HUALALAI, Hawaii >> With 10 golfers within three shots of the lead, picking today’s winner of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai might be as difficult as pocketing the Powerball.
Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the general idea. Duffy Waldorf will begin the final round as the man to beat after he carded a 7-under 65 to drop to 12-under 132 for the tournament.
The UCLA product holds a one-shot advantage over Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III (65—133), Tom Pernice Jr. (67—133) and Tom Lehman (67—133). Tom Watson is tied for fifth after he shot a 7-under 65 for a two-day total of 10-under 134. Joining him at that number were Olin Browne (66) and first-round leader Joe Durant (69) in what is a crowded leaderboard at the top of this elite 43-man field.
Waldorf might be playing worst of anybody in the top 10. He almost said as much after his round that produced two huge par saves coming down the stretch at the par-3 17th and par-4 18th. Waldorf believes if he’s striking the ball today as he has the first 36 holes, he won’t be holding the trophy later today.
“Bogey-free again, which is always a big plus,” Waldorf said. “I challenged it the last couple of holes with some difficult bunker shots, but it’s good. I’m struggling a little bit with my shots. My iron play has been a little off, but I’ve been able to save myself when I got in trouble. I’m going to have to play a lot better to have a chance.”
Chasing Waldorf are a world of top-notch golfers, including Hall of Famers Love and Watson. Throw in Lehman, who matched a Champions Tour record with three eagles in one round, and you get the idea that you need to be at least 18 under at the end of the day to win.
Perhaps playing better than anyone at the moment is Love, who began his three-week tour of Hawaii on Maui for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Last week, he made the cut on Oahu, but did not finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii and now he has as good a shot as anyone to hoist the trophy this afternoon.
“I drove the ball better and just didn’t get as much out of it,” Love said. “But I’m happy with the way I’m hitting it. Just got to get the wedges, 8-irons, 9-irons a little bit closer to the hole. Had a lot of opportunities today and hopefully I can convert (today).”
The key for this Jack Nicklaus-designed course is the wind. There was very little of it in the second round and the scores dropped accordingly. Pernice has put together two good rounds to remain in contention. He was in the last pairing with Durant on Friday and feels like he has a shot if he can go low one more time. He has only one bogey over 36 holes to go with his dozen birdies. It’s just a matter of scoring well on the par-5s and taking care of business on the other 14 holes.
“The key for me was birdieing all of the par-5s,” Pernice said. “That’s always a bonus here. I think you really want to take advantage of the 5s. One mistake, I thinned my 5-iron on the fourth hole, the par-3, but hit the bank and went in the water.
“But I hit a good wedge in and made the putt (from 18 feet) for bogey, so that kind of kept the day going. I had some good chances today like a lot of people did with the wind being down. It’s just a matter of converting the opportunities.”
Watson certainly did his part, shooting below his age for the third time in his career. He believes the key today will be the conditions. If the winds remain calm as they did for much of the second round, it will be a shootout today.
“You can go low here,” Watson said. “(Thursday) we had wind and wind was a big factor, it caused the scores to go higher. But (Friday) right now, it’s perfect scoring conditions. You’re going to see everybody shoot a lot lower.”
