Stage is set

KAPALUA, Maui » On a spectacular day a balmy world away from the frigid mainland, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions lived up to its hype and all of Kapalua’s beauty Sunday.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson, reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Jordan Spieth and 2012 U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson tee off in today’s final round at the Plantation Course with a share of first at 14-under-par 205.

They passed Zach Johnson, the world’s ninth-ranked golfer, when he went through a rare fade on the back nine. The 2009 Sony Open in Hawaii winner took a three-shot advantage into the third round and came out two back after a 74.

Jason Dufner, Brandt Snedeker, Kevin Streelman and Gary Woodland share fifth, another shot back. Masters champion Adam Scott, No. 2 in the World Golf Rankings, is part of a trio at 10 under.

With so many of the world’s best golfers going so low, on such a giving and forgiving golf course, everyone agreed on what it will take to win today: aggression, bunches of birdies and possibly a few eagles on the critical par 5s.

Simpson, who birdied six of the last 10 Sunday to shoot 68, is 9 under on the Plantation’s longest holes.

Spieth and Dustin Johnson, who had 32 putts, both shot 69. The 20-year-old is 8 under on the par 5s. Johnson, who ranks last in fairways hit and first in greens in regulation, is 10 under.

"I need to go out and just take advantage of the par-5s," Johnson said. "I’ve got to play those well. And then, yeah, I think it’s going to take 6 or 7 under. That would be my guess. You can shoot that in any weather out here pretty much if you get it going."

On a day so clear and blue that it looked like you could practically touch Molokai from across the channel, Zach Johnson could not get it going. He had the lead to himself from the eighth Saturday until the 14th Sunday, when he suffered his first bogey in 39 holes. He is only 4 under on the par 5s, including an eagle in Friday’s first round.

"I’ve always said about this golf course, you’ve got to take advantage of the par 5s," Simpson said. "You’ve got to take advantage of the short holes. This is not a golf course, even if it’s really windy, where you can go out and shoot even par. You’ll get lapped if you do that."

The leaders are a study in contrasts.

Simpson, who has won four times the past three years, found out after Saturday’s round that caddie and good friend Paul Tesori had problems with the birth of his son, Isaiah, on the mainland. Simpson was hoping for a "good report" after thinking about his friend’s family "on every hole" during his round.

"Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted me to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day, and that’s what we did," said Simpson, who acknowledged he would have left the tournament to be with his friend if he wasn’t so far away. "I felt like we were out there playing for Isaiah.

"Paul needs something to watch there in the hospital; it’s been a long few days, so hopefully we gave him something good to see on TV. But it was tough. I was thinking about him a lot out there."

Dustin Johnson, recently engaged, continues to have the time of his life at Kapalua, where he is 35 under during his past eight rounds. He has already won a World Golf Championship event on the tour’s new 2013-14 "wraparound" season, which makes him the only golfer other than Tiger Woods to win his first seven years out of college.

Spieth became the youngest tour champion since 1931 last year. Like Simpson and Johnson, he has vast potential. He is already ranked 22nd in the world — one back of Simpson and six behind Johnson — and believes he belongs, only a year into his career.

"I’ve now been playing with these guys week in and week out for five months-ish, so that’s a lot of events," said Spieth, who has two bogeys all week. "And I’ve been able to compete with them, so I kind of feel like this is where I want to be, this is what it’s all about — to feel the pressure of Sunday at a PGA event. So it will be cool playing Kapalua on Monday, I guess."

He has never led as a pro going into the final round, despite nine top-10 finishes.

"In the past, I think the biggest key when I was in this position, whether it was college, amateur, or junior golf, was not to try and win by one," Spieth said. "It was to try to get out there, get way ahead and you almost have the mind-set that you want to go out there and try to win by five shots. That’s the only way that I think you can break open and really make some birdies. I think that’s the right mind-set to have."

Today’s winner gets $1.14 million. Last place is worth $61,000. The first tee time is 8:40 a.m. and the final four (Johnson and Johnson, and Spieth and Simpson) start at 10:50 and 11 a.m.

