Tiger Plays an Ace, but Jones Trumps It

While Tiger Woods supplied an electric moment with a hole in one at the Phoenix Open, Steve Jones outplayed everyone for the third consecutive day.

Jones birdied the first three holes at the TPC of Scottsdale and three of the last four for a six-under-par 65 Saturday and is at 22-under 191 after the third round.

His score is the second-lowest for 54 holes in PGA Tour history, two shy of John Cook’s 189 last year at Memphis. Jones, the defending U.S. Open champion, needs a 66 today to tie the tour record of 27 under set by Ben Hogan in 1945 at Portland and matched by Mike Souchak in 1955 at San Antonio.

And yet, Jones says he isn’t driving well--even though he got the last of his eight birdies when he drove the green on the 332-yard 17th hole and two-putted from 120 feet.

“It’s not a great ball-striking week,” Jones said. “But I’m kind of being smart around the course, trying to hit it in the right spot and scoring on the par fives.”

Woods, thrust into the background by his relatively poor showing, aced the 155-yard 16th using a nine-iron, much to the delight of many in a crowd estimated at 121,500.

David Duval, playing in the final group with Jones and tied with Tommy Tolles for second when the round began, also shot a 65 but was five shots behind Jones.

Fulton Allem, Rick Fehr and Tolles were four shots behind Duval at 200, with Nick Price, Dan Forsman and two-time Phoenix champion Mark Calcavecchia grouped at 201, 10 shots behind the leader.

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Three-time defending champion Raymond Floyd, Hale Irwin and Jack Nicklaus all won skins on the first of the two-day Senior Skins event at Kohala Coast, Hawaii. But making birdie putts proved a problem, and the bulk of the prize money went untouched.

“I think we were all a little disappointed,” said Irwin, a Senior Skins rookie. “There weren’t many birdies made. But [today] you’ll probably see us light it up.”

Setting up a bonanza for the second nine holes, $440,000 of the $540,000 purse will be at stake today.

The 10th hole alone will be worth $140,000 because the final four holes Saturday were tied and the money carried over.

Floyd made the most spectacular shot of the day. After he pulled an iron off the second tee deep into the gallery alongside the green of the 207-yard par three at Mauna Lani Resort, he sent a 65-yard chip shot straight into the hole to win $40,000.

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John Johnson shot a final-round, five-under 66 to win the Taco Bell Newport Classic Pro-Am by one shot at the Newport Beach Country Club.

Johnson, a Nike Tour player from Ventura, had a two-day total of 134 and won $20,000. He had seven birdies and two bogeys Saturday.