Azinger

HONOLULU -- John Cook shot 7-under 65 yesterday and rallied to tie Paul Azinger for the lead after three rounds of the $1.2 million United Airlines Hawaiian Open.ZTC Cook and Azinger were tied at 16-under 200, three shots ahead of Jeff Maggert and Tom Lehman.Three golfers, including second-round co-leader Wayne Levi, were at 12-under.Cook, coming from three shots behind, birdied five of the first six holes to move to 14-under at the break, then scored birdies on Nos. 13 and 18 to stay in contention for the $216,000 first prize.

When Paul Azinger took the job as U.S. Ryder Cup captain four years ago, he did so only after wrangling an overhaul of the roster process that doubled his wild-card picks and set a later selection date. Azinger wanted the hottest players going to Valhalla, suggesting he would even take a Nationwide Tour guy if he scored back-to-back wins right before selection day. That never came into play, but the philosophy paid off when Azinger's team of upstarts ended Europe's streak of three wins.

Big names, little names, any names - who knows who will end up atop the British Open leader board? ABC analyst Paul Azinger said it could be anyone. "As a result of the course being so fast, it has become a wide-open tournament," Azinger said in a conference call Wednesday. The way the heat has baked Royal Liverpool's fairways negates the usual advantage of golf's power hitters. "This is a shorter hitter's big chance to win a major," Azinger said. Asked to compare the British Open course to any on the PGA Tour, Azinger said: "We don't play that many courses on tour that are brown and racetrack-y.

Someone forgot to tell Paul Azinger that golf is not a team sport. The 2008 Ryder Cup captain operated under the crazy notion that 12 hyper-competitive men who spend the rest of the year trying to steal each other's paychecks would hold hands for a three-day event in the name of country pride. So Azinger, all too aware of the Yanks' three-Cup losing streak, created a pod system that divided players into groups of four. "We put guys together who would sell out for each other, share secrets and share philosophies," Azinger said.

As U.S. captain in next month's Ryder Cup competition at The Belfry in England, Curtis Strange is not planning on his heavily favored team having to make the kind of historic comeback it did on the final day two years ago at The Country Club outside Boston. But just in case, Strange has chosen two golfers well-known for the their personal and professional comebacks as his captain's choices for the biennial competition. At a news conference yesterday at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth, Ga., where a little more than 12 hours earlier David Toms beat Phil Mickelson in a thrilling finish in the 83rd PGA Championship, Strange picked Ryder Cup veteran Paul Azinger and Scott Verplank to join the 12-man team.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- He was once considered among the game's best players, an 11-time winner who validated his burgeoning stardom with a dramatic victory at the 1993 PGA Championship and a key role in the U.S. win in the Ryder Cup later that year.But that was before cancer nearly took Paul Azinger's life. Though he ultimately regained his health, the lymphoma in his right shoulder took away his nerve and drive and almost all of his success. Since returning to the tour in 1995, Azinger has not been close to winning another major.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- They sighed with relief as they walked up the first fairway at Augusta National yesterday morning, having TC survived the jittery ritual of hitting their first shots at the Masters."

TULSA, Okla. -- There was the standing-room gathering in May, when Paul Azinger discussed his battle with cancer during a heart-tugging 90-minute news conference here for the winner of last year's PGA Championship.There was the first tournament appearance in more than eight months at last week's Buick Open, an uplifting event that saw Azinger resume his brilliant career and, despite missing the cut, continue on his comeback story.And there was yesterday at Southern Hills Country Club, when Azinger seemed ready and more than willing to defend his one major title when the 76th PGA Championship begins tomorrow.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The hurt was not as apparent. This time, Tom Lehman didn't go down to the bitter end before losing a chance at the U.S. Open title. This time, Lehman never gave himself a chance to be anything but disappointed in himself.Playing in the final twosome at the Open for a record fourth straight year, Lehman started out by missing a three-foot putt for par on the 553-yard first hole. It set the tone on a day on which Lehman shot 5-over-par 75 and finished tied for fifth, six shots behind Lee Janzen at 6-over-par 286."

For a guy who targeted the PGA Championship as the victory he hoped would propel him into the upper echelon of golf, Paul Azinger looked awfully shaky if not downright embarrassed yesterday when Greg Norman rimmed a short putt and "The Zinger" finally had his first major title.After days of classy shot-making and competition as tight as could be recalled by the most faithful of television golf-watchers, Azinger stood there in shock after the Norman miss, which followed his own shattering failure from six feet.

