Sunday, June 22, 1997

Leader's troubles give field a chance to catch up

By TED DUNNAM / Abilene Reporter-News

The field in the 69th annual Men's West Texas Championship can be thankful that John Grace's short game deserted him Saturday.

Otherwise, today's final round might not have been that interesting.

Grace shot a one-over-par 73 that left him with a 2-under-par 214 total after three rounds and a three-shot lead over hard-charging Conway Jordan of Abilene, who shot a 69 at the rugged 7,018-yard Fairway Oaks Country Club layout.

Grace double-bogeyed the first hole of the day, four-putting the green from what seemed like reasonable two-putt range for the tournament's defending champion.

Although he recovered from that extremely shaky start, the putter wasn't kind to Grace for most of his afternoon. He lipped out birdie putts at the 15th and 16th holes and misfired on other makeable birdie putts at Nos. 17 and 18.

Off the tee, Grace was in the fairway much of the time. His approach shots were true, also. However, the flat blade gave him fits.

"I never felt like I was in the right spot all day," Grace said. "I don't really know what happened on the greens. I felt like I putted pretty well, but I just didn't make any today."

The first hole disaster was highly uncharacteristic of Grace.

"It's a funny thing. I was in the same spot on the green in the final round against Jaxon (Brigman) in '91. The pin and my ball were back in the same spot," Grace said. "I misread it that year, and I didn't want to do the same thing this time.

"I hit it way too hard and too high playing the break, and then hit it a little too hard downhill. After a start like that, I was happy to finish with a 73.

"Other than the putting, I was real happy with the way I played the back nine. In a four-round tournament, you're going to have days like this. You just have to hang in there. I really can't complain about a 73."

Although he voiced displeasure with his putting, Grace nevertheless birdied the two par-5s on the front side, and collected birdies at the 10th and 12th holes after hitting pinpoint iron shots to within seven and five feet of the holes, respectively.

Jordan birdied the seventh and ninth holes in a 34 on the front side. After a bogey at No. 10, Jordan picked up consecutive birdies at the par-4 No. 13 hole and the par-5 14th hole.

His 3-under round puts him in solid contention for the title along with Texas A&M all-American Ty Cox, who shot an even-par 72. Cox is at 218, four behind Grace while Phil Everson, Bart Granger and Buddy Trumpf are at 220.

Jordan and Cox have the best chance to unseat Grace as champion while the trio at 220 are long shots.

"I was 2 over at one point and got it to 1 under," Cox said. "At 15, I hit it so far right and I was just dead. I was happy to get bogey. At 13, I got lucky. I hit a tree that knocked the ball straight down or I might have gone out of bounds.

"Then I hit a really good 7-iron to within 10 feet."

Cox had three birdies and three bogeys in his round. Two of his birdies came at par-3s while he also birdied the par-5 14th, narrowly missing on an eagle attempt.

"It was finally nice to make some birdies," Cox said. "I'm happy with my tee-to-green game. I haven't had a three-putt all tournament. If I can get a few birdie putts to fall, I've got a chance.

"I think it's going to take a 67 or 68 to catch John. He's not going to come back to us. He shot a 73 today and he missed a lot of putts. He's not going to miss that many tomorrow."

Cooper golfer Paul Helms had one of the more interesting rounds in carding a 71. In addition to four birdies, Helms had a hole in one at the 11th hole, playing 163 yards.

Had he parred the final two holes, Helms would have shot a 67. However, he triple-bogeyed the 17th hole and bogeyed No. 18 to finish with his 1-under-par total.