GOLF: WHILE MARINO FADES, PALMER FLOURISHES.

Byline: Greg Wilcox Golf

One of the main reasons why mommas should let their babies grow up to be golfers was painfully evident during Monday night's football game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets. There was Dan Marino, one of the game's greatest quarterbacks, missing his receivers all night. The ground was the only thing his passes hit.

During one close-up of his anguished face, my wife, the casual sports fan, asked if he was now too old to play a game that has come to be dominated by younger and strong men.

"Yes," I replied. "He became too old a season ago."

Were he a professional golfer of the same stature, Marino would still be in his prime, which is why there is no snickering after it was announced that Arnold Palmer, a fine candidate for golfer of the century, will be among the contestants for the 41st playing of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic next month in tony Bermuda Dunes.

Palmer is 70-years-old, recovered from prostate cancer and in mourning over the death of his wife, but he still has a game that is not an embarrassment to take out in public.

He has a good chance of shooting his age during one of the five rounds of the 90-hole marathon.

Palmer has been a professional five years longer than the Hope has been around, and despite a slim chance of winning will draw one of the biggest galleries of the 128-player field.

It would not be a Hope without Palmer in the field.

He's only missed the tournament once, after his cancer surgery in 1997.

And the Hope was where he always saw his new season start.

"The Hope has always been one of my favorite tournaments," he said recently. "Some of my fondest moments in golf have been in that tournament. It is a tournament I always look forward to because I have played those courses well many times and because of all the friends I have there."

He won the first Hope in 1960 with a score of 22 under par, a record that would stand for a quarter century.

His five victories saw him vanquish such golfing luminaries as Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, former tour commissioner Dean Beaman and Raymond Floyd.

And the Hope is a milestone tournament for another reason.

In 1973, when he forged a two-stroke victory over Nicklaus and Miller, it ended an 18th-month winless streak.

Palmer was 43-years-old then, and younger, stronger players like Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, and Nicklaus were taking over the game.

That was the last time he cashed a winners' check on the PGA Tour.

And because it is golf, a game where a career can span a lifetime, athletes like Palmer are always welcomed back without fear of embarassment.

Arnold Palmer may be a widower in his seventh decade, but he can still lead a legion of fans for maybe 90 holes.

"I will continue to play as long as they feel I have something to contribute and if the fans keep coming out to watch me. When they stop coming, it will be time to stop playing," he said.

They will come as long as he plays.

Other great athletes like Dan Marino should be so blessed.

NOTES: The Hope is noted for its celebrity field, which always includes a team or two of athletes. John Elway and Roger Clemens have already committed.

Look for Elway to bring his "A" game. He is close to being a scratch golfer and a member of the Celebrity Players Tour. Other jocks in the field include Monday Night Football chatterbox Boomer Esiason, Mike Ditka, Vince Coleman and Mario Lemieux.

The tournament is Jan. 17-23 over four desert courses. Bermuda Dunes is the host course. The others are Indian Wells Country Club, La Quinta Country Club and the Palmer Private Course at PGA West. . . .

Scottsdale, the posh suburb outside Phoenix, is the site of a millennium bash most golfers would love to attend.

Beginning Wednesday, the saguaro cactus-studded Grayhawk Golf Club is the site of the Williams World Challenge. This is an invention-only tournament hosted by Tiger Woods. The field includes 12 of the world's top players, including Sergio Garcia, last seen in the desert at the Skins Game. They will play for a $1 million first prize.

Garcia and Woods have become good friends on and off the course, and the Spaniard couldn't pass up the chance to play in the Williams Challenge.

The event is a major fund-raiser for the Tiger Woods Foundation, which helps bring the game to disadvantaged youth and inner-city kids. Woods will donate his winnings to the foundation and $120,000 will go to the Payne Stewart Memorial.

Stewart, one of the tour's most popular golfers, was killed this fall in a plane crash.

The first two rounds will be played Wednesday and Thursday, with the pro-am scheduled on New Year's Eve. Friday night's party is a black-tie affair.