It would be cryptic, perhaps even insensitive, to say Mike Van Sickle had a great fall. He did -- on the course and off.

He won two college events after returning for his junior season at Marquette University, followed that with another victory last month -- his school-record sixth -- and was ranked No. 1 in birdies per round and fourth in scoring average in the NCAA.

It might seem as if Van Sickle, a Pine-Richland High School graduate, has been able to avoid hazards. But that's just on the course.

Off the course, what began as an early morning jog turned into a nasty fall on the sidewalk that left Van Sickle, 20, with a couple injuries.

"I messed myself up pretty good," he said.

It happened when Van Sickle was leaving his apartment and, because it was dark, he missed one of the steps on the stoop. He fell face-first into the pavement.

The result was a couple of chipped teeth, a broken nose, cheekbone and pinky finger, a wrenched shoulder and a bruised ego. Surprisingly, the injuries have not affected Van Sickle's game, though he had to make some painful adjustments to accommodate the broken finger on his right hand because he uses an interlocking grip.

"I looked like I had been in a fight with a boxer," Van Sickle said

Van Sickle's accomplishments, though, are enough to floor anyone.

He is the first player in Marquette history to qualify for the NCAA individual tournament, where he finished 17th out of 144 players last season. That was a prelude to a summer in which he won the Tri-State Amateur with a course-record 60 in the final round, lost in a playoff at the West Penn Amateur, missed qualifying for the U.S. Open by one shot and won the Pennsylvania Open when he defeated a field of professionals with a 54-hole score of 7-under 203.

The trophy for winning the state open is displayed in the clubhouse at Treesdale, where Van Sickle's family are members. His father, Gary, is a senior golf writer for Sports Illustrated and an accomplished player

Because of his play, Van Sickle has received invitations to some of the top amateur tournaments in the country this summer, including the Porter Cup, the Northeast Amateur and the Sunnehanna Amateur in Johnstown.

"I've bounced back pretty well," Van Sickle said.

Greg Norman lost playoffs in three major championships to players whose last name contained a "Z." Name the players. Answer at end.

Lars Eckberg, who purchased Deer Run Golf Club and has given the 18-hole layout in Gibsonia a new name (Pittsburgh National Golf Club), has wasted little time spreading the word about his new venture.

The course ran TV promotional ads last month during NBC's broadcast of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and World Golf Championship-CA Championship at Doral.

In addition to improving the sand bunkers and greens and installing a Global Positioning System in the carts, Eckberg's other objective will be to attract more outings to Pittsburgh National. And he will do so by instituting another change: Players can purchase beer and take it on the course, something that was prohibited at Deer Run.

"The fact that we're offering groups that they can purchase beverages here and take them on the course is a plus," Eckberg said. "But they have to purchase it here to have it on the course. And we're going to have beverage carts on the course, too."

Eckberg and his father-in-law, Ed Haddad, also own Copper Top at Cherokee Hills Golf Club, an 18-hole course in Valley City, Ohio, that offers greens fees that range from $35 weekday to $45 weekend. Haddad once owned the Links at Stonebridge, an 18-hole development in New Orleans, but sold the facility after Hurricane Katrina.

Eckberg said he plans little change in the greens fees at Pittsburgh National -- $42 weekday, $50 weekend, with cart -- even though the club has purchased 72 new carts with the GPS system. He said his top priority is improving the landscaping and the greens, fairways, tees and sand bunkers.

"I'm going to take the time to invest in the chemicals and the equipment to bring the course up to the high-end standards and make it a gorgeous place to play golf," Eckberg said.

The Tri-State PGA Match Play Championship, usually the first of the section's point tournaments each season, has been moved from mid-May to Sept. 2-4 to accommodate a change in format that includes an expanded field.

The tournament used to have an 18-hole stroke-play qualifier on the first day of the three-day event to determine the 32 players to advance to match play. However, the field for this year's tournament at Shannopin Country Club has been expanded to 64 players, comprised of the top 31 players on the 2007 points list, the defending champ and 32 players from a qualifier on the first day of the 2008 Sewickley Heights Open in August.

"It expands the opportunity for players to experience the match-play format," said Dennis Darak, Tri-State PGA executive director. "Because we would need a qualifier to expand the field, we couldn't have the tournament early in the year. We didn't have enough time to have a suitable qualifier."

It is home to the toughest three-hole stretch on the PGA Tour, known affectionately as the Bear Trap. But it is also home to five courses and a variety of golf packages geared to the player seeking a warm-weather giveaway.

"Perfect for the people in Pittsburgh," said Joel Paige, managing director of the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

The resort is a self-contained buffet for golfers -- 90 holes of golf, including the Jack Nicklaus-designed Champion course, home of the PGA Tour's Honda Classic; and the recently re-designed Palmer course, designed by Arnold Palmer.

The Champ, as it known by the locals, features the Bear Trap, a watery, three-hole signature (Nos. 15-17) that includes two par-3s and a dogleg par-4. During the Honda Classic, which was won by Ernie Els, the holes played a combined 356-over par -- nearly 100 more than the previous year.

Part of the reason: The sand bunkers at the Champ were expanded and re-shaped after last year's tournament.

"Nobody complained they were unfair," Paige said. "They're just hard holes."

And they're accessible to the public with a variety of reduced spring and summer packages. Go to the resort's Web site at pgaresort.com for information.

No golf destination on the East Coast -- or anywhere, for that matter -- receives more Pittsburgh traffic than Myrtle Beach, S.C. But here's a tip:

Don't pass up the golf just 20 minutes south in Murrell's Inlet, Pawley's island and Litchfield.

That's the home of the Waccamaw Golf Trail, a series of 12 courses that include some of the best in the Grand Strand -- True Blue, Caledonia, TPC of Myrtle Beach and Pawley's Plantation.

The courses are in what is considered the "quieter" end of Myrtle Beach. The traffic is less congested and the golf is very good.

NBC commentator Johnny Miller on Hank Haney, the swing coach for Tiger Woods, countering Haney's claim that Woods' erratic driving is a "media creation": "If Hank Haney doesn't recognize that, he's got the ostrich in the sand. [Woods] doesn't just hit it right, he hits it in the right trees."

• Youghiogheny CC has hired Erik Lundblad of Rochester, N.Y., to be head professional, replacing Jim McGrath, who accepted a similar position at Greensburg CC.

• Ken Lucas, a Glassport native who lives in Murrysville, has retired after 37 years as a sales representative for Ping. Lucas, 64, was a quarterback at Pitt from 1963-65.

• Scott Choura has been named director of golf and general manager at DuBois CC. Choura formerly worked at Stone Ridge GC in Bowling Green, Ohio.

• The 17th annual Bob Pompeani Charity Classic to benefit Partners for Quality Foundation is June 23 at Chartiers CC. Entry is $250 per player. Call 412-778-2579 or email to mmitchell@pfq.org.

• Titleist is offering a Mother's Day and Father's Day promotion through June 30 in which the company will personalize golf-ball orders for free. Customers can have a personalized message -- up to three lines of block text, maximum 17 characters per line -- printed on each ball. Orders must be placed through an authorized Titleist golf ball retailer.

• The 10th annual Parkway West Rotary Classic is July 21 at Diamond Run Golf Club. Entry is $180 and includes lunch, dinner, gift and auction. Call 724-947-1234.

Fuzzy Zoeller beat Norman in an 18-hole playoff to win the 1984 U.S. Open, Larry Mize beat him with a chip-in on the second extra hole to win the 1987 Masters, and Paul Azinger beat him on the second extra hole to win the 1993 PGA Championship.