The drama surrounding the final round of the Heritage was put to asunder quickly, when 54-hole leader Brian Gay birdied the first, rolled in a 60-foot bomb for eagle at the second and added birdies at the fifth and eighth to extend his lead to seven shots.
This thing is all but over. The only question now is whether Gay will surpass Loren Roberts' tournament record of 19 under or the record seven-shot margin of victory (Davis Love III).
The leaders will be teeing off in a few minutes, and judging by the low scores some players are posting early, it will be interesting to see how Brian Gay plays with the three-shot lead he takes into the final round. Conventional wisdom would suggest Gay should play conservatively, but birdies are more abundant on the front nine, so if someone does make a run at him and he finds himself needing birdies on the more treacherous back nine, things could get rather interesting.
Although I find it hard to believe, weather.com alleges the wind is blowing at only 3 mph right now at Harbour Town, which has led to low scores this morning during the third round. Luke Donald has the low round of the day at 6-under 65, but he has plenty of company -- Spencer Levin is already in with a 66, and Bo Van Pelt and Justin Leonard are still out on the course at 5 under for the day.
If the leaders don't play especially well this afternoon, we could have some guys sneaking back into contention. It would be nice to see a tightly packed leaderboard going into the final round.
Because I know how to admit when I'm wrong -- horribly, embarrassingly wrong -- I figured I would pause here at the halfway point of the 41st annual Verizon Heritage and take a look back at my pre-tournament attempt to pick the winner.
Todd Hamilton, who hasn't won a PGA Tour event since his rookie of the year season in 2004, has put himself in good position at the Verizon Heritage, firing a 5-under 66 this morning to take the second-round lead at Harbour Town Golf Links at 8 under par, and he was on top of his game in the interview room, too, talking for about 25 minutes, so we writers should have plenty of good material for you readers.
Hamilton is in the last year of his five-year exemption from winning the 2004 British Open, so he could use a win here to re-up his exempt status.
The second round of the Verizon Heritage is under way, with 131 players (Joe Ogilvie withdrew because of an injury yesterday) trying to slip in under the cut and earn a paycheck (except for Beaufort amateur Mark Anderson, who isn't eligible for a payday -- but still wants to stick around for the weekend). Thursday was a bit uneventful in that Alex Cejka went out in the second group of the day and fired a 7-under 64, and nobody caught him. The winds swirled in the afternoon, and no one could post a score better than 3 under par in the later rounds.
Harbour Town has come alive today, as the 41st Verizon Heritage finally teed off.
"I imagine it's going to get fairly cranked up tonight," said harbormaster Nancy Cappelman.
That's when The Headliners are scheduled to play, kicking off more of a party atmosphere as the tournament progresses.
"We’re having a blast,” said Scott Johnson, a 43-year-old tourist from Atlanta, who had stopped to have a drink with friends at the 19th hole. “The beer is cold and the sun is shining.”
Amen, my friend.
The tournament has finally started here in Harbour Town, and by the looks of it, plenty of folks are cutting out early from work to take in this beautiful sunny day.
Traffic in Sea Pines is pretty slow-going right now. At last check, cars were backing up to the Club Course area (right near the guard shack). Pay attention to the guards and watch out for pedestrians trying to cross the street.
Being stuck in traffic is much better than being stuck in the office.
- Daniel Brownstein
dbrownstein@islandpacket.com
Soft course conditions apparently have left Harbour Town ripe for the picking, as German Alex Cejka, playing in the second group off the first tee this morning, posted a 7-under-par 64. It was a bogey-free round for Cejka, who is looking for his first PGA Tour victory. In his previous 192 starts on the tour, he has two runner-up finishes, but no victories.
The 2009 Verizon Heritage is off and running. The first set of golfers teed off at 7:20 a.m. with groups of three following every 10 minutes. Rod Pampling and Alex Cejka share the early lead. Pampling is three-under through 12 and Cejka is three-under through 11. Former Hilton Head Island High School student D.J. Trahan is also off to a strong start. He's two-under through seven and is tied for third at the moment with Bill Haas, Mark Wilson, Brian Gay, Kevin Streelman, Ted Purdy and Tim Wilkinson. Check back a little later for more updates.
