Carolina Golf

Pete Dye has South Carolina sand in his shoes ... and a USC Ph.D. in his back pocket

    Pete Dye received a couple of pretty nice honors recently. Down in St. Augustine, Fla., not far from the once-controversial TPC Sawgrass Course that he built and that hosted the PGA Tour’s premier event, The Players Championship, this past weekend, the octogenarian golf course architect was named to the World Golf Hall of Fame. He’ll be officially inducted in November.

    A day later, on Friday, Dye, wife Alice, son P.B. and daughter-in-law Jean were at South Carolina’s Colonial Center, where Pete was awarded an honorary doctorate in business – a thank-you of sorts from outgoing USC president Andrew Sorensen to acknowledge the economic impact Dye’s golf courses have had on South Carolina over nearly 40 years.

    You could make a strong case that the first honor outshines the second, but not with P.B., 52 and architect of Columbia's Northwoods Golf Club, built during the mid-90s while he and his father were also constructing The Windermere Club. After all, it was while here that P.B. met his wife of 15 years, who maintains a home in Seneca.

    As for Pete … well, after all the honors he’s received in a long and productive lifetime, he’s just glad to return to South Carolina, which he calls “No. 1” in terms of states where his courses have changed the golf scene.

    “I guess (the degree) is for digging all that dirt at Harbour Town and Kiawah (Island),” he said with a laugh. “Wherever we’ve built golf courses, it’s had an impact on the economy in those areas.”

    Two cases in point: Hilton Head’s Harbour Town Golf Links, and Kiawah’s Ocean Course.

    The two courses are as different as night and day – which Pete loves, since it refutes the notion that every Dye course is like every other one – but both are demanding (Harbour Town for its tight fairways and small greens, the Ocean Course for its ubiquitous sand dunes and wind) and rated among the best in the world.

    The former is home to the Verizon Heritage, S.C.’s only annual PGA Tour event since 1969 and a major player on the state’s sports calendar. The latter has played host since 1991 to two of the biggest golf events in the world – the 1991 Ryder Cup and 2007 Senior PGA Championship – and will add the state’s first major, the PGA Championship, in 2012.

    Does South Carolina have golf tournament resume without the handiwork of Dye? Maybe. Doubtful.

    Of course, getting Pete to take a bow for all that is a tough job. He’s plain as an old pair of work khakis, a man who takes into consideration not just the world’s best players but also “Joe Q. Public” when building his courses. The fact that high- and mid-handicappers flock to play his designs – even the ones that beat them up – never ceases to tickle his funny bone.

    Take Dye’s recent renovation of Sea Pines’ Heron Point Course at Hilton Head. He turned a mediocre previous design into a beautiful – and difficult – layout right out of the box. Did he intend to make it so tough?

    “You know, when people come to play a resort,” he said, chuckling, “they go to the Ocean Course, to (TPC Sawgrass). And every time I ease off (on the difficulty) at a resort, it’s not financially successful.

    “PGA West (in Palm Springs, Calif.), oh, that’s the worst, hardest course in the world – and it gets the most play. … There’s got to be a reason.”

    As much as he’s known for demanding layouts – there’s a reason his nickname is the “Marquis de Sod” – perhaps Dye’s signature achievement is not just TPC Sawgrass, but one hole: the island-green, par-3 17^th.

    On Sunday, the first hole ever to have a camera mounted there so Internet fans could watch every shot during The Players, and one of few holes to have its own half-hour Golf Channel feature show, was the difference-maker at The Players. The PGA Tour in its infinite wisdom decided to begin any playoff at No. 17, and so it was there that Paul Goydos drowned his wedge shot, moments before Sergio Garcia hit safely to the green and two-putted from four feet to win the title.

    Dye loves to tell how that “brilliant” hole design – the first island green in PGA Tour history – came about partly by accident and partly due to the vision of his favorite architect: His wife of more than a half-century, Alice.

    “I was going to put in a little par-3 there, and we had a lot of organic material with one pocket of sand, and we kept digging out the sand,” Dye said. “When we were done, I said, ‘I’ve got no place to put a green.’ So Alice said, ‘Stick it in the middle (of the hole from which the organic material was excavated), bulkhead it and make it an island green.

    “We piled the old organic back under the bulkheading, put a little sand on top, and there it is.”

    Dye says he had no idea the hole would become instantly controversial – players love it or hate it, but no one is neutral. “My only worry was, we might end up someday with a 17-hole golf course,” he said. “But so far, it’s fine.”

