Arnold Palmer puts an amazing record on the line this week when golf’s silly season gets under way at the UBS Warburg Cup.

The United States has never lost a cup when Palmer was captain.

Palmer was 2-0 as a Ryder Cup captain, including 1963 when he won four matches at East Lake as the last playing captain. He was captain at the 1996 Presidents Cup, when the Americans squeezed out a 161¼2-151¼2 victory.

And he was captain of the inaugural UBS Warburg Cup last year, beating counterpart Gary Player as the United States won by a single point.

Is he that good?

“I don’t know about that,” Palmer said with a laugh. “There was never a year where you could just walk in and win. It always came to a breaking point, and we’ve been able to edge out.”

Among silly-season events, the UBS Warburg is one of the most entertaining.

Played this year at Sea Island Golf Club, it features 12-man teams from the United States and the “Rest of the World.” Six players are from the 40-49 age group, and the other six are 50 and older.

After two days of team matches, the fun starts Sunday when captains can manipulate the draw to provide compelling matchups.

Player returns as captain of the Rest of the World team and will face Palmer again.

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Open alcohol: USGA executive director David Fay was intrigued by Europe’s decision to ban alcohol consumption beyond the concession area, although the policy might not be adopted at the U.S. Open.

“I hate to see prohibition come back,” Fay said. “There are times when a nice, cold beer in the early afternoon tastes good.”

Fay said the USGA reviews its alcohol policy every year. The current policy is to stop sales after the leaders make the turn.

“I don’t think limiting alcohol sales to only the corporate tents is a good thing,” he said. “The incidents we’ve had in the past have pretty much come from people getting fueled in the corporate tent, barking something out, and going back to the comfort and sanctuary of their tents.”

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Divots: Byron Nelson is the recipient of the Graffis Award from the National Golf Foundation. It recognizes lifelong contributions to golf in the tradition of Herb and Joe Graffis, the brothers who founded the NGF in 1936. : Phil Mickelson plans to use the new Titleist ball in the offseason. Lefty calls it the Pro V1-X, although he’s not sure if it will be sold under a different name. : Nick Dougherty has been voted rookie of year on the European tour. He was 36th on the Order of Merit.