Friday, January 8, 1999
Associated Press
Joe Durant birdies the 18th hole in the first
round of the Mercedes Championships.
Durant enjoying
ride in Mercedes
He's among four leaders at
By Bill Kwon
66 after the first round
Star-BulletinKAPALUA, Maui -- There's Tiger Woods and then there's Joe Durant.
Joe who?
Everyone's heard of Tiger. But it was Durant -- one of the PGA Tour's six first-time winners in the elite Mercedes Championships field -- who was among the four players sharing the lead going into today's second round at the par-73 Plantation Course.
Durant, who won the Motorola Western Open to get here, shot a 6-under-par 66 along with Steve Pate, Fred Funk and Billy Mayfair yesterday in unheard-of calm conditions at the West Maui resort.
Not bad for someone who had never played the sprawling, 7,263-yard Plantation course before, especially considering the other three leaders are practically Kapalua kamaainas.
Pate has played in the postseason Kapalua International 11 times, Mayfair 10 and Funk five. So they can credit a little "local knowledge" for their great first-round start on the 1999 PGA Tour.
Even Billy Andrade, a stroke back at 67 with David Duval, admitted that playing here the last 10 years in a row created a comfort zone for his opening round.
But what's with Durant? He's hardly an ordinary Joe, since he's the only Joe on the PGA Tour. Joe Ozaki doesn't count. That's his nickname.
"I'm excited to be here," said Durant. But he certainly wasn't awed at being in such fast company.
In fact, playing with U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen actually helped, according to Durant, who had his game face on, although it was beet red because he forgot his sun block.
"We fed off each other," said Durant, who also had some great reads on putts by Janzen, which were on the same line. Durant's only bogey came on a three-putt at the par-3 11th.
The 7-under round surprised him, especially since he hadn't played much golf coming here and hadn't played Plantation before. But he started to make some good swings lately.
"Then it was a question of staying out of my own way, which is the battle we all fight, I guess," he said.
Associated Press
Fred Funk celebrates a birdie putt on the 18th
green during first round play of the Mercedes
Championships yesterday.
Funk was also surprised by his start since he has never played well or felt comfortable here."It was unexpected, really," said Funk. "I don't have very positive thoughts when I play here. I've had very little success here. It's a big hitter's golf course and these greens drive me absolutely crazy with the grain."
Somehow, they didn't bother Pate, who has no clue why he does so well at the Plantation Course over the years.
"I wish I knew. (But) it's good," he said.
While golfers go through a "zone," Pate went through a comfort zone yesterday. It started when he holed a 45-foot chip from the back fringe to birdie the first hole.
Pate thought he hit a 3-iron to the green. He took a second look at his club and it was actually a 2-iron.
"Hey, whatever it takes as long as you birdie. It was a good way to start the year," said Pate, who laughed even louder after holing an 80-foot birdie putt at the 486-yard, par-4 17th to go to 7 under.
"I was just trying to get it in the general vicinity. I had a pretty good feeling ... I was shocked when it went in.
"That's one of the advantages of playing here a lot," Pate said.
"Pater. Gee, he likes this place a lot," said Andrade, who also feels comfortable playing here. "I felt confident and it showed. It's great to get off to a great start anywhere."
Mayfair posted the most birdies of the day with nine. But he gave two strokes back with bogeys at 8 and 11, both par-3 holes.
A forecast of rain led PGA officials to move up the starting time of today's second round by 2-1//2 hours.
It suits Woods fine.
"I hope it rains. I've always putted well in the rain. Some of my best rounds have been in bad weather," said Woods, who shot a 69 along with Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Chris Perry, Jesper Parnevik and Janzen.
Mayfair just hopes that the wind picks up, not only to blow away the haze that has obscured the view of Molokai across the channel.
"I'd love to see the wind blow. I've played here so many times ... I'm more used to what the wind will do than maybe some of these guys that never played here."