    Which brought Dye back to talking about his South Carolina courses. Eight of the state’s top 50, according to the S.C. Golf Course Ratings Panel (of which the author is a member) and three of the top five – Harbour Town, Ocean Course and Hilton Head’s Long Cove – bear his signature. But one hole also has Alice’s direct stamp on it.

    That’s the water-guarded par-3 17^th at the Ocean Course, which famously played such a huge role in the ’91 Ryder Cup. Left to Pete’s way of thinking, it would’ve been, he says, a so-so hole. Then Alice stepped in with her philosophy of golf, which her husband knows well.    “My bride has played with Babe Zaharias, Beth Daniel, Ben Hogan, and still plays good golf,” he said. “But at our club she plays Ladies’ Day with three ladies who can’t break 120. So when it comes to par-3s, she wants me to make them distinctive and hard – the reason being so she can stick the ladies’ tee somewhere where they can play that hole (better than men from the back tees).

    “When I built Kiawah, she looked at 17 and said, ‘That’s not strong enough. You’ve got to put a pond there.’ I said, ‘You can’t put a pond on a hole next to the ocean.’ So she went to Scotland, Ireland, found holes with ponds next to the ocean. Well, if I wanted to eat” – he laughs again – “I had to dig that pond at 17 at Kiawah.

    Ask Mark Calcavecchia about that pond, where he dumped multiple tee shots during the final round of the Ryder Cup en route to blowing a sure win against Colin Montgomerie (the two wound up halving the match) and nearly costing the U.S. its triumph. Ask the Senior PGA players who managed everything from birdies to a 10 there.

    “It’s a little controversial,” Dye said. “But I just had to dig it out. She gets the blame for it.”

    Chances are in November, when he joins other legends of the game in the Hall of Fame, Alice will be there. Making sure to get her share of that “blame,” too.

BOB GILLESPIE

A near-forgotten friend -- winning -- lifts Pageland's Kristina Tucker

    Kristina Tucker has a lot going for her. She’s young, blonde and pretty, with a Duke education, a loving husband (Paul) and a solid if occasionally shaky golf game that has taken her, briefly, to the LPGA Tour and twice to the U.S. Women’s Open.

    What more could she want? For the moment, nothing – now that she finally has what had been lacking: a professional win.

    You could almost see the beaming smile on the Swedish transplant’s face over the phone line from her home in Pageland on Monday night, after her arrival from El Paso, Texas. There, on a weekend she will remember always, Tucker (formerly Engstrom) ended a five-year drought by winning the Duramed Futures Tour’s El Paso Golf Classic and its $11,900 first-place check.

    “I’m not sure what we’re going to do (to celebrate),” she said as Paul carried in her bags. “I just wanted to get home. I haven’t really slept in two nights; a little before my final round (on Sunday), but it was nervous sleep.”

    Tucker laughed. “It’s hard on the body to be so nervous.” Winning, she said, is a great stress reliever.

    Tucker triumphed for the first time since a trio of victories at Duke. She did it in style, too, shooting rounds of 66-68 to build a one-shot lead, and holding off a trio of challengers with birdies at the Underwood Golf Complex Sunrise Course’s at 11^th and 12^th holes.

    She even put the perfect stamp on her closing 71 and three-shot win over Leah Wigger of Louisville, Ky., Korea’s Stella Lee and Sophia Sheridan of Guadalajara, Mexico – a Swede, an American, a Korean and a Mexican; that’s the LPGA model, all right – on the final hole. Tucker fired a “great 5-iron” to a foot at the par-4 18^th for her kick-in birdie.

    Friends at White Plains Country Club followed her tournament, and “Paul was at home, watching (the results) on the computer, hitting the ‘refresh’ button about a million times,” she said. Afterward, she received a celebratory dousing (water, not champagne) from Futures Tour friends at the 18^th green.

    It all felt good, felt right, Tucker said. And yet … when you haven’t done it in a while, the mind can conjure up all sorts of bad images coming down the stretch.

    “Until I hit that second shot (at 18),” she said. “There was water on the right, and I knew if I didn’t play well, I could end up with a double bogey.

    “(Before the 5-iron shot) I took a deep breath, I was almost crying. But (after the shot) all the pressure went away and I realized I had a win.”

    It had been a long time coming. This is Tucker’s fifth year as a professional, a stretch that has had moments when her goal of playing regularly on the LPGA Tour seemed a farfetched dream.

