06/03 — Football, golf and charity: Happy together.

And in the case of the fifth annual New York Jets Charity Golf Classic today, happy doesn't even capture it. The day started out hot but turned into a beautiful day for golf, warm yet breezy on the well-manicured grounds of a private club in Jericho, N.Y.

The Jets and their golfing fans were the stars of the day at the fifth annual Classic, whose presenting sponsor is National Communications Group. A field of 128 golfers helped add to the contributions that this event has raised — more than $681,000 since 2004 for the New York Jets Foundation's programs to help disadvantaged youth throughout the tristate area.

The money is not contingent on the quality of the Jets' golfing, as many of the players will tell you.

Kicker Mike Nugent has heard he's one of the top Green & White duffers.

"I guess I dress good, and maybe I have good form in the fairway," Nuge told me this morning before he set out on the course. "If I break 100, that's a good day for me. And putting, I've got a lot of work to do. If I eliminate three-putts, I'd shoot 92 every day."

Long-snapper James Dearth had a favorite memory from last year's tournament, which his fivesome won.

"I didn't contribute much, except for a 35-foot eagle putt," he said. "I golf once a year. I'm just hopeful my team can win it again."

DT Kris Jenkins, one of the newest and largest Jets, is under no illusions, either.

"Oh, I'm terrible," Kris said. "My in-between game is OK but my driving is the worst. We might be able to get a couple of help-outs on my part, but I'm probably just here for show. I've got the Bagger Vance knickerbockers on and the old-school Adidases.

"It's a privilege to do what we do, and you have to make an opportunity out of everything," Jenkins added. "If I have to come out here and embarrass myself, that's a part of it."

Second-year LB David Harris was making one of his first golfing forays and showed some unique technique from the driving range, standing like, well, a linebacker and wielding his driver like a baseball bat and sometimes dropping his right hand off the club somewhere around contact. Yet Harris was still sending the ball downfield a few hundred yards.

To be sure, some Jets do have a deft touch on the links. Punter Ben Graham probably plays the most. And corner Andre Woolfolk would have been up there with Ben, except for the twists and turns that life takes.

"My handicap is an eight but I'm playing at a 20 right now. Having a kid and my wife expecting another hurts the golf game," he said. "Each situation is like three or four strokes added on to my game."

For years, Andre and Jaime, who was the centerfielder for Oklahoma's softball team, played three to four rounds of golf a week, 60 to 70 rounds a year when he was with the Titans. Even though he's been away from the pursuit of the little white ball for a while, we expect to hear good things from Woolfolk's game later today.

For the second straight year I jumped onboard with Ryann Ruzika of the Jets video department as he engaged in what he called "extreme golfcarting." We visited different players all around the course and we saw some excellent examples of fine Jets golfing.

General manager Mike Tannenbaum and his team were reported to have chalked up seven birdies on the front nine in the tournament's best-ball scramble format. Most of the five-golfer teams were composed of one Jet and four non-Jets. Tannenbaum's team was more of a front office five, with Mike T being joined by Terry Bradway, JoJo Wooden and Jim Cochran from the scouting department and Bob Miller, who works as one of the Jets' regular practice officials.

The five were never better than on the fifth hole, when all stroked 20-foot putts downhill and with a left-hand bend and got successively closer and closer until Miller drained his putt for the team's birdie.

"Hopefully our season goes as well as this hole did," said Tannenbaum, who later dropped his teeshot within two feet of the pin on the uphill par-3 ninth.

The two men in competition to become the Jets' starting quarterback are both in the competition today. I didn't see any of Chad Pennington's shots but I did see one of the best shots of the day from Kellen Clemens on the par-3 sixth hole, one of four closest-to-the-pin holes. Clemens stroked his iron onto the green to within 4 feet, 9 inches of the pin.

"Tell me you got that on tape,' Clemens said to Ruzika. Actually, it's digital, but yes, Ryann was recording the whole thing, and this footage and lots more will be up eventually on newyorkjets.com.

Even guys who haven't played a lot had their victories today. "I'm hangin' on," said safety Kerry Rhodes. "But my group played several of my shots, so it's been a good day."

Leon Washington told two of the 16 new members of the Jets Flight Crew at the Classic who were positioned at the first tee, "Don't laugh." But the Jets' reigning MVP came into the tent for a burger between nines smiling.

"I've been doing pretty good," Leon said. "I only lost one ball, and I lipped out on an eagle."

Eric Allen is here to fill you in on the rest of the tournament with a news story once all the scores are in.

The Beneficiaries

The New York Jets Foundation supports these programs:

■ Heads Up!, which supports New York City Public Schools Athletic League high school football and middle school flag football.

■ Schoolfood, which promotes healthy eating in the New York City public schools.

■ Eat Right, Move More, which promotes healthful eating throughout New Jersey schools.

■ Generation Jets Academy, an afterschool program located in Brooklyn.

Cover Band

If you wondered when and where the fruits of that offensive line photo shoot of a few weeks ago were going to ripen, wait no longer.

The cover of the upcoming Sporting News features the Jets' new band of brothers, Alan Faneca front and center, flanked on the right by Nick Mangold and D'Brickashaw Ferguson, on the left by Brandon Moore and Damien Woody.

Thanks for noticing, TSN.

Another Forum for Jenkins

It's a busy day for Jenkins. After golf, the nose tackle will leave Long Island for rapper Jay-Z's New York City studio, where he'll be recording a stop-the-violence public service announcement with rapper KRS-1.