KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii » With one shocking swing, John Cook cut David Frost’s lead in half on the final hole of Saturday’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
Frost, undaunted by wind gusting to 28 mph and whitecaps in the distance, drained almost every putt he saw on the back nine. His fifth birdie in six holes at Hualalai Golf Club gave him a four-shot cushion and put him at 14 under par on the 15th hole.
He fired 65 for the second straight day for a 14-under 130 total, but up ahead Cook made good on his final shot. From 114 yards out on the 18th fairway, he hit a perfect pitching wedge that bounced twice and rolled into the hole for eagle for a 66, leaving him two shots behind Frost.
Suddenly, today’s final round took on a whole new look.
"Now he has to pay attention," Cook said of Frost. "We all have to pay attention. It’s early in the year. It’s not like it used to be where you kind of played your way in the first couple weeks.
"You better come here with your game intact if you want to have a chance because everybody else is. These scores, for the first week of the year on a tough day like this … those are pretty good scores being shot."
Frost, searching for his fourth Champions Tour victory, said the result of Cook’s clutch final shot is "sometimes good, sometimes bad" going into a final round.
"Obviously the bigger lead you can have the better," Frost said. "With nine holes to go is where the action really starts tomorrow, so you just want to put yourself in position with nine holes to go. Sometimes with a big lead you guide yourself around the golf course. When you don’t have a big lead, you tend to play your natural game."
His game has been all but flawless, through serene conditions Friday and a stiff wind that surprisingly died in the final hour Saturday.
Frost and Cook played so well on the back nine — both shot 31 — they barely noticed.
Cook, who won here in 2011 and was third last year, hasn’t had a bogey yet and Frost had just one — Friday. They have 11 senior titles between them, Cook getting eight in his first five years before being shut out in 2012.
They tee off together at 1:10 p.m. today in what will surely be a shootout. First off, these guys always beat up on Hualalai, and a bunch of big names are not that far back.
Kirk Triplett, the 2012 Rookie of the Year, is third at 68—134. Fred Couples and 63-year-old Tom Kite — both World Golf Hall of Famers — are another shot back after shooting 69.
Another Hall of Famer nearly shot his age. Hale Irwin, 67, fired a 68 to move into a tie for 11th at an event he has won twice.
In between are Bernhard Langer, Jay Haas, Tom Lehman, Steve Elkington — in his senior debut — and Russ Cochran.
"Frostie has had a nice run the last year and a half and he’s been a world-class player a long, long time," Cook said. "That’s what you get out here. You don’t get any scrubs on this tour, especially ones around the lead. You get guys who have won a lot of golf tournaments.
"It’s not like Frost’s never been there or I’ve never been there, or Kirk or Fred. We’ve all been there. That’s what is so great about our weekends. We’ve got guys who have won a lot of tournaments and a lot of majors."
Frost, 53, won 10 times on the regular tour. Cook won 11, including the 1992 Hawaiian Open. After his eagle, he spoke passionately about his love of playing in general after his winter layoff, and playing here specifically.
"Here, it means something," Cook said. "It’s exciting, the beginning of the year. You have that nervous anxiety to get going, get the year started and what better place to start it than right here. It’s our favorite place, I love it. If I ever go missing, I won’t be hard to find. I’d be here."
Frost was more analytical as he bore the brunt of taking a lead into the final day.
"I’ve just got to stick to playing one shot at a time and not worry about the result," he said. "You do that every day, but now, all of a sudden, you get a bit result-oriented since it’s the last day. I’ve got to force myself back to the way I played the first nine holes when it didn’t really matter where you were in the field. The good players are able to do that and that’s what I have to do tomorrow."
