For openers, 67s not good enough

By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser

KAPALUA, Maui — Don't blame Cameron Beckman and Chris DiMarco if they're regarded as the whodaguys of the PGA Tour.

Frank Lickliter follows his shot from the second tee of the Plantation Course during the first round of the Mercedes Championships. Lickliter shot a 7-under 66 to finish three strokes behind Mike Weir. Associated Press

After all, leader Mike Weir was already in with a 10-under 63, tying the tournament single-round record set by David Duval when he won in 1999.

And Scott Verplank was 7-under par and Duval 6-under going into the very birdieable par-5 18th.

A funny thing happened on the 18th. Verplank bogeyed the hole and Duval could only par.

Verplank and Duval were brought in for interviews because, by then, a round of 67 was looking pretty good. Even Tiger Woods shot a 68.

So Beckman and DiMarco found themselves in a five-way tie for third, along with Verplank, Duval and defending champion Jim Furyk.

For DiMarco, shooting rounds in the 60s and not getting attention is nothing new. He wired rounds in the 60s in four tournaments without a victory before finally winning the Buick Challenge to earn a trip to the winners-only event this week.

"I had a lot of opportunities to win last year, but it's hard to win out here. You're not going to win too many tournaments," DiMarco said. "All you can do is put yourself in a position, and if you put yourself in position enough, you're going to pull one out. I was lucky to do that at the end of the year."

So he'll take his 67 anytime at the 7,263-yard course, which plays to a par 73.

"I'm in a good situation because I had a good round today and a good one out of the way before the wind blows," DiMarco said. "The wind was really calm, so it was definitely scoring conditions. At this course, once you get on the greens when the wind's blowing, it's hard to putt. So it was OK to putt out there. And I putted really good today. It was nice."

He wasn't surprised by Weir's 63.

"It was out there today. I didn't birdie five and seven, where I had a good chip. And I made a bad bogey at No. 10. There's four shots for me right there."

It was also nice to play with golf's headliners, although DiMarco thinks that his game has reached a comfort level to the point where he can contend in every tournament.

"I'm expecting more from my game and when you expect more from your game, you tend to do better. I'm starting to believe in myself. That was the hardest thing for me at first. It's been fun the last two years," said DiMarco, who finished 12th on the money list in 2001 with $2.5 million.

Beckman is another believer after his breakthrough year, when he won the Southern Farm Bureau Classic for his first tour victory and a ticket to Maui.

By winning the final full-field event of the year, Beckman was paired with Weir, who won the season-closing Tour Championship involving the top 29 money leaders, as the first twosome off the tee yesterday.

"It was fun to watch," Beckman said about Weir's 10-under round. "We kind of fed off each other."

The two would have made a heck of a bestball team. They combined to shoot 16-under with Beckman birdieing four holes that Weir didn't.

"It was a good way to start," Beckman said about his 67.

Like DiMarco, Beckman is striving to join the more noted names on the tour.

"If you're going to be a good player on the PGA Tour, you've got to be able to play with these guys. They're on the upper echelon on the tour," Beckman said.

Well, at least after the first round of the Mercedes Championships, both Beckman and DiMarco are right up there.