    Her previous highlight came in 2006, when with Paul caddying she played in the U.S. Women’s Open and tied for 20^th. That earned her a return trip last summer and was a factor in securing conditional LPGA status in 2007, when she played in, among other events, the inaugural Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika (Sorenstam) in Mount Pleasant.

    Mostly, though, last year was about frustration. “I missed my conditional card (for 2008) by a shot,” Tucker said. “For a couple of weeks after that, I was so disappointed.

    “But I got over it. I wanted to give myself another chance. This (professional golf) has been my dream for a long time.”

    To that end, she began working last July with instructor Alasdair Dyer of Myrtle Beach’s Barefoot Resort, who was recommended by PGA Tour player (and former Duke player and friend) Kevin Streelman. Dyer, she said, taught her to analyze her game and minimize errors.

    “I’ve learned my swing, so now I know what I’m doing wrong when I’m not hitting it well,” she said.

    That was the story of Tucker’s first two rounds, when “I managed my game well. The first two days I didn’t miss many greens and had birdie opportunities all the time. My putting was pretty good, too.

    “Some times, (golf) feels easy. It did this week.” She laughed. “It’s been a long time ago since it felt this way. I would have good rounds, but then one day it would be hard again.”

    This time, the hard part was to believe in her ability to close the deal. Wigger tied Tucker when she bogeyed twice on the front nine. Tucker’s back-to-back birdies gave her a three-shot cushion, but Wigger nearly aced a par-3, and the birdie got her within two.

    But Tucker didn’t wilt. “I felt as long as I could par in, I should be fine,” she said. “I wanted to give myself short (second) putts, nothing long.”

    She laughed again. “That’s tough when your hands are shaking.”

    Next time, Tucker believes that won’t be happening to her. She looks forward to this week off – she’ll return for the Futures Tour’s next event, May 16-18 in Leawood, Kan. – and a chance to let her accomplishment soak in.

    “This builds my confidence,” she said. “I know I can do it now. It feels great to pull it off.”

    And, as she remembers now, it feels great to win. Nothing will rival that rush for Tucker – except another one.

For more on Kristina Tucker, go to her Web site: www.kristinatuckergolf.com. A profile of Tucker during her appearance on Golf Channel's "Big Break" series is at golf.about.com/od/thebigbreak/p/kristina_tucker.htm.

         

BOB GILLESPIE

Another year with Boo? That's the way the cookies crumble

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

To truly appreciate the popularity of Boo Weekley’s repeat performance as champion of the Verizon Heritage, you had to be standing at the 18^th green as the self-styled “redneck” from panhandle Florida (East Milton) made his way to the final green late Sunday.

Weekley dumped his approach into the front bunker – a mere aggravation at that point, what with Boo holding a four-shot lead on playing partner Anthony Kim and already-done Aaron Baddeley, the 2006 champion – but the chants of “Boo! Boo!” rained down on him anyway. He blasted his shot 10 feet past the flag, then settled over the par-saving putt.

The buzz from the grandstand softened to a mild hum, and as he took what seemed forever to make his stroke (and miss), you almost figured he was milking the moment for all it was worth.

Finally, he tapped in for bogey and “only” a three-shot win over Kim and Baddeley, and the roars resumed. And Boo – though he insisted it was unrehearsed – performed a Broadway-worthy bow, arms extended to drink in the adulation.

Later, decked out in his tartan blazer – the one he was presented on Monday as defending champion, the one his mother, Patsy, made sure to bring from the trunk of her car – Boo cracked up reporters and tournament officials with the sort of homespun humor and genuine humility that have endeared him to Heritage fans.

He spoke of how a year ago, “I didn’t get to stand there and turn to the crowd and do the fist pump” after chipping in for the second straight hole to hold off Ernie Els. He hadn’t rehearsed his bow, he insisted, but “I wanted to do the moonwalk, the belly-roll. (But) I didn’t rehearse nothing.”

Of course not. That wouldn’t be Boo being true to Boo.

He also insisted that he knew he couldn’t blow his second Heritage title “when I picked that ball out of the hole on the last one.” And he said he was so nervous, despite a lead that never shrank below four shots on the back nine, that “I think I went through four (golf) gloves today, I was sweating so bad.

“Seriously,” he added. Of course. Weekley was never so nervous, though, that he didn't feel right at home on the tight fairways of Harbour Town, hitting his patented controlled irons into the tiny greens and rolling putts on the familiar Bermuda greens. He said the course reminds him of his home course, Tanglewood, in Milton, except "we don't have the pretty Spanish oaks like they have here; we've got a bunch of lightning rods hanging around in the pine trees."

