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 18th 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
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