NEWS LITE : NEW BOOK SAYS DIANA SICKER THAN PUBLIC KNEW.

The author of a new book about Princess Diana says she may have suffered from borderline personality disorder, which can cause sufferers to be self-destructive, impulsive, volatile and easily depressed.

The book also talks about a relationship Diana allegedly had with Dr. Hasnat Khan, a Pakistani heart surgeon whom she met before Dodi Al Fayed.

In ``Diana in Search of Herself,'' due out later this month, author Sally Bedell Smith wrote that the princess was much more troubled than the public realized, according to excerpts published in People magazine.

Nowhere in the excerpts did Smith give clinical evidence that Diana was ever officially diagnosed with a personality disorder.

Smith wrote that Diana's troubles showed up in her personal relationships, in which the princess combined love with possessiveness.

A friend told Smith that Diana would have converted to Islam for Khan, whom she considered a vital anchor in her life.

Smith interviewed Simone Simmons, Diana's alternative psychotherapist, who said ``Diana was so impatient to have Hasnat's undivided attention that if he used the Kensington Palace telephones to speak to his family or friends in Pakistan for more than 10 minutes, Diana would turn her music up or dance before him to distract his attention.''

The relationship faltered after Diana flew to Pakistan in May 1997 to meet Khan's family without telling him. Khan broke off the relationship two months later after a newspaper said the couple had become unofficially engaged, Smith wrote.

Smith said it was partly to provoke Khan that Diana was so public about her relationship with Al Fayed, who died with her on Aug. 31, 1997, in a car crash in Paris.

Cheating curse - maybe; Golfers beat 13th-hole heat

There's been something disturbing about the 13th hole at Somerset Golf Club. Something that makes golfers squeeze their grips a bit tighter and eye the terrain a bit longer before they swing.

Some say it's the supernatural, the curse of 13. They swear their longest drives inexplicably vanish from the 13th fairway and balls drop out of nowhere onto the 13th green.

Head pro Don Kramer has heard it all. And, as the final Friday the 13th before 2000 dawns, he thinks Somerset, in Fredericksburg, Va., has beaten the curse.

Hole No. 13 has been eliminated.

A paper 14 has been taped over the 13 on a sign near the tee. The succeeding holes have been renumbered so golfers now play through the 19th hole.

Triskaidekaphobics - people who fear the number 13 - probably wonder what took so long. To commemorate the change, the course planned a Triskaidekaphobia Open for today.

Kramer claims Somerset is the first golf course in the country to eliminate a 13th hole. And as far as National Golf Foundation spokeswoman Judy Thompson knows, he's right.

``Nobody has come up and said it's stupid,'' Kramer said. After all, he said, many hotels have no 13th floor, and some airlines skip the 13th row.

At Somerset, rumors about the 13th hole could be rooted in the local legend that a unit of Confederate soldiers experienced freak accidents while crossing the land during the Civil War.

David Swales isn't sure, but he has his own tale of the inexplicable at hole No. 13. The course's management consultant was walking across the green in April when a ball hit him on the head.

``There was nobody else on the golf course that I could see,'' Swales said. ``It was pretty weird.''

Royals give media the slip in Greece

After an intense eight-day search by the news media, cameras finally captured Britain's teen-age Princes William and Harry on their Greek island cruise.

The images were grainy and the voice-overs urgent Thursday night as footage on Greek-TV news showed them at a restaurant on the tiny island of Castellorizo, 310 miles southeast of Athens.

Reporters had spent more than a week trying to spot the brothers with their father, Prince Charles, and his longtime love, Camilla Parker-Bowles. Greek, British and other news organizations rented helicopters and speedboats to scan the Aegean Sea for the royals aboard the 402-foot yacht Alexander.

The footage, taped late Wednesday, was repeatedly frozen to show William, 17, and Harry, 14, joining unidentified friends at the restaurant.

Mondale offers Ventura advice

It was more than a typical meeting between two politicians from Minnesota when Walter Mondale, former vice president and ambassador to Japan, helped Gov. Jesse Ventura prepare for a coming trade mission.

The Minnesota governor requested the meeting Wednesday with Mondale, who said he won't join Ventura on the November trip to Japan.

``I don't like to be upstaged,'' Mondale quipped.

The governor spent about a half-hour in his office with Mondale, who left his post as ambassador to Japan two years ago.

``He has the experience, so I listen to him,'' Ventura said of Mondale.

Ventura used to wrestle professionally in Japan and is well-known there. Mondale said the governor's stature in Japan will create possibilities that wouldn't be open to all governors.

O'Brien's sidekick will be moving on

Andy Richter, sidekick to Conan O'Brien on NBC's ``Late Night,'' has a performing itch he just has to scratch. He plans to leave the show in May to pursue other TV and film roles.

``What's happening here is the regular old entrepreneurial urge,'' Richter said at the end of Wednesday night's show. ``I sort of need to take this step for my own peace of mind and own sense of self-worth.''

The 32-year-old said his true goal was ``to become Ned Beatty. I want to be a comedy character actor.

``I absolutely know this is a risk,'' Richter said. But he added, ``It's not like I went to bed as a boy dreaming of being a sidekick on a late-night television show.''

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo: (1) The paper 14 slips from over the 13 on a tee sign at the Somerset Golf Club in Fredericksburg, Va.

(2) Prince William

(3) Mondale