Spider bite doesn’t end golf round

Hockey and football players are known for being tough and playing hurt.

Golfers? Not so much.

Sweden’s Daniela Holmqvist is the notable exception and proved it in an LPGA tournament qualifier Tuesday in Australia when bitten by a black widow spider while playing the fourth hole.

Being told such a bite could kill a child within a half-hour, Holmqvist decided not to wait for medical help to arrive. She grabbed a tee from her pocket, cut open the area around the bite and squeezed out the venom.

With medics following her the final 14 holes, Holmqvist finished the round despite being in pain. She shot a 74 and failed to make the tournament.

“It still hurts,” Holmqvist told Svensk Golf. “I don’t recommend getting bitten by a black widow.”

Or marrying one. But that’s a different conversation.

■ THE SUITS ARE BACK — Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue showed up in mailboxes Wednesday, and, yes, we know bikini-clad models have little do with sports.

Maybe drawing some sort of connection was why SI began shooting bikini-clad athletes a few years ago.

Four athletes are featured in the most recent offering — surfer Alana Blanchard, field hockey gold medalists Eva de Goede and Ellen Hoog and Olympic hurdler Michelle Jenneke.

There also is a sports-related celebrity in Katherine Webb, the girlfriend of Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron who became famous when Brent Musburger drooled over her during the national title game.

Still, this year’s issue doesn’t present the star power of last year’s magazine that featured golfer and Lake Las Vegas resident Natalie Gulbis, soccer player Alex Morgan and swimmer Natalie Coughlin wearing nothing but body paint.

Not that anyone is complaining. Well, except those who say this still has nothing to do with sports.

Or that it objectifies women.

Or that a magazine that publishes such photos has no credibility when writing about women’s issues.

Those complaints can be raised when SI publishes next year’s swimsuit issue.

■ BLUE IN BOISE — Mountain West coaches aren’t the only ones to express concerns about Boise State wearing its all-blue uniforms while playing on its home blue turf.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee proposed a rule that teams wear either jerseys or pants that contrast to the color of the playing field.

How many schools would be in regular violation of that rule? Maybe Colorado State in going all green, but this rule obviously is aimed at Boise State.

The Mountain West made the mistake of barring the Broncos from going all blue in home conference games the past two seasons. But the league rescinded the rule as a way to keep Boise State in the conference rather than have the Broncos bolt for the Big East.

The rule that should draw the most scrutiny nationally is the penalty for targeting a defenseless playing above the shoulder — 15 yards and an automatic ejection.

These are proposals. The Playing Rules Oversight Panel will make the final decisions March 6.

That committee generally serves as a rubber stamp, so the Broncos will continue to wear a variety of uniform combinations and look like they got dressed in their sleep.

COMPILED BY MARK ANDERSON
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL