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By Greg Hardwig
Naples Daily News
November 15, 2004
Hank Kuehne and Jeff Sluman did it without the drama this time.
The two became just the second team in 16 years to defend The Franklin Templeton Shootout title, winning by two strokes over Justin Leonard and Steve Flesch at Tiburó n Golf Club on Sunday.
Kuehne and Sluman won in a three-way playoff last year. This time, they created an advantage coming in with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 16 and 17, then Kuehne closed with a bonus birdie on No. 18. They split $600,000 of the $2.5 million purse.
"We came in, I think, the same way we came in last year, just kind of loose, care-free," Sluman said.
"They played awful well," Leonard said. "Steve and I didn't get in much of a rhythm today.
We had some chances to get even a couple of times, but we didn't play well enough on the front nine and then on the back we missed a couple of putts that we probably should've made."
Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron were the last to repeat as a team, winning in 2000 and 2001.
Once again, Kuehne's booming drives set the team up for easier approach shots and shorter birdie opportunities.
Kuehne's drives on the back nine were: 378 yards (No. 10), 276 yards (No.11), 282 yards (No. 13), 289 yards (No. 14), out-of-bounds (No. 15), 336 yards (No. 17) and 334 yards (No. 18).
"It's one of those things, when I came on tour, you look at certain guys that you play with and you say 'Boy, I'd like to be able to do that. I'd like to be able to do that,"' Sluman said. "I can't do that."
Neither could Leonard nor Flesch, and that left them with a big margin to make up. For example, on the par-5 No. 1, Kuehne and Sluman were hitting irons into the green, while Leonard and Flesch were laying up with 3-woods.
"I can tell you Justin and Steve were just shaking their heads," Sluman said.
"It can get demoralizing out there," he added.
Kuehne's drive on No. 10 sailed over the green and underneath a CBS television tower.
"I just hit a nice cut driver and hit it just dead solid," Kuehne said. "I was just kind of waiting to see some kind of reaction from anybody up near the green."
They received a ruling, dropped and chipped to 10 feet and Kuehne sank the birdie putt.
But the turning point was on the par-4 15th. After Leonard sank a 35-foot eagle putt on No. 14 to draw the teams even, Kuehne made a six-foot birdie putt to retake the lead.
On No. 15, as a day-long mist turned into a brief, heavier rain, Leonard and Flesch were eight feet away for birdie and the Kuehne-Sluman team was 60. But Leonard and Flesch both missed the birdie putt.
"That was kind of a huge deal," Sluman said. "After they missed it, I kind of said to Hank 'Christmas came a little early.' They didn't look like they were going to miss it."
On No. 16, Flesch's birdie chip hit the flagstick and bounced away, and Sluman sank a 9-footer for a two-shot lead. Kuehne nearly holed a lengthy eagle putt on the par-5 17th, then Sluman tapped in the birdie putt to maintain a two-shot lead, after Leonard birdied, going into the final hole.
The two finished at 29-under-par 187, six shots better than their winning score last year. Kuehne and Sluman shot an 11-under-par 61 in the scramble format.
Teams played a modified alternate shot format in Friday's first round, then a better ball in Saturday's second round.
Leonard and Flesch birdied No. 18 to grab second place at 27-under. Mark Calcavecchia and Loren Roberts were third at 26-under-par.
The father-son team of Jay and Bill Haas made quite a run before faltering on the back nine.
They parred the par-5 14th and ended up settling for a tie for fourth with tournament founder and host Greg Norman and McCarron.
"I didn't play as well as I did (Saturday), and he played very well," Bill Haas said. "It could've been 13, 14(-under), but overall, 61s are pretty good."
Norman and McCarron also started hot, but parred six straight holes on the back nine before closing with birdies on the final three.
"Making six pars in a row in a scramble doesn't really cut the mustard," Norman said. "That's what let us down."
The finish could energize Norman, who is planning to play a little more next year after signing a new agreement with MacGregor Golf and since he turns 50 in February. He'll play in the Australian PGA Championship from Dec. 2-5 and then another tournament the last week of January.
"I felt very, very comfortable and it's a good sign for me," Norman said. "Hopefully, I can go down to Australia with the same feelings and perform and start 2005 with a fresh light."
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