Tournament of Champions : Peete, O’Meara Save Best for Last, Tie Kite

The three finishing holes at La Costa Country Club, aimed like a funnel at the Pacific Ocean, are considered among the most difficult in golf.

Prevailing winds, especially late in the afternoon when the tournament leaders are on the course, make them play even longer than advertised, which is long enough.

They are the 424-yard 16th, the watery 560-yard 17th and the 423-yard 18th with its broad green looking down on the fairway.

Any player coming to the final three with a one-shot lead on the final day of the MONY Tournament of Champions would gladly settle for par the rest of the way.

So what happened Thursday in the second round of the $500,000 event for 1985 winners that is kicking off the ’86 tour?

Calvin Peete, one of the shorter hitters in the upper echelon of professional golf, made birdies on all three. Mark O’Meara, who once worked at the tournament as a TV spotter when he was a teen-ager, birdied the last two.

This late-in-the-day blitz of La Costa’s finishing holes enabled Peete and O’Meara to complete 36 holes with nine-under-par 135s, as did defending champion Tom Kite, who merely parred the final three holes.

In the wake of Wednesday’s desert winds that blew in the opposite direction from normal, there was very little stirring of the air of any kind Tursday. It was a day made for low scores, and 16 of the 31 players responded with subpar rounds.

O’Meara shot a 33-32--65, just one shot shy of the tournament record held by six players. Kite shot a 32-34--66 and Peete a 34-33--67. Only Peete, among the three leaders, had a bogey.

Peete got that on his nemesis hole, the 449-yard fifth. It was there that he took so many putts last year that he lost count and was disqualified because neither he nor his playing partner, Curtis Strange, could figure how many he had taken.

Wednesday, in the first round, Peete was short of the green in two shots, chipped and took two putts for a bogey. Thursday, he hit his second shot into a greenside bunker, blasted out and missed a 10-foot par putt.

Peete’s reaction: “They ought to take that green and blow it up. Get rid of it and put in a new one--about a hundred yards down the fairway.”

The hearty laugh that filled the press tent was Calvin’s, laughing at his own misfortunes.

An unerring putter helped account for Peete’s final three birdies. He sank a 15-footer at No. 16, an 18-footer at No. 17 and a 20-footer at No. 18.

“I was pretty fortunate,” he said. “Those 18- to 20-footers are normally not my range.”

Kite, who last year led from start to finish and won by six strokes, is playing almost letter-perfect golf. He has yet to make a bogey in 1986.

“Today was one of the best rounds of golf I’ve played in quite some time,” he said. “To hit 17 greens in regulation is quite a day for a skinny little kid from Texas.

“This is my ninth Tournament of Champions, and I would say the playing conditions at La Costa are the easiest I’ve ever seen. By far.”

O’Meara, who lives 20 minutes away in Escondido, admitted that he had to struggle for his 65 after a shaky start with his driver.

“I didn’t hit a fairway until the sixth hole,” he said. “But on the back side, I started to drive the ball better.” He birdied 5 of the last 10 holes.

The leaders have a three-stroke cushion over Jim Thorpe and Masters champion Bernhard Langer, both at 138. Thorpe shot a 68 Thursday, Langer a 69.

Scott Verplank, 21, the amateur from Dallas and Oklahoma State, continued to display no awe of his elders as he shot a 67. It moved him into the 139 slot with Danny Edwards, a former Oklahoma State golfer and close friend.

The difference between his opening-round 72 and his 67 was in his putting, Verplank said.

“My thought before the round was to get the putter rolling a little better,” he said. “I hit the ball well Wednesday but couldn’t get it in the hole. I hit eight fairways both days, but today the putts dropped.”

Verplank, who became the first amateur winner on the pro tour since 1954 when he won the Western Open in a playoff with Thorpe, had five birdies without a bogey.

“When I looked at a leader board and saw Jim Thorpe’s name up there, it felt like old times,” he said.

The 30 professionals will split a half-million dollar pot, with $90,000 going to the winner, but Verplank is playing for fun. He will start classes Monday for his final semester at Oklahoma State, where he hopes to lead the Cowboys to the NCAA championship in May.

Consecutive 70s gave Miller Barber a three-stroke edge over Lee Elder in the senior Tournament of Champions. Elder, who led on opening day with a 69, is two shots up on Arnold Palmer, who was responsible for the day’s loudest cheer when he birdied the final hole for a 73.

The seven seniors are playing for $100,000, with the winner getting $30,000.