Photos by George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Paul Stankowski has now done the Hawaii two-step by
winning at Kapalua and Waialae in the past three months.

Little did Stankowski realize that he needed to birdie the par-5 18th hole three times yesterday. The third time proved a charm as he won the United Airlines Hawaiian Open by beating defending champion Jim Furyk in a four-hole playoff for the $216,000 top prize.

Stankowski -- who has found a pot of gold in Hawaii, winning the Kapalua International last November -- tapped in for a birdie and Furyk's 10-foot bid to keep the playoff going slid by the cup.

The two, along with Mike Reid, who was eliminated when he bogeyed the first extra hole -- the par-4 10th -- ended with a 72-hole score of 17-under 271 yesterday at the Waialae Country Club.

Furyk, who beat Brad Faxon in a three-hole playoff last year, posted a final-round 68. Stankowski ended with a 70 and Reid a 71 as the wind kicked up to make par-72, 7,012-yard course play tougher than on the first three days.

"The golf course finally showed its teeth today," Stankowski said. "When I woke up this morning and saw the wind blowing, I knew the scores would be higher."

His game plan was to be patient and wait for the par-5s. It paid off.

Except for the opening hole, Stankowski birdied the other three par-5s yesterday to play the long holes 15-under par this week.

In missing the cut here the last three years, Stankowski had played the par-5s only 3-under. That's combined for all three years, he thinks.

Par-5s aside, the long-hitting Stankowski still needed to putt for dough. And he did all day yesterday.

Photos by George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Defending champ Jim Furyk's putter
betrayed him on the 15th.

But his regular caddy, Rich Mayo, was the one giving him the right reads and alignment this weekend, especially Saturday when Stankowski shot a 64 to join the leaders.

His most dramatic putt turned out to be a swift 30-footer on the third playoff hole for a birdie after he had hit his drive into the right fairway bunker. Furyk, who was just eight feet away, thought that it was his putt to win.

"That putt kept me alive," said a stoked Stankowski, who did a little dance around the green after it dropped. "I was pretty excited, especially when you have to make it and you make it."

"That birdie he made at 10 was unreal," said Furyk, who could have talked about putting, too, though maybe in X-rated terms.

He had a bunch of putts, four of them. Trouble was, they were all on the same hole -- the par-4 15th that gave him a double-bogey 6. As it turned out, there would have been no playoff in the first place had Furyk even three-putted.

"He's the best putter on the tour. I would never have expected it," Stankowski said about Furyk's four-putting the hole. Watching Furyk from the fairway, Stankowski added, "It made you realize you're still in the ballgame."

"I had one bad stroke -- the second putt on 15," said Furyk, who had a two-shot lead over Stankowski and Reid before his putter, or stroke, betrayed him.

His first putt from 50 feet away broke three feet right of the hole. Furyk's next putt went three feet by and he missed the comebacker.

"I felt like I lost the tournament a few times today and I won the tournament a few times today," said Furyk, who came back with a birdie at 16 only to bogey 17 from the back right bunker and birdie the regulation 18.

"Overall, it's very disappointing. I don't think anyone played better than me," he added.

Tom Lehman, the 1996 PGA player of the year, must have had the same feeling. Starting slow on his first nine for the third straight round, he shot a 71--274 for sixth place.

Donnie Hammond, who tied for second last week in the Buick Invitational, shared fourth place with Jay Don Blake at 273. Hammond, who had to go to Qualifying School to regain his playing privileges after finishing 165th on the money list, has already earned more ($130,907) in the last two weeks than he did in 21 tournaments last year.

Stankowski, who matched Furyk's feat of posting back-to-back wins at Kapalua and Waialae, now holds five tournament titles -- the two in Hawaii, the Casio World Open in Japan, the BellSouth Classic and the Nike Louisiana Classic -- all in a span of 10 months.

"Winning's nice and I'm getting used to it, I guess. But I'm still the same guy when I was missing cuts," he said. Only this time, he burned up Waialae's par-5s.

