San Diego Open Golf Tournament : Elkington, Wiebe Share One-Stroke Lead

It was a cold. Then it was a bad cold. Then it was bronchitis. Then it was time to see the doctor.

When doctors told Australia’s Steve Elkington he was allergic to grass two years ago, it was nothing to sneeze at. He was, after all, a professional golfer.

It was not fair. But at least it was fixable.

The good news came in the form of a medical antidote. Doctors told Elkington that two pills a day and two injections once a week would probably clear up his condition. They told him a lot of people shared his ailment. The medication worked almost immediately.

Friday afternoon, the 26-year-old Elkington shot a nine-under-par 63 at Torrey Pines North for a 36-hole total of 133 and a share of the lead after two rounds of the Shearson Lehman Hutton Open. Tied with Elkington was Mark Wiebe, a product of the San Diego junior golf program. Wiebe shot a 65 on the North course. He hasn’t bogeyed a hole in two days.

Elkington’s 63 included 10 birdies, one bogey and no putt longer than 15 feet. It was one stroke short of the North course tournament record of 62 shared by Gil Morgan, Craig Stadler and Andy Bean.

Because he had the low round all alone, Elkington earned a zero coupon Treasury certificate, donated by the tournament sponsor, worth $100,000 at maturity in the year 2009. Low round each day is awarded $50,000 unless there is a tie, in which case the prize money is carried over. Thursday there was a three-way tie.

“My irons were right on,” Elkington said in a crisp Australian accent. Nine of his 10 birdies were from six feet or less.

Elkington and Wiebe were one stroke ahead of Iowa’s Dave Rummells, who shot a six-under-par 66 on the tougher Torrey Pines South course, and Canadian Dave Barr, who had a second-round 68.

The cut for the final two rounds was three-under-par 141. Which means that 76 players will tee up today and Sunday for the final 36 holes to be played exclusively on the South course.

First-round co-leader Mark Lye (65-70) is two shots behind the leaders in a group that includes Bill Sander, this year’s driving distance leader, and Escondido’s Mark O’Meara. Brad Faxon and Tommy Armour III share the next grouping at 136.

O’Meara raced off to a six-under-par 30 on a front side on the North course that included an eagle-three on the par-five No. 9 when he drilled a three-wood to within eight feet. But he stumbled to a 37 on the back after bogeying 12, 13 and 18.

Bogeys were especially bogus as scoring conditions--little wind, no rain--were ideal for the second consecutive day. Dan Forsman shot 64 on the North course. And Australian Wayne Grady made seven birdies in a row on the same course en route to a 66. Grady’s streak was one short of the PGA record for consecutive birdies shared by Bob Goalby (1961), Fuzzy Zoeller (1976) and Dewey Arnette (1987).

Frank Conner and David Peoples, the two who shared the first-round lead with Lye, faded to 74 and 72 respectively. This year’s leading money winner, Mark Calcavecchia, shot even par for the second successive day and missed the cut by three strokes.

Elkington grew up in a small outback outpost called Wagga Wagga which, he said, was “out there” but not that far out there. “It was somewhat like Abilene or Amarillo or something like that,” he said.

His idol was Australian Bruce Devlin. “We were both skinny,” Elkington said.

Devlin became a dubious part of this tournament’s history in 1975 when he needed six strokes to escape the pond that fronts the 18th green on the South course. He trailed the leaders by just three shots at the time. But he made a 10 on the hole, finished with an 80 and tied for 30th at 289.

The locals subsequently named the pond “Devlin’s Billabong.”

Wiebe, 31, credited his success at the halfway mark to the presence of his teacher, Gary Welty of La Costa. “He’s a very positive, upbeat person,” Wiebe said. “He will not feed me any negative thoughts. Even if I want to (act negative), he won’t let me.”

The large contingent of friends in the gallery also kept Wiebe’s temper at bay. “I was determined not to act like a jerk,” he said.

Like Elkington, Wiebe’s ball-striking was exceptional. The longest putt he has needed to save a par on either day was the five-footer he sank on the 17th Friday.

O’Meara hit 17 greens in regulation but three-putted twice. A poor bunker shot on the last hole cost him dearly. And it made him extra mad because he had worked on his sand game Thursday night after cutting the 3,000 square-foot putting green he has in his backyard. His backyard facility also includes three tee boxes and two traps.

“I’ll have to go back and hit some more tonight,” he said.

Defending champion Steve Pate (141) made the cut with no strokes to spare. Former U.S. Open champions Tom Watson and Johnny Miller finished at 139 and 138 respectively.

Golf Notes

Co-leader Mark Wiebe took six weeks off at the end of the 1988 season and admitted to being rusty before arriving here. But he said he wouldn’t trade the vacation for anything. He and his wife moved into a new house in Colorado and, he said, “had a new baby.” . . . Co-leader Steve Elkington’s grass allergy was the least of his problems last December when he came down with viral meningitis. Viral meningitis, if not detected early enough, can be fatal. Elkington was hospitalized for 10 days and said he wasn’t “over” the illness for a month. . . . Torrey Pines is the only municipal golf course in the country to play host to a PGA tour event this year. And on Monday any golfer willing to wait in line can play the same course the pros played the day before. Tournament director Tom Morgan said the groundskeepers will keep the same pin placements on the South course from Sunday’s final round.