Gogel Reconstructs Scene of the Crime

PEBBLE BEACH â€”  The last time we saw Matt Gogel around the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, he was disappearing faster than a fried artichoke heart on an appetizer tray at one of the dozens of hospitality tents here at Golf Party Central.

It was just last February when Gogel had a seven-shot lead on Tiger Woods with seven holes to play, and lost by two. Since then, replays of Woods’ holing out a wedge from the 15th fairway have been on television so often, they look like infomercials.

How many times has Gogel seen the replay?

“Too many,� he said.

Just to prove that golf has a strange sense of humor, Gogel is again leading the tournament, this time by three shots over Vijay Singh and a full eight shots over Woods after 36 holes.

You can get a headache just trying to figure how this can happen. In his formal interview with the media Friday, Gogel gripped the microphone so tightly, he nearly squeezed the electricity out of it.

It’s easy to understand why, but Gogel knows he could be setting himself up for either a healthy dose of redemption or a pratfall of mythic proportions. Not that Gogel is thinking about how he blew a five-shot lead over Woods after 54 holes a year ago and lost when he shot a 71 to Tiger’s 64. It only took him, oh, a few months to get over that.

“I was anxious to come back and play because I enjoyed playing here,� Gogel said. “It wasn’t like I was coming back for unfinished business or anything.�

Gogel’s 62 Friday at Poppy Hills is a course record, even though it was played under winter rules, which meant Gogel was allowed to clean his golf ball after each shot. But it shouldn’t matter to anyone because Woods played the same course Friday, had the same rules advantage and still missed Gogel’s 62 by 11 shots.

“I didn’t play very well,� Woods said.

Woods, whose streak of 52 consecutive rounds under par ended last week at Phoenix, saw his new streak end at three.

Meanwhile, the autograph-seeker who collided with Woods on Wednesday was identified as Brian Sobrero, 28, of Pleasanton. Law enforcement officials who confronted Sobrero urged him strongly to stay away from Woods. Chances are, somebody will soon advise Woods to steer clear of Poppy Hills.

Last year Woods shot a 73 there, his same score Friday. If Woods is going to come back again, it’s clearly doing it the hard way.

There are five par-five holes at Poppy Hills and Gogel, like many others, believe that par there is more like 68 than 72. Tom Scherrer had a 67 at Poppy Hills and knows what it takes to score there.

“You just have to take advantage of the par fives,� Scherrer said.

Woods didn’t really do that. The best he could do was two under on the par-five holes.

Singh’s 68 at Poppy Hills kept him in contention, but he has a lot of company in pursuit of Gogel. A 29-year-old from Kansas and a PGA Tour rookie last year, Gogel is 13 under with a 36-hole total of 131. Singh is next at 134. Brad Elder, Ronnie Black, Frank Lickliter and Scherrer are four shots off the lead at nine-under 135.

Phil Mickelson, who had a 66 at Spyglass Hill, is five shots behind Gogel, along with Willie Wood.

Elder, a second-year pro, had two eagles in his round of 69 at Poppy Hills and said he didn’t drive the ball well. He hit at least two trees, but found enough openings to get out of trouble.

“It was a struggle,� he said.

Scherrer, who won the Kemper Open last year, turned in a 67 at Poppy Hills, where he learned to be patient on the greens that were spiked up and had footprints. Even better, he birdied each of the par fives.

As for Gogel, he would like to point out that he also contended at the Bob Hope, where he finished seventh. He wound up with $604,199, No. 80 on the money list and a secure exemption for 2001.

The front nine for Gogel at Poppy Hills was actually the back side because he began at No. 10, but he treated each side the same way. After he made birdie at the par-five 10th, Gogel made birdie at the par-five No. 12 after he reached the green with a sand wedge and sank a 10-foot putt. He also birdied the par-five 13th from 12 feet and the par-five 18th when he put the ball five feet from the hole.

He birdied No. 1 after hitting an eight-iron from the pine needles to two feet. He made a 20-footer to birdie No. 2, then birdied the par-five No. 4 from six feet to go to 10 under and take the lead over Singh. Gogel closed with three more birdies, the last one a two-putt birdie from 20 feet at the par-five ninth.

This isn’t Gogel’s first trip back to play Pebble Beach since last February--he played the U.S. Open here in June and an invitational tournament in November. But it is the first anniversary of Woods’ victory and Gogel’s demise at the AT&T;, and Gogel is fully aware of the significance of what occurred.

It’s just that he would prefer a different ending this time.

“It would make for a heck of a story, obviously, if things continue this way,� Gogel said.

“It’s a long way till Sunday. . . . We’ll worry about Sunday on Sunday.�

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

PEBBLE BEACH PRO-AM

Par 72, 36-Hole Scores

MATT GOGEL

69-62--131: -13

VIJAY SINGH

66-68--134: -10

BRAD ELDER

66-69--135: -9