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Wednesday, January 17, 2001
Simpson avoids It's been a year and four months since Scott Simpson last played a round of competitive golf -- except for a round last week with his 14-year-old son, Sean.
a rough time
The former Kailua resident
edges Furyk in Bellinger
Shoot-OutBy Bill Kwon
Star-Bulletin"I beat him," said Sean.
So any victory looks good to the 1987 U.S. Open champion, who sat out the entire 2000 PGA Tour season after breaking his right ankle in a skiing accident.
Even yesterday's six-hole Johnny Bellinger Shoot-Out at the Waialae Country Club.
Simpson edged Jim Furyk, winner of last week's Mercedes Championships at Kapalua, Maui, by a scant four inches in a chip-off at the par-5 18th after both had birdied the hole.
The two outlasted a 12-player field that included Paul Azinger, who defends his Sony Open title starting tomorrow.
"You have to get lucky in a shoot-out, especially in a chip-off," Simpson said.
Simpson won the Shoot-Out in 1991 when Sean was only 5. Yesterday, Sean caddied for his dad.
"Trouble is, all the other caddies were telling my son not to take anything less than 10 percent," said Simpson, who earned $5,500. "He thinks it's a pretty good day."
What was money in the bank for Simpson, though, was his short game. That was all he could really work on while rehabbing from his injury. And it certainly is paying off.
He pitched for a gimme birdie and then won the chip-off with a shot 12 feet, seven inches from the flagstick.
Simpson also had three great bunker shots to survive tie-breakers at the first two Shoot-Out holes (10 and 11) and the 17th, where he eliminated reigning Masters champion Vijay Singh and 1996 U.S. Open winner Steve Jones.
"Yeah, I hit three really good bunker shots," said Simpson, who can play all but invitational tournaments this year because of a medical exemption.
"That was encouraging. It is a great field out there, so it's a boost to your confidence to be able to come out on top."
Simpson views it as a good tune-up to this week's $4 million Sony Open.
"It's great to be back," said Simpson, who couldn't take a full swing until late November. He underwent corrective surgery in July. "I never missed one until last year. That wasn't much fun, being at home, watching it. I'm thrilled I'm able to play.
"I had to learn to walk again after not walking for 2 months. I'm not rusty. It's a matter of getting back into it. I think I can walk four days in a row."
All he had to do yesterday was walk six holes.
Peter Jacobsen, the last man standing in last year's Shoot-Out, was the first to go this year. He was joined by Notah Begay III.
A bogey at the par-3 11th did in Azinger, who waved goodbye along with Tom Lehman, the odd man out in a nine-way chip-off.
John Daly and David Ishii, who qualified on Monday to keep his Shoot-Out streak of 14 intact, said see-ya on the next hole.
Daly bogeyed and Ishii, the all-time leading Shoot-Out money winner, got out-chipped. Also departing was 11-year-old Colan Ishii, who had caddied for his father.
Furyk birdied the par-3 17th and watched Simpson hit a bunker shot closer than Singh and Jones in the playoff after they had parred.
Waialae's bunkers have been a bugaboo for Simpson. But not yesterday. Simpson said he learned something, watching Sean's sand play.
Maybe Sean should ask for 15 percent of the winning prize.