chris o'meara / the associated press 2008

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When Tucsonan Michael Thompson departed the Masters on Friday, he became known more for his character than for his emergence as one of the world's leading amateur golfers.

"He can be very, very proud,'' said CBS analyst David Feherty. "It shows the type of character he has.''

While putting at the 15th green on Friday, Thompson, a Rincon/University High School grad who is a senior at Alabama, called a one-stroke penalty on himself while addressing a birdie putt. An almost imperceptible movement of the ball, even though untouched by Thompson, is a penalty according to section 18-2 of the rules of golf.

"He is the only person who would have known the ball moved,'' three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo said on ESPN.

Thompson, runner-up in last year's U.S. Amateur, told reporters he had similarly called a penalty on himself while at Rincon. "You have to follow the rules,'' he said. "The best players do that.''

Two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw was in Thompson's group Friday. At a post-round press meeting, Crenshaw said, "you should not dismiss lightly what Michael did.''

After missing the cut with rounds of 73 and 78, Thompson returned to Alabama to prepare for the SEC championships.

The Crimson Tide is ranked No. 1 in men's college golf. Thompson is ranked No. 2 individually and on Friday was announced as a finalist for the Jack Nicklaus Award as the top male college golfer.

"My goal all year has been to win the NCAA championship,'' Thompson told me.

"Winning that title would be bigger than playing at the Masters.''

ASU senior outfielder Jackie Vasquez, who hits second for the top-ranked Sun Devils and was batting .438 through Friday, said she considered returning home to play for Arizona when she transferred from Kansas in 2006. After helping ASU beat Arizona 8-1 on Wednesday, the Catalina Foothills grad said, "I used to chase foul balls at Hillenbrand Stadium when I was a little girl. I was at all the UA games. When I left Kansas, I talked to Mike Candrea and to (ASU coach) Clint Myers. It just clicked when I talked to Clint. I liked the thought of starting over with a new program, and it has really worked out."

Good to hear that 1998 UA All-American Mike Bibby and his once-estranged father, ex-USC coach Henry Bibby, have come together. Mike last week told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he talks on the phone with his father several times a week and that "I've gotten over what happened.'' While at Arizona, the split between Bibby the father and Bibby the son got awkward mileage in the media. Henry Bibby is now an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers. … By winning the 400 IM at the USA Swimming Grand Prix last week at Stanford, Tucsonan Caitlin Leverenz provided a clear perspective on her status for the Beijing Olympics. Her time of 4:40.50, her personal best, was the eighth fastest time in the world this year. She has qualified for the USA Olympic trials in eight events. … Former UA assistant basketball coach Rodney Tention has applied for the vacant head coaching position at his alma mater, San Francisco. He was a standout player for the Dons from 1985 to 1989. Unfortunately, Tention's timing is not good; he was fired after coaching Loyola Marymount to a 5-26 record this season. … Congratulations to Oro Valley Country Club, which raised $41,003 last week in a series of golf fundraising events for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. That total was up from OVCC's $18,000 total raised a year ago.

It appears as if new UA women's basketball coach Niya Butts will soon be joined in the Pac-10 by one of her former Tennessee Volunteers coaches, Nikki Caldwell. Interviewed for the vacant UCLA job last week, Caldwell told reporters that the underperforming Bruins' program is "a gold mine.'' I suspect Caldwell, who helped the Vols win the NCAA title last week, probably could have had the Arizona job had she seriously pursued it but preferred the inherent recruiting advantages at UCLA. … Former Cholla High School baseball standout Mel Stocker, who finished the 2007 season as a Milwaukee Brewers' outfielder, opened this season at Class AAA Nashville. Stocker went 4 for 4 on Thursday to raise his batting average to .500. … One reason ex-CDO and UA home run record-holder Shelley Duncan is likely to get back to the Yankees' roster because his attitude is so healthy. Returned to Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last week, Duncan hit two home runs and three doubles in his first two games. Duncan was sent down because he was the only Yankee with minor-league options remaining.

It was a really bad week for Simon Burnett, a former NCAA champion swimmer at Arizona who has trained under Frank Busch and Rick DeMont since his All-America days at the UA. Burnett failed to make England's Olympic team in that nation's Olympic trials last week. He was probably the UK's top swimmer, in reputation and potential, after the 2004 Athens Olympics, in which he finished seventh in the 200 freestyle. "There have been some huge lows,'' Burnett told UK reporters. "I've really been struggling with trying to find out what's wrong. It's like waking up in the morning and not being able to walk straight.'' Burnett turns 25 on Monday. … UA women's golf coach Shelly Haywood takes her No. 14-ranked team into the Pac-10 championships next week against a stout field that includes No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 USC and No. 4 Arizona State. Haywood could sit and groan about "what ifs'' had not the club's second-best golfer, Adriana Zwanck, quit school and returned to Spain, and had not its top recruit, Esther Choe, turned pro. Arizona would likely be ranked No. 1 had both played this year. Instead, Haywood is looking forward. One of her top recruits, Mexican Margarita Ramos, made the cut in the on-going LPGA Corona Championships in Morelia, Mexico. In addition, Haywood has senior All-American Alison Walshe back in the lineup; Walshe, ranked No. 6 of all college women's golfers, missed the UA's most recent tournament while playing in the LPGA's Kraft Nabisco major.

Arizona's 2007 Jim Thorpe Award winner, cornerback Antoine Cason, flew to Boston last week and had a personal audience with Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Two weeks earlier, he was in Dallas meeting with Cowboys coach Wade Phillips. Cason's draft status continues to climb, in part because his athletic skills are boosted by his personality and character. The cornerback-needy Cowboys seem likely to select Cason with the 28th pick of the first round. Cason's agent, Ron Slavin, last week told Texas reporters: "I think Antoine could go as high as 11th and as low as 30th overall.'' The draft begins April 26. … Incoming UA point guard recruit Brandon Jennings, named Parade magazine's high school Player of the Year last week, attempted 392 three-point shots at Oak Hill (Va.) Academy this season. Given the lack of shooters on the UA roster, it's likely Jennings will hoist at least 300 treys next season. That would break Jason Gardner's school-record 276 and soar past Salim Stoudamire's top season mark of 238. Mr. Jennings won't be shy.

As with most who follow UA basketball, I bought into the off-season stories that Chase Budinger's daily boot-camp regimen — exhausting workouts with a personal trainer in San Diego — would change the way he plays basketball.

Instead, he again was soft and didn't fully assert himself. Budinger might have been able to play longer periods without tiring, but you cannot realistically expect one to change his personality via weightlifting and sprints on the beach.

We should have known better. It reminded me of the summer of 2000 when UA quarterback Ortege Jenkins moved to Alabama to train under QB guru Homer Smith and "really learn how to be a quarterback.'' Instead, Jenkins actually got worse and was the root factor in Dick Tomey losing his job.

Budinger hit a plateau at Arizona and became a one-tool player, a jump-shooter who couldn't play defense or get an important rebound. He wasn't nearly as good as Cal's Ryan Anderson, who came into the league with a tiny fraction of Budinger's buildup.

But some NBA team will draft Budinger in the first round because it, too, will look at his remarkable physical tools and think it can work with him on getting tougher and developing a mean streak.

And if nothing else, Budinger is a young man of good character who is unlikely to create attitude issues while sitting on an NBA bench. They pay millions of dollars for those guys, too.