SONY OPEN
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Stuart Appleby came to Oahu ready to have some fun after his hard work at the Mercedes Championships on Maui brought him a win.
|
|
Appleby passes out laughs
If Stuart Appleby ever gets tired of this gig, he could have his own weekly HBO show called Golf Cart Confessions.
He was feeling it in his session with the media after shooting a second-round 66 that left him at 4 under for the Sony Open in Hawaii and in a tie for fourth place. Two more rounds like yesterday's and he may by walking off with his second trophy in as many weeks.
But it was his inside stories that left many in the room with tears in their eyes as he recounted part of his fourth round at the Mercedes Championships with Michael Campbell and his last two rounds here on Oahu with Vijay Singh, the man he beat in a playoff last week at the winners-only event.
The question that started it was whether Singh was thrilled to be paired with Appleby after what had happened last Sunday.
"Ask him, don't ask me," Appleby quipped. "You should ask me, was I thrilled to be paired with Vijay?"
Were you?
"I'm not answering that," Appleby said. "You know, I don't have to answer my own questions."
Someone wondered aloud what Singh said to Appleby over the last two days.
"Nothing," Appleby said.
Nothing?
"Not much," the Aussie offered.
Were you thrilled to be paired with Vijay?
"Don't ask a second question the second time," Appleby said. "Don't say you didn't hear me."
Just Aussie rules or something, right?
"It's like Cambo's (Michael Campbell) thing the other day," Appleby said. "When we were tied and we had a putt on seven, same length, he goes, 'Well, we'll toss for it.' And I wanted to say, 'Well, pick up your coin and toss it.' He's already marked the ball. He says, 'We'll do it with the tee.'
"So he grabs a tee and he's going to spin it in the air, and I'm thinking, 'Well, what's the answer?' What is it? So he flips it and he goes, 'Oh, that's mine.' He goes, 'because it's pointed at me.' But yeah, you flipped it back at ya. It was one of those weird rules. I still don't get how it worked. I've been throwing tees around trying to figure out how it works."
Was Campbell smiling at you?
"Yeah," Appleby said. "He said, 'If it's pointing to me nearest, it's my choice.' It was all over before it was over and I ended up having to putt. Yeah, I've played with Vijay a lot, so I know Vijay's game well. So he didn't say anything, didn't say anything derogatory or anything, you know."
Your relationship fine with him, though?
"Oh yeah," Appleby said. "Probably as good as anybody's on tour. There's no -- no."
You're not speaking in complete sentences here.
"We just, we tell each other things that you can't print in the media quite often," Appleby said. "It's quite relaxed. Things that are only good on HBO."
For example?
"Go (expletive) yourself," Appleby said. "And he said that more than once to me. That's about the only time we talk. My caddie can vouch for that."
Haas in the house: Jay Haas may be preparing for life on the Champions Tour, but don't put him out to pasture just yet. He and his son, Bill, both made the cut and will play about an hour apart.
Bill Haas fired a second consecutive 71 to find himself at 2-over 142. His dad was close to missing the cut after opening with a 5-over 75, but came back yesterday with a blistering 66 to find himself at 1-over 141. It was his 588th career cut in 790 starts (73 percent). He trails only Tom Kite for the PGA Tour record of 590 career cuts made. It was his son's 14th cut in 20 tour events.
Haas is one of four players in the Sony field who will tee it up next week at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai to begin the Champions Tour season. The other three are Loren Roberts (minus 3, tied for eighth), Peter Jacobsen (missed cut) and Craig Stadler (MC).
Bowditch disqualified: Steve Bowditch got an early exit after playing the wrong ball (USGA Rule 15-3b) at the 11th during yesterday's round. Bowditch hit his tee shot at the par-3 long and into the water hazard. He then hit a provisional into a greenside bunker and kept playing the ball, instead of taking hazard relief.
When he holed out with the provisional ball (the Rules of Golf state the ball must be abandoned upon discovering the original ball was in a hazard) for a five and then teed off on No. 12, which is a violation. A volunteer told PGA Tour rules official John Mutch of the infraction. Mutch met with Bowditch and told him that disqualification was the penalty. The PGA Tour rookie is from Australia and is a 2005 graduate of the Nationwide Tour. He shot a 75 during the opening round.
Wie on board: Michelle Wie will hold a press conference tomorrow announcing that she will play in the 2006 Casio World Open golf tournament in Japan. She played in the same event in 2005. The tournament will be held in November. Wie wouldn't confirm it during yesterday's press conference, but it will be announced tomorrow night at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
Inside the numbers: Yesterday's scoring average of 71.035 was more in line with Sony Open numbers. It was .882 strokes easier than the first-round scoring average, which was the highest since the Waialae Country Club course went to a par-70 in 1999.
The two par-5s tied for the easiest hole during yesterday's second both. Both Nos. 9 and 18 had a scoring average of 4.510. Between the two, there were nine eagles, 137 birdies, 127 pars and 12 bogeys. The hardest hole was the par-4 13th that was a par-5 back in the day. The scoring average was 4.385. There were four birdies, 84 pars, 51 bogeys and four doubles.