Elkington a Day From Finding His Haunt : Australian Golfer Hopes San Diego Is Where He Can Exorcise the Past

Steve Elkington of Australia has collected 16 birdies and an eagle in two days of golf. He is the 54-hole leader in the Shearson Lehman Hutton Open that concludes today on the South Course of Torrey Pines Golf Club. He is 16 under par with a 200 total and his lead is two strokes.

Yet, the ghosts are everywhere Elkington cares to look.

There is scary stuff such as the pond fronting the 18th green, dubbed, “Devlin’s Billabong,” when Bruce Devlin, Elkington’s boyhood idol, needed six strokes to extricate himself from the water in 1975.

Elkington missed Devlin’s Billabong by one inch Saturday at the par-five finishing hole. His subsequent chip ran through the green. But when he putted through two feet of fringe and across 13 feet of green for a closing birdie in his round of 67, his lead going into today’s final round doubled.

All of which brings the specter of his two 1988 Sunday failures into focus.

Twice last year, Elkington, a non-winner in three years on the American tour, led after 54 holes. Twice he stumbled. At the Manufacturers Hanover Westchester tournament in Westchester, N.Y., last June he faded to even par 71 and fifth place. Seven weeks later at the Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Mich., he shot a miserable 77 on Sunday for a tie for 27th.

“The main thing I have to do is be patient,” Elkington said on the eve of the final round. “Just stay calm and don’t get out of my game plan. I’ve never seen anyone win a golf tournament without looking like he was handling it.”

Elkington’s closest pursuer is Greg Twiggs, two strokes back at 202. Twiggs’ 64 was the low round of the day and the low round of the tournament on the South Course. Second-round co-leader Mark Wiebe shot a 70, good for 203 and third place. Former U.S. Open winner Johnny Miller shot a 66 and was tied for fourth at 204 with Santa Maria’s John McComish.

Perhaps “pursuer” is the wrong word to describe the bulky Twiggs. The PGA media guide lists him at 6 feet 2 inches and 200 pounds. But that was more fajitas ago than he cares to remember.

“I don’t get on the scales very often,” Twiggs said. “But 240’s a good round weight for me. . . . And that’s definitely round.”

But in golf, lard in the torso usually translates to length off the tee. And Twiggs, 28, is no exception.

And he’s enormously fond of Torrey Pines South. Twiggs played his college golf at nearby San Diego State and tailored his academic schedule around daily skins games on the same course that surrendered eight birdies in his bogey-free round.

By his own estimates, Twiggs has played Torrey South more than 200 times. “I know where the bathrooms are. and I know where the greens are,” was the way he explained it.

For a $20 ante, Twiggs could win as much as $150 a day from the two dozen or so golfers who would show up as early as 5 a.m. at Torrey Pines to get off the first tee before the reserved times went into effect.

The stakes here have risen dramatically this week. The total purse is $700,000. The winner will receive a check for $126,000.

Twiggs’ best-ever PGA Tour finish was a tie for third at the 1985 Greater Milwaukee Open. His best year on tour was 1986. when he won $41,418. But last year, he dropped to 262nd on the money list when he won just $2,999.

He regained limited tour playing privileges by earning the 52nd and last spot at the 108-hole qualifying school at Palm Springs last December. If he hadn’t?

“I’d be driving a beer truck,” he said. “I wasn’t about to go begging somebody for some money so I could still play. And I don’t know if I could ring a cash register (in a pro shop) and watch other people play.”

The highlight of Twiggs’ round was a 50-foot chip-in from off the 17th green to cap a string of four successive birdies. “I’m just real familiar here,” he said.

Besides the money, a victory would earn Twiggs an exemption for all tour events through the 1990 season. His 64 Saturday earned him a zero coupon Treasury certificate that will be worth $50,000 in 2009 from the tournament sponsor for the day’s low round.

Elkington’s 67 turned on the 25-foot eagle putt he curled in on the 533-yard 13th hole. He reached the green with a drive and a three-wood. He made bogeys on Nos. 1, 4 and 17. But each time he followed with an immediate birdie.

Wiebe made his first bogey of the tournament at the seventh when his chip ran past the hole and his 15-foot downhill putt for par slid by on the left. He recouped momentarily with an eagle 3 on the ninth. But he bogeyed 15 and 17 before finishing with a birdie on 18.

Golf Notes

Steve Elkington leads his college roommate, Billy Ray Brown, by seven shots. When Elkington and Brown were teammates at Houston in the mid-’80s, the Cougars won two NCAA championships. . . . Johnny Miller, candid as usual, on golfers who try to force good shots: “Most people, when they try to reach back to get something extra, get something--bogeys.” An exception, Miller says, is Lanny Wadkins. “Lanny Wadkins is one of the best mad golfers I’ve ever seen.” . . . From the Don’t-Worry-Be-Happy department, Miller had this to say about Lee Trevino, who has cultivated his image as the happy Mexican: “Trevino’s not quite as sweet as you guys think he is.” The context of Miller’s remark was a discussion about the competitive natures of various players. . . . The Saturday group of Ray Barr Jr., Jay Don Blake and Miller scored a rare golfing quadruple triple. All three members of the group birdied the second, sixth, ninth and 18th holes. . . . John Adams had five consecutive birdies on the front side and shot 31-37--68. His 54-hole total is 207, seven behind the leader.