Saturday, January 27, 2001
Tiger's streak ends, Calcavecchia's
streaking continues
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Mark Calcavecchia
had a huge lead and a chance to sleep in Saturday after rain delayed
the Phoenix Open.
Tiger Woods, meanwhile, had a little more
time to think about how he could make up 13 strokes on the leader
this weekend.
With 35 players still to complete their
second rounds on the rain-soaked TPC of Scottsdale course, the
start of the third round was pushed back several hours, making
it unlikely that it would be completed Saturday.
Play that was suspended because of darkness
Friday finally resumed two hours late Saturday after rains subsided.
That meant the start of the third round would be pushed back until
at least 2:30 p.m. EST.
Calcavecchia shot an 11-under 60 Friday
that was not only his best score ever, but good enough to give
himself a commanding lead and a share of the PGA Tour record for
lowest score through 36 holes.
Calcavecchia had watched some videotape
of Paul Gow shooting a 60 in the Canon Classic in Australia before
going out and shooting a near flawless round that nearly turned
into a magical 59.
He birdied four of the last five holes,
just barely missing a 20-footer on his 17th hole that would have
given him a chance at a score only three players have ever shot
in tour history.
“I thought I was going to birdie the
last three for a 59,” Calcavecchia said. “You don't
get that chance often, so I was aiming at the flags.”
On a day where Woods' streak of 52 straight
rounds of par and better was broken, Calcavecchia put on a birdie
streak of his own. He made 11 birdies and seven pars on a course
where he has won twice and where in 1996 he shot his previous
career best of 62.
“This course isn't that easy,”
he said. “You can't measure it by what I did.”
Woods would agree, after shooting a 2-over
73 that snapped his remarkable streak that stretched to last May
and included three major championships.
“You can't always have a streak and
not have it end,” a philosophical Woods said. “Unfortunately
it ended today because I just didn't make the putts I wanted to
make.”
Woods hadn't shot worse than par since the
first round of the Byron Nelson Classic on May 11, a streak that
included 14 tournaments. If you count all competitive rounds during
that stretch — which Woods does — the streak would be
62 rounds of par or better.
But the putter that had pulled out other
rounds when Woods wasn't striking the ball well didn't cooperate
at the TPC of Scottsdale course where Woods had shot a seemingly
effortless 65 only the day before.
Woods put two balls in the water on the
par-5 15th, in effect ending his chances, although he still could
have matched par had he holed an 87-yard wedge shot on the final
hole.
“It's not the fact I'm hitting it terrible,”
Woods said. “If I just make a couple more putts, I could
have been right there.”
Calcavecchia had a five-shot lead over Scott
Verplank and six over Rocco Mediate.
“Calc was playing a different golf
course today,” Woods said. “The pins were a lot tougher
than they were yesterday, except for Calc.”
Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address)
of This Story to A Friend:
|