Paul Stankowski, $216,00071-66-64-70--271 * Jim Furyk, $105,600 70-67-66-68--271 Mike Reid, $105,600 62-72-66-71--271 Donnie Hammond, $52,800 70-68-66-69--273 Jay Don Blake, $52,800 68-70-65-70--273 Tom Lehman, $43,200 65-69-69-71--274 Paul Goydos, $38,700 70-66-71-68--275 Lee Porter, $38,700 70-66-67-72--275 Joe Durant, $31,200 69-69-69-70--277 Paul Azinger, $31,200 67-70-69-71--277 Stuart Appleby, $31,200 67-70-69-71--277 Taylor Smith, $31,200 72-66-68-71--277 Tom Byrum, $21,200 67-70-71-70--278 Craig Stadler, $21,200 71-66-72-69--278 Pete Jordan, $21,200 63-70-73-72--278 Brad Bryant, $21,200 68-71-71-68--278 Brian Claar, $21,200 62-75-69-72--278 Scott Simpson, $21,200 65-66-74-73--278 Shane Bertsch, $13,050 68-67-72-72--279 Brent Geiberger, $13,050 69-69-68-73--279 John Maginnes, $13,050 68-67-71-73--279 Bruce Fleisher, $13,050 70-68-68-73--279 Doug Barron, $13,050 67-69-69-74--279 Ed Dougherty, $13,050 64-69-71-75--279

Len Mattiace, $13,050 64-70-69-76--279 Tim Herron, $13,050 66-70-68-75--279 Brandel Chamblee, $8,700 71-67-70-72--280 Duffy Waldorf, $8,700 65-69-72-74--280 David Ogrin, $8,700 71-68-72-69--280 John Daly, $8,700 67-69-69-75--280 Billy Mayfair, $6,806 70-67-71-73--281 John Dowdall, $6,806 67-72-69-73--281 Guy Boros, $6,806 69-68-72-72--281 Robert Gamez, $6,806 70-67-73-71--281 Anthony Rodriguez, $6,806 68-69-69-75--281 Don Pooley, $6,806 67-72-66-76--281 Nolan Henke, $6,806 69-68-68-76--281 Dave Barr, $5,400 67-71-70-74--282 Corey Pavin, $5,400 71-68-71-72--282 Kelly Gibson, $5,400 65-75-70-72--282 Keith Fergus, $4,560 70-68-70-75--283 Frank Lickliter, $4,560 68-69-71-75--283 Phil Blackmar, $4,560 68-67-72-76--283 Jeff Hart, $4,560 67-73-69-74--283 Mark Calcavecchia, $3,432 73-67-68-76--284 Curt Byrum, $3,432 69-69-71-75--284 Patrick Burke, $3,432 71-68-70-75--284

Tom Scherrer, $3,432 70-68-70-76--284 Paul Claxton, $3,432 69-70-71-74--284 Peter Jacobsen, $3,432 72-68-73-71--284 Hideki Kase, $2,842 71-69-70-75--285 Dudley Hart, $2,842 70-70-71-74--285 Bob Wolcott, $2,842 70-68-74-73--285 Steve Stricker, $2,842 69-69-74-73--285 Todd Demsey, $2,842 72-67-73-73--285 Nobuo Serizawa, $2,688 70-66-72-78--286 Wayne Levi, $2,688 69-69-71-77--286 Jim Thorpe, $2,688 65-70-75-76--286 Chip Beck, $2,688 70-70-71-75--286 Howard Twitty, $2,688 71-69-75-71--286 Lennie Clements, $2,580 69-69-72-77--287 Darrell Kestner, $2,580 69-69-73-76--287 Scott Dunlap, $2,580 68-71-72-76--287 J.P. Hayes, $2,580 67-71-74-75--287 David Ishii, $2,520 70-70-72-76--288 Dan Forsman, $2,496 70-69-71-79--289 Joel Edwards, $2,472 66-70-74-80--290 Mike Springer, $2,436 73-67-72-79--291 Jimmy Green, $2,436 66-72-76-77--291 Russ Cochran 71-69-75--WD * Won on fourth playoff hole.