Friday, March 16, 2001
Five-way tie for the lead at
windy Bay Hill
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Six birdies, a
five-way share of the lead in the Bay Hill Invitational with a
bogey-free 66, and the thing that really pumped up Grant Waite
was the par he made on the eighth hole Thursday.
With a hot wind blasting through Bay Hill,
sometimes par is cause for celebration.
“That was more exciting than any birdie
I made,” said Waite, who joined Phil Mickelson, Mark Calcavecchia,
Dennis Paulson and early riser Steve Pate atop the leaderboard.
No. 8 is the same hole Tiger Woods wanted
to curse.
Two strokes out of the lead with two holes
to play, Woods made a triple bogey on the most difficult hole
at Bay Hill, wound up with a 71 and stormed off the course without
comment.
It was his first triple bogey in 1,201 holes
on the PGA and European tours, dating to the third hole in the
third round of the U.S. Open, which he won by 15 strokes.
There might not be that kind of separation
by anyone at Bay Hill.
The average score in the first round was
72.689, the highest on tour this year. Only 21 players managed
to break 70.
Mickelson, playing the second of five straight
tournaments that takes him through the Masters, ripped a 3-iron
from 198 yards out of the rough and through the 20 mph gusts to
about 8 feet on his last hole for his ninth birdie of the round.
“I'm not going to complain,” he
said. “I'm not disappointed I had three bogeys. I made a
lot of birdies and played well today.”
Calcavecchia bounced back quickly from his
disappointment in the Honda Classic last week, when a three-putt
from 50 feet on the final hole cost him a chance to get into a
playoff with Jesper Parnevik.
He birdied three straight holes on the front
nine, and hit his approach into about 2 feet on the 18th for his
66. Four groups earlier, Paulson made bogey on the same hole and
dropped back into a tie for the lead.
Pate had the best of conditions, teeing
off first in a twosome with Stephen Ames when gray clouds hovered
and rain came down for about 20 minutes. The wind didn't start
picking up until he was nearly finished.
“I love it ... other than the fact
I had to get up at 5 a.m.,” Pate said. “For nine holes,
the greens didn't have a mark on them. It was the best time I
could have gotten.”
That much was evident by the scores.
The wind shooed away the rain clouds, but
also dried out the course and wreaked havoc on club selection
as the round went on.
It was no surprise, then, that the five
leaders all had morning tee times, as did the players right behind
them — Lee Janzen, Jeff Sluman and Scott McCarron at 67.
The best score among afternoon starters
belonged to '96 Bay Hill champion Paul Goydos, who had a 68 to
join a large group that also included Scott Hoch.
Greg Norman, in his first PGA Tour event
this year, had a 69.
Five players failed to break 80, including
Darren Clarke (80) and tournament host Arnold Palmer (85).
Waite, who staged a dramatic duel with Woods
at the Canadian Open, hit the ball solidly for most of the day
until he came to the 459-yard eighth hole, which features a sharp
dogleg to the right and a green protected by water in the front
and a bunker behind it.
Fearful of hitting through the corner, Waite
hooked his drive to the left and hit someone in the gallery. He
pitched out down the fairway, then hit an easy 9-iron from 98
yards out to 18 feet and holed the putt for par.
“I walked onto the ninth tee and probably
felt better than I had after any birdie,” he said. “Sometimes,
a par is like that.”
Paulson would have taken that. From a good
lie in the fairway, he selected 7-iron from 159 yards and figured
he would be fine as long as the shot didn't balloon on him.
“I hit it straight up in the air and
the wind hammered it,” he said. “Didn't come close.”
The ball landed in the middle of the pond,
and Paulson was thankful to escape with a bogey on No. 8. He still
had a 30 on the front nine, which tied the Bay Hill record shared
by five others, and last matched by Mike Weir a year ago.
Woods wasn't so lucky.
The defending champion at Bay Hill slowly
got his game together and was 4 under and in great shape in the
eighth fairway. His approach came down on the bank and trickled
into the water, and Woods hung his head and walked emotionless
toward the pond.
After the drop, his fourth shot was long
into a horrible lie in the back bunker. He barely got the ball
out, chipped down to 4 feet and made the putt for triple-bogey
7.
The rest of the week won't get any easier.
Along with the leaders, Woods will have to go out in the afternoon
on Friday and try to make up a little ground in the tougher conditions.
Divots:
The only amateur in the field is British Amateur champion Mikko
Ilonen, who became the first guy from Finland to play in a PGA
Tour event. He had a 78. ... Fuzzy Zoeller made a 10 on the par-5
sixth hole by hitting his tee shot in the water, and then a 3-wood
approach into the water. “I had 215 to the front edge and
what the hell? I've already had both balls go in. You got to go
for it.” Another 3-wood bounced short of the green and rolled
into the water. He chipped to the fringe and two-putted for 10.
He finished with an 81. ... Mickelson, who signed an endorsement
deal with Titleist last year, took the hype over the Pro V1 golf
ball to a new level Thursday when he said it has had “the
greatest impact on the game, more than any other piece of equipment
in the history of the game — even more so than steel shafts.”
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