Despite history, Toms sees himself as underdog Sunday  Special to PGATOUR.com MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- If his name weren't on the first page of the leaderboard at the Stanford St. Jude Championship, galleries would presume David Toms wasn't in the field.  David Toms has finished in the top 10 in each of the past five TOUR events in Memphis. (WireImage)
And for Toms not to be playing in Memphis, it would probably take a major emergency -- or maybe some special off-season shindig involving his beloved LSU football team. "Obviously, it's been a pretty good place for me throughout my career," said Toms, with a smile. "I've always felt very comfortable playing this golf course." But after a 4-under-par 66 in the third round -- to trail leader Adam Scott by only three shots with 18 holes remaining -- he gave no indication that his comfort zone and crowd support would be a significant advantage on Sunday. "I'm not sure I have any advantage over Adam Scott," Toms said, in a quick response to a question. "He's one of the highest-ranked players in the world, and deservedly so. He's the next superstar if he's not already one. He's a nice fellow and he's good for the game of golf . . . and he's on a roll right now. "I've just got to out and see if I can catch him." Toms' Memphis resume remains impressive, however, and he was obviously pleased with his play Saturday. "That was a good, smart round of golf I played today," said Toms, 40, the winner of the 2001 PGA Championship and 11 other PGA TOUR events. "I felt in control of what I was doing." He hit 10 of 14 fairways, 10 of 18 greens and needed only 24 putts for his five birdies, 12 pars and only one bogey. Consider that since 2002, Toms has had two victories and a runner-up finish (along with a fourth and a 10th) at TPC Southwind. In those last five tournaments here, he's earned $2,482,866 and become the event's all-time leading money winner with $2,583,233. In 2003, he closed with a 64 and won. In 2005, after trailing by 11 shots through 54 holes, he charged with a 63 and lost by a stroke to Justin Leonard. What's the secret to his Memphis magic? "First of all, it's confidence at a golf course," said Toms, a Shreveport, La., resident who is comfortable anywhere southern football is spoken and summer heat and humidity soar. "We all try to draw on our past experiences, especially the good ones and try to forget the bad ones. "I've always had a lot of good memories of this place." His memory bank suffered a minor jolt after the 2004 event -- following his second consecutive victory -- when the course underwent extensive renovation. Greens were changed from receptive Bentgrass to firm and fast Champion Bermuda, and sightlines from tees were revised. "I'd always putted really well here and then they re-did the greens on me," he said, "so I didn't make as many putts last year. I'm starting to get a feel for them a little better. The golf course definitely is stronger with some of the changes -- lengthening of holes, changing fairway lines and, of course, the greens. "You used to kind of just fire at everything . . . I shot a lot of low scores. Now par is a better score and you don't have to go as low." There were no announced intentions of "Toms Proofing" the course, however. Toms hadn't been that dominant. If such had been the intent, the project would have ranked as a failure, considering his runner-up finish in 2005 and that superb final-round charge (63). "You have to get in the mindset that you don't have to shoot 20-under to win here, now," Toms said. "A lot of times I might get a little impatient on the golf course knowing that I used to birdie a certain hole all the time. Now it's a different hole. "That's what I battle with the most going around the place now -- not getting ahead of myself and not putting too much pressure on trying to birdie every hole. Par is a good score on a lot of holes out here now, and you just have to take it that way." Jeff Maggert won last year with 9-under-par 271 -- highest winning score in relation to par since the tournament moved to Southwind in 1989. Toms tied for 10th. Toms was not over-confident coming into this week's $6 million event, but he has been getting more comfortable with his game. In 13 events this year, he has had four top-10 finishes (including bests of a tie for eighth twice), hasn't missed a cut, and is 39th on the TOUR money list with $1,095,029. "I've been fairly consistent and solid, but I haven't had that hot week yet where everything fell into place and I had a good chance to win," he said, on the eve of this 50th consecutive event in Memphis. "I played well at the Masters and had a chance on the back nine and I've had a reasonable chance to do well in a couple of others. But I've always done something when I had it going to give it back. "I haven't been able to keep a hot round going yet." Saturday was pretty hot, though, and he's hoping to turn up the heat on Sunday. |
PGATOUR.com is part of Turner Sports Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network 