Big names, little names, any names - who knows who will end up atop the British Open leader board? ABC analyst Paul Azinger said it could be anyone. "As a result of the course being so fast, it has become a wide-open tournament," Azinger said in a conference call Wednesday. The way the heat has baked Royal Liverpool's fairways negates the usual advantage of golf's power hitters. "This is a shorter hitter's big chance to win a major," Azinger said. Asked to compare the British Open course to any on the PGA Tour, Azinger said: "We don't play that many courses on tour that are brown and racetrack-y.

As U.S. captain in next month's Ryder Cup competition at The Belfry in England, Curtis Strange is not planning on his heavily favored team having to make the kind of historic comeback it did on the final day two years ago at The Country Club outside Boston. But just in case, Strange has chosen two golfers well-known for the their personal and professional comebacks as his captain's choices for the biennial competition. At a news conference yesterday at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth, Ga., where a little more than 12 hours earlier David Toms beat Phil Mickelson in a thrilling finish in the 83rd PGA Championship, Strange picked Ryder Cup veteran Paul Azinger and Scott Verplank to join the 12-man team.

TULSA, Okla. - He isn't the swaggering star who won his only major by staring down Greg Norman to win the 1993 PGA Championship at Inverness. Nor is he the brave player making his comeback from cancer a year later here in the same tournament at Southern Hills Country Club. Paul Azinger quietly put himself in contention for a second major yesterday when he shot a 1-under-par 69 to move five strokes behind third-round co-leaders Retief Goosen and Stewart Cink. It could have been better, given his bogey on the last hole.

ATLANTA - Life has changed dramatically for Paul Azinger since the last time he played in the Tour Championship. That was in 1993. He was defending champion, having won the year before at Pinehurst No. 2. He was second on the PGA Tour's money list, having added to his resume his first major title, the PGA Championship. He was also a month away from finding that he had cancer. Azinger makes his return today, here at East Lake Golf Club. "It was a lot tougher [getting back] than I thought it would be," Azinger said yesterday.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The hurt was not as apparent. This time, Tom Lehman didn't go down to the bitter end before losing a chance at the U.S. Open title. This time, Lehman never gave himself a chance to be anything but disappointed in himself.Playing in the final twosome at the Open for a record fourth straight year, Lehman started out by missing a three-foot putt for par on the 553-yard first hole. It set the tone on a day on which Lehman shot 5-over-par 75 and finished tied for fifth, six shots behind Lee Janzen at 6-over-par 286."

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- He was once considered among the game's best players, an 11-time winner who validated his burgeoning stardom with a dramatic victory at the 1993 PGA Championship and a key role in the U.S. win in the Ryder Cup later that year.But that was before cancer nearly took Paul Azinger's life. Though he ultimately regained his health, the lymphoma in his right shoulder took away his nerve and drive and almost all of his success. Since returning to the tour in 1995, Azinger has not been close to winning another major.

LAKE MANASSAS, Va. -- David Graham, the nonplaying captain of the International team, summed up the inaugural Presidents Cup matches more than 24 hours ahead of their conclusion when he said, "What you saw today was the true professional character of these guys."That was between the Saturday morning and afternoon matches, after his side had won 3 1/2 of a possible five points to thwart what was a potential United States runaway.Looking back late yesterday afternoon, the same could be said of both teams.

When Paul Azinger took the job as U.S. Ryder Cup captain four years ago, he did so only after wrangling an overhaul of the roster process that doubled his wild-card picks and set a later selection date. Azinger wanted the hottest players going to Valhalla, suggesting he would even take a Nationwide Tour guy if he scored back-to-back wins right before selection day. That never came into play, but the philosophy paid off when Azinger's team of upstarts ended Europe's streak of three wins.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Fred Couples looks much the same whether he is leading a tournament or is out of contention, and the tournament often looks the same to him whether it's a major championship such as the 62nd Masters or some early-season event on the West Coast.He looks as if he's about to fall asleep."I'm nervous," he said yesterday, "but it's a calm nervous."In this case, it was the calm before what could be a raucous final round at Augusta National.Though the 1992 champion built the lead he has either held or shared since the tournament began, shooting a 1-under-par 71 for a 54-hole total of 6-under-par 210, all Couples or anyone else had to do was look at the names and scores below him on the leader board to know what's in store today.

As outfielder Eric Davis begins his recovery from colon cancer, he can gain inspiration and courage from the likes of Olympic gold-medal wrestler Jeff Blatnick, veteran golfer Paul Azinger and hockey great Mario Lemieux, all of whom overcame cancer to resume their athletic careers."