US Ryder Cup hopeful Brett Wetterich discovered the vagaries of golf yesterday, where he dropped from the top of the leaderboard in two fell swoops.

Wetterich, 10th in the US qualifying table, which finishes here at the PGA, was sharing the lead on four under after 11 holes, only to take a quadruple bogey eight on the 12th, followed by a bogey on the 13th. That mishap on the 12th wasn't to be his only quadruple of the round, as he suffered a similar fate on the 17th, eventually finishing with a 76.

Ferrie feels fine

Kenneth Ferrie must have wondered what he had done to upset the golfing gods after enduring one nuisance after another in recent weeks. The 27-year-old Englishman was forced to withdraw from the British Open at Hoylake last month with a pulled muscle in his back, and then his preparations for a return to competition at the US PGA were disrupted by cancelled flights out of Heathrow last Saturday.

To compound matters, once Ferrie did make it to Chicago, he did so without his clubs, which went missing. So, playing with a new set, Ferrie's opening round of 70, two under, was commendable.

"I've just carried on from Winged Foot, playing the same kind of golf," said Ferrie, who finished tied-sixth in the US Open and who is 14th in the European Ryder Cup points list.

Bully for Billy

They're thinking of attributing the monicker of "Miracle Man" to Billy Mayfair, who just two weeks ago underwent surgery for testicular cancer. If there were those who thought that simply standing on the first tee would be some sort of feat for Mayfair, his 69, three under, was a convincing argument that he's not in Medinah to make up the numbers.

"The greatest thing out there all day was probably the fans, just all the encouragement I got and everybody rooting for me . . . my biggest thought of the day was just to be happy on the first tee," said Mayfair. "Overall, just being here at the tournament, after what happened two weeks ago to me, and the diagnosis . . . I almost had tears in my eyes today."