Golf Capsules: PGA Tour season gets under way in Hawaii

KAPALUA, Hawaii — U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover returned to Kapalua and had another miserable start to the first round of a new PGA Tour season. The difference Thursday was how he finished.

Glover recovered from a double bogey on his opening hole by going 9-under par over a nine-hole stretch in the middle of his round. He finished it off with a tap-in birdie for a 7-under 66 on Thursday and a one-shot lead in the season-opening SBS Championship.

The last time he qualified for this winners-only tournament, Glover began his season with four straight bogeys. This time, he hit a weak 4-iron that disappeared into the native shrubs and led to a double bogey.

"I was aiming 25 feet left of the hole and hit it 25 feet to the right," he said. "I got what I deserved."

He made up for it in a big way.

Glover, who made only two eagles in 26 tournaments last year, made two in a five-hole stretch on the Plantation Course at Kapalua that turned his fortunes quickly. He then made four straight birdies to open the back nine, and took the outright lead with a pitch from just short of the 18th green that trickled to inside a foot from the cup.

Nathan Green of Australia and Martin Laird of Scotland, among seven players making their debuts at Kapalua, joined Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney at 67. British Open champion Stewart Cink and Masters champion Angel Cabrera were among those at 68.

Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy had a 69.

The wind finally switched to its normal direction — the trades — and it was mild enough to make scoring relatively easy. Mark Wilson (74) and Heath Slocum (75) were the only players over par in the 28-man field.

The key to Glover’s success last year, when he won the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, was to not be so hard on himself. He was tested immediately with his double bogey, and it didn’t bother him in the least.

"I knew there were a lot of birdies," he said. "I saw some scores early and I knew guys were making birdies, and if I played well, I could get something going. So just don’t rush anything. Be patient."

The birdies and eagles came quickly.

It started with a 6-iron to the par-5 fifth to 18 feet for eagle, followed by a drive down the hill to the front of the sixth green for a simple up-and-down for birdie. Then came a 3-wood into 30 feet on the par-5 ninth, and the longest putt of his round, a 35-footer across the 11th green for a birdie.

And it could have been even better.

His birdie streak on the back nine ended at the 14th, where he drove to the front of the green. He chipped weakly to 8 feet and missed the putt. On the next hole, Glover missed a 3-foot birdie putt, and he three-putted from about 15 feet above the hole on the 16th.

It still added to a 66, and Glover felt as though he played that well.

Otherwise, it was a typical start to another PGA Tour season, even as questions linger about Tiger Woods and when he will return from the crisis in his personal life that has put golf in the mainstream media for reasons few ever imagined.

Some players felt rusty, while just about everyone was optimistic about a new year.

Green felt particularly good after his worst shot of the day. He hit it left of the green on the par-3 eighth and tried to play it from the weeds, but the thick grass grabbed the hosel of the club and pulled it straight to the left. Green feared it was going to take the head off a woman, one of about 10 people in his gallery, but it hit her in the arm.

"I actually said, ‘Sorry,’ while the ball was still on the club face," Green said.

From some 30 yards beyond the green, he chipped to 6 feet and got out of there with a bogey.

"That’s the stuff I wasn’t doing much at all last year," Green said. "If I had a slightly good break like that, I wouldn’t make the most of it. I wouldn’t manage to get it up and down."

He settled down after that with four birdies on the back nine.

Johnson had eight birdies to offset a few mistakes, which are expected this time of the year. Laird had the honor of hitting the opening tee shot of the 2010 season, and he split the middle of the fairway, which isn’t hard to do since it’s about 80 yards wide.

Watney played with Johnson, and both kept it pretty simple.

"It was just really — I hate saying it — an easy day out here," Watney said.

Notebook: Retief Goosen turns to belly putter for training

KAPALUA, Hawaii — It looked like an act of desperation last year when Retief Goosen, whose pure stroke brought him a pair of U.S. Open titles, switched to the belly putter at the start of the season.

He eventually ditched it for the conventional putter and went on to win at Innisbrook, pick up 10 finishes in the top 10 and restore his name among the top 20 in the world ranking.

So why was the belly putter back in his bag when he teed off Thursday in the SBS Championship?

The bigger question is how long it will stay there.

