"Gal" Friday! Maria Verchenova

There is a popular adult game that I will sportingly call "golf", where willing participants stroll around lush fairways called greens and knock little dimpled balls through the air. It is truly a game of skill that requires a high degree of talent to compete successfully at a professional level, but if you can manifest any degree of upward mobility, and if you can walk & chew bubble gum at the same time, you too can call yourself an athlete by simply participating in this game.

Now, all things being equal, I don't give a rat's ass about golf. However, in recent years some serious honeys have entered the country club set, and they get as much attention for their looks as for their relative skill level. I'm not making any judgement call about whether this is fair or not, but Tiger Woods personal peccadillo's notwithstanding, who gives a damn about hard little balls sailing through the skies, when these baby dolls are nearby.

Maria Verchenova is the first Russian to become a full-time member of the Ladies European Tour. Maria turned pro in late 2006 and is in her third season on the LET, where she has posted several top-10 finishes. Game or sport be damned, this young lady seriously has the goods!