Mark Wiebe hadn’t made a birdie since Thursday when the rain came Saturday afternoon. That might have been the best thing that happened to the 43-year-old Denver golfer all week.
After a rain delay of more than two hours, Wiebe shot himself back into contention at the Advil Western Open with five birdies in 13 holes for a 5-under-par 67. Wiebe, looking for his first victory since 1986, is tied for third place at 10 under. The first-round leader after a 65, Wiebe trails leader Davis Love III by four shots.
“The rain maybe helped me a little bit,” Wiebe said. “I went to the range and worked on my alignment one more time. When we went back out there, I felt like I had a little bit of game. I really played well after the rain delay.”
Wiebe’s first hole after the rain stopped was the par-3 sixth hole, which was playing 251 yards. He used an “ironwood” off the tee and hit a solid shot.
“I had to go right to the sixth tee, which is 227 yards to the front,” he said. “The pin was on whatever it was, a 240-something-yard shot. You know, what a great time to test if I was right or wrong. I hit a nice shot. On the fringe, but I hit a nice shot. So that kind of set me up.”
After that he birdied the par-4 seventh, the par-5 11th, the par-4 13th, the par-5 15th and the par-4 17th. After his opening round, he went 22 holes without a birdie.
“It was really neat to make my first birdie, I’ve got to tell you,” Wiebe said. “I birdied [No.] 5 and I was ecstatic just to have a birdie. Then I birdied [No.] 7 and then I had a really nice back nine. As much of a letdown as it was [Friday], I feel I put myself back into semi-contention [Saturday].”
No kidding around: Final-round fades cost Jerry Kelly dearly early in the year. The Madison, Wis., native wound up fourth in the Players Championship, eighth in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and 25th in the Genuity Championship, each time shooting a final-round 73.
Recently, Kelly has been turning that around. A 71 at Greensboro brought him a tie for fourth, and a closing 68 was good for seventh last week at Hartford. After a third-round 69 at Cog Hill, Kelly is seven shots behind Love, but with a spot in the British Open guaranteed, he has no reason to play it safe Sunday. Not that he ever has.
“Will I play aggressive [Sunday]? I guess you don’t know me very well,” Kelly said. “I could care less about the British Open qualifier. I could care less about top threes or top twos. I’ve done everything I can do except win. There’s nothing left.”
In his sixth year on the PGA Tour, Kelly has won $972,806. But he’s still looking for his first victory.
Former champs club: Three former Western Open champions made moves. Two-time winner Nick Price shot a 68, 1995 winner Billy Mayfair had a 67 and 1985 winner Scott Verplank shot 70. Verplank, who is six back, is the only one with an outside chance of catching Love.
After surviving the cut by a single shot, Price was making a nice charge until a double-bogey on 18. “My putting was unbelievable. I think I had only 24 putts,” Price said. “That might be a record for me. The hole looked as big as a bucket today. It hasn’t looked like that since ’94 [his last Western win].”
Price, who lost in a playoff to Robert Allenby last year, continued to criticize the PGA Tour’s decision to use the back tee on the 13th hole, which adds more than 20 yards to the 446 it has played to in recent years. “Adding length, as far as I’m concerned, is a fool’s way of adding difficulty,” he said. “When you add 20 yards, now you’re going into the green with a 2- or 3-iron and you’re not helping anybody except the longer hitter. My advice to junior golfers is to hit them as hard as you can, because if you don’t you won’t have a chance out here.”
Tick, tick: With only a handful of tournaments left until the PGA Championship, time is the enemy in David Toms’ quest to qualify for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Toms isn’t panicking. Heading into the Western Open, Toms stood 11th in the points race with 455.00 points, 47-plus points behind Jim Furyk in 10th place (502.875) and 50 behind Joe Durant (505.00) in ninth. When Furyk withdrew from the Western and Durant missed the cut, Toms was handed a golden opportunity to make up ground.
After a 73 Saturday, Toms is 11 shots out of the lead. Toms can catch Furyk and Durant with a sixth-place finish or better. He needs a great final round to do it. Toms isn’t doing the math. “I can’t focus on where I’m going to end up,” he said. “I just have to hope it’ll fall in my lap if I play good golf.”
British quest: Eight spots in the British Open will up be for grabs Sunday for players who aren’t already exempt. After a third-round 66, Matt Gogel is in a 15-way tie for ninth place in the Western. Of the players in front of him, only Brandel Chamblee and Wiebe aren’t exempt, so he’s in pretty good shape.
“I’m not thinking about winning. All I’m worried about is making the British Open,” Gogel said.
Other non-exempt players in the hunt are Frank Nobilo, Rory Sabbatini, Shaun Micheel, Bob Tway and Cameron Beckman.
