SONY OPEN
Kelly leads pack after third round

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Jerry Kelly, searching for his first victory on the PGA Tour, lines up a putt on the 18th green. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu AdvertiserNT>

Friday, John Cook threatened to run away with the Sony Open in Hawai'i. Yesterday, nearly everyone closed in and Jerry Kelly blitzed by.

Today's final round at Waialae Country Club might look more like the start of the Honolulu Marathon than the end of the PGA Tour's first full-field event. There are 13 golfers within six of the lead. That pack includes three who have won here (Brad Faxon, Jim Furyk, Jeff Sluman), PGA champion David Toms and 2001 Rookie of the Year Charles Howell III.

It also includes Cook, who chewed Waialae up Friday only to have it bite back yesterday. Cook, who fired a tournament-record 62 in the second round, hit the wall on the front nine of the third. He bogeyed three of his first six holes — he had just one bogey the first two days —Êand again staggered down No. 9, parring Waialae's second-easiest hole for the third straight day. Cook regrouped, playing the last eight holes in 3-under to give himself a realistic shot at his 12th victory today.

But Kelly, in search of his first victory, is now the hunted, snagging a two-shot advantage over Cook and Toms with birdies on his final two holes. The self-described "cheesehead" hockey player from Madison, Wis., led the tournament by the time he and Cook made the turn yesterday, calling Cook's three-shot lead going into the round and raising him one.

Faxon, the defending champion, was two back, but played the back nine in 1-over. Toms and Chris Riley trailed by three at the turn. Furyk charged ahead of Riley on the back, playing it in 5-under 30.

Kelly never stopped raising the ante, hanging on tenaciously with a 5-under-par 65. He is at 14-under, 196 for the tournament. After an early bogey — his second of the week — he was flawless, playing the final 14 holes in 6-under. He nearly aced the 17th hole (189-yard par-3), hitting his tee shot within two feet, and two-putted the final hole for birdie.

"Those last two holes were big, no question," said Kelly, who went into the final round of two tournaments last year with a lead. "I've got great putters behind me. They're going to make putts tomorrow. If they hit the ball well, they're going to shoot well. I know it's going to be a horse race. They always are out here. You don't back into anything."

Kelly hasn't backed into anything his entire career. "I have always been through a lot," he said. "Every level I've come up, I have absolutely not been a world-beater."

Then he ticked off his golf history in three-year chunks, bluntly describing how he was overshadowed in juniors until winning his last tournament, took three years to break through on the TC Jordan Tour, then three more to become the Nike Tour's player of the year. Since qualifying for the PGA Tour in 1996, he has methodically climbed up the money list, to No. 35 last year.

"It's a lot of maturing at each of those steps," Kelly said. "I tried to tell myself it probably wouldn't be a three-year timetable on the PGA Tour. The guys out here are not here for three years trying to get somewhere. You're playing against the best. The learning curve here is a little rounder than the sharp learning curve at those other spots. I've gained a lot of experience."

Kelly has worked on his swing — moving it out more in front of his body — successfully enough that he is now comfortable with "missing it around the golf course." His bad shots haven't been truly terrible and, for maybe the first time, he knows what he did wrong. It has helped turned a perfectionist into someone practically ... Kelly is almost afraid to say it ... patient.

Mis-hitting a 3-iron on No. 4 yesterday led to birdies on the next two holes, not implosion. After fanning his approach shot to No. 9, he nearly blasted in from the bunker. He drained a speeding 25-footer on No. 13, then closed brilliantly.

It still wasn't quite as good as Toms, who shot the day's low score (63) and now has seven sub-par rounds in seven 2002 tries. His bogey-free day included a pair of 25-foot birdie putts. The only flaws Toms could find were three missed putts from within 10 feet, which would have given him six birdies to start his Saturday.

"In the early part of the round I was just watching David hit it five feet (from the hole)," said Furyk, who played with Toms and shot 64. "It looked like he was going to shoot 50-something."

Toms lost a playoff with Sergio Garcia a week ago at the Mercedes Championships. He also lost a playoff in his final official event of 2001. He is ranked sixth in the world and is riding a major hot streak with six wins in the past three years.

Clearly, Toms knows how to sprint down the home stretch. Even last week he didn't lose the tournament as much as Garcia won it.

"If I have the same length putt on No. 18 tomorrow as I did last week to win, whether I make it or not, it will be a successful week," Toms said. "I'd love to have that opportunity again. To come back and make it this time.

"I did look at the board when I came in. There are a lot of guys, so you don't know. Somebody may get hot and I would have to play great to win. I just want to give myself a chance. There are so many things that go into winning — what other people do, what you're able to do. ... You try and be in control, but sometimes you're just not. You just have to have the breaks."