2001 Mercedes Championships
Leaders survive Maui gusts
| • | Garcia comfy playing on blustery day |
| • | Tournament historical statistics |
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
KAPALUA, Maui — Reality golf blew through the Plantation Course yesterday. On an island in the middle of monstrous winds, 32 of the world's best golfers played their version of "Survivor" in the third round of the Mercedes Championships.
As the sun went down to provide a brilliant orange backdrop, Kenny Perry and Scott Verplank emerged i windblown — as today's final-round favorites at 13-under-par 206.
"People say it's terribly windy in Oklahoma," said Verplank, who lives in Edmond. "But when it's like this, we don't golf in it. I mean, this is kind of British Open."
The wind was so radical — 38-mph kona winds on a course designed for prevailing tradewinds — officials shortened four holes. Golfers hit 8-irons anywhere from 100 to 200-plus yards.
Chris DiMarco, who shared low-round honors with Sergio Garcia at 68, double-bogeyed the fifth hole when he went to mark his ball a foot from the hole and it suddenly blew six feet farther. He missed that.
"It was really weird out there, it was blowing so hard," said DiMarco, who played the back in five-under. "My shots weren't really affected that much because you just play the wind. (But) putting was so hard."
He and David Toms (72), who shared the second-round lead with Perry, are a shot back. Mark Calcavecchia, who went eagle-double bogey on the fourth and fifth holes to perfectly capture the craziness of the day, is alone in fifth, three shots back.
Garcia and 1999 champion David Duval (72) share sixth. Brad Faxon (69), who will defend his Sony Open in Hawai'i championship next week, is in a pack another shot back.
All somehow survived, though a few doubted their chances after the first hole. The 473-yard downhill par-4 is designed to play downwind. Yesterday, it was in everyone's face, by any definition.
The field, which includes 13 of the top 25 in the World Golf Ranking, played the hole with an average score of 4.688, with no birdies and only 15 pars. It was the toughest hole on tour since No. 17 at St. Andrews in the final round of the 2000 British Open.
Tiger Woods, who triple-bogeyed the hole Friday, took double yesterday and finished at 1-over 74. He is alone in 16th, 10 shots back and pondering the oddities of paradise.
Others, particularly Perry (71) and Verplank (70), dealt with their dilemma more successfully.
Perry approached every green as if it was a careening surface, widening his stance and all but nailing down his feet over putts. Then he held his putter above instead of behind the "vibrating" ball.
He handled the greens, with the exception of two three-putts for bogey and par, and managed a routine round in outrageous conditions by hitting the ball all but perfectly. Perry missed just one green in regulation and drained three birdie putts within 10 feet.
"I said yesterday I just want to have fun," Perry said. "There was not much fun out there today. It was survival on every golf shot. A lot of pressure. You knew if you didn't hit that ball solid, the wind was going to magnify it and really blow it way off line. I hit the ball terrific."
Verplank closed with an eagle to catch Perry and ease the pain of double bogey four holes earlier. Verplank also opened with consecutive bogeys — topping a 3-wood on his second shot of the day — but threw in five birdies before the disaster at No. 14.
His 70 was remarkable under the mind-blowing circumstances.
Finishing was remarkable.
"It's almost not even golf, to tell you the truth," DiMarco said. "To make a putt, it's almost lucky."
SHORT PUTTS: In a light breeze Thursday, the average score on the Plantation Course was 70.31. When the kona winds kicked up Friday, that rose to 71.72. Yesterday, it played to an average of 71.769. ... The 32 players in this field have combined to win 179 tour events. ... When Al Besselink won the first Mercedes Championships in 1953 — then called the Tournament of Champions — he collected $10,000. Today's winner will get $720,000. ... Davis Love III is replacing Paul Azinger in Tuesday's First Hawaiian Bank Pro Junior Golf Challenge, Tuesday at the Sony Open in Hawai'i. Azinger, the 2000 Sony champion, withdrew because of a bad back.
