the number of players wearing Black Widow cleats exceeded those wearing metal spikes.
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According to Darrell Survey, more golfers wore CHAMP golf spikes than any other brand at the LPGA's Samsung World Championship. CHAMP golf spikes were worn by nine golfers (45 percent) of the field while the closest competitor had three spikes in play.
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Architecture
Nick Faldo and Steve Smyers, who combined to design the acclaimed Chart Hills on the British Isles, will combine efforts on a 27-hole design near the village of Villa do Bishpo in Portugal's Algarve region.
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People, Places & Things
Toms' Time has Arrived

Nearly two months ago, David Toms was going quietly about his 2001 season -- shoot, his career for that matter. A win in his own Louisiana backyard at the Compaq Classic, one in which he chased down Phil Mickelson, was the highlight to an otherwise mediocre year.

Aside from the win, the 34-year-old from Monroe, La., had only three other top-10 finishes in 21 starts, and two of those having come in late January. But then Toms went and won the PGA Championship -- his first major -- and earned a place on the United States Ryder Cup squad. Suddenly the perception of Toms and his season shift dramatically.

No longer was he a player looking to break through, he had broken through. Sunday, he added to his growing reputation of being a late-blooming up-and-comer in the Tom Lehman kind of mold by defending his Michelob Championship title at Kingsmill Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va.

"I thought it was possible," he said of a campaign that has seen him win three times and vaulted to No. 3 on the money list with over $3.1 million. "I knew my game was getting better, but everything, the timing to win golf tournaments, it's the timing. When I got here Monday afternoon, there was no way that I can tell you that I was going to win this golf tournament or even contend. I mean that's how far off I felt like I was. So you just never know.

"I feel better now that I have been able to win a good many tournaments, so obviously when I get in contention I feel like I am going to perform. I am not scared. I feel comfortable. I am not -- other than the PGA this year on the back nine I really don't shake much. I was shaking a little bit then, but that was a different situation."

The win was also Toms' seventh of his career, which, to put in perspective just how softly Toms has tread, is two more than Lehman's won and one more than Justin Leonard. Granted, he has only surpassed those two players in the last 60-odd days, but he does not possess the same worldwide name recognition mainly because he has not competed on the team stage.

That was to have changed last week at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield, England, but the match was canceled. Now Toms must wait another 12 months.

"It's something that I will be excited about doing. You look forward to it all year long, but still we have a job to do," he said. "I just want to be totally prepared to play there. I want to play a bunch. I want to have my game in good shape to go over there and perform well because I am really looking forward to it."

A lot can happen in a year, though -- just ask Toms. By the time the Americans leave for England next year, Toms may very well be one of the United States' top players. Whether you've heard of him or not.