06/05 — The New York Jets' Charity Golf Classic came roaring out of the tee boxes at Meadow Brook Club. The day of golf, food, raffle tickets and fun opened under sunny, virtually cloudless skies and pleasant breezes at the Meadow Brook Club in Jericho, N.Y.

I got to tour the tournament while sitting in the passenger's side of the cart driven by Jets multimedia man Ryan Ruzika, who drove up and down the hilly course with one hand on the wheel and the other cradling his camera. That's an experience in itself.

Ryan's path had us intersecting on several holes with Chad Pennington's fivesome, and for anyone who hasn't seen Chad's golf game, picture his passing game: nothing too fast, but everything smooth, accurate, technically crisp.

"Keep it in the short grass, that's all you gotta do," Chad encouraged one of his golfing partners whose drive just stayed out of the rough off the first tee.

Then Chad sent his first shot of the day low and picturesque down the middle off the elevated tee.

"When the camera's on, you've got to make it happen," Chad said with a nod to Ruzika, whose red light was on. "After you're gone, I'll be flubbing it." Not quite.

Kicker Mike Nugent definitely looked sharp off the tee, but then topped his fairway shot. "All swing, no ball," he said gamely. The civilians in his group were happy to have him, though. Said one: "We've got the only player who's the same size we are."

The bigger guys, like center Nick Mangold, can crush the ball, although sometimes the resulting duck hook searches for the adjacent fairway. But as the day went on, Mangold reportedly was bombing 350-yard drives in the fairway, and his team led after the first nine holes.

And players such as safety Kerry Rhodes, corner Justin Miller and defensive lineman Bobby Hamilton don't golf much and were getting coaching from the amateur players in their group in between shots.

Which led to minor triumphs among the Meadow Brook trees.

"I just made a birdie putt for the first time ever," Hamilton beamed. And LB Brad Kassell exulted after dropping a 12-footer: "Count it! That's what I'm talkin' about!"

OT D'Brickashaw Ferguson was asked how his game was going. It sounded like the assessment of his rookie season. "Making strides," he said as he strode off the green.

And some were not. RB Cedric Houston, before heading out, predicted, "I'm going to shoot a 65, in that area." He wasn't talking about the front nine. But I caught up with him several holes in and he admitted, "I'm in a slump."

I didn't watch LB Eric Barton at all, but his two-tone golf shoes were the hands-down winners for footwear among the players.

It was good to see a Green & White old-timer on the Rhodes team that included radio play-by-play voice Bob Wischusen and "Jets 24/7" producer Bill Zagger. Super Bowl center John Schmitt put his 20-foot putt closest to the pin at the end of his five's first hole.

Before all the carts took off for their different holes at the start of the 18-hole scramble event, there was some trash talk — from the Terry Bradway/Joey Clinkscales group. "Everybody else is playing for second," Clinkscales, the director of college scouting, advised as he and Bradway drove off.

Before his cart followed, GM Mike Tannenbaum said, "I'm just happy to be here."

The tournament continues this afternoon, with coach Eric Mangini, fresh off his "Sopranos" triumph, expected to drop in and the event to be capped by a dinner and raffle. I'll let you know who takes the top prize as soon as the results are in.