Friday, January 4,
2002
Weir picks up where
he left off; Tiger 5 back
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — The last time Mike Weir played on
the PGA Tour, he was hitting his irons close to the flag on his
way to victory in the Tour Championship. Two months later, only
the scenery has changed.
In the best ball-striking round of his career, Weir tied the Plantation
Course record with a 10-under-par 63 on Thursday and built a three-stroke
lead in the first round of the season-opening Mercedes Championships.
“That was way above my expectations,” Weir said, who
spent much of December skiing.
Frank Lickliter, one of nine players making their debuts in the
winners-only tournament, holed out from 144 yards with an 8-iron
after hitting into a hazard for an unusual birdie, which carried
him to a 66.
David Duval, who first set the course record two years ago, had
a 67 and was joined by Cameron Beckman, Chris DiMarco and Scott
Verplank.
Tiger Woods took an adventurous route along Kapalua, but straightened
himself out with two eagles and finished with a 68.
With only a stiff breeze blowing off the coast of Maui, Woods
figured someone would shoot about 65.
“Weirsy happened to go lower. That's good for him,”
Woods said. “He's been playing well and he's going to be
hard to catch.”
The start of the season was still a relaxing day for some. Duval
was anxious to get in front of a television to watch the Rose
Bowl, and he's counting the days before he can hit the slopes
in Sun Valley — Monday morning. In between, he posted a 67.
Weir wasn't sure what to think of his round.
While the 10-under 63 tied his lowest career round in relation
to par, it could have been so much better.
He three-putted for par on No. 5 and missed four putts inside
10 feet on the back nine. So pure were his irons that his longest
birdie putt he made was 7 feet on the 15th.
“It's tough to assess how my putting was today because I
had so many kick-ins,” Weir said. “When I had a 10-footer,
it felt like 30 feet. Obviously, I'm not complaining. It was one
of those days where my irons were dialed in.”
It was a round he never could have guessed was coming.
Weir was using new irons for the first time in competition. He
spent most of December on the slopes of Utah, nowhere near a golf
course except for four days in Palm Springs, Calif., working with
his coach.
And remember, this is the guy known as “Mr. November”
for winning his biggest tournaments late in the year.
Going into the last round of the Tour Championship, Kapalua was
the furthest thing from his mind. Now he's here, taking in the
spectacular vistas and playing the kind of golf that bodes well
for the rest of the season.
Beckman didn't have a bad day, either. He was paired with Weir,
and did what he could to keep up with him. That was no small task.
“Too bad we weren't playing against anyone because I think
we birdied every hole on the front nine,” Beckman said. “We
were just having a ball.”
Beckman was another last-minute entry, winning his first PGA Tour
event at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic in Mississippi the final
week of the season.
Like Weir, there seemed to be a carryover despite the two-month
break. When he got to the fifth tee, he told his caddie, “I
don't feel much different than I did in the last event.”
Oh, there were a few changes.
Nowhere in Mississippi can a golfer look across the rugged coastline
of west Maui and see the towering island of Molokai on the horizon.
Woods is familiar with that view, having qualified for the winners-only
Mercedes every year since he turned pro.
It took him a while to get going, with pars on his first four
holes until making eagle on the par-5 fifth, and getting another
one on the 15th. Woods played the three pars 5s in 5 under, and
made pars everywhere else.
“It's hard to get the speeds on the green,” he said.
“They've slowed a lot since Tuesday because of the rains.”
It's tougher when someone has posted a string of birdies before
he reaches the first tee. Weir birdied the first four holes with
putts of 6, 1, 2 and 3 feet. He added a 4-foot birdie on No. 6,
a 3-footer on No. 8 and a two-putt birdie from 15 feet on No.
9.
And all he could think about was the three-putt on No. 5.
“I was 8-under through 10 ... and I was like, 'Wow, could
have been that little bit step closer,'” he said. “In
a perfect world — which isn't golf — but it could have
been ridiculous.”
No, golf is not a perfect game.
Maui sure seems like a perfect place to start the year, and Weir,
followed by about six dozen Canadians cheering his every step,
looked right at home.
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