McCarron-Lietzke Give Field the Shaft

THOUSAND OAKS —  Scott McCarron and Bruce Lietzke proved longer is better, and not just off the tee.

McCarron and Lietzke, the only players in the 20-player Shark Shootout field using long-shafted putters, are teamed together.

The long-shafted putters produced an eagle and 11 birdies, including seven consecutive birdies to start the back nine in the better-ball during the second round Saturday, and the team carded a 13-under-par 59 at Sherwood Country Club.

“We have some other things in common besides the length of our putters,” Lietzke said. “Our games complement each other.”

McCarron and Lietzke use identical putter heads, but McCarron’s putter has a 52-inch shaft and Lietzke’s is 49 inches. Standard putter length is 32 to 34 inches.

Despite a birdie barrage that produced a back-nine score of 28, McCarron said seven-foot putts for par on the first and fourth holes were the key for him and Lietzke, who had a 7:20 a.m. starting time.

“Those really kept us going,” he said. “Our alarm clocks hadn’t quite gone off yet.”

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First-round leaders Peter Jacobsen and John Cook slipped to a 67 Saturday, after a 62 on Friday, and finished the day two strokes behind McCarron and Lietzke.

It wasn’t difficult to pinpoint where those strokes came from--the team had consecutive bogeys on No. 13 and 14.

Both found trouble off the tee on the par-5 13th and neither hit the green in two on the par-4 14th.

“We really didn’t play badly,” Jacobsen said. “We just struggled on those two holes.”

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Not surprisingly, John Daly and Fuzzy Zoeller had the largest gallery of the day.

Fans regularly flock to see Daly’s legendary length off the tee and hobnob with Zoeller, who has an inclination to interact with the fans.

But the team gave fans another reason to watch--good play.

Zoeller had an eagle on the second hole and the pair finished with a two-day total of 14-under-par 130, three strokes behind Lietzke and McCarron.

Still, the fans wanted to see Daly drive.

After he hit the ninth green with a short iron shot, a mob of fans headed directly for the 10th tee, unconcerned about whether Daly would make the putt.

“Nobody wants to see Daly putt,” one fan said as he walked away. “You have to get a good spot behind the tee so you can see him drive.”

Daly finished the regular PGA season with a 302 yards-per-drive average, first among tour players.

But when Daly pulled out a three-wood on the 385-yard par-4 10th tee, some fans moaned.

“A three wood? Come on,” Andrew Stevenson of Newbury Park said. “I didn’t rush over here to see him hit a three wood.”

Daly ripped the three-wood about 310 yards, farther than Zoeller, Mark Calcaveccia and Andrew Magee hit tee shots with their drivers.

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Zoeller’s eagle was the fourth of the tournament for the Zoeller-Daly team. The nine other teams have combined for four eagles.

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Thank goodness for television.

Starting times for Saturday’s round began at 7 a.m. to accommodate CBS’s broadcast schedule.

The last group finished the round at about 12:20 and half an hour later, a heavy downpour drenched Sherwood Country Club.

Starting times for today’s final round begin at 9 a.m.