Armour Shows Mettle

He has a great golf name, a great golf grandfather and a great golf swing, but there’s one thing Tommy Armour III doesn’t have.

That would be a great golf victory.

Oh, let’s not be picky now. Any kind would do just fine for Armour, whose only PGA Tour win came in the Phoenix Open in 1990 when he was so young he was known as Tommy Armour II 1/2.

All that separates this Armour, the grandson of Hall of Fame golfer Tommy Armour, from winning the Nissan Open today is one shot, 18 holes and so many players chasing him it looked like a posse in spikes.

Armour extracted a four-under-par 67 from Valencia Country Club on a warm, peacefully still Saturday, when the only breeze around the place was the one Tiger Woods created when he blew into contention.

Armour isn’t all that concerned with Woods, or anybody else, for that matter. After all, it’s Armour at nine-under 204 with a one-shot lead over Billy Mayfair and a two-shot margin over Woods, Skip Kendall, Bob Estes, Payne Stewart and Scott Hoch.

Said Armour: “It’s one of those things that if you take care of business, it doesn’t matter who’s there.”

As usual, the list of who’s there is dominated by the swoosher-than-life figure of Woods. After dusting off Valencia with a six-under 65, Woods must have alarmed everybody with a matter-of-fact statement so chilling it could have caused ice to form on the lake next to the 11th green.

Woods said he finds comfort in the fact that he’s pretty tough on Sundays when he has a chance to win . . . even if everybody else out there is sort of sick to their stomach at the thought of it.

“For some reason, it just seems to click in,” Woods said. “With that added pressure, all of a sudden, I just seem to play good.

“It is nice to know that I am able to go out there and put together a good round at any given time.”

Then today would be a good time for Woods, who has a second-place and a third-place this year, but hasn’t won on this continent.

Woods’ reaction: “I am kind of bummed out.”

Armour three-putted No. 10 from 30 feet for his only bogey, but he wasn’t bummed out or even upset. Maybe that’s because he kept sticking the ball close to the hole on treacherously firm greens with chances to make birdies.

He knocked an eight-iron to four feet and made it at No. 2, and hit a sand wedge to six feet on No. 8 and made it. He also birdied No. 12 from four feet and pitched to 10 feet on No. 18, then rolled in the putt. The only long putt Armour made for birdie was a 20-footer on No. 7.

At 38, Armour believes his experience will pay off as a positive reflex reaction.

“You sort of call on it without knowing,” he said. “You just use it.”

Meanwhile, in the shadow of Magic Mountain, Mayfair continued to play roller-coaster golf. First three holes, three birdies. Then three bogeys over the next nine holes. Next three holes, three more birdies.

Hopefully, Mayfair had his seat belt fastened during his round of 69.

“If I could have played the first three holes and quit, I would have been all right,” he said. “Up and then down and up and back down again. I wish I could have four or five birdies and then easy parts, but that’s not the way it’s happening out here.”

Estes has won only once, four years ago, but his 67 moved him into the five-way tie for third. Hoch shot a 68, and Stewart’s 69 put him in position for his first victory since Hoch folded down the stretch and handed him the 1995 Houston Open title.

For Kendall, he has another shot at winning for the first time in his semi-bumpy pro career. Three weeks ago at San Diego, Kendall got all the way to a playoff before Scott Simpson slipped past him.

Kendall couldn’t have been any hotter Saturday if he were a welder. His seven-under 64 was the low round of the tournament and he was even modest about it afterward.

“I just happened to hit it on the right side of the hole a few times,” Kendall said.

Presumably, the ball just sort of rolled into the hole by itself from there. It could be that the biggest hole in Kendall’s game right now is a glaring ego-deficiency.

The most glaring part of Woods’ game Saturday was its rollicking consistency. If nothing else, it was wildly entertaining, especially at the start. He didn’t par a hole until No. 6 and began this way: birdie, birdie, bogey, eagle, birdie.

Now that’s something that tends to get your attention, but so was his eagle on the 422-yard No. 4, when he smoked a nine-iron from 142 yards. Woods couldn’t see the ball roll in, but he knew it did anyway because of the noise the gallery made.

“It was a good assumption it went in,” he said.

With 11 players within four shots of the lead, does anybody want to assume anything else? Armour said he takes nothing for granted.

If he does manage to close it out today and claim the $378,000 winner’s share, will he carry the money home in an Armoured car? For the guy with the great golf name and the great golf grandfather, that might be a great idea.

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Nissan Open

THE LEADERS

At Valencia Country Club

Par 71, 54-Hole Scores

Tommy Armour III: 69-68-67--204 -9

Billy Mayfair: 65-71-69--205 -8

Skip Kendall: 69-73-64--206 -7

Tiger Woods: 68-73-65--206 -7

Bob Estes: 69-70-67--206 -7

Scott Hoch: 67-71-68--206 -7

Payne Stewart: 70-67-69--206 -7

Hal Sutton: 72-69-66--207 -6

Stephen Ames: 66-71-70--207 -6