Wayne Huizenga and Dan Marino are supposed to get together for golf in Stuart today. The play will be casual. The stakes will be anything but. To so many anxious thousands of South Florida football fans and citizens in general, no final round ever played at the Masters or U.S. Open has offered up a result as important.

This is Huizenga's final chance to stop the hemorrhaging that threatens to leave Marino estranged from the club he has served with such loyalty and splendor for so long.

This is Huizenga's final chance to stop the hemorrhaging that threatens to leave an enormous chunk of Dolfans feeling disenfranchised, betrayed by the club they've poured money and heart into for so long.

This is Huizenga's final chance to do the right thing.

Will Dave Wannstedt have that same smile around if Marino returns to the Dolphins? SEE ALSO What now for Marino? POPE: Marino and Minnesota a troubling thought COTE: Last chance to do the right thing Dolphins sign RB Thurman Thomas Vikes WR welcomes Marino to Minnesota 1999-2000 results More Dolphins coverage NFL coverage Additional coverage NFL stats Dolphins/NFL bulletin board

The golf on H. Wayne's private playground may include the perfunctory small talk and chitchat, but at its core this round is a four-hour business meeting at which Marino's NFL future likely will be decided.

Huizenga has closed many a deal while ostensibly chasing par.

He needs to close this deal fast -- and make certain No. 13 is again wearing aqua in September, and not the ghastly bruise of a color the Minnesota Vikings call purple.

The decision is pragmatic and emotional, and hugely both.

It is pragmatic because Marino, even diminished, still is a better QB than anyone currently on Miami's roster. You do not give up on the game's all-time passing leader, discard him like some career journeyman, because, coming off an injury, he had his first poor season in 17.

The decision is emotional because this is The Franchise. He is not just another player. He does deserve extraordinary accommodation. And the Dolphins may discover, too late, the profound negative impact of letting Marino go in such a mishandled manner.

Huizenga's legacy as a sports baron may depend on how he handles this. His dismantling of the 1997 World Series champion Marlins he then owned was a public relations disaster he managed to survive. I'm not sure if this one is.

Does he wish to be the owner who did nothing while his new coaching staff allowed Marino to turn purple and the Dolphins to turn red?

The Dolphins are now claiming Marino always has been welcome to come back and compete again -- which would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.

Two things are ludicrous about that.

1) It's a lie. New coach Dave Wannstedt has avoided every opportunity, and there have been many, to make Marino feel welcome. He has done anything but offer a curt ``Good riddance!''

(Wannstedt happened to be playing golf himself Monday, with Dolphins suite-holders, the most monied of fans. Convincing them Jay Fiedler is better than Dan Marino must have been even tougher than bagging birdies.)

2) Marino should not have to compete for his job. He should be made to keep it based on performance, as always. But he damned well should be No. 1 coming into training camp -- especially against a motley, utterly unproven quartet like Damon Huard, Fiedler, Jim Druckenmiller and Scott Zolak.

Vikings coach Dennis Green, who has offered Marino the starting job up there, understands this, even if Wannstedt and company do not. Green knows -- even if so many blinded by Marino's one off year and age do not -- that a fiercely competitive, fiercely proud man with something to prove can be an exceptionally potent weapon.

The Vikes and Dolphins meet this coming season. If Marino winds up in purple, I wonder if Huizenga has any clue how many Dolphins fans would be rooting for Marino to beat the team that filed for divorce?

Dennis Green, by the way, has been in the playoffs seven of his eight seasons in Minnesota.

Another oh-by-the-way: Huard, Fiedler, Druckenmiller and Zolak have a combined 19 career touchdown passes. That's a mere 401 behind Marino.

It is up to Huizenga now to override Wannstedt's painfully obvious wishes and re-sign Marino before it's too late.

There is no question Dan immensely prefers to continue with Miami. This is his home, in every way. Minnesota offers Marino a wonderful opportunity -- including two receivers, in Randy Moss and Cris Carter, who are a more potent pair than even Marks Duper and Clayton were, and a runner, in Robert Smith, more gifted than any Marino has ever had here -- but Marino certainly would prefer not to start all over on an artificial turf home field. Neither does Dan's wife, Claire, wish for the move.

That is how ferociously Marino wants to play another season, though.

Dolphins president Eddie Jones said he was ``flabbergasted'' Dan might join the Vikings? I'm flabbergasted Jones would be flabbergasted.

It has been staggeringly apparent Marino wants to keep playing. That's why he voided his Dolphins contract and became a free agent. That's why he didn't retire when, initially, interest seemed negligible.

And that's why it has been such an embarrassing joke for the Dolphins to claim the decision is ``up to Dan'' while all along giving no indication whatsoever they want him back.

In effect, they've been praying Marino, lacking an offer from another team, simply would retire.

Now that the Vikings have emerged, the onus squarely is on Huizenga.

So what will it be, H.?

Is Dan Marino still and forever a Miami Dolphin? Or not?

The ball is on the tee, H.

You're driving.