Friday, January 15, 1999

By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Tommy Tolles tees off on the 18th hole during the
first round of the Sony Open. He shot a 7-under-par
63 for a two-stroke lead.

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New Waialae
isn’t taking
Tolles yet

Only 27 players in the
Sony Open better par in the
first round, topped by Tolles' 63

By Bill Kwon
Star-Bulletin

Wouldn't you know it.

With 18 of last year's PGA Tour winners in the inaugural Sony Open in Hawaii field, guess who was on top of the leaderboard going into today's second round at the Waialae Country Club.

Three guys who have never won a PGA event before -- a dude with a surfer-type peroxide yellowish-white hair, a former professional boxer from Mexico and a full-blooded Native American.

Not exactly what anybody had in mind in a round-up of the usual suspects to win a golf tournament.

The surfer dude is Tommy Tolles, who shot a 7-under-par 63 to take a two-stroke lead over Esteban Toledo, the former fighter, and Notah Begay III, who's half-Navajo and half-Pueblo.

Oh, some of the 1998 winners, who island-hopped over from the Mercedes Championships last week at Kapalua, Maui, made it on the leaderboard.

Associated Press
Esteban Toledo watches his putt miss the cup on
the 13th green during first-round play.

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They included Mark O'Meara, the Masters and British Open champion and 1998 player of the year, who was in a seven-way tie for fourth at 66.

Also, PGA Championship winner Vijay Singh, who's bunched with six others at 67, last year's record-breaking Hawaiian Open winner John Huston at 68 and reigning U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen , who's in a 19-way logjam at 69.

With Waialae's par cut to 70 with the conversion of the fourth and 13th holes from par 5 to par 4, only 27 of the 144-player field bettered par. In contrast, 105 players broke par in the opening round last year when Waialae played to a 72.

The par-4 second with its longer tee proved the toughest of all the holes, playing to a 4.48 scoring average.

"I used to hit driver-wedge there," said Bob Burns, who had to get there with a 3-wood on his second shot for a birdie that gave him a 66 yesterday.

"The changes definitely made the golf course tougher overall. It's more demanding," said O'Meara, who eagled the par-5 finishing hole to move into contention.

Not having played Waialae before, Tolles and Begay had no basis for comparison. Not that it mattered the way they played yesterday.

"There were no changes as far as I was concerned," said Tolles, who salvaged a bad-hair year by finishing tied for 15th in the final regular tour event, the Disney World Classic, in order to keep his playing card.

"When you're playing well, it doesn't matter what course you're playing," said Tolles, who sank seven birdie putts of 15 feet or longer.

By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
First-round leader Tommy Tolles lines up a birdie
putt on the 18th hole. He made the putt for a 7-under
63 and a two-stroke lead.

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Starting on the back side, Tolles made the turn at 3-under and then shot a 31 on the front despite a double-bogey at the par-4 sixth, when he took a drop after knocking his shot against the fence.

Once linked with David Duval as the tour's two more promising young stars after back-to-back $800,000-plus money years in 1996-97, Tolles admitted he had to fight off little demons in his head. He feared losing his card and having to return to Q-School in order to regain it.

It didn't help that he went overboard last Halloween when he dyed his hair and goatee a flaming red. In trying to get rid of the color, he found bleaching it caused him to lose tufts of hair.

Even though he might be shooting well with his new 'do, Tolles is desperate for his hair to return to its natural, dark brown. And without further hair loss.

Then there's Begay in only his second PGA Tour event. He missed the cut in the 1996 Vancouver Open.

Begay's claim to fame is shooting a 59 -- the Nike Tour's first -- last year. That and getting his younger brother, Clint, a scholarship at UH-Hilo, where the latter is a junior on the Vulcans' golf team.

Begay has won college tournaments here while playing for Stanford. Now, he'd like nothing better than to win with money on the line.

The third leader in the lineup is Toledo, the ex-pugilist from Mexicali, who floored everyone in the media center by saying that he would quit golf as soon as he wins a PGA tournament.

Toledo, who came from a dirt-poor background, wasn't kidding.

"Some people have a dream," said Toledo, who dreamed of playing on the PGA Tour after his hopes of becoming a world boxing champion ended.

"A lot of people don't believe I can win a tournament on the tour. I want to prove to myself and my friends I can do it. The day that I win, I will quit."

For now, though, Toledo is making a move on his retirement plans by shrugging off back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13 to keep his victory hopes going.

