Some of the cheers emanating from Waialae Country Club today might have nothing to do with the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
The Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers kick off at 11:40 a.m., just a few minutes before the first group of legitimate contenders for the golf tournament’s championship.
Left to their own devices, fans can check their smartphones while on the course for the progress of the NFL playoff game, as much as they watch for birdies and bogeys.
The rule allowing phones on the course (on silent) has created few problems, gallery-control chairman Jim Flynn said. It’s even helped make life easier in some cases for those running the tournament. Even if the on-course system goes on the blink, fewer fans ask where players are on the course or leaderboard because they can check it themselves.
The tournament got a break for today with the weather forecast … with less than a 50 percent chance of showers, the final round won’t start early like the third round did to leave room for potential stoppage due to soppage.
That means 49ers fans can come out to watch golf after Hawaii’s favorite NFL team finishes its playoff game against Carolina.
And with a bunched-up leaderboard, they will likely be rewarded with some aggressive golf. Chris Kirk enters today at 12 under and precariously atop a pyramid that has 11 players within three strokes of him. The posse includes former Sony winners Zach Johnson and Jerry Kelly among several other notables, so Kirk knows this is no time for prevent defense.
"I’m in the lead here, but it’s not like you’re going out there to protect anything when there’s 20 guys right behind you," Kirk said. "You know you’ve got to go out there and go get it."
Especially here, so early in the season, the leaderboard often includes a young mystery man or two. Today it is Will Wilcox, a PGA Tour rookie from Alabama who is tied with Harrison English, one shot behind Kirk. Wilcox joined the man on the opposite side of the familiarity scale, John Daly, as the two to shoot the day’s best round of 64.
"I’m used to the bunched-up leaderboard on the (Web.com Tour)," Wilcox said. "It’s just like that out there."
Well, that’s a nice way to look at it. But really? It’s a little different at the game’s highest level.
Wilcox might do well to take Kirk’s approach.
"I probably won’t look at leaderboards as much as I normally would," Kirk said. "A lot of courses, I think, lend themselves to you need to know what your position is going into any given hole, but out here I don’t think that’s really the case. They’re just so volatile with guys making birdies and bogeys. So I’ll just probably try to keep my head down and make as many birdies as I can."
And if you hear a loud roar from a skybox, don’t worry too much about it. It might just be a Broncos or Chargers touchdown.
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Reach Dave Reardon dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog, Quick Reads, at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.
