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Golf
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2003
KAPALUA, Hawaii -- The PGA Tour could not have asked for an easier start to the new season.
With Tiger Woods 5,000 miles away and Kapalua practically defenseless in calm conditions, Ernie Els and Jim Furyk led a first-round assault Thursday in the Mercedes Championships.
Furyk made himself at home -- he finished 9-under 64 just 300 yards from his house -- by making an eagle and five putts longer than 15 feet.
Els had two eagles and played his final seven holes 6 under, recovering from a double bogey that kept him from setting the course record.
"I was watching the board. Seemed like everybody was doing the same that I was doing," Els said. "It was a nice day for the guys out there."
How nice?
Only three players were over par. More than half were in the 60s, and the average score -- 69.31 -- was the lowest for any round in the five years that the Mercedes has been played at Kapalua.
No one had to tell Furyk how easy it was.
He finished his second home this summer, played 27 holes during a visit to the Plantation Course in November and is the only one who has played in all of the season-opening tournaments since they moved to Kapalua in 1999.
"About as good as it gets," he said. "The wind laid down for us today, made it possible to go out there and shoot low scores."
Chris Riley and Gene Sauers each had 65, two players more representative of this year's 36-man field at the winners-only Mercedes.
Woods is not playing because of knee surgery last month, and second-ranked Phil Mickelson is taking time off. David Toms, Davis Love III and David Duval did not win last year.
In their place are players such as Riley, who is among 18 who won for the first time on tour last year, and Sauers, who went 13 years between victories.
They had never seen the course but proved quick studies.
"I didn't know what to expect, but I'm pretty happy with it," Riley said. "I don't know any other different conditions since this is my first time here."
SOUTH AFRICAN OPEN: Jean Hugo made the first move in reclaiming his European PGA Tour card, posting 66 to take a one-stroke lead in Cape Town. The South African did not have a bogey. Defending champion Tim Clark was second.
BOSTON -- Thomas H. Wyman, the former chairman and chief executive of CBS who resigned last month from Augusta National Golf Club because of its all-male membership, died Wednesday at Brigham and Women's Hospital after a short illness, his family said in a statement. He had surgery Dec.15 for an abdominal infection. He was 73.
Mr. Wyman's business career included stints with Nestle, Polaroid and the Green Giant Co., where he served as president and chief executive until it was acquired by Pillsbury in 1979.
He joined CBS in 1980, became chairman in 1983 and resigned in 1986.
Later, he served on several corporate and philanthropic boards, including those of Amherst College, the Ford Foundation and the United Negro College Fund.
Last month, Mr. Wyman gave up his 25-year membership at Augusta National to protest its lack of female members. He called the club "pigheaded" and said that up to a quarter of its 300 members felt the same. He also criticized CBS for not speaking out on the event, which the network broadcasts.
The Augusta, Ga., club plays host to golf's premier tournament, the Masters. Martha Burk, head of the National Council of Women's Organizations, is leading a campaign to urge the club to admit female members.
Augusta National officials have said Mr. Wyman's resignation would not change their policy. The only other member known to have stepped down is John Snow, President Bush's choice to be treasury secretary.