No close shave for Trahan after triumph

PALM DESERT, California: American D.J. Trahan has triumphed twice on the PGA Tour while sporting a goatee and has no immediate plans to shave it off.

"I don't particularly like facial hair but if I'm going to win with it then why not," Trahan told reporters after winning the Bob Hope Classic by three shots on Sunday.

"I've had this (beard) for a solid month. I actually had a beard from when I've been home hunting and you just get lazy when you're home doing that. So I wasn't shaving and then I shaved it into this terrible looking thing."

Trahan, who clinched his maiden Tour title at the 2006 Southern Farm Bureau Classic, overhauled former major winner Justin Leonard with a sparkling under-par 65 on Sunday.

Despite trailing Leonard by four strokes going into the final round and by three with nine holes to play, the 27-year-old Georgia native piled on the pressure with a superb display of putting.

He rolled in an 18-footer to birdie the first, a 34-footer at the third and a 40-footer at the par-four 10th before ending the final round with an overall tally of just 23 putts.

"After the first round, I think somebody interviewed Justin Leonard and asked him a question about what it took to win here," Trahan said.

"He said it's a putting contest, and it truly is. The greens here are perfect on all four golf courses and it really is just simply a birdie contest out here. You have to make a lot of putts.

"The reason I'm sitting here is because I led the field in putting," he added after averaging 26 putts over the five rounds in the pro-am celebrity event.

"Now that doesn't mean that the winner every year is going to lead the field in putting but he's going to have to be pretty darn close. You got to make a lot of birdies to win this tournament."

Putting improvement

Trahan, a member of the 2001 US Walker Cup team, said his putting had improved markedly through the help of one of his father's friends.

"He's a guy who takes lessons from my dad," he added. "His name is Jack Moore and he's a fantastic putter. We're working on his long game but the man can putt.

"He's kind of just brought me back to basics, working on some simple fundamentals. We worked on getting a good practice routine and it's been a big boost for me."

One of Trahan's most cherished memories of this week was being able to chase down a player of the caliber of 1997 British Open champion Leonard in the final round.

"You certainly don't feel particularly optimistic about it when you're playing against a guy like Justin Leonard," he said.

"I wasn't playing against a rookie who was in the lead for the first time. He's won a major championship, played in Ryder Cups and I don't know how many times he's won on Tour.

"It's one of those situations where you don't feel like you're that far behind the eight-ball, but you know you've got your work cut out for you.

"The guy's clutch and he's a great player. So to have run him down today and win the golf tournament means a lot."

Agencies

(China Daily 01/22/2008 page22)