A fan from afar
David Toms has a date in front of a television Monday.
Toms, making his seventh appearance in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at the Kapalua Plantation Course, is an LSU graduate and diehard booster, and looking forward to the Bowl Championship Series title game between the Tigers and Alabama.
He said he will "probably" be wearing LSU garb for the final round Monday, at the PGA Tour's request, before sitting down with his family at The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, to watch the game.
"They asked me to, I'm not sure that I'm going to, but I probably will," he said. "I usually wear it the final round of the tournament anyway, last round of all the tournaments."
Toms played by himself Saturday, carding a 1-over-par 74 in 2 hours, 50 minutes, for a 4-over total of 150, ahead of only Brendan Steele.
Toms said he attends "six, seven, eight" LSU games per season, but since he enjoys Waialae Country Club, site of the Sony Open - he won there in 2006 - he has known for a while that he would not be at the Superdome for the title game.
"I have been thinking about it now for about a month, six weeks, just because I follow them," said Toms, who owns a house in Baton Rouge. "I know all the kids, I know their story, I know where they came from, a lot times you know their parents. I'm close enough to it that I get nervous for them more than anything else."
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Late, but not out
Rory Sabbatini was late for his 11:35 a.m. tee time after he and caddie Mick Doran lost track of time on the practice putting green.
Sabbatini was penalized two strokes before teeing off for the mistake, but finished with a 70 that left him at 143, tied for 10th place and 12 shots behind leader Steve Stricker.
"Off to an interesting start for sure," Sabbatini told a PGA Tour official after his round. "Yeah, it's the first time ever for me on tour. I know it's the first time for Mick. I guess neither of us was paying attention. We were just getting prepared for the round and it was just one of those goofy moments. Golf is an interesting game even when you don't expect it."
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Quote of the day
"I think it'll be the best finish of my life. I don't think I can do much better than that."
- Kevin Na, after becoming the first player to close with consecutive eagles in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at the Kapalua Plantation Course.
