Calcavecchia making career out of proving doubters wrong
KAPALUA, Hawaii -- He isn't going to win it. Mark Calcavecchia is too old -- 47. Too much an underachiever -- he says so himself. Too content with what he has accomplished.
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| He's not known for his fitness, but Calcavecchia claims to be a great athlete. (Getty Images) |
Calc, the one with the quick pace and the quick wit.
The guy who won a British Open so long ago, only golf's cognoscenti remember it. (It was 1989, and the tournament is better known as one of the many Greg Norman lost.)
The man who gets sarcastic text messages from Tiger Woods and fires right back.
There he is, Mark Calcavecchia, tied for sixth halfway through the Mercedes, the traditional opening tournament of the seemingly endless PGA Tour.
Mike Weir holds the lead at 8-under 138 after a 6-under 67 Friday at Kapalua's Plantation Course, where par is an odd 73. A shot behind are Stephen Ames, who also had a 67, and Jonathan Byrd.
Sharing fourth at 6-under 140 are Nick Watney and Brandt Snedeker, the 2007 Rookie of the Year who is a full 20 years younger than Calcavecchia.
You'd have to say one of them will take the $1.1 million first prize from the $5.5 million purse. Then again ...
Calc did shoot a 7-under 66 Friday for a 36-hole score of 141, 5-under.
Did hit all 18 greens.
Did make nine birdies and only two bogeys, those on three-putts.
Did fly by more than half the field of 31 players.
