Ostler: Peyton manning the links

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Nothing like a February day at the Monterey Peninsula, which, until golf architects went to work 100 years ago, was God's fixer-upper.
And her comes Peyton Manning, who duck-hooks his tee shot at 18 at Spyglass Hill on Thursday. It's Manning's first day at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and maybe he's not familiar with the rules. You don't have to dump the ball out-of-bounds to avoid taking a sack.
Manning recovers nicely to par the hole, and cards a nifty 8-over 80 (he's an 8 handicap).
Manning is the perfect guest. He's amiable with the galleries, a backslapping bud with the other celebs and pros, and a willing mingler with the corporate types who sugar-daddy this tournament and the Tour.
After his round, Manning mentions his golf buddy, Tiger Woods.
"We played together in a pro-am at Bay Hill," Manning says, "and we played twice at Isleworth" in Florida.
On one of the Isleworth outings, Manning and Tiger were joined by Bubba Watson and Hank Haney, Tiger's swing coach.
"It was kind of intimidating," Manning says. "I tried to go first" on the tees.
Manning probably has become more famous for his TV commercials and Saturday Night Live appearances than for his football flinging. In one SNL sketch, Manning is showing little kids at a playground how to play football. He quickly goes from kindly to deranged, swearing and firing footballs at the kids' faces. Truly a classic.
Manning is humble about his acting success. Fielding a compliment, he doesn't say, "Aw, shucks," but he does say, "Aw."
Does he ever think about doing TV or movie work after football?
"Aw, no," Manning says. "I don't think so. I feel fortunate to do some things, like commercials, and playing out here, I do have fun with it, but (shaking his head)."
So if Bill Murray asked you to be in a movie?
"Aw, I don't think that's going to happen."
Bill?

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit the San Francisco Chronicle