But what really made Harbour Town feel familiar, he said, is "the actual people, man, that surround this tournament. That actually makes this whole tournament." Somewhere nearby, you suspect, sponsors were whipping out their checkbooks.

Then Weekley told a story that managed to embarrass (slightly) tournament director Steve Wilmot (an unabashed Boo fan, for his cooperation in showing up for events all year long) while even further honing Boo's “good ol’ boy” image.

The subject was the tartan blazer, a gaudy piece of haberdashery that goes to the champion each year. As at Augusta, when the winner puts on the jacket at tournament’s end, it usually is a “loaner”; the tailor-made jacket that the champion gets to keep comes later.

For each title, the winner gets another blazer. You wouldn’t wear it outside the Harbour Town grounds, but Boo was ready to add to the closet collection.

“I hope I get another one,” he said. “Wear one on Saturday and one on Sunday.”

A year ago, Boo slipped on Wilmot’s blazer. “It fits about the same,” he said, “but this time I didn’t have fortune cookies in it.”

Say what?

“Last year, Mr. Wilmot had cookies down there (in the pockets,” Boo said as his audience chuckled, then laughed out loud. “He ate at a Chinese place, I think. He got some cookies stuck in there.”

Know this: Wilmot will be hearing about that for years. As long as the embarrassment comes with another year of Boo Weekley as the countrified face of the Heritage, chances are he won’t mind a bit.

BOB GILLESPIE

Afternoon delight, Boo-style

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

It’s 3:10 p.m. Sunday, and here at the Verizon Heritage press tent, we are being treated to … Lorena Ochoa winning the Ginn Open?

Uh, well, yeah. The best woman player in the world is en route to yet another LPGA victory, so apparently CBS has decided to pay witness to the coronation before switching over to see Boo Weekley’s unfolding repeat victory at Harbour Town Golf Links. As you read this (or maybe a bit before), Ochoa has a three-shot lead at 19-under-par on Yani Tseng – no, I never heard of her, either – walking up the 18^th fairway.

So far, the self-styled redneck from tiny East Milton, Fla. (not to be confused with the metropolis of West Milton) hasn’t blinked in his first experience playing in a tournament’s final Sunday pairing.

On a day when plenty of players are spinning their wheels (Boo’s pairings partner Anthony Kim, former champion Aaron Baddeley) or going backwards (Cliff Kresge and Jason Bohn), Weekley is cruising along at 1-under for the day, 16-under for the tournament, and four shots clear of Kim and Jim Furyk.

CBS just popped on its Heritage coverage (it’s 3:20 now), showing Boo (who the heck calls him by his last name?) waving at the camera just before the opening ceremonies on Monday, hitting a ball into Calibogue Sound as a cannon was fired. Some past champions have flinched at the “boom” – one, whose name escapes, darn near flung the antique club into the water – but Boo showed nice form and follow-through.

Guess a man who enjoys hunting as much as golf is used to the sound of gunfire as he practices his craft. And he shows no signs of fading under the gun of his would-be challengers.

A moment ago, Boo -- resplendent in a Tiger Woods-like red Sunday shirt, smiled as he walked off the eighth green. He just made a bogey after missing long and failing to convert his up-and-down, so he's 15-under. His lead is still three shots. And he's still smiling.

This has been a Boo-fest of a week, from reading the daily diary by – no, not Weekley – Momma Boo, aka Patsy Weekley, in the Island Packet newspaper to the daily adventures that are Boo’s post-round press conferences. On Saturday, he allowed that preparing for today’s play would not be any different for him than any other round.

“It won’t be no different tomorrow night and the next night,” he said. “I mean, I’ll probably watch TV, get something to eat, hang out, you know. I ain’t got no routine, if you ain’t noticed that. Just golf.”

Just golf. Just Boo. It’s hard to argue with the results, y’know?

BOB GILLESPIE

A Sunday stroll on tap for Boo; a "laugher" for everyone else

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

To those who regularly monitor this blog – whoever you are, thanks – my apologies for being derelict in posting following Saturday’s round. Alas, the rich dining opportunities on this resort island finally caught up with my delicate digestive system; the less said there, the better.

Anyway, here’s some of what happened in the latter stages of Boo Weekley’s Saturday march to the top of the leader board, and a likely repeat as Heritage champion – only the third in tournament history (following Payne Stewart, 1989-90, and Davis Love III, 1991-92).