Goosen believes the belly putter helped to get him pointed in the right direction early last year, so he figured he would at least start out the season doing the same thing.

"It’s a good training device," he said.

He messed around with it in South Africa and said he would keep it in play at least through the Hawaii swing, and possibly through a West Coast schedule that will include Pebble Beach and then Match Play.

"If I do well with it, who knows? Maybe I’ll keep it in there longer," Goosen said.

His goal for the year is to "put my name up there in majors," and that was one area he was lacking the last few years. Dating to his first major at the 2001 U.S. Open, Goosen went consecutive years without a top three in the majors for the first time. His best was a tie for fifth at the British Open, where he started the final round two shots out of the lead.

CINK AND THE JUG

Stewart Cink has received honorary membership at four golf clubs in the Atlanta area, and he found a gracious way to show his appreciation.

All four are getting a turn displaying the claret jug he won at the British Open.

The jug has been at the TPC Sugarloaf since Thanksgiving, although Cink is an automatic member there as a PGA Tour member. He already has lent it to East Lake Golf Club. Still on the list is The River Club and Berkeley Hills Country club.

"At some point between last year and next year, all four will have a chance to display the jug for a while," Cink said.

MAUI REGULARS

Stephen Ames and Rory Sabbatini are back on Maui, which is a little misleading. Even if they had not qualified for the SBS Championship, they would have been here.

Both have been coming to this side of the island for the Christmas holidays for the last several years.

Ames has a timeshare down the coast at Kaanapali, while Sabbatini stays with his family at Kapalua. The South African earned high marks from the staff for his willingness to play with members or resort guests during his vacation.

"I’ll play with anyone," Sabbatini said. "It’s all good by me."

Ames arrived on Dec. 16 and played golf only four times before getting into practice mode for the year. And the only reason he played was because of the group of friends he brought down from Calgary.

"It’s a bit of a bonus for being here — or playing, I should say," he said. "The hardest thing was Monday morning putting on a pair of trousers because I’ve been in shorts and a swimsuit all this time. So it’s been tough."

Ames turns 46 this year, although he was only joking when he said he already was thinking about retirement. He plans to continue playing well into his Champions Tour career.

But he wasn’t kidding about retiring to Maui.

"We are looking for a family place here," he said. "This is where we are going to retire — four months here, the other eight months playing golf and being in Calgary."

It makes sense. Ames grew up in Trinidad & Tobago. He’s essentially going from one island to another.

TIME CHANGE

The first round of the SBS Championship was moved up Thursday, and it had nothing to do with the weather.

The Golf Channel began televising this event with the start of a new TV contract in 2007, and it traditionally has been shown in prime time on the east coast. That means it has gone head-to-head with the BCS Championship game.

This year, tour officials decided to get off the air before kickoff between Alabama and Texas.

"It makes great sense before the game gets started," said Rick George, chief of operations for the PGA Tour. "We’ll be a lead in. And we’ll go back to our normal times the next three days."

That led to one question that no one could answer: Why did it take three years to figure this out?

MAJOR PERKS

Lucas Glover went to the top of the Empire State Building after winning the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. He made the round on the late night shows, including his reading David Letterman’s "Top 10" list, the usual stuff for a major champion.

The biggest perk took place at Death Valley.

Glover went to college at Clemson and was invited to run down the hill with the Tigers onto the field before the Florida State game.

"Coach (Dabo) Sweeney called and said, ‘I heard you always wanted to do this. You are going to run the team down at Florida State,"’ Glover said. "Pretty cool. I don’t know that many people have ever done it, to be honest with you. But with my history there, and my grandfather doing it for all those years, my uncle, it’s something that I always wanted to do."

He was more nervous running down the hill than he was on the 18th hole at Bethpage, but what a thrill.

"That was number one on the bucket list for me," he said.

-- Doug Ferguson

Comments on Buddhism, Tiger Woods upset faithful

TAMPA, Fla. — When Fox News analyst Brit Hume suggested last weekend that Tiger Woods turn to Jesus to deal with his sins, critics argued that Hume showed little knowledge about Buddhism, the faith that has been a major influence in the golfer’s life.

"I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith," Hume said. "So my message to Tiger would be, "Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

That rankled many American Buddhists, who say Hume is missing the point of the 2,500-year-old Eastern faith.

