An eagle-eyed TV viewer called in to complain that Thompson had placed her golf ball, after marking it, about half a centimetre from its original place on the 17th green. The smallest crowd – 4,725 – turned out at Soldier Field to watch the Spurs defeat the St Louis Stars 2-1; club officials claimed tornado warnings kept the numbers down. Hard-core fans love making the case for their favorite players to get national team time. “In no other country do they keep the balls,” Bays coach Doug Millward said.