Sony Open

At Waialae Country Club

First round
Par-70

Tommy Tolles -- 31-32--63
Esteban Toledo -- 32-33--65
Notah Begay III -- 32-33--65
Joe Durant -- 33-33--66
Mark O'Meara -- 34-32--66
Peter Jacobsen -- 33-33--66
Ty Armstrong -- 33-33--66
Bob Burns -- 34-32--66
Fred Funk -- 33-33--66
Craig Barlow -- 33-33--66
Dan Forsman -- 33-34--67
Chris Riley -- 34-33--67
Steve Jurgensen -- 34-33--67
Cameron Beckman -- 33-34--67
Vijay Singh -- 33-34--67
Joe Ozaki -- 34-33--67
John Maginnes -- 33-34--67
Brandel Chamblee -- 35-33--68
John Cook -- 34-34--68
Tommy Armour III -- 35-33--68
Ben Bates -- 35-33--68
John Huston -- 33-35--68
Billy Andrade -- 34-34--68
Mike Reid -- 35-33--68
Russ Cochran -- 35-33--68
Scott Gump -- 35-33--68
Chris Perry -- 38-31--69
Jeff Maggert -- 36-33--69
Loren Roberts -- 34-35--69
Larry Mize -- 36-33--69
Jay Don Blake -- 36-33--69
Jay Williamson -- 36-33--69
Greg Meyer -- 35-34--69
Frank Lickliter -- 35-34--69
Lee Janzen -- 35-34--69
Jeff Sluman -- 36-33--69
Stuart Appleby -- 35-34--69
Tim Herron -- 35-34--69
John Daly -- 33-36--69
Duffy Waldorf -- 33-36--69
Carlos Franco -- 33-36--69
Mike Hulbert -- 35-34--69
Chris Couch -- 33-36--69
John Elliott -- 35-34--69
Jonathan Kaye -- 35-34--69
Jerry Kelly -- 36-34--70
Jeff Gallagher -- 34-36--70
Ed Fiori -- 34-36--70
Ted Tryba -- 33-37--70
Len Mattiace -- 35-35--70
Curtis Strange -- 35-35--70
Nolan Henke -- 35-35--70
Emlyn Aubrey -- 35-35--70
Robert Damron -- 37-33--70
Skip Kendall -- 35-35--70
Jay Delsing -- 36-34--70
Jim Furyk -- 38-32--70
Steve Jones -- 36-34--70
Craig Stadler -- 36-34--70
P.H. Horgan III -- 35-35--70
Jimmy Green -- 37-33--70
Charles Raulerson -- 34-36--70
Lanny Wadkins -- 34-37--71
Robert Gamez -- 34-37--71
Franklin Langham -- 36-35--71
Scott Simpson -- 35-36--71
Jesper Parnevik -- 35-36--71
Tom Watson -- 34-37--71
Tom Pernice Jr. -- 37-34--71
Gary Hallberg -- 39-32--71
Chris DiMarco -- 36-35--71
Woody Austin -- 37-34--71
Charles Warren III -- 36-35--71
Mike Springer -- 37-34--71
Omar Uresti -- 36-35--71
Rick Fehr -- 37-34--71
Gene Sauers -- 34-37--71
Lee Porter -- 36-35--71
Brent Geiberger -- 37-34--71
Davis Love III -- 36-35--71
Robin Freeman -- 37-34--71
Isao Aoki -- 35-36--71
Lee Rinker -- 36-35--71
Rich Beem -- 36-35--71
Mike Sposa -- 35-36--71
Mike Brisky -- 37-35--72
David Ishii -- 37-35--72
Dicky Pride -- 37-35--72
Paul Goydos -- 36-36--72
Bradley Hughes -- 39-33--72
Pete Jordan -- 37-35--72
Jason Schultz -- 37-35--72
Joe Ogilvie -- 39-33--72
Kaname Yokoo -- 38-34--72
Danny Briggs -- 35-37--72
Fulton Allem -- 38-34--72
Bob Friend -- 36-36--72
Stewart Cink -- 35-37--72
Paul Azinger -- 38-34--72
Trevor Dodds -- 38-34--72
Tom Byrum -- 36-36--72
Sean Murphy -- 36-36--72
Deane Pappas -- 37-35--72
Rory Sabbatini -- 37-35--72
J.L. Lewis -- 38-35--73
Shigeki Maruyama -- 39-34--73
Steve Lowery -- 36-37--73
Brad Bryant -- 38-35--73
Mike Weir -- 38-35--73
Bo Van Pelt -- 36-37--73
Tom Scherrer -- 38-35--73
Dennis Paulson -- 37-36--73
Briny Baird -- 35-38--73
Clark Dennis -- 36-37--73
Corey Pavin -- 38-35--73
Brian Gay -- 39-34--73
Doug Dunakey -- 38-35--73
Chris Smith -- 39-34--73
Keiichiro Fukabori -- 40-34--74
Jeff Brehaut -- 35-39--74
Keith Clearwater -- 38-36--74
Craig Parry -- 37-37--74
Howard Twitty -- 36-38--74
Eric Booker -- 38-36--74
Harrison Frazar -- 39-36--75
Doug Martin -- 38-37--75
Doug Barron -- 38-37--75
Barry Cheesman -- 40-35--75
David Sutherland -- 38-37--75
Gabriel Hjertstedt -- 40-35--75
Brian Henninger -- 38-37--75
Chip Beck -- 38-37--75
Kevin Hayashi -- 39-36--75
Neal Lancaster -- 40-36--76
Greg Chalmers -- 39-37--76
Greg Kraft -- 40-36--76
Paul Stankowski -- 38-38--76
Geoffrey Sisk -- 40-37--77
Robert Allenby -- 38-39--77
Ted Purdy -- 41-37--78
Kats. Miyamoto -- 41-37--78
Clark Miyazaki -- 41-38--79
Alan Bratton -- 40-39--79
Brandan Kop -- 40-41--81

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