SteveElling

Not only had Trevor Immelman never before won the Masters, he'd never been to New York City. The former is easy enough to understand, but the latter was a bit surprising to hear.

He took care of both in a 24-hour period last week, jetting off the day after he won at Augusta National to attend an NBA game in Madison Square Garden and to read the top-10 list on David Letterman's nightly talk show.

After a few days at home to soak up the impact of his first major, Immelman is back at work this week on the PGA Tour at the Byron Nelson Championship, where he finished second three years ago. But Dallas tournament particulars aside, everybody on Wednesday wanted to hear about his whirlwind trip to NYC and his newfound fame.

Immelman, a fan of many sports, loved attending the Knicks game, he said. As for his self-deprecating top-10 list regarding the benefits of winning the green jacket, he had his doubts about a couple of them.

"There was a few in there that I was a little skeptical about reading, but I think everybody understands that you're having a bit of fun and you're supposed to be generating some laughs," he said.

Or so he hopes. List entry No. 6 read, "President Bush called to congratulate me on winning Wimbledon." 

"I need to make sure I keep getting visas into this country," Immelman cracked. "I don't need to upset anybody, especially the president."

He wasn't as worried about No. 1, which read, "Get to put arm around Tiger Woods and say, 'Maybe next year.'"

"I knew Tiger would handle his pretty well," Immelman said.

He found out sooner, rather than later. Woods called him soon after the show.

"He thought it was real funny, so he obviously stayed up to see what I was going to say about him," Immelman said. "But he thought it was funny, and he was fantastic, as usual. He called me to congratulate me on my victory and told me how well I played and that it's something I'll never forget, and I really appreciated him taking the time."

Woods has undergone the surgery on his left knee by the time he spoke with Immelman.

"It seems like, as per usual, he's trying to find a positive spin on it and he's wanting to make sure that he comes back stronger, especially in that area around the left knee," Immelman said. "I anticipate him to win the next event he plays in."

(Thursday update: Immelman shot an 8-over 78 in the first round and is unlikely to make the cut).

It might be time to buy stock in a plastic-cup or porcelain company, because it appears that players on the PGA Tour will be lining up en masse at some point when the new drug plan begins this summer.

The European Tour hosted a banquet during Masters week and a couple of scribes corralled Commissioner George O'Grady early to ask a couple of questions about the drug testing rollout planned for this summer. As he has said in the past, the Euro plan won't be nearly as comprehensive as the PGA Tour program, which will cost over $1 million to administer.

"We simply don't have as much money," he said.

O'Grady said, in broad brush strokes, that he hopes to perhaps test the winners and a few more players in the field each week, and hopes to have tested every fulltime player at some point by the end of the year. Then he dropped a little bombshell of sorts. O'Grady said that PGA Tour counterpart Tim Finchem intends to test an entire field at some point, which could be prohibitively expensive, it was pointed out.

"It would probably be a limited-field event, like a WGC or something like that," he said.

If that's how it plays out, there's only one World Golf Championship event left on the schedule, the Bridgestone Invitational in early August. The Tour Championship in mid-September, limited to 30 players, also seems like a possible target, as does the BMW Championship, with a field of around 70 players, which precedes it.

So, you guys have been warned. Let there be no pop-quiz when it's time to whiz.