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Toms gets the beat: Victory goes easy on heart
By Associated Press
HONOLULU — The image is still fresh when people see David Toms. They remember him on a stretcher, an oxygen mask strapped to his mouth as he was loaded into an ambulance with his heart beating out of control.
That was four months ago at the 84 Lumber Classic.
Rest assured, he says his heart is fine. And it wasn’t under any kind of stress yesterday in the Sony Open.
Answering questions about the state of his game, much less his health, Toms carried on from a record-setting round at Waialae with two quick birdies to blow away the field, closing with a 5-under 65 for a 5-shot victory.
“That’s definitely behind me,” Toms said of his heart, and surgery to repair the problem in November. “Just like when I had hand surgery a couple of years ago, I came out and was able to play well right away and erase any questions that I might have, and whether or not I was going to be able to do it again. I’ve come a long way from that day in Pennsylvania.”
If anything, Toms looked a lot like the guy who crushed anyone in his way while winning the Accenture Match Play Championship last year. He was 4 shots clear at the turn, and that was it.
Chad Campbell, tied with Toms going into the final round at warm and breezy Waialae, didn’t make a birdie until the 17th hole and shot 70. He tied for second with Rory Sabbatini, who closed with a 62 and never had a chance.
“I could only do my best, but the chances were I wasn’t going to catch him,” Sabbatini said.
Toms was in total control of all aspects of his game on a spectacular day along the shores of the Pacific, where surfers clinging to parasails glided along the water. It was a feeling Toms knew well.
He set a course record with a 61 Saturday to share the 54-hole lead with Campbell. And he resumed his solid play with an 8-iron into 12 feet for birdie on the first hole, and a drive that split the middle on the dangerous second hold.
“It was like, ‘Here we go again. I’m going to play good,’ ” Toms said.
Victory was never in doubt.
The entertainment value came from 27-year-old rookie Bubba Watson, a lefty with power not seen since John Daly showed up at the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick in 1991. Swinging from the heels, he blasted four drives over 360 yards on a course with no elevation.
A flip wedge into the par-5 18th hole set up a short eagle for a 65 that gave him fourth place alone in his debut.
“I remember when I was a rookie and would just let it go,” Sabbatini said. “There’s absolutely no possibility I could ever have hit it that far. Just unbelievable.”
Toms had an easy up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 18th to finish at 19-under 261, 1 shot off the 72-hole record at Waialae. He earned $918,000 to get his year off to a great start.
David Duval also started his season well, closing with a 63 for his best score in nearly three years.
Toms wasn’t sure what to make of his future in September when his heart was out of control between nines in the first round at 84 Lumber, up to 170 beats a minutes. He was rushed to a Pittsburgh hospital and briefly listed in critical condition when he was stabilized.
He was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia, an electrical problem with the heart. Calmed by medicine that made him sluggish, he played the Presidents Cup and finished out the year at the Tour Championship, then had surgery in November at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and proclaimed himself healthy.
This answered any lingering questions.
It was his 12th career victory, and it should be enough to put him back in the top 10.
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