Friendly rivalry, recent TOUR success boost Mallinger
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
IRVING, Texas -- He swore he could get a point, maybe two, off Mark Knowles in a set on the indoor tennis courts at Las Colinas Sports Club.
He put $200 on the line and got skunked. Zero points. Not even close.
A Golden Set is the term for the winner. A shut out.
John Mallinger -- a young Val Kilmer lookalike -- grinned. What's a guy gonna do? He was facing a buddy, yes. But when that buddy is one half of the world's third-ranked doubles team?
"You know, he's on his game now,'' Mallinger smiled.
Actually, they both are. Just on different surfaces.
Knowles is headed to Paris tomorrow for the French Open, the second leg of tennis' Grand Slam, where he'll play with partner Mahesh Bhupathi.
And Mallinger? After throwing out a second consecutive 65, he's tied for the 54-hole lead with Rory Sabbatini at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and is in prime position to win his first PGA TOUR event.
"You know, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing,'' Mallinger said. "I know it's going to be tough. Rory is a hometown guy. There's a lot of guys rooting for him. But I've got some buddies that can get pretty loud out there too.''
Like Knowles, who wasn't even supposed to be here Saturday. But he, uh, lost one of those friendly bets.
Mallinger birdied the last hole Friday afternoon -- actually he went birdie-eagle-par-birdie for a 65 -- to win a bet that kept Knowles from boarding a 5 p.m. plane to Paris and the French Open. If Mallinger made the final group, Knowles promised to stay. And he did -- through all 65 third-round shots. And post-round interviews.
And now that Mallinger's in Sunday's final group with Sabbatini at 13-under 197? Knowles will bring his gear to Las Colinas and stay as long as he can, but he has to make Sunday's 5 p.m. to Paris and Roland Garros.
"I'm loving this,'' said Knowles. "But there's a line there for me as well.''
He and Bhupathi lost to Mike and Bob Bryan in the finals of the Australian Open, the first leg of the Slam, in January, and he has to be there Monday to prepare for what he hopes will be another final.
Which brings us to yet another bet.
Sense a trend here?
"If he gets to the finals,'' Mallinger said, "I have to fly over there.''
The two met several years ago through a mutual friend -- Travis Brasher, the pro at Seacliff Country Club in Huntington Beach, Calif. -- and the friendship has a distinctly competitive feel.
Mallinger, who flies to the Bahamas each year to play in Knowles' charity tennis tournament, claims he's about an 8 handicap -- if there was one -- in tennis and Knowles is an 11 in golf. "So I have to give him some strokes,'' Mallinger chuckled.
Knowles disagrees. He says he's a solid 8 on the golf course and Mallinger is a 10-12 on the court.
"That's the competition in us,'' Knowles said. "But both in a good way.''
Mallinger has learned a thing or two about competition from the 37-year-old Knowles, who won three Grand Slam titles with former doubles partner Daniel Nestor. He's also paid his dues. In 2006, Mallinger played on seven different tours -- the PGA TOUR, Nationwide, Canadian, Hooters, Gateway, Spanos and Tarheel tour -- and that vaulted him through the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament and onto the PGA TOUR full time.
"I only had conditional status on the Nationwide Tour,'' he said, "so if I didn't Monday qualify, I basically looked around and played wherever I could."
He learned a lot through all that and three years later . . . he's 104th in the world with a bullet. That may sound a little strange until you consider he was 192nd in the world in mid-March -- before he tied for sixth at the Shell Houston Open.
And before he tied for third two weeks ago at THE PLAYERS. That week, he finished five shots behind winner Henrik Stenson and two ahead of Tiger Woods.
How big was it?
"Massive,'' Mallinger said. "I came down the stretch and I beat 15 or 20 of the top players in the world. When you do that, you get so much confidence and you can just roll with that.
"It was one of those deals, I executed coming down, and that's the big thing for me. You know, a lot of people don't realize that kind of pressure when you're coming in 16, 17, 18 when we're there, and it's a little different feeling than anything else.''
That same pressure will be there Sunday afternoon. Chances are, a few more of his buddies from the Long Beach area will fly in to join Crew Mallinger.
Mallinger squeezed everything he could out of his round Friday for that 65. Saturday, he was flawless with five birdies, no bogeys.
"If someone would have told me I was going to shoot 65 and still be tied for the lead, I would have said they were crazy,'' he said.
Knowles wouldn't have blinked an eye. He believes in his young friend and only wishes there was a way he could stay or watch the finish on TV Sunday afternoon. Or at the very least get the pilot to update him the outcome once the cabin doors close.
"Knowing his ability, I wouldn't be surprised (to see him win)." Knowles said.
And if Knowles makes the French Open final? What will that flight to Paris do to Mallinger's TOUR schedule?
"If we get a win tomorrow,'' he smiled, "it doesn't matter.''
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