Calcavecchia wins in record style

Before he had even hit a shot that counted in the Phoenix Open, Mark Calcavecchia shared a secret with his mother.

A simple swing adjustment had paid off. The ball was suddenly going where he wanted.

"I just kind of looked at her and said, 'I've got it,' " Calcavecchia recalled.

Oh, did he ever. And four rounds later, Calcavecchia had something else -- a spot in the PGA Tour record book.

Calcavecchia wrapped up his romp in the Phoenix Open today by playing the final 28 holes in 10-under par to break a PGA Tour record for lowest 72-hole score that had stood for 46 years. With the outcome of the tournament long since decided, Calcavecchia birdied four of the last five holes to finish at 256, one stroke better than Mike Souchak shot in the 1955 Texas Open.

"I've looked at that record before. But it never crossed my mind I could do something like that,'' Calcavecchia said.

Calcavecchia not only broke the 72-hole scoring record, he also broke the record for most birdies in 72 holes, making tapping in a short putt on the 17th hole for his 32nd birdie of the tournament.

"I know I'm streaky, but I'm not that good,'' Calcavecchia said. "Looking at the board when I was out on the green and seeing a red 28, it just looked crazy.''

It might have seemed even crazier because Calcavecchia had been hitting the ball in every direction and almost went to Las Vegas on Monday for a lesson with Butch Harmon to try and straighten things out.

Instead, Harmon told him on the phone that he was overswinging, and Calcavecchia used the advice to shoot an effortless 65 in the Wednesday pro-am. It was then he went home and told Marjorie Calcavecchia that he had gotten it.

"She just said, 'Oh, good,' " Calcavecchia said.

Calcavecchia, who took command of the tournament with a second-round 60, returned from Saturday's suspended third round to face an 8-iron second shot on the ninth hole this morning.

"I'd love to get out there right now and throw that baby close,'' he said Saturday after walking off the course.

Calcavecchia did just that, making birdie on nine en route to playing his last 10 holes in the third round in 5-under par. He then came back with a 67 in the final round this afternoon to win by eight shots over Rocco Mediate.

It was his first win in nearly three years but the third time Calcavecchia has won on a TPC of Scottsdale course that is one of his favorites.

"It's an indescribable feeling right now,'' said Calcavecchia, whose last win came in the 1998 Honda Classic. "I was just struggling to win the tournament for awhile.''

By struggling, Calcavecchia meant he had actually made a couple of bogeys in the final round, one on the fifth hole and another when he three-putted the 11th.

Mediate climbed within four shots when he birdied 14, but Calcavecchia poured in a birdie putt on top of him and went on to birdie the next three holes to claim the record.

"There was no way we were going to beat him,'' Mediate said. "I could have shot 63-64-64 the last three days and still lost the tournament. It's amazing.''

Calcavecchia got to 28 under on the 17th hole, hitting a drive short of the green, then hitting a chip to within tap-in range. He drove it into a fairway bunker on 18, but put his second shot on the green and two-putted for the record.

The runaway was just what the huge crowds had come to see. But they had expected it from Tiger Woods and not Calcavecchia.

Woods shot himself out of the tournament with a second-round 73, but finished with a 65 for the final round and pronounced himself satisfied with his game. Woods ended up tied for fifth, 15 shots back.

It was the fifth straight PGA Tour tournament that Woods has failed to win, and he had his streak of 52 straight rounds of par or better snapped in the second round. Still, Woods said he was not concerned with his game.

"I'm not playing badly,'' he said. "I just need to get some of those putts that have lipped out go in.''

Woods was a late entry into the tournament, but Pebble Beach, next week's Tour stop, was always on his schedule and he was eager to get there. Woods played numerous junior tournaments in the area and played there often when he was in college.

"I love the (Monterey) peninsula,'' he said. "I can hardly wait to get there.''

If Woods loves Pebble Beach, Calcavecchia has a love affair going with Phoenix. He won here in 1989 with a 21-under score and was 20 under in 1992 when he won here.

Calcavecchia, who has a home in the Phoenix area, was relaxed throughout the final day, laughing and joking with his playing companions Mediate and Scott Verplank. He walked down the ninth fairway chatting with a young boy who was a standard bearer, and was still smiling when Mediate crept within four shots at one point on the back nine.

"To win here for the third time, it just keeps getting better and better. Not too many guys win out here once they've past 40,'' said Calcavecchia, who turned 40 last year. "And the longer you go without winning, the tougher it is to win again."

DIVOTS: Woods started bogey-par-par, then played his next seven holes 7-under. ... John Daly shot a final round 66 and finished at 11 under, his first top-10 finish since the 1998 Honda Classic. ... Calcavecchia earned $720,000 with the win, the biggest check of his 18-year PGA Tour career. It almost doubled the $324,000 he earned for winning the 1998 Honda Classic.

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