WATCHING the U.S. Women's Public Links Championship over the weekend at Kapalua Bay, I found myself again dismayed that the PGA Championship isn't a match-play tournament, as it once was. PGA could use
a good matchmakerTelevision money made the PGA of America switch to stroke play 40 years ago this year because of the uncertainties of match play, which could find two unknowns playing on Sunday.
In match play, a golfer shooting a 77 can beat a par-shooter because the 18-hole total isn't what counts. It's the score for each hole, which can be won, tied or lost, that matters. So a score of 4 and 3 means the winner was four holes up with three left to play.
Match play can be exciting because it's never over until it's over. Shoot a quadruple bogey or a double-digit figure on one hole, and there goes the chance of winning a stroke play tournament, let alone making the cut. But in match play, it's only one hole that's lost.
One reason the Ryder Cup's so intense is because a large part of it is match play. And so's the dollar Nassau bet we duffers wager.
THE majority of the golfers at the women's publinx last week aren't ready for prime time. But look for one of them -- Oklahoma teen-ager Stacy Prammanasudh, who's half Thai -- on the LPGA Tour one day. She's a sure pro prospect.
The same might not be said for the newly crowned champion, Amy Spooner. Unless she improves her stroke average dramatically at Florida State this fall. She averaged 77, which won't cut it on the LPGA Tour.
Spooner admits she might be a better match-play competitor. And that's why someone with a 77-stroke average can still win at match-play events.
"I knew I wasn't keeping my score, thank God, for what I shot. But match play is different," said Spooner, who only had one birdie in winning four matches en route to the title.
Not making pars is OK in match play as long as your opponent is bogeying along as well.
Last year's champion, Jo Jo Robertson, who was eliminated by Hawaii's Elisha Au in the second round, credits her 16-5 publinx record over the past 10 years to her ability to play that format well. "I seem to play better when I'm not concerned about my score," she said.
ARGUABLY, the best match-play competitor locally was Lori Castillo, who won three USGA titles in a row -- the U.S. Jr. Girls in 1978 as a Kaiser High School senior and the women's national publinx the next two years while attending the University of Tulsa.
She had that talent to play under pressure, making the shot, especially the putts, that had to be made.
"It's so exciting," said Lori about the format. Maybe too much of an emotional roller-coaster ride at times.
Married to Gary Planos, Kapalua's vice president of golf operations, Lori remembers the winning putt on the final hole in one of her matches in the Jr. Girls championship. She and her opponent, who was five feet closer, had birdie putts. Lori sank hers, making the hole smaller for her opponent, who missed and immediately burst into tears.
"That's why I don't play the opponent, but the golf course," said Planos. "It's tough emotionally. It's another test for the player in match play."
It was especially tough, she said, having to beat friends Lenore Muraoka, Cindy Flom and Becky Pearson -- members of the University of Hawaii golf team -- in winning her back-to-back publinx titles.
"Stroke play is difficult, too," Planos said. "But I hate net play, unless it's with a true handicap."