... By PHILIP REID

A sore point at nine over par

THE NUMBER of players who didn't get to reach the midpoint of The Players Championship reached an unhealthy sextet yesterday, as players withdrew due to various reasons.

As reported beside this, Jeff Maggert, who had opened with a 72, withdrew after learning of the death of his brother in a plane crash.

But Shigeki Maruyama, who shot a first round 81, and Ryan Armour, who also opened with an 81, withdrew with shoulder injuries.

They joined Hunter Mahon, Jason Gore and Cameron Beckman - all mid-round casualties to illness on Thursday - on sick beds.

President Bush seems to be showing the strain

YOU NEVER know who you'll bump into these days.

The logjam at one spectator crossing point close to the 15th hole was explained after a lengthy wait when electric carts carrying black-suited personnel with slicked-back hair and sunglasses zoomed by.

In one of the middle carts was former US president George Bush, suitably attired in sun hat.

But his time in office appears to have been lost to some of the great unwashed, judging by the conversation overheard between a couple of his constituents.

"Who's that?"

"That's president Bush."

"You sure? He looks older than I thought."

"No, Not George W . . . that's his poppy. He was president too!"

Of course, the Bush family have a long association with golf. The Walker Cup - the amateur equivalent of the Ryder Cup between the United States and Britain and Ireland - is named after Bush family's ancestors, which explains the W (Walker) in George W.

Garrigus catches a break

WHILE OTHER players could be observed working hard on the range or the putting green in the build-up to the tournament, Robert Garrigus had a different way of preparing: fishing. He could be seen on the lake by the fifth hole fishing for bass . . . hopefully he had more success there than he did on the course. Although he had a hole-in-one on the 13th in yesterday's second round - recording an ace on the 164-yard hole with an eight-iron - Garrigus missed the cut by a comfortable margin after a 76 for 155.

"Yeah, that was one of the only highlights of my week," said Garrigus of his hole-in-one. "We were standing on the tee waiting for the group in front of us to finish and I was joking about trying to chuck stuff in the garbage and I'm not really paying attention. I stood up, slapped an eight-iron right at it and it ended up going in. It was quite a shock. It was my first hole-in-one on tour, and it couldn't happen at a better place."

Garrigus, incidentally, donated a 42in plasma television to the traditional eve-of-tournament caddie nearest-the-pin competition on Wednesday, where caddies get the chance to hit a tee-shot on the 17th.

The par three contest was won by Jeff Willett, who works for Brian Bateman. Willett hit his shot in to one foot five inches . . . considerably closer, it must be said, than Pádraig Harrington's bagman Ronan Flood who was teased without mercy by his boss after shanking his tee-shot into the lake.

Tragedy for Maggert

JEFF MAGGERT withdrew after learning his brother, Barry, had died in a small plane crash in Colorado en route to his son's college graduation.

The local Colorado police said one man died and a 23-year-old passenger was injured on Thursday afternoon when the single-engine plane crashed into a snowy mountain about 40 miles west of Denver.