But first, an early update: England’s Nick Dougherty, a Nick Faldo protégé, withdrew Sunday morning citing a family illness. Too bad: the young Brit was tied for 10^th at 6-under-par 207 with Charles Howell III, Robert Allenby and Mathew Goggin, and stood to take home a nice check (last year’s five-way tie for 10^th paid $124,200, which will cover a few meals at Truffles).

Moving along:

Weekley reeled off five straight birdies from Nos. 4-8, boosting him from a stroke behind Clemson product Lucas Glover to two shots ahead (Glover, who thought he was doing OK at 2-under until he checked out his pairing mate). If you’re scoring at home, Boo now has two of the three best rounds shot here this week; his 64 on Friday is No. 1, while Saturday’s 65 tied with Rocco Mediate’s Friday score.

You want to win this event? That’s the way to do it.

“I got on a stretch,” Weekley said. “I got lucky and chipped in on (No.) 4 (And where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, last year’s final two holes. Of course, those were “only” for pars, and the win; this one was for birdie).

“That kind of got me jump-started. I seen one go in, and you’ve got a par-5 right behind it, and (I) knocked it on in two there and made two good putts, and walked away with another birdie.”

And then another at No. 6, and at No. 7, and then a 7-iron approach at No. 8 to pin-high; five birdies in a row. Easy if you know how.

So Boo now is 7-for-7 on rounds in the 60’s, a record for hot starts and just two shy of the Heritage mark for consecutive 60-somethings. Also easy to see why he’s so popular around here.

Even the competition likes him. Anthony Kim, the 22-year-old Korean-American from California, who has about as much in common with Boo as he does with Boo’s chewing tobacco habit, is looking forward to their 1:45 p.m. final pairing Sunday.

“You guys know he’s hilarious,” Kim said. “Every time he opens his mouth, I start laughing. The guy’s full of jokes. He’s a positive guy, so it’s nice to be around.”

Kim will have a front-row seat Sunday afternoon for a comedy-golf show. He said it won’t be hard to focus on the competition – “we’re both out there to win the golf tournament,” he said – but in reality, this is Boo’s to lose. If he plays the way he has for 126 holes (last year and this), no one is going to catch him.

Sunday might be short on drama if that happens. But count on Boo to make it entertaining, regardless.

BOB GILLESPIE

No Boo or Lucas in NYC -- except on the Web

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

 So, which would you rather watch on an April weekend: Third- and fourth-round coverage of golf’s Verizon Heritage, or the Pope’s two-day tour of New York City?

 Reportedly, the pontiff has a wicked short game and putts well, too. But you’d have to take Lucas Glover or Boo Weekley in a showdown at Harbour Town Golf Links.

 Regardless, New York residents will see the Pope on all three networks’ stations in the area, meaning no golf in Gotham. But not wanting to lose such a valuable market, CBS will stream its network coverage of the Heritage (including, oh joy, the commercials) on CBSSports.com from 3 p.m.-6 p.m. each day.

 The move is a first for CBS and for the PGA Tour. Anyone worldwide with an Internet connection will be able to watch the two rounds. The rest of us who don’t live in the Big Apple will have a choice: our computer screens or our big-screen TVs.

 Hey, when it comes to watching Lucas and Boo, there is no such thing as too many options.

 

BOB GILLESPIE

A non-golf message about autism from Ernie Els

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

 Ernie Els, who last year finished second to Boo Weekley, has had his share of such frustrations at Harbour Town in the past, twice finishing third (2000 and 2004). Those continued this week when the big South African shot 72-76, 6-over-par, to miss the cut for the first time in 10 appearances dating to 1995.

 But winning and losing golf tournaments is lower on Els’ priority list since he recently announced to the word that his 6-year-old son, Ben, has autism. This week, he spent most of his pre-tournament interview time promoting a support group, “Autism Speaks,” whose logo he has on his golf bag.

 “One in every 150 kids are being affected by autism,” Els said. “So you’re going to have a lot of people in the very near future that are going to have to deal with raising kids with autism.”

 To that end, Els and his wife, Liezl, have moved from their London home to Palm Beach, Fla., in order to place Ben in a special school, the Rainbow School. Els’ daughter, Samantha, who is 9, is not affected by the condition.

 “In the U.S. they’re so far ahead of the rest of the world” in research and treatment of autism, Els said.

 Els said he has gone public with Ben’s condition because “I just felt I can help people, and I can help them feel better about their situations. It just shows you we’re all living in the same boat here.

 “What you really want to do is work and get a cure, and find out why it happens. I think everybody would like to know that.”

AUTISM II. While Els headed down the road to continue his campaign for an autism cure, Cliff Kresge heads into Saturday’s third round just three shots off the lead held by former Clemson All-American and Greenville native Lucas Glover.

