[ GOLF ]
No one will ever confuse Bruce Fleisher with Tiger Woods, but the PGA Senior Tour standout had a streak of 27 par or better rounds coming into this week's Turtle Bay Championship. Fleisher’s streak
comes to an endBy Paul Arnett
parnett@starbulletin.comUnfortunately for the huge Oakland Raiders fan, it ended yesterday with an opening round of 73. A bogey on the 17th hole sealed Fleisher's 1-over effort. He trails front-runners Steve Stull, Jim Albus and R.W. Eaks by five shots.
Fleisher's streak began at the Ford Senior Players on July 12 with a second-round 69. During the remarkable run, Fleisher was 89-under. He had one win in that stretch and six other top-10 finishes.
He has always done well in Hawaii. Fleisher finished tied for fifth at the MasterCard Championship earlier this year. He was in the final group with eventual winner Tom Kite.
Irwin hanging around: Hale Irwin opened with a solid 69 that left him only one shot off the lead. The defending champion was one of eight golfers who finished at 3-under after the opening 18 holes.
"I've been playing a lot of golf lately, but I've also been hitting the ball fairly well," Irwin said. "It would be great to come over here and win again. Obviously, it's not going to be easy."
Irwin's 69 was his 13th score in the 60s out of 19 rounds at this tournament. Irwin, the two-time defending champion in this event that left Kaanapali, Maui, in 2001, is looking to win his sixth major tourney in the island chain.
Should Irwin finish fifth or better this week, and Bob Gilder not place in the top 10, he would clinch the Charles Schwab Cup and earn a $1 million annuity as the points leader in the season-long series.
Stubblefield struggles: Local knowledge can sometimes be a dangerous thing. Just because you play the course from time to time doesn't mean you will master it. Such was the case for Larry Stubblefield yesterday, who finished with a 2-over 74.
The former PGA Tour player has been on something of a comeback the past few seasons. He was named to the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame last year and is one of the four sponsor's exemptions in the field.
Scores stay the same: Despite the changes on the Arnold Palmer Course, the scores didn't change much from last year to this year. Yesterday's opening stroke average was 73.397 as opposed to 73.538 after last year's Friday round.
The most difficult hole yesterday was the par-3 fourth. The average score on the 210-yard hole was 3.462. There were only three birdies -- Jerry McGee, Sammy Rachels and Wayne Levi -- 48 pars, 17 bogeys, eight double bogeys and two dreaded others.
The easiest hole was the par-5 ninth. The average score on the 574-yard hole was 4.786. Big Island-born Steven Veriato made the only eagle. There were also 28 birdies, 37 pars, 11 bogeys and one double bogey by Stewart Ginn.
There were only three eagles shot yesterday, including one by Albus on the par-5 third hole. He gave those two strokes right back, however, with a double bogey on the difficult fourth. Tom Purtzer had the other eagle, on the 530-yard third hole as well.