Mercedes Championships
At Kapalua, Maui
First round
Par 73
Steve Pate -- 31-35--66
Fred Funk -- 34-32--66
Joe Durant -- 32-34--66
Billy Mayfair -- 32-34--66
Billy Andrade -- 33-34--67
David Duval -- 34-33--67
Jim Furyk -- 32-36--68
John Cook -- 34-34--68
Justin Leonard -- 33-35--68
Chris Perry -- 31-38--69
Lee Janzen -- 32-37--69
Tiger Woods -- 33-36--69
Davis Love III -- 34-35--69
Jesper Parnevik -- 34-35--69
Fred Couples -- 32-37--69
Brandel Chamblee -- 35-35--70
Vijay Singh -- 35-35--70
Stuart Appleby -- 33-37--70
J.P. Hayes -- 34-36--70
Mark O'Meara -- 34-36--70
Mark Calcavecchia -- 36-34--70
Michael Bradley -- 37-34--71
John Huston -- 36-35--71
Scott Simpson -- 36-35--71
Trevor Dodds -- 35-37--72
Phil Mickelson -- 36-36--72
Jeff Sluman -- 35-38--73
Steve Elkington -- 36-38--74
Tom Watson -- 36-38--74
Steve Jones -- 37-38--75
Associated Press
Tiger Woods drives from the third
tee at the Mercedes Championships.
Woods all fired
up for seasonHe hopes to be a consistent
By Paul Arnett
top-10 finisher this year
Star-BulletinKAPALUA, Maui -- A smattering of golf fans sat quietly on a short rock fence, Tiger Woods barely a stone's throw away.
From their angle, the world's most recognized golfer was a silhouette on Maui's window shade. Taking no notice of Woods, the Pacific Ocean reflected one of those dazzling sunsets people spend thousands to see.
Fortunately, no one had a camera to capture this Kodak moment for the 23-year-old, who calls Orlando, Fla, home. For once, Woods was able to be himself, laughing with friends and fellow PGA Tour pros one moment, and turning serious long enough to sink a 10-footer the next.
The 1999 Tiger Woods promises not to be as mechanical on the golf course as the 1998 version. He won't measure his success in number of victories or the size of his wallet.
He's more concerned with top 10 finishes and being in peak form during the major events, starting with this week's Mercedes Championships that's played at the sprawling Plantation Course on West Maui.
Woods fired a respectable 4-under 69 in yesterday's opening round that saw him sink a 50-footer for birdie on No. 2 and three-putt from 15 feet after driving the green on the 305-yard 14th.
''That was a bomb I made on the second hole,'' Woods said, allowing himself an impish grin. ''I was above the hole on 14 and just barely touched it. It raced right past the cup. I let one get away, there.''
Woods didn't let too many shots wander from view. He sent his drives soaring into the high Maui sky and was crisp with his iron play, often putting from 15 feet or less.
The grain of the greens frustrated Woods from time to time. But you get the feeling that once he figures out the speed and break of these babies, look out. It's not a stretch for Woods to begin his third Tour season at the top of the leaderboard.
''It doesn't feel like it's the start of the season because we're in Hawaii,'' Woods said. ''We're out here sweating and you look back at things in the Midwest, and they're getting killed with snow.
''We're used to starting on the West Coast, so it is a little different. But once you get the competitive juices flowing, you start getting into it again. I'm looking forward to the new season and hopefully, getting some victories.''
Woods ended the 1998 season on a mixed note. He and his American teammates were blown out by the International contingent in the Presidents Cup at Black Rock, Australia.
But in his head-to-head match with Greg Norman, Woods countered five consecutive birdies by The Shark with three of his own to hold on for the win.
''The way I played in that match was kind of symbolic of the way I played all year,'' Woods said. ''I hit the ball great, I made some key putts. And I didn't make a lot of mistakes. Not that it really went my way in 1998.
''In 1997, I got some great bounces like at the Western Open -- that ball kicking off the par-3 at 14, kicking down the hill and making birdie there. Things like that are what you need to win. It felt good to answer his charge with some birdies of my own.''
Having Norman back on the PGA Tour should fuel the competitive fires for Woods. Last year, he won only one tournament, finished second three times and third once.
By most golfers' standards, that's not a bad campaign. But for Woods, the bar is a shade higher. Expectations climb when a phrase like, ''I am Tiger Woods'' becomes part of the human language. He embraces that kind of pressure and doesn't mind if people wonder what went wrong in 1998.
''It doesn't bother me if people think I didn't play well because I know the kind of year I had,'' Woods said. ''If you know the game of golf, you know you can't win all the time.
''It shows how good your game is if you're up there each and every week. I look at Jack Nicklaus when he didn't have great years where he won six or seven tournaments.
''But if he wasn't winning, he was still in the top five and had a chance to win with nine holes to go. You're going to win your share, but you can't beat guys out here every week.''
But you can try.
''Oh yeah,'' said Woods, that smile spreading across his face. ''And I plan to do that every time I step on the course.''
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