Out of the blue

Dean Juipe

Monday, Oct. 14, 2002 | 9:19 a.m.

At what potentially was the most exhilarating moment of his professional career, Phil Tataurangi couldn't bear to look up.

Standing on the driving range at the TPC at Summerlin and almost mindlessly hitting balls to imaginary targets, Tataurangi refused to watch a giant-screen TV that was tuned to ABC's coverage of the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas.

He was relying on his caddy, Brandon Wooley, to keep him apprised.

When the moment came that assured Tataurangi of victory, it was Wooley -- and the dozen or so fans who leaned on a rail eyeing Tataurangi as well as the TV -- who broke the welcome news and lessened the tension.

"How about that?" Tataurangi said, dropping his guard to break into a relieved smile and granting Wooley a massive hug.

Tataurangi had done the (nearly) impossible, coming from five shots back Sunday with a final-round 62 to win his first PGA Tour event. That he had to occupy 45 minutes of restless time before his 29-under-par 330 officially stood up for the victory neither dampened his enthusiasm nor lessened his sense of awe.

"Pretty bizarre, isn't it?" he said a half hour or so later as he reached the tournament's press room. "No way did I start out the day thinking I had a chance to win.

"No way -- even as I came off the course."

Tataurangi, who lived in Las Vegas in 1997, was oblivious to scoreboards during his round and avoiding them -- and the TV coverage of the tournament -- afterward. With 15 players still on the course as he departed the 18th green, he wasn't convinced his score would hold up.

Not until Wooley relayed the good news did reality even marginally set in.

"I didn't think for one moment that I was going to win the golf tournament," he said. "Not that I couldn't shoot 62 -- I just didn't think it would be good enough."

Tataurangi, 30, was so out of touch with the tournament's most basic ingredients that he couldn't recall who was leading as the final round began, or, for that matter, how much he had won.

"I've never played the game to make a lot of money," he said. "It was out of my wildest dreams to win this week. I didn't feel that good coming into the week and I've never played well here before, but I decided just to let it roll and see what happens.

"I'm not a money-list watcher or a leader-board watcher. Who was leading going into the day? Duval? I hadn't even taken note of that.

"If he or someone else ahead of me would have shot their own 62, it would have rendered my 62 useless."

But those ahead of Tataurangi, including fourth-round leader David Duval, didn't come within three strokes of matching that 62 and Tataurangi is $900,000 richer. He's also the 15th first-time winner on the tour this year, breaking a record set in 1991, and the 11th winner this year to play a bogey-free final round.

Tataurangi, who hit 10 of 14 fairways and every green in regulation during the final round, is also the second native of New Zealand to win on the PGA Tour this year, joining Craig Perks (who won the Players Championship in March).

The 20th version of Las Vegas' annual appearance on the tour was one of its most memorable, even if the winner is fairly obscure and the title sponsor -- Invensys, for the past three years -- has already announced that it won't back the $5 million event next year. The weather was spectacular all five days and the leader board was clogged with recognizable names, although Tataurangi's eventual presence at the top qualified as a breeze from out of the blue.

He sighed in disbelief as he settled in for an interview and repeatedly rapped the arms of a chair as he sat there, not so much in nervousness but out of wonder.

"I played aggressive and executed my game plan," he said. "It's something special for me. I've had a couple of chances to win a (PGA) golf tournament in the past and I didn't have the stuff to do it.

"I just kept trying to make birdies ... and I wanted to stay in the moment. I was in the moment as well as I've ever been."

His 62 was a career-best in a competitive round and the money he won vaulted him from No. 77 to No. 33 on the 2002 money list (with a total of $1,643,686).

Tataurangi, who has a home in Dallas as well as a new one in New Zealand, was merely an afterthought as play began Sunday. After all, look at how he stood after each of the previous four rounds: in a 26-way tie for 22nd place after the first round; in an eight-way tie for eighth place after the second round; in a 10-way tie for eighth place after the third round; and in a seven-way tie for 12th place after the fourth round.

He finished one up on Stuart Appleby and Jeff Sluman, two up on Jim Furyk, three up on Rory Sabbatini and four up on Duval, Charles Howell and Dan Forsman.

Mike Nixon of Alpharetta, Ga., won the amateur portion of the tournament, with Lee Siefert of Las Vegas taking second.

Appleby, Sluman and Furyk each played the 18th hole needing a birdie to tie Tataurangi and force a playoff. But Appleby missed a 12-foot putt while Sluman and Furyk both missed the green, effectively ending their victory bids.

"Ever seen anyone shoot 28 under and not win?" Sluman asked, before answering: "I just did.

"As I said (Saturday), somebody could come out and shoot 10 under and win, and that's what happened."

Sluman soothed whatever hurt he may have been feeling by moving from No. 31 to No. 15 on the money list, thereby assuring himself a spot in the lucrative season-ending Tour Championship.

"I really can't complain," he said. "I can't go away with any negative thoughts.

"Somebody had to win and I've accomplished some secondary goals. That's important in this business. If you don't win, you want to finish second, and so on."

With Tataurangi posting birdies on holes 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 16, neither Sluman nor anyone else on the leader board could keep pace. Tataurangi was repeatedly placing his approach shots within a few feet of the cup and he was making the ensuing putts, with his longest birdie covering 18 feet on No. 12.

"He's having the round of his life," said a spectator as Tataurangi knocked in a 12-footer at No. 16 for his 10th and final birdie.

That Tataurangi is even playing golf, let alone so well, is something of a marvel. At the Air Canada Championship late in the summer of 2001, he collapsed on the course as the result of lingering troubles with a rapid heartbeat.

He had surgery to repair the condition in July.

"The actual condition itself is not life threatening," he said. "It's just that it feels like a heart attack and if you're doing something like driving a car when it hits you, it can be trouble.

"But I was told there's less than a 5 percent chance of it coming back."

The condition -- superventricular tackycardia -- caused Tataurangi to slip to No. 189 on the 2001 money list after failing to make a cut in any of the four PGA events he played in 2000.

He first played on the tour in 1993 and made enough money in '97 and '98 to keep his card before faltering. He regained it this year by finishing 23rd at last fall's Q School

His previous best finish on the tour was second at the 1998 Michelob Championship in Kingsmill, Va.

"This caps a great year," Tataurangi remarked, adding that he was unsure of his remaining plans for the season.

"But it will be quite a flight home," he said with wife Melanie awaiting. Also awaiting: dozens of radio stations and news outlets in New Zealand, who had called the tournament office to put in interview requests with the winner.

"I'll get to them," Tataurangi promised, able at last to look around and enjoy the view.