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By Greg Hardwig
Naples Daily News
The long and the short of it are on top after the first day of The Shark Shootout.
Long-hitters John Daly and J.B. Holmes and shorter-off-the-tee Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank both shot 9-under-par 63s in the modified alternate shot format at Tiburón Golf Club.
"I think this is the more difficult format of all the three, but ... this is the one I thought if we could just hang in there and play well, we could definitely excel in the other formats, and we played great," said Holmes, a rookie who won the FBR Open early in the year.
 | | Leonard: "We were picking out who's going to hit the second shot by who had the better number for a full shot. That's a pretty nice luxury to have." |
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"I mean, for us, if one of us hits a decent drive, it's going to be out there far enough." Daly said.
Jerry Kelly and Rod Pampling -- the latter a replacement for Bonita Springs' Peter Jacobsen, who underwent hip replacement surgery -- are in third place at 8-under-par. The teams of Brad Faxon and J.J. Henry, Mark O'Meara and Jeff Sluman, and Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini are all at 6-under.
The featured foursome of tournament host and founder Greg Norman and Nick Faldo, and Fred Couples and Annika Sorenstam did not play well. They are in last, and next to last, respectively. Sorenstam is the first female to play in the Shootout's 18 years.
Daly and Holmes got hot in their round during a six-hole stretch starting at the par-3 12th. Holmes hit a 7-iron, then Daly sank a 12-footer.
On No. 13, a par-4, Daly drove it to the back of the green, while Holmes was a bit short of it. Daly nearly made the eagle putt, then Holmes knocked in a two-footer for birdie.
On No. 14, a par-5, Daly hit a 5-iron from 225 yards to 20 feet and Holmes made the eagle putt -- the only one of five eagle attempts the twosome had. Holmes hit his approach on No. 15 to a foot, and on No. 16, Daly sank a 12-footer for birdie. Holmes hit a 6-iron to 20 feet on No. 17, but Daly's eagle putt rolled over the edge.
For the record, both Daly and Holmes had their longest drives of the day pegged at 370 yards. Daly's was on the par-4 13th, and Holmes' was on the next hole to set up Daly's 225-yard 5-iron.
Holmes, a rookie, was second on the tour in driving distance this year at 318.8 yards. Daly was fifth at 307.1. Leonard was 154th at 282.3 yards, while Verplank was 186th at 276.1.
Of course, there is something be said for driving accuracy -- Verplank was third in that on the tour, and Leonard was 45th, while Holmes was 187th and Daly was at 190.
"... Those two boys, they make more putts than anybody I've ever seen besides Tiger Woods," Daly said. "Both of those guys are such straight hitters, they're both great players, and they can both putt."
Now those two teams will be playing together in the same group today.
"You can probably see pretty much two different styles, ways to play golf," Leonard said. "You know we're going to be hitting -- I imagine we'll be hitting first (from the fairway) on most of the par-4s and par-5s. We just hope we get to hit our share of tee shots first."
"We're not going to drive it on any par-4s or hit it over the trees on any holes," Verplank said. "I just think it'll be fun to watch."
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