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KA’UPULEHU, Hawaii >> To say Colin Montgomerie is easily distracted doesn’t do that phrase justice.
He had several instances during Saturday’s final round of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship where he asked photographers to move out of his line of sight on the tee box, instructed marshals not to stand in his putting line and even told the people in the restaurant looking out over the 18th green to be quiet while he chipped.
Perhaps the best instance occurred at the par-5 seventh, where Jerry Kelly inadvertently looked at a line near Montgomerie as he was about to putt. He stared at his playing partner, walked away from his putt and over to his caddie for about 10 seconds, then returned to his golf ball shaking his head.
You could say Montgomerie would notice a fly on a rope, but somehow he puts those distractions behind him and plays a relatively good game of golf. The 54-year-old matched Kelly, the eventual winner, stroke for stroke all the way until the last, when he missed a 10-footer for par that would have forced a playoff in the waning light.
They say the Scotsman is the life of the party outside the ropes, a real charmer who believes Brexit is a mistake. He has a large following on Twitter and is apparently a lively tweeter. But once he gets inside the ropes, everything changes. He hinted at that after Friday’s second round, where he exited the playing field with a two-stroke lead.
“This is why we play this game,” he explained. “This is why I’ve played this game, because I’m competitive and it’s a competition (Saturday) and it’s game on and I’m looking forward to it.”
His two-shot advantage slipped away with a double bogey at the difficult par-3 fifth. He hit his drive into the water guarding the front of the green, chipped from the drop area to about 20 feet after first chastising a photographer for walking about 50 yards in front of him and then lipped out that bogey putt to settle for a costly 5. He bounced back with birdies at Nos. 6 and 7, but through the course of 18 holes, a double bogey can be the difference.
After he blew the 10-footer for par at the last to give Kelly the win, he charged into the scorer’s tent, signed his card and then blew by a group of reporters as if they owed him money. No questions were asked because no answers were forthcoming. He might be large, but in that moment he was quick to exit the scene.
Toms comes up a little short
Kelly became the second player, following Golf Channel commentator John Cook, to win the Mitsubishi Electric Championship and the PGA Tour event on Oahu. Cook captured the United Airlines Hawaiian Open in 1992 and this PGA Tour Champions tournament in 2011 and 2013. Kelly won the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2002.
It’s just a matter of time before David Toms does the same. The 2006 Sony Open champ finished third here Saturday with a final round of 67 for a 54-hole total of 16-under 200. Kelly closed at 18-under 198 with Montgomerie placing second at 17-under 199.
“I enjoy the golf course,” Toms said. “I’ve played well both times. My caddie and I were talking about it there finishing up today. It would be a nice place to come every year, so I’ve got some work to do in order to do that.”
Toms began his round with two consecutive birdies to move within one of Montgomerie before the par-3 fifth did him in with a bogey 4.
“It’s a tough par-3,” Toms said. “A real hard par-3. I thought I hit a good shot, but it ran through the green and into the bunker. Hit a good bunker shot and missed a short putt for par. I missed a short putt for birdie on the hole before, so I think that was really the difference in me contending today.”
Inside the numbers
There was a little wind that kicked up during the final round and the scores ticked up with it. The scoring average was almost a stroke more than Friday’s at 70.068.
There were only 19 rounds in the 60s and 35 below par out of the 44 golfers in the field.
The easiest hole was the par-5 10th at 4.114. There were four eagles, 32 birdies, seven pars and only one bogey. The hardest hole for the third straight day was the 205-yard par-3 fifth with a scoring average of 3.364. There were only four birdies, 26 pars, eight bogeys and six double bogeys.
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