 Kresge fired a 5-under 66 Friday and is tied for fourth with Stephen Ames and two-time Heritage champion Stewart Cink. The 39-year-old Central Florida product is having the best year of his career – he’s in his fifth season on the PGA Tour, after nine years on the Nationwide Tour – highlighted by a tie for third at last month’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

 Should he finish in the top 10 this weekend, he can surpass his FedEx Cup points total for 2007.

 If so, Kresge will appreciate the boost to his career, and not just for the monetary gain. He, like Els, has an autistic son, 7-year-old Mason. Friday night, he spoke passionately on Golf Channel about getting the word out.

 Kresge doesn’t have the clout of Ernie Els, but his story is just as compelling.

WIND A’COMIN’?

 Harbour Town, noted for its degree of difficulty when the winds howl off Calibogue Sound – last year’s Heritage didn’t finish until Monday due to high winds and falling tree limbs – has been remarkable mild-mannered through two rounds. The course played to a 71.652 average on Thursday and was even more benign Friday, with scores averaging 71.055, about a half-stroke over par 71. Fifty-eight of the initial field of 132 were under par for 36 holes and another nine were at even par.

 That could all change this weekend, though, as defending champion Boo Weekley noted.

 “The course is probably playing two strokes easier than last year, (but) the wind ain’t picked up,” the Milton, Fla., native said. “I looked on the weather (Friday) morning (and it) looks like we’ve got a little front coming in, a little storm system that might be getting here (today) sometime.”

 If so, look for the made-cut field of 75 to get a new appreciation today of the past two days’ conditions.

BOB GILLESPIE

Road trip: Byrd's high school coach a travelin' man

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

 Allen Hancock no longer coaches high school golf, but his five years in charge of the Spring Valley High program continue to have a huge impact on his life. And one Viking alum – PGA Tour player Jonathan Byrd – has kept the financial planner traveling during the golf season.

 Hancock, who coached Byrd his final two years at Spring Valley and three years afterward, was in Byrd’s gallery at Harbour Town Golf Links for Friday’s second round of the Verizon Heritage. That’s no surprise, given the proximity to Columbia.

 What is a surprise is Hancock’s “deal” with his wife: Whenever Byrd is in contention for a tournament title, Hancock said, he has “permission” to travel to see the final round.

 As a result of that bargain, he has seen the finish of each of Byrd’s three tour wins: the 2002 Buick Challenge, the 2204 and last year’s John Deere Classic, which until his Jan. 27 birthday made Byrd the only American under 30 with three victories.

 “I was at the B.C. Open with Jordan (Byrd, Jonathan’s brother and assistant golf coach at Clemson),” Hancock said. “I flew to the John Deere (in Silvis, Ill.) the night before the final round, and I drove to Callaway Gardens (the now-defunct Buick Challenge, where Byrd trailed by a stroke).”

 In each of his wins, Byrd has had to rally on Sunday to win. But Hancock said his deal is, he goes if Byrd is within two strokes of the lead.”

 “Well,” Hancock said, “two or three, anyway.”

LIMPING TIGER

 While Lucas Glover led the Heritage through 36 holes, and Byrd and D.J. Trahan both were within six shots, the fourth member of the Clemson Alumni Association, Columbia’s Charles Warren, was headed home to Greenville after finishing 76-75—151, missing the cut by eight shots.

 It was a harsh disappointment for the 32-year-old former All-American and NCAA champion, who has made one cut in five attempts at the Heritage.

 “I had chances early in the round (but) then I missed a few putts and had a ‘mud ball’ on No. 7,” he said. “The next thing you know, I’m a couple over (par for the round) instead of 3- or 4- or 5-under.”

 For Warren, the defining moment came at the par-5 15^th, where at 6-over for the tournament, he went for broke trying to reach the green in two shots. Instead, he hit into water left of the fairway and made double bogey.

 “It’s one of those things that didn’t matter,” he said. I just tried to do something to make something happen. It’s kind of hard to hit a 2-iron (his second shot) off that lie, that high (over trees on the left from more than 200 yards). If you don’t hit it perfect, you see what happens.”

 It was a gamble that didn’t pay off, he said. “At the end of the day, it was feast or famine,” Warren said. “(If the shot succeeds) you’re on the green and make 3 or 4. Or you hit the tree and it’s not good.

 “In contention, you don’t do that.”

