Pate Holds Lead With Second 66 : Faldo Birdies Seven Straight Holes for 65 in La Costa Tourney

What does it mean when Nick Faldo sips a soft drink called, ‘Slice’?

His putting had better be good.

It was. He made seven consecutive birdies.

What does Dave Barr call a 35-foot putt that drops in the hole?

“A great big, long snake.”

And what do you call Steve Pate when he shoots consecutive 66s, with not a single bogey over 36 holes and misses only one green in two days?

The leader.

At Friday’s midway point of the MONY Tournament of Champions, Pate continued to hold the lead with a two-day total of 132 at La Costa, where low pressure appeared in the form of a few raindrops and high pressure showed up as soon as Faldo pulled the putter out of his golf bag.

Pate’s lead is one stroke over Barr, who traveled over the back nine holes in just 30 strokes to finish a gray, cool day with a 66.

Pate, who claims he isn’t the nervous type, said his advantage is small.

“A lot can happen in the next 36 holes,” he said. “I’ve led tournaments after 36 holes and wound up winning $3,000.”

Maybe so, but never has he made seven birdies in succession, which is what Faldo did. Faldo produced the day’s finest round, a seven-under-par 65, one stroke off the course record. That vaulted him into contention, just three shots off Pate’s pace, at 135, the same total as a very surprised Larry Nelson.

“I didn’t expect to shoot this well,” Nelson said. “I’m still waiting for the wheels to fall off.”

Faldo kept waiting for the putts to fall in. He didn’t have to wait very long. He one-putted holes 7 through 17 and birdied 7 through 13, including a 20-foot chip shot on No. 8.

The PGA Tour record for consecutive birdies is eight and it is held by three golfers--Bob Goalby, who did it in 1961, Fuzzy Zoeller in 1976 and Dewey Arnette in 1987.

Faldo missed a chance at tying them when he couldn’t get a downhill 30-footer to drop on No. 14, but he didn’t know what the record was anyway.

“I started off not great and all of a sudden, I was three under, four under, then I peeked at the leader board and said, ‘Oh, I’m in this tournament.”

At the same time, playing partners Paul Azinger and Johnny Miller sort of shot themselves out of it. Azinger followed his opening round of 68 with a 73 and his 40 on the back nine left him nine shots behind Pate.

Miller shot a 75, dropping 11 strokes off the pace. But Keith Clearwater moved up with a five-under-par round of 67 and trailed Pate by only four shots. George Burns and J. C. Snead were two strokes further back.

Clearwater said being sick last week has helped his game get into condition.

“You don’t recognize fear too much because you’re more worried about the way you feel than the way you’re playing,” he said.

Pate’s longest birdie putt was from 15 feet, but on three of his six birdie holes he was either in bunkers or rough before he got to the green.

On holes 12, 13 and 14, Pate missed birdie putts, which sort of upset him.

“I wanted to wrap my putter around the first tree I saw,” he said. “But I thought I might need it again. Those were putts I shouldn’t have missed, but it wasn’t like I’d never make another one.”

No, it wasn’t, because on No. 17, he got another birdie, this one from 10 feet out after a drive, 1-iron and wedge had got him close. And at the same time, he never got too worried about what Faldo was doing.

“I just saw Nick Faldo up there (on the scoreboard),” Pate said. “I didn’t know how he did it, though. Somebody told me he made seven birdies in a row. That’s not bad.”

Faldo didn’t think so either.

“It wasn’t a fluke,” he said.

The British Open champion once had five consecutive birdies when he shot a 62 in the 1981 Hawaiian Open. Faldo said he worked hard on his putting after the first round.

“I was hitting good shots and holing some putts,” he said. “I’m just going to try to stay on the same plane.”

Barr’s flight plan remains the same: Keep making putts. And why not? There are only 12 players in the field of 38 shooting par or worse. The whole thing is contagious, Barr said.

“Once you see one go in, you say ‘Here we go,’ ” he said. “You just kind of say to yourself, ‘Well, everyone else is doing it,’ so you might as well do it yourself.”

This much is clear. Birdies are par for the course. In just two days, there have been 300 birdies shot.

With 36 holes to go, La Costa is definitely turning itself into a do-it-yourself course for making birdies.