Hope and glory: Durant shatters record


Associated Press
Sunday, February 18

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Joe Durant credits his wife with resurrecting his golf career by getting him to quit thinking so negatively. She couldn't have been too happy after learning what her husband was doing the night before the final round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

What it means
Another week, another assault on the scoring records on the PGA Tour.

As tournament records continue to fall each week on the PGA Tour, it's about time to notice that we're no longer talking about the elite players. Joe Durant and Paul Stankowski are fine players, but they have never been mentioned among the game's best.

Durant and Stankowski, with a combined four career wins, finished a combined 68-under for the tournament. That simply proves that almost any player on the PGA Tour is capable of going low on courses maintained as perfectly as the Hope rotation while Mother Nature refuses to complicate matters.

For Durant, the win is validation that he belongs on the PGA Tour. His win at the Western Open was seen by many as a fluke in 1998, then he did little the next two seasons to make a name for himself. The win also gives him a full exemption through 2003.

For Stankowski, the second-place check of $378,000 guarantees he won't be worrying about his playing card for next season. He has wrapped up a top-125 finish for the year and can now play relaxed golf.

Calcavecchia showed his win in Phoenix was no fluke, leaving him 58-under over nine rounds on desert courses this year.

Brad Faxon continued his stellar West Coast swing with his third top-five finish. He also has made six cuts in six tries this year, joining Chris DiMarco, Fred Funk, Chris Perry and Hal Sutton as best this year.

The tournament put the season money list into a tight, three-way battle. Davis Love III maintained the top spot with $1,146,000, with Faxon just $772 behind and Steve Stricker just $900 behind. Faxon and Stricker both need to stay in the top three over the next two weeks -- or top 50 in the World Rankings -- to assure a spot in The Masters.

Frank Lickliter's tie for seventh was a positive sign considering his collapse in a playoff last week in San Diego. His triple-bogey in sudden death to allow Phil Mickelson to win could have scarred his confidence, but he bounced right back in the desert.

While the focus has been on Durant and his record, the entire Hope tournament produced some simply ridiculous scores, with 2,751 birdies for the week.

Justin Leonard provides a perfect example of how low the scores went. Leonard shot five rounds in the 60s -- four 69s and a 67 -- to finish at 17-under in a tie for 40th. Every round in the 60s normally gets you a top-10 finish.

-- Greg Robertson
ESPN Golf Online

Having negative thoughts, of course.

"I just didn't want to come back here today and talk about how I blew a five-shot lead," Durant said. "That was on my mind last night."

As it turned out, Durant was worrying needlessly. He never gave anyone a chance Sunday, shooting a final-round 65 to not only win the Hope by four shots over Paul Stankowski but set a PGA Tour scoring record.

It was the second win for Durant, who was trying to make a living selling insurance eight years ago when his wife, Tracey, had a talk with him about his attitude and his choice of careers.

"She said 'You're not going to have that attitude. You're going to play hard. If you play bad, I don't want to hear you whining,' " Durant recalled.

Properly chastened, Durant went out and worked his way through the Buy.com Tour up to the PGA Tour. He won the 1998 Western Open and established a reputation as one of the best ball strikers on the tour.

Not until winning again Sunday, though, was all of that validated.

"This almost means more to me than my first tournament because I feel like after I won, things did not work out like I wanted," Durant said. "I feel like I've gone full circle now and I'm back where my game should be."

He'll get no arguments from the rest of the field after taking command of the Hope with a 61 in the second round and playing bogey-free golf on the final two days to win.

Stankowski, who shot a final-round 63, crept within three shots at one point, but the only real suspense on the back nine was whether Durant would break the 90-hole PGA Tour scoring record of 35-under set here by Tom Kite in 1993.

He did, making birdies at the 16th and 17th holes before missing an 8-footer for birdie at the final hole for a 90-hole mark of 36-under 324.

"If I had had a mediocre day today, it could have easily been (Stankowski's) tournament or anyone else's," Durant said. "I was just fortunate that I got in my mind that I had to shoot low today and I went out and did it."

It was the second scoring record in two days for Durant -- who set a mark for most under par through four rounds at 29-under -- and the third PGA Tour scoring record to be broken this year.

His final-round playing partner, Mark Calcavecchia, set the low 72-hole winning mark of 256 last month in the Phoenix Open.

"It's just competitive," Durant said. "We're seeing some of the lowest 36-hole cuts I can remember, too."

Durant's lead was never in danger as he made seven birdies on the perfectly manicured PGA West Palmer course that yielded a final-round 59 to David Duval two years ago.

Stankowski, playing a group in front of Durant, made the biggest move of the day, but was only able to gain two shots with his 63.

"I'm a little disappointed because I wanted it and I wanted it bad," Stankowski said. "I wanted to go out and make a bunch of birdies early."

 Joe Durant
Joe Durant's only previous victory came at the 1998 Western Open.
Calcavecchia, who finished in third six shots back, had predicted that Durant would win easily unless he began hitting shots into the water. He didn't, and birdies at the second and sixth holes showed he wasn't going to come back to the field.

Durant made the turn in 34, then promptly birdied the 10th hole with a 12-footer and got up-and-down out of the bunker at the 11th for another birdie.

The closest he came to making a bogey was at No. 12, where he hit his tee shot into a greenside bunker and had to get up-and-down for a par.

It was a commanding performance for Durant, who at one time was so frustrated over his lack of progress in the game that he quit to sell insurance.

"There's a lot of times when things are not going good, but you just try to do your best and keep a positive attitude," said Durant, 36. "That's what I've tried to do."

About the only excitement on the final day for the quiet crowd came when Robert Gamez nearly made a double-eagle at No. 6, his 15th hole, and had a chance to shoot 59 with birdies on his last two holes. He left an 8-footer short on his 17th hole, then barely missed a long birdie putt on his final hole for a 61.

"I never thought of 59," said Gamez, who won twice when he came out on tour but is not exempt this year. "I just wanted to visualize one shot at a time."

Divots
  • The $630,000 first-place check is the biggest of Durant's career, topping the $396,000 he won at the 1998 Western Open.

  • Gamez was happy with his 61, but disappointed that he finished a stroke out of the top 10. The two-time tour winner, who got in the Hope on a sponsor's exemption, would have made next week's Nissan Open field with a top-10 finish, but now will have to try to qualify on Monday for the event.

  • Bob Hope never showed up for the tournament that bears his name. The 97-year-old comedian's wife, Dolores, was on hand for the final round, but said Hope's doctors and family advised him against coming.

  • Duval's final round on the PGA West Palmer course two years ago was a record-tying 59 that won him the tournament. In Sunday's final round, Duval shot 74.