Brief Stir: Pants Drop, So Do Jaws

FORT WORTH, Texas - Dick Mast took the lead, and Ian Baker-Finch took off his pants. In brief form, those were the heady and leggy highlights of the Colonial Invitational first round.

Mast, 42, on and off the PGA Tour several times since 1974, shot 6-under-par 64 yesterday, one stroke better than Jeff Maggert and Duffy Waldorf. None of the three has won on the Tour.

Speaking of on and off, that's what Baker-Finch did with his trousers on Colonial Country Club's 13th hole. The Australian created a stir when, instead of taking a drop, he dropped his pants before hitting a good shot from water in front of the green.

"He just turned golf into a PG-13 sport," said companion Nick Price.

After removing his slacks, shoes and socks, Baker-Finch stepped into foot-deep water and wedged the barely submerged ball onto the green 20 feet from the hole, to the cheering and laughter of the gallery. He was wearing only a blue-and-white golf shirt and clashing blue-green boxer shorts. After quickly dressing, he two-putted for a celebrated bogey.

"I guess I excited a few people out there," said Baker-Finch. "If I knew it would create such havoc, I wouldn't have done it."

After Baker-Finch sloshed in with a 74, he joked that his mother always told him to wear clean underwear. Though Tour policy prohibits wearing short pants, tournament director Duke Butler said punishment would be highly unlikely even though officials would review what is considered an unprecedented incident.

"Fine him? For what? A lack of tan?" Butler asked.