A casual stroll
through Callaway Gardens worked wonders for Stuart Appleby and David Toms, who
put together effortless rounds that landed them in a three-way tie for the lead
Friday in the Buick Challenge.
Appleby was trying not to get caught up in the last leg of a long, grinding season
when he filled his scorecard with so many birdies that he couldn't remember the
holes or how he made them. He finished with an 8-under 64 without even carrying
his yardage book.
Toms was surprised he was even playing. He quit his pro-am after only one hole
Wednesday because of severe back pain and was simply trying not to hurt himself
when he turned in a 6-under 66.
That left them at 10-under 134 along with Harrison Frazar, whose 67 included a
7-iron on the 178-yard eighth hole that was so close to going in that the 28-year-old
Texan couldn't decide whether it was 1 inch or 2 inches away.
"I
didn't have to line up the putt," he said.
The conditions on the Mountain View course at Callaway Gardens are ripe for a
shoot-out this weekend. The greens are running pure and the weather has been perfect,
with only a trace of breeze on another day of warm sunshine.
The best round of the day came from Jeff Maggert, who hit the ball better than
he did last week at The Country Club and continued to make the kind of putts that
enabled him to contribute two points in the United States' Ryder Cup victory.
Despite a bogey from the
bunker on the 18th, Maggert had a career-low 63. That put him in a group at 8-under
136 that included Loren Roberts, Stephen Ames and Tom Kite.
"I
was thinking 4-, 5- or 6-under might be a good score to get back into the golf
tournament," Maggert said. "I didn't expect to make 10 birdies and shoot 63. That
was a bonus."
Kite,
who turns 50 in December, had a 65 for his best score of the year. One of the
hardest workers on the PGA Tour, he has made only six cuts this year and has finished
in the top 20 only once, but that was ancient history Friday.
"If
you want to talk about the bad stuff, go talk to someone else," he said. "Right
now, I'm doing good and I'm pleased with where I'm at. My game is coming around.
I'm playing better, putting better and starting to shoot some scores."
John Daly, in his first
tournament since admitting he has starting drinking again, had a 74 and missed
the cut.
Toms is
having the best season of his career, already 13th on the money list with over
$1.4 million and a victory last month in the Sprint International. But his back
has troubled him every now and then since 1989, and it showed up again Wednesday.
"I'm surprised I'm playing
as well as I am," said Toms, who is spending more time in physical therapy than
on the driving range. "I'm trying not to swing too hard out there and hoping the
back doesn't go out. I just want to stay within striking distance of the lead."
Frazar is also part of
the walking wounded. He wears a tightly wrapped bandage around his left wrist,
which he injured in June when a 3-iron dug hard into the ground. He thought it
was stretched ligaments, but says now it could be a stress fracture.
He plans to see a doctor next week, but in the meantime he might just go out and
get his first PGA Tour victory. It was the first time this year Frazar has started
a tournament with two rounds in the 60s.
Appleby's only affliction is fatigue. He is 30th on the money list, needing a
strong finish to get into the Tour Championship in Houston, where he won earlier
this year. That's one reason he decided to pull out of the Dunhill Cup and the
World Match Play Championship the next two weeks in Britain.
And he's trying not to get too far ahead of himself at Callaway Gardens.
"I tried not to spend any
useless energy out there," the Australian said. "If you push a bit too hard, it's
easy to get frustrated. You've got to learn when to let it go. I just hit my shots,
and if it went crooked, then so be it."
It rarely did. Appleby only came close to bogey once and got that one up and down.
DIVOTS: Chris Perry
had a 67 on Friday, despite only having 12 clubs in his bag. Perry's used his
3-iron and 4-iron for alignment on the putting green Thursday night, inadvertently
left them there and didn't realise they were missing until it was too late. The
only time he really needed them was on the 218-yard 16th hole. "I hit my 5-iron
as hard as I could to get it in the front bunker," he said. ... Curtis Strange
birdied five of his first six holes on the back, shot a 66 and missed the cut
by one stroke... The end of the year is in sight for Nick Faldo, who missed the
cut for the second straight week. He'll play the Michelob Championship next week
to give him 15 PGA Tour events this year, the minimum for keeping membership privileges,
followed by a few appearance-fee tournaments in Asia and Australia. "I'll get
two months off, then I'll start practising in February." ... Soldiers from nearby
Fort Benning were admitted free on Friday. Most of them spent the day taking advantage
of free phone calls offered by Cellular One.