"I think it’s ridiculous to make those statements," said Robert Thurman, a professor of Tibetan studies at Columbia University. "It is insulting to Buddhism to indicate that Buddhism doesn’t take care of its own believers and followers. But I think he will discover that Buddhists are very forgiving about his stupid statements."

Woods, a married father of two, hasn’t been seen since a bizarre Thanksgiving weekend car crash outside his Florida home unleashed a torrent of reports about his numerous alleged mistresses.

On Monday during an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, Hume addressed the topic again, but didn’t apologize to Buddhists: "My sense about Tiger is that he needs something that Christianity, especially, provides and gives and offers. And that is redemption and forgiveness."

Woods’ spokesman declined comment for this story. But in past interviews Woods credited his mother and her Thai Buddhism with giving him the focus needed on the golf course and throughout his life, about how it teaches that people have to work out their own problems.

"I believe in Buddhism. Not every aspect, but most of it," Woods told Sports Illustrated in 1996. "So I take bits and pieces. I don’t believe that human beings can achieve ultimate enlightenment, because humans have flaws."

Sex scandals in American society are nothing new, of course, and the Christian faith of many of the fallen is mentioned with their revelations. In the last couple years, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former presidential candidate John Edwards and Nevada Sen. John Ensign are a few of the recent examples of men who have cheated on their wives. All spoke of their faith in God and Jesus and finding forgiveness in the wake of the affairs.

So how do the world’s 350 million Buddhists deal with infidelity, marital strife and sin?

They follow the example of Siddhartha Gautama — the Buddha — a wealthy prince they believe became enlightened in the sixth century B.C.

"Buddhism starts with the premise that we suffer," said James Shaheen, editor and publisher of Tricycle, a Buddhist magazine. "At the foundation of Buddhism is ethics. An ethical life leads to a life of less suffering."

Buddhism’s code of personal conduct is just as strong as other major religions: followers should not kill, steal, gossip, use intoxicants like drugs or alcohol or commit sexual misconduct.

"Adultery is as much of a sin in Buddhism as it is in Christianity," Thurman said. "The ethics are the same in both traditions. Adultery is a sin and causes the kinds of problems that Tiger Woods is in."

Where many Westerners stumble is that Buddhists’ definition of sin — and what happens after it — differs from the Judeo-Christian tradition, as the consequences of Buddhists’ actions are a result of a person’s thoughts and deeds rather than divine punishment. Believers have to look to themselves and turn to an ethical way of life for redemption, although there are savior figures within the faith who do their best to help a Buddhist in need. There is no one, omnipotent "creator god" to bestow redemption as in Christianity.

Said Stephen Prothero, a Boston University professor on Buddhism and the author of "Religious Literacy: What Americans Need to Know:"

"You have the law of karma, so no matter what Woods says or does, he is going to have to pay for whatever wrongs he’s done," said Prothero. "There’s no accountant in the sky wiping sins off your balance sheet, like there is in Christianity."

Certain Buddhist traditions believe that if a person misbehaves, he or she will be reborn into various realms of hell. Others believe the justice is much swifter, that the penalties will be suffered in this life.

"What causes you to do what Tiger Woods did is ignorance," said James William Coleman, a professor of Buddhist studies at Cal Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif. "If you do what he’s done, it comes back and hurts you. You wouldn’t do that if you weren’t ignorant."

Brad Warner, a California-based Zen priest and the author of the book "Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate" suggests that Woods return to his Buddhism roots and become introspective.

"I would first tell him to sit with the problem, look into himself and try to see clearly for himself what he needs to do," Warner said. "The problem is something he’s got to work out for himself."

-- Tamara Lush

Sterne shares 1st-round lead at Africa Open

EAST LONDON, South Africa — Richard Sterne shot a bogey-free 7-under 66 Thursday for a five-way tie after the first round of the Africa Open.

Sterne started on the back nine and made three straight birdies from the 15th. He added three more on his next five holes to sit tied with Patrik Sjoland of Sweden, South African duo Titch Moore and Trevor Fisher Jr. and Mark Haastrup of Denmark.

Four other South African players, including Carl Schwartzel and Thomas Aiken, were a shot back at 6 under in the European Tour event.