'Aging warhorse' leads in the Big Easy  PGATOUR.com Correspondent AVONDALE, La. -- He arrived as one of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans' marquee names, an unusual position for an aging warhorse who already proved in 2007 he still has plenty game with his victory in the PODS Championship in early March. And for two rounds at the Pete Dye-designed TPC Louisiana, Mark Calcavecchia has done little to diminish his star power or his chance of joining PGA TOUR luminaries Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh as a two-time champion this season.  Mark Calcavecchia shot a 3-under-par 69 on Friday. (Ehrmann/WireImage)
A victory in the Crescent City certainly is not out of the question after Calcavecchia added a 3-under-par 69 to a first-round 66. He has a 9-under-par total of 135 and sits atop the leaderboard with a one-shot lead over Lucas Glover and Nick Watney heading to the weekend. Not long ago Friday's scrambling effort might have been the kind of round that would have caused Calc to reach the boiling point, producing a neon "TILT!'' sign on his steaming forehead. But the mental demons that haunted him for so long in his 25-year PGA TOUR career were nowhere to be seen at the TPC Louisiana or heard screaming inside his head. Deftly managing to stay out of his way in near perfect conditions Friday, the 13-time TOUR champion said he "scrounged out a good score'' after hitting some "chunks,'' "hacks'' and "yanks.'' The talk was so typical. The round, however, was not. Calcavecchia, whose next bogey will be his first, found deep-woods salvation in his short game. "I made about four unbelievable pars, and then a 30 footer (for birdie) at the last,'' Calcavecchia said. "You know, it doesn't happen very often, but I believe I shot about the lowest score humanly possible today, considering the places I was.'' Considering the source, it's hard to believe that kind of round ever happened. "I have a lot of self doubt and a lot of demons that are floating around inside of my head,'' Calc said. "Golfers can be pretty self-deprecating. I pretty much tell myself I suck damn near every other hole. It happens to a lot of guys, the things we think about out there pretty much freak you out.'' Calavecchia, a former British Open champion, is a man with high golf standards. Sometimes those lofty ambitions speak too loudly. Say he shoots 68. His tendency is to brood and boil because it wasn't a 67 or 66. "I just always think I should play better than I do,'' he said. "I just get so down on myself when I can't hit a sand wedge within 30 feet of the hole. And I'm like, how can I be that bad? "You know, how can you just keep missing putt after putt after putt? I don't know, I just ask myself way too many questions. I probably don't focus far enough ahead and on the shot at hand. I'm worried too much about whatever just happened to me. I've always been an emotional player. I'm an emotional guy.''
Calcavecchia has been channeling that emotion in a different direction this season, as his results certainly attest. He owns a pair of top-10s besides his victory at the PODS Championship and already has banked more than $1 million for the eighth time in his career. A victory at the Zurich Classic will net 4,500 FedEx Cup points and move Calcavecchia to fourth (from 10th) in the season-long race. So what's up with this sudden resurgence at the ripe old age of 46? "Well, what I've been working on, when I do work, which isn't a whole lot," he said, laughing, "is just really two or three things. This year I haven't been confused with 10 different swing thoughts and going through a dozen drivers. I love my driver. I've had it since last October, you know, and obviously when putts go in, that helps. But it's been a fairly simple process is what I'm trying to get at, I guess, and when I execute, I usually hit a good shot.'' What's more, Calcavecchia, an infrequent visitor to the Crescent City, discovered what it means to miss New Orleans when he ended a five-year absence in 2006. He returned, he said, to support the city and the tournament after Hurricane Katrina struck with deadly force in August of 2005, flooding more than 80 percent of the city. "We had a great time,'' said Calcavecchia, who was accompanied by his wife, Brenda. "We thought we'd come back and have a good time. The casino (Harrah's) is here, which has a personal impact on my decision. "But honestly, the food is amazing. We had a great time last year. I wanted to come back and continue to offer my support. We love New Orleans, and I like the course to boot, so it's a total bonus.'' |
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