On and off course, 2008 starting great for Sabbatini
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Those new clubs Rory Sabbatini put into competition earlier this month have exceeded even his always-high expectations.
| Inside the Numbers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sabbatini so far in 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Just look at the results. After switching to Adams Golf during the offseason, Sabbatini went out and tied for 17th in his 2008 debut at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and then, a week later, finished alone in second at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Thursday's first round of the Buick Invitational offered more evidence that the South African made the right move. He fired a 67 on the North Course at Torrey Pines that left him tied for third, just two strokes off Troy Matteson's lead.
Sabbatini didn't make a bogey on this crisp, damp day on the shore by the Pacific Ocean. He played his first 10 holes in 5 under, then parred in to grab his share of third with Tiger Woods, Stuart Appleby and PGA TOUR rookie Kevin Streelman.
"It's obviously a new year with new equipment, and all things considered, I'm extremely happy with the way my equipment has been performing so far," Sabbatini said. "I found a set of irons with Adams that just seems to be performing even better than expected for me, and my confidence level is extremely high.
"My ball-striking is good, which has never really been one of my strongest suits out there, so combining that with the way my putter is continuing to work for me over the past two years, it's definitely promising."
Sabbatini, a four-time PGA TOUR winner, only hit five fairways, but he recovered nicely and found 12 of 18 greens in regulation. He took just 26 putts, evenly divided on each nine of the North, which is traditionally the more generous of the courses used for the first two rounds.
"Obviously, I putted very well today," Sabbatini said. "I missed a couple coming in at the end there, but all things considered, I hit a lot of greens, which are traditionally bumpy out there, and with the conditions of the rain last night would be more susceptible to it. I put the ball in the right spots and putted nicely."
Sabbatini said the new tee boxes at the third and 12th holes made the North Course a little more demanding, particularly in Thursday's wind. He was glad to get away with a good number, particularly with the South Course, which will host the U.S. Open in June, looming the next three days on the horizon.
"You know, your opportunity to shoot a low score out there is something you definitely have to take advantage of to put yourself in position to go into the weekend," Sabbatini said.
After he played in Wednesday's pro-am, Sabbatini took advantage of another kind of opportunity as he visited the USS Boxer, a Navy assault ship. The South African and his wife, Amy, were there to donate $170,000 to United Through Reading, a non-profit that allows servicemen and women deployed aboard ships to read books aloud to their children on DVDs.
"One (of the servicemen) had a 22-month-old son and was in service over in Iraq and hasn't seen him for four and a half months, (and he) wasn't able to get his son and talk to him on the phone," said Sabbatini, who has two young children of his own.
"So through United Through Reading and through watching videos, his son talked to him, recognized his voice and recognizes him. It's unfortunately one of those things that we seem to forget about and we take for granted out here on the TOUR, and we were just fortunate that we were able to contribute to it."
The donation, which is the largest single donation ever to the program, also happened to match the amount of money Sabbatini won for last place when he withdrew from the Target World Challenge presented by Countrywide.
Sabbatini was criticized in the media for the early departure, which also was not well-received by the tournament host, Tiger Woods. Sabbatini, who is also generous in his support of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, said he felt Wednesday's donation was the right thing to do.
"We thought about it and we thought we'd put it to some good use," he said.
Get the best deals on the best equipment all at the SHOP.PGATOUR.COM.
WATCH LIVE!
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network