Verizon Heritage - Rounds 1 & 2
So what if it’s not the Masters? Ernie Els doesn’t care.
It looked like Els entered Hilton Head, S.C. with a serious game plan. Get his season started. In five starts prior to this week, Els struggled to the tune of only one top ten (the Nissan Open) and, for the first time since 1995, he missed the cut at the Masters.
But, with 11 birdies, one eagle and only one bogey through two rounds at the Verizon Heritage, Els enters the weekend with the lead at 12-under par and a three stroke lead over Jerry Kelly.
Els shot a bogey-free round of 65 on Friday to match his Thursday 65. Though he has not won since 2004 and is coming off a 2005 surgery on his knee, the Big Easy looks to be finally swinging nice and easy.
It’s no wonder the general ease with which Els torches Harbour Town. Since 1998, Els has played in this tournament (formerly the MCI Heritage, formerly the WORLDCOM CLASSIC, formerly the MCI Classic) a total of six times and has left with five top tens, yet no wins.
In both 2000 and 2004, Els took the lead to the back nine only to lose the lead and miss a playoff in 2000 and to lose in 2004 to Stewart Cink.
What’s facing the field at the tail end of that back nine? The treacherous par-4 18th. The 452 yard hole is picturesque with the lighthouse in the distance and the wetland reeds serving as a major mental block to the approach shot. Many contenders have faced this hole with only a few mastering it.
One who could not master 18 was the exuberant Kelly. Fresh off his tie for fifth at last week’s Masters, he is in sole possession of second at 9-under par, though he bogeyed the 18th, and continues his roller coaster ride of a season. In his nine starts in ‘07, he has five missed cuts and three top-fifteen finishes. Despite being up or down, Kelly plays every round and every shot with an ear-to-ear grin.
Only four shots behind Els is the looming figure of a...Champions Tour player? Fifty year old Fred Funk fired two consecutive rounds of 67 to put himself in a tie for third place with Stephen Leaney. But, don’t think this is the first time around the block for this Early Bird Special. In addition to his one Champions Tour victory this year, Funk won the Mayakoba Golf Classic on the PGA Tour with a winning score of 14 under par.
Check-in with hookedongolf.com later this weekend for continued coverage of the Verizon Heritage.
