Faxon moves fives shots clear

Brad Faxon knows how to finish off a round. All he has to do now is finish off the tournament.

For the second straight day, Faxon made an eagle putt on his final hole and walked off windy Waialae Country Club with another 6-under-par 64 that enabled him to take a five-stroke lead into the weekend of the Sony Open.

"That's as good as I could have expected," Faxon said.

He was at 12-under 128 and headed to the beach about the time John Daly and the other afternoon starters were teeing off.

No one could catch him.

Ernie Els, in the hunt for the third straight week, birdied the final two holes for a 65 and was in a large group of players at 133 who will try to catch Faxon on the weekend with a couple of factors against them.

Because of the five-hour time difference from the East Coast, the leaders will tee off at 9 a.m. HST, when the trade winds are at their calmest.

"It could be a putting contest," Els said.

And no one can work the flat stick quite like Faxon, the leading putter on the PGA Tour the past two years.

He has taken only 51 putts the first two rounds, and had only 11 putts on the back nine this morning.

But he has lots of work left, and plenty of proven players chasing him.

Jim Furyk had a 67 to join the group at 7-under 133. Furyk beat Faxon in a playoff in the 1996 tournament at Waialae, and is coming off a victory last week on Maui in the Mercedes Championships.

The others at 133 included Carlos Franco, Tom Lehman, Bradley Hughes and Peter Jacobsen, who lost his PGA Tour card last year and is playing on a sponsor's exemption. Jacobsen also had a 64, the low score of the tournament.

Daly, who started the second round tied with Faxon and Larry Mize, got a little quick with his swing and started his back nine with three straight bogeys. He wound up with a 72, and was eight strokes behind.

Mize was leading at 8-under par when he made the turn in the morning, but three bogeys down the stretch dropped him to 71, seven strokes behind.

Faxon made a late surge with a variety of good shots. At least one part of his game was functioning on every hole - if he didn't hit great drives, he hit solid iron shots. And when he missed his irons, his putter rescued him.

"I hit some great scramble shots,'' Faxon said. "I really kept my composure.''

He pulled away with a 4-iron into 12 feet for birdie on the 203-yard fourth hole, followed by another 12-footer on No. 5.

And he made a couple of nifty escapes. With the trunk of a tall, skinny palm tree about 6 feet in front of his ball, Faxon hit a hard hook with a 6-iron around the tree to about 15 feet for a routine par.

Two holes later, he hit from one under tree and over two others to get out of trouble, then saved par with a 60-foot pitch that stopped close to the hole.

He saved his best shot for last, even though no one seemed to notice.

Faxon had 228 yards to the pin on the par-5 ninth, and his 4-wood approach just cleared the right bunker and settled 6 feet from the hole. The sun was in his eyes, and Faxon assumed he was in the bunker when the gallery gave the kind of mild applause reserved for routine pars.

What surprised Faxon even more than his low round was that no one went with him.

"I thought I'd see more guys climbing the board,'' Faxon said. "I didn't think 10-under would be leading.''

His score is even better, matching the advantage Paul Azinger took into the weekend at Waialae last year. Azinger wound up winning by seven strokes.

"Brad kind of blitzed the field,'' Els said. "He makes things happen with his putter. When he gets it going, he can make anything.''

But Els wasn't ruling himself out.

Already this year, he reached the semifinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship and finished third last week in the Mercedes, a tournament he probably should have won if not for a back-nine collapse on Saturday.

The difference one week makes -- instead of a four-stroke lead after 36 holes, Els is five strokes behind.

"On any given day, five shots is not a lot,'' Els said. "It's a big field, and a lot of guys are playing well.''

That also includes Faxon, who has made only one bogey over his first 36 holes.

Faxon is doing his best to get into The Masters. He already was victimized last year when Augusta National changed its criteria and did not give invitations to all PGA Tour winners. His best bet now is to get into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, which a victory this week could provide.

DIVOTS: Jacobsen used to play in the band "Jack Trout and the Flounders'' along with Payne Stewart. He has not picked up his guitar since Stewart was killed in a plane crash on Oct. 25, 1999. "I have not wanted to,'' Jacobsen said. ``I have no explanation except I'm not over his death. I think a lot of guys are still affected about that." ... Furyk has six straight round in the 60s this year, and nine straight dating to last year before he injured his wrist. ... Gary Nicklaus made eagle on the last hole for a 71, leaving him nine strokes behind. ... Defending champion Paul Azinger failed to break par either round and missed the cut.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page