YES, MA’AM

 Defending champion Boo Weekley made the day’s biggest move and a strong statement to becoming the first repeat Heritage champion since Davis Love III in 1991-92, firing a blistering 7-under 64 to move within a shot of leader Lucas Glover.

 Enjoying the day from the gallery was his mother, Patsy, who was Boo’s pro-am partner on Wednesday – and ribbed him unmercifully after out-driving him on one hole (from the women’s tees). She also was around to lend support to her son during his post-round interview.

 Asked when he started playing golf, Weekley paused before answering. “I started, I’d say, in ’88. Wouldn’t you say, mom?”

 “Your eighth- or ninth-grade year,” Patsy said from her seat in the interview room.

 “In ’88,” Boo added. “I got serious in ’89.”

PLAN OF ATTACK

 Former USC star Brett Quigley, who began the 2008 season needing to earn about $77,000 in order to retain his playing privileges after missing seven tournaments in 2007 following knee surgery (he did so with a tie for 12^th at the Honda Classic, worth $115,500), pulled another comeback Friday, shooting a 3-under-par 68.

 The day before, he bogeyed his final hole to shoot 1-over, which would’ve put him right on the cut line. “It’s a step in the right direction,” Quigley said of his round, which was sparked by his 4-under 31 on the back nine.

 “It’s been a struggle,” he said of this year. “I was on medical (exemption) early with my knee, and my knee has been a little more difficult than I thought. It was a result of trying too hard and putting too much pressure on myself to come out strong.

 “I just haven’t had a good finish. I’ve played well without getting anything good out of it.”

 Friday, though, set Quigley up for a good finish, or maybe more.

 “Now, shoot 6-under, 6-under on the weekend, and I might have a chance to win,” he said.

BOB GILLESPIE

"Two Gloves" goes 2-under in Heritage debut

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

 The highlight of Tommy Gainey’s first Verizon Heritage came at his last hole on Thursday. The Bishopville native, known courtesy of Golf Channel’s “Big Break” reality series as “Two Gloves,” came to Harbour Town Golf Links’ short ninth hole at 1-under-par – an accomplishment already – but seeking more.

 He got it, hitting his approach to about six feet, then rolling in his birdie putt as a small but vocal (and, given the lateness of the hour, somewhat chilled) group of fans roared their approval.

 And afterward, Gainey, 32, admitted he probably owed his 2-under round, tied for 23^rd on a day for scoring, on the worst moment he could’ve imagined.

 That happened on the first hole, when the man used to making clutch shots and putts when he won his second “Big Break” go-around missed a par putt – from a foot.

 “I missed it right, moved my head and shoved it,” Gainey said.

 And his response? It wasn’t despair, or a feeling of unworthiness, something you might expect given his background. No, Tommy Gainey was … mad.

 “It woke me up. No, more than that; it made me angry. I was hot, no question.”

 And he took his anger out on Harbour Town, which wasn’t a bad thing to do at all.

  He strung together seven pars; then, at the course’s signature 18^th hole, a brutal par-4 of 452 yards usually buffeted by the winds off Calibogue Sound, Gainey drained a 20-something-foot putt for birdie.

 “The first hole? Nerves,” said his caddie, former USC golfer Scott Feaster. “But he settled down, played solid. I think he was playing the best he has all year.”

 It’s been a tough start for Gainey in this, his rookie year on the PGA Tour. The product of mini-tours here, there and everywhere, the former factory worker (his worst or at least itchiest job, he said, was wrapping insulation around water heaters) has made three cuts in six tournaments, falling victim to the tour’s MDF (made cut, did not finish) rule once and earning a bit over $30,000.

 But on his “home” course (Gainey got in via a sponsor’s exemption), he got off to a solid start – his round, not the first hole, obviously – and a better finish.

 “I hit a lot of good shots and a few bad ones, I putted well and hit my targets,” he said. The birdie at No. 9? “Very important,” he said. “I’d just bogeyed the par-3 (No. 7), and that ticked me off.”

 He grinned. “Dinner’s going to go down a lot nicer now,” he said.

 It was, too, for Gainey’s father, Tom Sr., better known as “Smokey” – “Everyone in Lee County knows me by that,” said the elder Gainey, who called his son’s showing a perfect 61^st birthday present.

 Smokey Gainey had wondered at the first hole. “I told William Watkin (a friend from Bishopville Country Club), ‘Tommy might have a little nerves here,’ and soon as I said it, he missed that putt.

