Casey's Return: "I'm doing this to see if you can catch lightning in a bottle."

There's a nice San Francisco Chronicle story by Ron Kroichick in revisiting Casey Martin's often-forgotten 23rd place finish in the 1998 U.S. Open while taking a cart provided by the USGA, a case the PGA Tour and Commissioner Scalia took to the Supreme Court to enforce tour policy, fearing negative imagery of the tour not getting to enforce its rules of competition. Too bad the Commish is more selective these days about which tour policies he enforces.

Anyway, Martin has made it to sectional qualifying at 40 while also coaching a top NCAA Championship contender at University of Oregon, Saturday's second place finisher in the Central region.

The Supreme Court decision, in 2001, didn't open a floodgate of disabled professional golfers riding in carts, as tour officials feared. Only a few players have used carts since then, most notably two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton for a short time.

As it turned out - and as sensible people understood at the time - Martin's cause was worthy and justified.

Well, most sensible people.

The USGA still remembers Martin's special needs situation.

One amusing moment: As Martin began to fill out his entry form for this year's Open, he came across the section for players requesting a cart. It was an elaborate application, requiring medical information and doctor's referrals and the like.

Given his history - more than a bit well-documented - Martin asked some folks at the USGA if he really needed to complete all the paperwork. They told him to skip it.