Perry Survives Wind

Kenny Perry wants to play well and have fun on the PGA Tour. He accomplished one of those goals Saturday in the Mercedes Championships, the season-opening tournament that feels more like a tuneup for the British Open.

Perry shared the 54-hole lead on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, limiting his mistakes to a three-putt bogey for a two-under 71 that left him tied with Scott Verplank.

That didn’t make it a walk on the beach.

“There was not much fun out there today,” Perry said. “It was survival on every golf shot. A lot of pressure.”

Verplank, who plays in the wind in Oklahoma, overcame a bogey-bogey start for a 70, making a 15-foot eagle on the final hole for a 70 that allowed him to join Perry at 206.

“Yeah, you grow up in it [wind], but you usually sit inside,” Verplank said.

It was so windy that tour officials moved up the tee box on four holes on the back nine. It was so windy that Perry kept his putter off the ground in case his ball moved.

It did for Chris DiMarco, who had a 68 and was one stroke back.

He had an eight-foot par putt on No. 5 that stopped a foot from the hole.

He was getting ready to tap-in when a gust carried his ball seven feet past the hole and he made double bogey.

“Two or three times out there, I had a one-foot putt, probably took me three or four minutes to hit, not let the wind blow me over,” he said. “It was really hard.”

Also at 207 was PGA champion David Toms, who had a 72.

“This is no fun,” said Mark Calcavecchia, three strokes back after a 71. He holed out from the fourth fairway for eagle and closed with four straight birdies.

“It’s about a 20 on the Stimpmeter on some holes,” he said. “You get the ball going and you can’t stop it. A little wind is not bad, like 25 mph. But not 40. This is brutal.”

Sergio Garcia also had a 68 and was at 210, along with David Duval (72).

“If I would have shot five under on Thursday, I would feel like it was one or two over,” the 21-year-old Spaniard said. “Today I shot five under and I feel like I shot nine [under]. It’s playing quite different.

Tiger Woods finished with another 74 and was 10 strokes behind.