No. 1 was whole lot of trouble

By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser

Vijay Singh, the No. 1 golfer in the world, might have won his first tournament in Hawai'i, beating Ernie Els by a stroke in the Sony Open yesterday.

Ernie Els chipped out of the rough on No. 9 yesterday en route to a birdie at Waialae Country Club. Els finished with a 62, tying the Sony Open record. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

For the third straight year in the Sony Open in Hawai'i it was the most difficult to attain par.

Only 20 birdies were registered there compared to 162 bogeys during the windy four days.

It should again rank among the toughest holes on the entire tour. It ranked as the 21st most difficult last year and 26th in 2003.

Don't be surprised if it makes the top-20 in 2005 with its 4.457 scoring average as the golfers —even Singh, who bogeyed it on the first day — played it well over par because of the in-your-face 10-to-25 mph southwesterly winds that truly became an invisible hazard all week.

A tough enough hole even with favorable prevailing trade winds, No. 1 is called "mamao," Hawaiian for distant, and originally designed in 1927 by Seth Raynor with the famous No. 17 "Road Hole" of St. Andrews in mind. Minus the pot bunkers, of course.

The Waialae No. 1 played as a par-5 during all of the years of the Hawaiian Open and Waialae members still play it to that score. But when PGA officials decided to make the Sony Open a par-70 event, that hole along with another par-5, the 13th, were turned into par-4s.

As a par-5, the narrow green guarded by a deep left bunker is receptive to third shots with lofted irons. With trades, the pros can get there in two with long to mid-irons in two.

This week it was unapproachable, evoking a litany of complaints and respectful awe.

Charles Howell III, who finished tied for third with Shigeki Maruyama, said his birdie on Saturday "felt like an eagle" as he hit driver and 4-iron to 10 feet.

If Maruyama wants to reflect on why he finished two strokes behind Singh, he can blame the double-bogey 6 he had at the hole. He recovered with an ace three holes later to take the 54-hole lead.

"Well, I got that out of the way," sighed Brett Quigley after he bogeyed the hole and shot a 67 Friday. On Thursday he chipped in from 60 feet for a birdie.

"One is a par-5. They can call it a par-4 but it's par-5," said Quigley, who felt like he stole two shots there.

"No. 1 was brutal. I had 100 yards for my third shot and a 20-footer for par," said Stewart Cink on the first day en route to an eventual tie for fifth with Quigley.

Craig Stadler, the 2004 Champions Tour money leader, and Robert Gamez, who's now 0-for-373 dating back to his last victory, the 1990 Bay Hill Invitational, posted top-10 finishes despite bogeying No. 1 three out of the four rounds.

"It played like a par 5 to me," said Tom Byrum, who had to use a 3-wood for his second shot from 230 yards out after a so-so tee shot.

"It's a (par) 5. It was more fun when it was a par-5," said Corey Pavin, who won the Hawaiian Open in back-to-back years (1986 and 1987) when the course played to a par 72.

Nobody wanted to ask U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen about his adventurous 9 in the opening round. For the record, he hit two drives out of bounds as the wind took his drives to the right.

Goosen, however, recovered to finish the round in just two over and went on to make the cut.