Back Nine

Lack of knowledge about the back nine of Baltimore Country Club's East Course did not seem to bother Keith Unikel yesterday.Seeing most of that portion of the course for the first time, the University of Maryland junior shot 2-under-par 33 to complete a 2-under 68 and win the qualifying medal in the 77th annual men's amateur championship of the Maryland State Golf Association.Three others -- Kirk Lombardi, Pat Tallent and Jeff Graf -- had 69s to better par of 35-3570 on the rolling 6,681-yard layout.

POTOMAC -- He had a five-shot lead and seemed to be on the verge of lapping the field at the TPC at Avenel in the third round of the Kemper Open. He was doing his best imitation of Tiger Woods, cracking 300-yard drives and making one big putt after another.And then Fred Funk walked up the hill to the 13th tee yesterday afternoon.It was there he found two groups and more than a 20-minute wait ahead of him. It was also there that Funk lost his rhythm and,ultimately, much of his lead. He will find out today whether it was where he lost a tournament he had dominated since the opening round.

After making his second birdie in three holes to move to 10-under-par for the tournament, Fred Funk walked to the 13th tee at Baltimore Country Club thinking he still had a chance to win the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. At the time, he was five strokes behind the leader, Loren Roberts. Then came a bad drive on the 452-yard par 4 into the left rough. It was followed later by a three-putt for double bogey. But things would only get worse for the former University of Maryland golf coach, as he would also three-putt for bogey on the par-4 14th hole.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Gil Morgan took his place yesterday in the lore of the U.S. Open. Actually, he nearly took two spots in the record book.The first came when Morgan, who started the third round at Pebble Beach with a three-shot lead at 9-under par, became the first player in Open history to reach 10-under.Then, after getting to an astounding 12-under through seven holes and building an amazing seven-shot lead, Morgan began an equally historic collapse.By the time it was finished, Morgan had surrendered nine shots to par and his entire lead to the field.

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Se Ri Pak, who had played the first two rounds nine strokes under par, never found that touch yesterday.Meanwhile, Lisa Hackney made a late rally and joined her atop the LPGA Championship leader board.Pak, who was the sole leader through two rounds, never got anything going and came in with a 1-over-par 72 and a 54-hole total of 205 at DuPont Country Club.Hackney, who had Friday's low round of 66, made four birdies in six holes on the back nine yesterday to finish with a 69 for 205.When Pak made what turned out to be her only birdie of the day on the sixth hole, and playing partner Lisa Walters bogeyed, the two-shot swing suddenly gave Pak a four-shot lead on the field.

SOUTHPORT, England - In a corner of the locker room at Royal Birkdale, all these years later, somehow, Greg Norman resumed the practice of a rare art he long since mastered - the gallant handling of a galling defeat. He packed things into a swanky green bag, stood amid a gaggle of reporters and, as on so many 20th-century Sundays exasperating enough to rate cringe-worthy, answered question after question yesterday, looking the questioners in the eye. "I'm not as disappointed as I was in the '80s and '90s, that's for sure," he said.

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -- Tiger Woods followed the shot of the day with the blow-up of the day.Woods, the can't-miss 20-year-old who's won the last two U.S. Amateur championships and is coming off his first NCAA title, made a lot of noise on the front nine at the U.S. Open yesterday. He holed a 60-degree wedge from 60 yards for birdie on No. 5, hit the stick with his approach on No. 6, and had a share of the lead when he got to 3-under on No. 12.Could Woods keep it up for four days and become the first amateur to win the Open in 63 years?

POTOMAC -- It was lonely at the top for Adam Scott yesterday at the Booz Allen Classic. Coming into the final round at the Tournament Players Club at Avenel, he was six strokes ahead of the closest man -- a margin that seemed insurmountable given Scott's excellent play. Scott followed through with a 3-under-par performance, leaving the rest scrambling for second place. Five players stood log-jammed between 12- and 8-under par as the round unfolded. One of those, the favorite if anyone was to catch Scott, was his friend Charles Howell III. With a five-hole stretch of birdies on the back nine, Howell piqued the interest of those in attendance, pulling within two shots of Scott at No. 15. Those birdies in the end were nothing more than his ticket to second place and a $518,400 check.

SOTOGRANDE, Spain -- The predictions of a rout in the 32nd Ryder Cup at Valderrama Golf Club are coming true. There is one minor hitch: The highly favored U.S. team finds itself on the wrong end of this potential blowout.After finishing the rain-delayed and darkness-suspended Friday matches yesterday morning trailing by a point, the Americans unraveled like the inside of an old golf ball in the fourball matches and continued their surprising free fall in the foursome matches later in the day.The result was a shocking 9-4 deficit of those matches completed, meaning that the U.S. team must win 10 1/2 of the remaining 15 points between the three matches that were not finished last night because of darkness forced by an earlier rain delay and the 12 singles matches scheduled for today.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- All around him yesterday, those at or near the lead in the 63rd Masters were backing up on the back nine of Augusta National, their names and scores moving down a few notches on the leader board.First, Lee Janzen took the lead away from Jose Maria Olazabal, only to cough it up with a couple of poor decisions that led to bogeys.Then Davis Love charged in front, before he put his second shot on the par-5 15th in the water and double-bogeyed the hole.After stumbling on the front nine, Olazabal kept avoiding the disasters that had befallen others, particularly on Amen Corner and again on the 18th hole.