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Shark.com Staff
Nov. 16, 2003
NAPLES, Fla. - Hank Kuehne and Jeff Sluman took
advantage of generous scramble rules to add one last birdie in regulation.
As it turns out, that birdie earned the team a spot in
the first three-way playoff in Shark Shootout history
alongside Chad Campbell and Shaun Micheel and Brad Faxon and Scott
McCarron.
 On the second extra hole, Kuehne sunk a four-foot birdie putt to clinch the title. |
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On the second extra hole, which was played using the
better-ball format, Kuehne sunk a four-foot birdie putt to clinch the
title. It was the first Shootout victory for both players. Kuehne and
Sluman each pocketed $275,000.
"Winning golf tournaments is what it's all about out
here," Kuehne said. "I think this is something that can definitely help me,
especially when you look at the guys we were in the playoff with."
"I think this was the perfect pairing for both Hank and
I," Sluman added. "All week we could rely on what each other does best."
Tournament host Greg Norman and his playing partner Steve
Elkington closed with a 12-under 60 and finished in a tie for ninth. They
took advantage of Norman's hot putter and carded eight birdies over the
first nine holes.
The decisive moment for the eventual champions came on
No. 17 at Tiburón Golf Club, a tricky par-5 measuring 534 yards. Sluman hit
a drive down the right center of the fairway and had 234 yards to the hole.
Kuehne's drive came to rest 44 yards closer, but it was sitting on pine
straw left of the fairway.
At Kuehne's urging, the pair decided to use his ball. The
thought process was the closer ball was more important than a perfect
fairway lie. Sluman then hit his second shot into a greenside bunker, but
it was up against the back lip. Kuehne pushed his right of the green and it
settled in a hazard in the middle of a bush.
Shark Shootout scramble rules state that
players may move the ball one club length no closer to the hole. That
allowed them to extract Kuehne's ball from the bush and place it on a patch
of pine straw near the previously precarious position.
Sluman proceeded to play a superb explosion shot that
kicked up a large pile of pine straw, dirt and dust and stopped three and a
half feet from the hole. They knocked in the putt for what Sluman called a
"circuitous" birdie.
Both slid birdie putts past the hole on 18, and waited
while their closest competitors gave chase. No one could top their 23-under
total so the three teams proceeded to the sudden-death playoff.
On the first extra hole, which was played with the
modified alternate-shot format, Kuehne-Sluman and Campbell-Micheel made
pars while Faxon-McCarron sent their approach into the hazard and were
eliminated.
The foursome trekked back to the 18th tee for the third
time. Sluman hit a solid drive that left 168 yards to the hole. Kuehne let
loose a driver, which, with his length, had to be positioned perfectly to
avoid the fairway bunker and the water that comes into play down the left
side.
 Tournament host Greg Norman and his playing partner Steve
Elkington closed with a 12-under 60 and finished in a tie for ninth. |
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"I wanted to hit a driver on 18 so I would only have a
sand wedge in," Kuehne said. "It makes a huge difference compared to coming
in with a 7-, 8- or 9-iron. With a sand wedge I could put some spin on it
and keep it up near the hole."
It found the fairway and left a mere 116 yards to the
hole. Kuehne hoisted a sand wedge that landed just past the pin, took one
hop forward and spun back to four feet.
Campbell and Micheel hit similar second shots and had
birdie putts in the neighborhood of 30 feet. Sluman left his approach 20
feet above the hole. The first three attempts failed to drop, which left
Kuehne standing over the winning putt.
He went through his normal pre-shot routine, which
includes a brief plumb bob followed by a glance at the line from both sides
of the hole. Two practice strokes and then Kuehne calmly knocked it in.
The round started auspiciously enough for Sluman and
Kuehne. They picked up two early shots on the field with an eagle on the
first hole. Two pars followed, and in the scramble format pars aren't going
to help.
"Starting four back we knew we were going to have to
make a tremendous amount of birdies," Sluman said. "We eagled No. 1, but
the round really started for us on No. 6. We both just played a wonderful
stretch of golf there."
Immediately following the awards ceremony, Sluman
hightailed it for a nearby airport to catch a flight to Atlanta and meet up
with his Presidents Cup mates. Sluman, this year's assistant captain to
Jack Nicklaus, will then fly to South Africa and begin preparing for next
week's big event.
"My first job as assistant captain is not to make this
charter late," Sluman said.
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