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Saturday, May 10, 2008
No age restrictions at Players Championship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. — It was, I would say, the most uncommon leaderboard you’ll see on the PGA Tour in a long while. (For one thing, Tiger Woods’ name isn’t there because he isn’t here. He’s in injury rehab.) It is a mixture of elders, of seasoned veterans and a bunch reaching for the moon. At the top this hour, the leader is a player who between 1996 and 2007 never won a tournament. Paul Goydos is 43 years old. Sergio Garcia, in his late 20s, has still to produce on his promise. And he is followed by Kenny Perry, who is 47.
Surprise of the week, I’d suppose, is Bernhard Langer, the 50-year-old German wearing more commercial patches on his shirt than a stock car. Then we have Phil Mickelson, who is 37, and who is all over the course and all over the board. Jeff Quinney has moved up, a former U.S. Amateur champion, and Ian Poulter, the outlandish Englishman, and Tom Lehman, the retiring Ryder Cup captain (and at age 49 peering over the fence into the Champions Tour) and Greg Kraft, both early finishers.
And so they are scrambling back and forth. Just awhile ago, J.B. Holmes, the Kentucky Wildcat, took off on an intoxicating streak of five birdies, and just as dizzily slipped into a pit of bogeys, but did birdie the infamous and perilous 17th hole. This is the hole of which Ernie Els said the other day, “They should blow it up.” He had just triple-bogeyed it.
Ernie is not alone is this vindictive view of the hole that is no less than the main attraction of those who come to a golf course to feast on disasters. By noon Saturday, every available patch on the grassy bank, and a stretch of bleachers, were filled with drooling guests, awaiting each calamity. Last year, 93 players hit the water here. Without the 17th, The Players Championship would be minus its main attraction. Also without it, it would be more favorably viewed as a fifth major, so commissioner Tim Finchem and his kingdom are betwixt and between.
This hole, which is an island in a patch of water, was not part of Pete Dye’s original design. “We had moved so much dirt to build up the stadium effect that we were left with this big hole in the ground. It was Alice [his wife] who came up with the golden solution. She suggested that we create an island and fill the whole with water,” Pete said.
And they did, and thus the 17th was created. And for states around and nations afar people come to play The Players Club simply to get a whack at the 17th green. Even a president stopped by for a view of it Friday. George Bush I had been in town for a speech, and Finchem gave him a seat by the 17th drop area. Of the eight he watched play through, only one, Billy Mayfair, ditched a shot, and then got a handshake from Bush I. As for No. 17’s future, look at it as a blessing or a curse, but don’t expect it ever to become part of the fifth major.
Well, the scramble is still on, and it won’t sort itself out until this afternoon, given a weather blessing. The leaderboard is a mosaic of red (for birdie) and blue (for bogey). Holmes, for instance, birdied seven holes but checked in only 1-under par. Six of the overnight leaders got off to a bogey start on the first hole. Perry and Langer were slipping a notch.
But into the tweening hours Paul Goydos clung tenaciously to his slender lead, this for the 140th ranked player on the tour, and who last won at the Hawaiian Open last year.
Fred Couples, another elder, had kept up with the gang until a 41 on the front nine derailed him. From 2 under he had plummeted to 4 over and still falling. This was not a tournament anyone would run away with and steal. In fact, from the looks of the leaderboard, there was no assurance anyone had the game to win it.
Stay tuned.
