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On the Course Woods predicts weather; Lawrie’s vacation plans
Posted: Sunday March 26, 2000 08:52 PM
By Mick Elliott, Special to CNNSI.com PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Sunday's lightning and rain storm that suspended play did not come as a surprise. Tiger Woods, an admitted Weather Channel watcher, had forecast expected foul weather Saturday evening while discussing his third-round play. But with NBC's broadcast scheduled to end at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the leaders' did not go off until 2 p.m. Sunday. Woods thought that was too late. "I think they are late just because we haven't had Daylight Savings Time yet and because we are pushing twilight," he said. "(Saturday) we were pushing a little bit and today I was saying that if we don't get a move on, we'll have a hard time finishing. Forget the rain and the storm, we are going to have a hard time finishing in daylight." Now, NBC will provide live national coverage when play resumes at 9 a.m. Monday, however, local affiliates will have the option of picking up the broadcast. As of late Sunday evening, the Jacksonville NBC affiliate had not made a decision on its programming.
Great saveHal Sutton didn't even blink when asked if he had ever had a better bunker shot than an escape from the sand on the par-3 8th hole to save par. With his ball near the lip of a deep bunker, Sutton was forced into a contorted, twisted stance while needing to get the ball up quickly. He blasted to 10 feet then saved par with a one putt. "No, that was right at the top of the list," Sutton said. "You know, going to (par-5) No. 9, Tiger's got the advantage. So, for me, it I hadn't gotten that up-and-down, that would have given him the momentum going into 9."
Dress for success
Sunday's suspension of final-round play created a potentially interesting problem for Tiger Woods.
"Actually, I think I do," Woods said. "Or a lot of cologne."
David Duval didn't just fail to defend his Players Championship title. He suffered through two double bogeys and a triple during his final three rounds and came home 1-under and is tied for 14th place.
"That stuff happens. If you're playing really well, you avoid it," he said. "So two doubles and a triple in the last three rounds really hurts."
Now Duval heads to Atlanta for this week's BellSouth, the last place he finished a tournament as champion. Duval, however, insists he has no concern for his game.
"I think I have very big things ahead of me the next few weeks," he said.
If you are ready to write Greg Norman off as yesterday's hero, go ahead, but the Shark says that's a mistake. And he is pointing to his week at The Players Championship as the reason.
Norman, whose last PGA Tour victory came in 1997, said everything about his golf game is working except his putter.
"It's just getting very, very frustrating," Norman said. "I've got to ride the storm, that's all. I'm not concerned. You've just got to see the putts go in. You've got to make big putts. If you're playing well, you've got to hole a 20-footer for par. I've done that before.
"I'm three putting from 26 feet for double-bogey. It's just a little hard on my head now."
Norman finished 8-over par, needing 32 putts on his way to a final round 77.
To play or not to play? One week before the Masters that'sthe question as golfers debate the best way to prepare for Augusta National. Some will play this week's BellSouth in Atlanta. Others will stay at home and practice.
As for Scotsman Paul Lawrie, last year's British Open winner? "I'm going to Disney World."
Honest.
"My wife and oldest boy are coming over on Monday for the holiday," he said, before leaving TPC at Sawgrass with a 12-over-par finish. "We are going to Orlando for the week. I'll get to the Masters Sunday.
"I won't play at all this week. I will have a holiday everyday at Disney."
Mark O'Meara's final-round 67 not only the low round of the day -- matched by Nick Price -- but it was his low round of the season and only the third bogeyless round of the week. It allowed O'Meara to a tie for 10th, his best finish of the year. ... Ted Tryba and Joe Ozaki both recorded holes-in-one on the 226-yard eighth hole Sunday. Tryba with a 4-iron and Ozaki with a 3-iron.
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