Golf

The 19th hole

By BOB HARIG
Published February 3, 2005

Divots

* Rare Bird: There were just three double eagles last season on the PGA Tour (including one at the British Open) but there have already been two this year, both recorded last week at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. One was by Dade City's Tim Petrovic, who holed his second shot from 240 yards at the par-5 11th hole of the PGA West Palmer Course. Two days later, Tag Ridings also posted an albatross, hitting a 2-iron from 256 yards on the par-5 12th at Tamarisk County Club.

But what was more interesting was Ridings' back nine that day. He started with consecutive bogeys, then made double eagle before recording two pars, two bogeys and two eagles. He shot 33 without making a birdie - but had a double eagle and two eagles in a nine-hole span.

* Timely message: Nick Dougherty received an inspirational text message from his idol, Nick Faldo, before the final round of the Caltex Masters in Singapore, which helped him claim his first victory on the PGA European Tour by holding off veterans Colin Montgomerie and Thomas Bjorn, who were paired with him in the final group. "He just told me to visualize each shot, commit to each shot and be determined with every action I take," said Dougherty, 22, who is from Liverpool and is a graduate of the Nick Faldo Junior Series. "I think he was well aware that it would be easy to get carried away, especially if Monty or Thomas had thrown a few birdies at me. But it felt great and even if it had been a blank text, for Nick to text me and know he was keeping an eye on me was a nice feeling."

"Hale was just on another planet. He was in a different world. No one could have beaten him." - Champions Tour player Dana Quigley on Hale Irwin, who at age 59 won the Turtle Bay Championship on Sunday, his fifth straight win in the tournament and sixth overall. Irwin now has 41 Champions Tour victories and at least one win in 11 straight seasons.

David Duval's four-round total of 318 at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (the cut came after four rounds) was 20 strokes worse than any other player in the field.

[Last modified February 3, 2005, 01:08:13]