O’Meara Enjoys Day at the Beach

He turned 46 last month, he hasn’t made a cut this year and Mark O’Meara hasn’t won since the 1998 British Open, but ...

“Hey, I won the Skins Game,” O’Meara said Friday. “Nine holes. You can play nine holes a day, it’s not bad against these young kids.”

At least for a while then Friday, it amounted to old-timer’s day at the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where O’Meara’s 68 at Pebble Beach left him only two shots behind leader Jim Furyk after 36 holes in the $5-million tournament.

Furyk, at seven-under-par 137, has a one-shot lead over first-round leader Kevin Sutherland, plus Tom Lehman, Paul Stankowski, Tim Herron and Rod Pampling.

Next is O’Meara. He’s sort of old for this, so they must be putting something in his denture cream. Even after five birdies and an eagle, plus three bogeys, O’Meara had to admit he has his good days and his bad days, and sometimes they are the same day.

“Sometimes I hit shots that are better than any shots I have ever played, to be honest with you,” O’Meara said. “Sometimes, like today, you just kind of [throw] away shots. That’s got me to the point I almost feel like I can’t take this much longer.”

O’Meara said he had played all right at Phoenix and at the Bob Hope, but he missed the cut at both places. That prompted him to begin contemplating career choices.

“I’m on the road, my kids are skiing, you are away from your family, I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why do I put up with this?’ ”

Here’s one reason: O’Meara could win here. He already counts five Pebble Beach titles among his 16 tournament victories and his memory is still good, so you can’t count him out as long as he continues to roll in the putts on these hard, sun-baked greens.

Furyk birdied the last three holes in posting a 66 at Poppy Hills, where he birdied four of the par fives. He closed out the last hole on each side with aplomb. His round started at the 10th and at the par-five 18th, he hit driver, three-iron and a pitching wedge to three feet, then made the putt.

He made his only bogey at the par-three sixth, when he couldn’t get it up and down from a bunker, but he made a 20-foot birdie putt at the seventh, a six-footer at the eighth, then hit driver, three-wood and wedge to four feet at the ninth, where he finished with another birdie putt.

As well as he played, Furyk sounded as if he’d had more fun playing with amateur partner Lynn Swann, since Furyk is from Pennsylvania and grew up a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Furyk said he figured the best way to maintain their friendship was to limit their discussions about the NFL to the waits at the tee box.

“I figure, on my days off I don’t want to talk about golf,” Furyk said. “I haven’t quizzed him too much about football. I could probably bore him to death for hours.”

Stankowski had an adventurous round of 67, after being three over after three. In his round were five birdies, two eagles, two bogeys and a double bogey.

“That was interesting,” said Stankowski, who said the same thing about the celebrity playing with Scott Simpson in his foursome, Bill Murray.

“I hope I’m in that group for the rest of my career,” Stankowski said. “I would play with him every day if could.”

O’Meara is tied with Davis Love, who also shot a 67 at Pebble Beach. O’Meara said he was again focused on his golf and was no longer contemplating a career in television, as he was a little more than a year ago.

At that time, his buddy Tiger Woods advised him to put the television career on hold and stay committed to golf. O’Meara then lost by a shot to Jose Maria Olazabal at Torrey Pines and by four shots to Woods at the Buick Open, so he isn’t yet at the point where he thinks he is too old to win.

“I think there is always self-doubt, and that’s a big motivator, to be honest with you,” O’Meara said.

Meanwhile, O’Meara moves on. He said he’d traded text cell phone insults with Woods about inferior clubs (from O’Meara) and bogeys (from Woods). O’Meara said he doubted that Woods was completely recovered from December knee surgery but suggested that Woods would play well next week at Torrey Pines.

“I would be hard-pressed to ever bet against Tiger Woods,” O’Meara said. “He has seen the start Ernie Els has made, he is probably champing at the bit.

“If you had asked Tiger Woods last fall who he thought the nearest guy was going to be, no disrespect to Phil [Mickelson] ... he would have thought Ernie Els is the guy coming after him pretty good.

“Tiger will be ready. Listen, you know there is a lot of golf to be played this year. He is focusing on the major championships.... I would figure him good for possibly a couple of major championships this year. I just know Tiger and right now he is pretty relaxed with who he is, what he accomplished and what he is trying to do.”

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Leaderboard

Scores from Friday’s second round at the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am played on three sites, all par 72 (b-Pebble Beach Golf Links, 6,816 yards; s-Spyglass Hill Golf Course, 6,858 yards; p-Poppy Hills Golf Course, 6,833 yards):

*--* Jim Furyk...71s-66p--137 -7 Rod Pampling...70b-68s--138 -6 Paul Stankowski...71s-67p--138 -6 Tim Herron...69p-69b--138 -6 Tom Lehman...68p-70b--138 -6 Kevin Sutherland...66b-72s--138 -6 Mark O’Meara...71p-68b--139 -5 Davis Love III...72p-67b--139 -5 Tim Clark...74p-66b--140 -4 Rory Sabbatini...71s-69p--140 -4 Loren Roberts...71b-69s--140 -4 Scott McCarron...71s-69p--140 -4 Dave Stockton Jr....69b-71s--140 -4 Brad Faxon...70p-70b--140 -4

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Complete scores...D10