 “I thought he was trying too hard, not wanting to disappoint everyone, but he settled down, got into his rhythm. And No. 18, that’s the worst hole out there, that (birdie) really gave him a boost. He never got in serious trouble, never had a chance to make 6 or 7. And I think he and the group (of hometown supporters) fed off each other.”

 For Gainey, all the fan support was a mixed blessing: “It gave me a boost of confidence, but the pressure’s on you to perform,” he said. “It was up to me to keep them happy and supportive, not disappoint everybody.”

 With his first round at Harbour Town on the books, Gainey admitted he would breathe a sigh of relief before heading into Friday’s round, where the goal would be to make the cut and position him for a strong weekend.

 “I’m under par, and (the lead being at) 5-under, I’m not out of it, no way,” he said.

 Gainey had one final reflection on the first hole, a notion that it had worked out for the best.

 “I probably have birdied the first hole 80 percent of the time out here,” he said, “and today I bogeyed it.

 “But I came back, shot a great round, instead of having a train wreck.”

 All in all, not a bad start.

BOB GILLESPIE

At Harbour Town, Cink has that peaceful easy feeling

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

  To see Stewart Cink now, coming off the best two years of his 11-year professional career and already among the top 10 players in 2008, it’s hard to believe that, not so long ago, he seriously questioned his ability to compete on the PGA Tour.

How seriously? Psychiatrist’s-couch serious.

Even now, the lanky former Georgia Tech player is never more than a phone call away from Florida-based therapist Dr. Preston Waddington, who helped turn a self-doubting player into one who went toe-to-toe with Tiger Woods in Sunday’s final round of the Masters and held his own. And who, after an opening 4-under-par 67 Thursday that left him a stroke off the Verizon Heritage first-round lead, is enjoying himself like never before.

“I’m still working with him and talking to (Waddington) all the time,” Cink said. “(But) it’s all relative. I was worried about missing cuts then. Now I’ve got other things to worry about.”

Such as his aforementioned tete-a-tete with Woods. In two previous such encounters in 2008, Cink shot a closing 73 to Tiger’s 69 at the Buick Invitational (Woods finished first, Cink third), then was blown out by El Tigre 8 and 7 in the finals of the WGC Match Play.

This time, Cink matched Woods’ finishing even-par 72 at Augusta National, finishing third to Woods’ second when Tiger sank an 18^th-hole birdie putt. But what is most important – and was even in the previous one-on-ones - Cink was comforted by knowing he put himself in position to challenge the world’s No. 1.

So what does that mean for this week? Plenty.

Cink’s confidence levels are high – and that’s before you factor in his two previous victories at Harbour Town Golf Links (2000 and 2004). Even considering the huge differences between playing Augusta National and this cozy Pete Dye-designed course, the carryover is important.

“I played very similar (Thursday) to the way I played up there (in Augusta),” he said. “I drove it really good, I hit a lot of good iron shots, the kind of shots you need to hit … made a couple of putts. I made some saves (of par) when I needed to.

“That’s kind of the way I played last week, too. You don’t always shoot at the flag there. You don’t always shoot at the flag here. You have to, sometimes, play smart.”

Smart, and well. Cink in 2006-07 cashed checks for better than $5.2 million – and, while he hasn’t won since doing so twice in 2004, he now knows he is a weekly threat (he has three top-three finishes already in 2008).

He credits improved driving, thanks to work with Butch Harmon that he said has added 20-plus yards to his drives – “everyone has put on yardage, but I’m 20 yards longer than the guys I used to be even with,” he said – and he said he also is “keeping the ball under control a lot better the last two or three months.

“I feel strong. I feel like I’m striking the ball really well (and) that’s been the biggest key in the last several tournaments.”

Now, factor in Cink’s comfort level at Harbour Town, a course where that is more vital than hitting longer drives (rarely a huge benefit on the 6,973-yard layout – though he said the extra length can help on holes such as the par-5 eighth.

“It’s an awful lot of fun to be aggressive (at Harbour Town, as opposed to the conservative approach he and the others are forced to take at Augusta National),” Cink said. “I feel like I can really use my driver as a weapon … and really take advantage of being a little bit longer than I was a few years ago. That makes it a lot more relaxing.”

Even when he won here in the past, Cink rarely came in with a boatload of confidence about his play. “(Augusta National) has always made me a bit uncomfortable,” he said. “(But) something about the relaxation and atmosphere here, just the way everything seems to feel about the place.

“I haven’t played great every year (here). I’ve missed the cut and finished way down a few times. But it’s a place I really enjoy playing.”

And as Cink knows, a peaceful mind and soul can go a long way toward winning.

BOB GILLESPIE