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Notebook
Thursday, January 13, 2000
SONY OPEN NOTEBOOK
Tom Lehman put the fun back in his golf swing and celebrated to the tune of $1 million in Tiger Woods' event earlier this month. Lehman enjoying the
game and richer for itFor too long, Lehman found himself standing over a bucket of balls rather than the beauty of a golf course. He decided enough was enough. It was time to get back to competing, rather than spending too much time on the technical aspects of the game.
"When you were a kid, you went out on the course and played as many holes as you could between sunrise and sundown," Lehman said yesterday after finishing the Pro-Am portion of this week's $2.9 million Sony Open.
"I remember playing golf when the mosquitoes carried you off. I told my wife I wanted to get back to that kind of feeling I had playing golf when I was young. And I think it helped me."
It certainly helped his bank account. He won the $3.5 million Williams World Challenge by birdieing five of the last six holes. Even he had a hard time visualizing a check with a one and six zeroes after it.
Winless on the PGA Tour since 1996, the 40-year-old proved more to himself than anyone else that he can still compete with the young guns of the game. "First of all, to be in an elite 12-man format like that is flattering enough," he said. "I was very focused and ready to play that week.
"With all the attention it was getting television-wise really got me ready to play and not embarrass myself. Anytime you win anything, no matter how big or how small, it boosts your confidence."
Lehman believes he has a good chance to be among the leaders in this week's first full-field event of the PGA Tour. His game is sharp and mental framework is positive.
And while Woods and David Duval are the players to watch entering the West Coast swing, Lehman feels the world's top two players are beatable on any given Sunday.
"They make you ask yourself this," Lehman said. "Am I out here to be good or am I out here to make a living? I think most guys want to be as good as they can be.
"Tiger is certainly not taking too many days off and I can't afford to take too many, either. I don't think guys are out here worrying about the money.
"I know when I was just starting out, money was a huge deal. I was really focused on it. It's only when you realize that, hey, if you just get good, the money will come."
Lehman has four PGA Tour wins to his credit and a British Open tile as well. He has made $8.2 million in his career, not counting the million he pocketed earlier this month.
"I remember asking my wife after the tournament, 'Does it feel like we just won a million dollars?' And she said no," Lehman said. "We get the trophy, but the money never really seems real."
Not in a funk
Fred Funk's team of Keith Nagata, Jack Takeda, Warren Haruki and Henry Katsuda won the Pro-Am yesterday with a 17-under 53.Scott Gump and his team of Mel Harris, Steve Grubbs, Yuki Nozoe and Robert Dowling finished one stroke back at 54.
There was a tie for third between Sandy Lyle's team of Toru Manabe, Genichiro Ueyama, Keiko Sumiyoshi and Satoru Ikeda, and Jim Furyk's foursome of Glenn Takasato, Gary Jones, J. Kenneth Stringer and Berton Hamamoto. Both teams fired 15-under 55s.
Funk pocketed $2,000 for the victory. Gump made $1,600, and Lyle and Furyk earned $1,300 apiece.
Furyk in the wind
The winner of the 1996 Hawaiian Open believes the wind is the wild card this week.Furyk won the second of his four PGA titles here. The other three took place in Las Vegas in 1995, 1998 and 1999. Like the Waialae Country Club, the wind can blow hard across those Nevada golf courses.
"By no means am I going to wake up (today) and hope for windy conditions," Furyk said. "However, I have played well in the wind at the British Open and last week at Kapalua."
Furyk finished tied for fourth with Mike Weir in last week's Mercedes Championships and made $127,500 for his efforts.
By Paul Arnett, Star-Bulletin