SONY OPEN
Holmes finds PGA more to his liking
The newcomer goes into the weekend as a contender
J.B. Holmes may not be as well known as Michelle Wie in local golfing circles, but stick around, he's still playing this weekend.
The man who finished first at the PGA Tour's famed Q-school is only 23, has never been to Hawaii before, played in only two tour events prior to this one and hails from a university that has won a lot more national championships in basketball than in golf.
And oh yeah, he's high atop the Sony Open leaderboard entering today's third round of the first full-field event of 2006, despite hurting his back so badly that he wasn't able to play any golf on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"I pulled a muscle in my back and couldn't swing a club," Holmes said. "So I woke up Thursday morning and didn't even think I was going to play. So just getting out and getting a chance to play, I was excited."
Holmes opened with a ho-hum 70, but came back yesterday with a 4-under 66 to be among the clubhouse leaders. Second-round leaders Jim Furyk and Chad Campbell separated themselves from the field a bit during the afternoon, but Holmes is still tied for fourth with Mercedes Championships winner Stuart Appleby, Camilo Villegas and Jerry Smith.
That's pretty good company for a man from Campbellsville, Ky., who survived his first cut on tour. For four years, he played golf for the Kentucky Wildcats, but wasn't a big fan of school. He learned his freshman year that he was dyslexic and is still a semester shy of gaining his degree. But at this point in his life, if he can read his signature on his scorecard, it's all good.
"It was nice to know I wasn't dumb or whatever," Holmes said after learning of his reading disorder. "It was almost a relief, you know, kind of like, what's wrong with me, what's wrong with me and you figure out it wasn't your fault. It was a relief and it helped me a whole lot just being able to get the tests done. Just try to get a job that didn't involve a lot of reading."
Holmes has also had some name issues to deal with throughout his young career. At Q-school, he went by his full name John B. Holmes. For those who don't know, a very famous porn star had the same name. When asked yesterday why he went from John B. Holmes to J.B. Holmes, he didn't miss a beat.
"You know the answer to that one," Holmes said.
When asked if having a name such as his had posed problems before, Holmes shot back, "Oh, I have my whole life. So, I just kind of got tired of it, and this is going to be a little bit bigger scale on tour."
Especially if he lives up to his reputation as being one of the talented young guns coming out on tour this season. Holmes was a member of America's winning Walker Cup team -- the amateur version of the Ryder Cup that pits America vs. England and Ireland. He thought he played solid there last year and believes that experience, as well as the pressures of medaling at Q-school, will serve him well his first year on tour.
"How many people have made it straight out of college into the PGA Tour in the last 10, 15 years?" Holmes asked. "We had four guys do it out of my class (of young golfers nationwide), so, you know, pretty good."
Holmes certainly lived up to his end of the bargain in yesterday's difficult conditions. Despite the wind and rain that swept through Waialae for most of the day, Holmes hunkered down and came up with a good number.
He had five birdies and one bogey during yesterday's round to put him in contention. During his first tour of duty of the par-70 course, he managed one bogey and one birdie. But now that he's found the top of the leaderboard, he'd love to be there come tomorrow.
"I just like conditions as hard as they can be," Holmes said. "I've always played well when the courses are just really, really hard. So I don't necessarily like playing in the wind, but, you know, if the wind is really blowing hard, it's fine with me. I'd rather have windy conditions than perfect conditions, how about that.
"I'll go out and play again tomorrow. It's just halfway over. Leading after two rounds, that doesn't get you anything but a pat on the back. I've got a long ways to go."