NOTES

Improvements planned at Kapalua

Next year’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions might not look different, but it could feel different on Kapalua’s Plantation Course.

Or not, which is the point if you talk to Ben Crenshaw, who designed the course with Bill Coore and is looking to give it more options to accommodate the whims of the elements.

Crenshaw, who will play the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in two weeks, came to Maui this weekend to look at some minor changes to the course that opened in 1991. A dramatic increase in Kona weather — winds coming from the southwest — in recent years has convinced the course, the PGA Tour and the architects that some tweaks are necessary.

Crenshaw said the terrain along the West Maui mountains prevented him and Coore from including east-west holes. They designed the course southeast to north so the holes would be either downwind or upwind, with the prevailing trade winds (from the northeast) in mind.

"We seem to have more Kona days now, and it really makes for some interesting possibilities," Crenshaw said. "This morning we looked at locations to move some of the tees up so we can accommodate those situations.

"We want to provide a little more elasticity."

According to Mike Jones, Kapalua’s director of golf, the list of possible changes includes adding or extending tees for Nos. 1, 11 and 18, changing some of the bunkering, as well as fairway contours on Nos. 7 and 15, and working on the second green.

Last year, when freak winds postponed play for three days, Carl Pettersson hit a putt from the front fringe at No. 2. The ball looked like it would stop near the hole, but a huge gust pushed it off the right side of the green. Play was halted.

Jones said a list of renovations and a 10-year improvement plan were presented in November to TY Management, which bought the Plantation in 2009. The response was positive, so Kapalua turned to the PGA Tour, which has started the year here since 1999, and the architects to finalize the fixes.

Crenshaw and Coore have designed 20 courses together. Crenshaw calls the Plantation "by far the prettiest, just spectacular" and wants to keep it user-friendly — for everyone.

"Even forgetting the tournament," he said, "the sole purpose of any golf course is to have people enjoy themselves and come back. There must be something out there for everyone."

The tournament is also interested in extending its contract from 2015 to 2018 so it matches up with the Sony Open in Hawaii. Jones said reaction to that has also been positive.

"Sony helps," Jones said. "Going through 2018 there has really helped. We’d like to get it done by fall, before we start preparation for the next tournament."

Locals do well in Sony pre-qualifier

Honolulu’s Richard Hattori fired a 5-under-par 67 Sunday, coming within a shot of sharing medalist honors at the Sony Open in Hawaii pre-qualifier, at Turtle Bay’s Palmer course.

Hattori was one of 41 golfers to advance to today’s Monday qualifier, also at the Palmer. The top four today will play in the PGA Tour’s first full-field event of 2014. The Sony starts Thursday at Waialae Country Club.

Jeffrey Hamm and Cory Renfrew led the way, shooting 66. State stroke-play champ John Oda had a 69, along with Maui’s Taeksoo Kim. Sam Cyr, also from Maui, shot 70 along with Honolulu’s Tadd Fujikawa.

Former Manoa Cup champs Alex Ching (72) and TJ Kua (72) and State Open winner Nick Mason (73) all advanced, as did state high school champions Sean Maekawa, Lorens Chan and Kalena Preus.

Gay goes low with a 29 on front 9

At one point, most of the golfers on the course were wondering if Brian Gay was playing Plantation or the Bay course located near the Ritz Carlton. While many of the leaders struggled on the front nine, Gay went crazy low, shooting a 7-under 29 and lamented leaving his birdie putt at No. 9 short.

"No, I wasn’t really thinking numbers," Gay said when he made the turn. "I was a little perturbed that I didn’t hit my putt hard enough on nine. After I hit that putt, that was for a fricking 28, hey, what are you doing? I wasn’t really thinking about numbers until then. I could have shot 28 there."

Gay didn’t do much on the back nine en route to an 8-under 65, the best round of the tournament this week. He was even through two rounds after shooting a woeful 76 on Friday that left him in a tie for 25th at the start of the third. He begins today’s final 18 tied for 15th.

Ann Miller and Paul Arnett, Star-Advertiser