MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / May 9, 2000

Sunday probably could not have turned out any better for the organizers of the Compaq Classic.

Sunny skies mixed in with cool breezes. Large galleries making frequentstops at the concession stands (what happened to the reduce prizes?). Andto top it off, a two-hole playoff that included the defending champion and a fan favorite.

A few more years like the past two and the trophy given to the winner of the Classic can be named after Carlos Franco. That is if he will ever stop winningit.

Of course, it could be argued that the popular Paraguayan did not win the tournament Sunday but that first Harrison Frazar and then Blaine McCallister lost it.

Frazar, who finished third last year, appeared to all but have the title wrapped up after he birdied the par 5, island green 15th hole to go 19 under, two shots up on the field. But while he was parring the 16th, Franco andMcCallister were also getting birdies on the 15th to pull to within one shot.

Just as McCallister and Franco were putting their second shots within feet of the flag on the par 4 16th, Frazar was making the mistakes at the par e 17th that would eventually cost him both a shot at the championship and at a playoff. First, his tee shot sailed left onto the bank of the green , rollingdown before resting under one of the pampas bushes. After taking a drop,Frazar sailed his pitch past the flag and two putted for a double bogey to fall to 17 under.

At nearly the same time, McCallister was rolling in his birdie putt on 16th to go to 19 under. Franco parred the hole to move into second. Both would thenpar the 17th.

Needing to just get the ball onto the green on his second shot on the 18th, McCallister landed in the bunker in front of the green. McCallister’s chip wasshort and he missed the ensuing 12-foot putt by inches, leaving the door open for Franco. Franco responded with a par, sending the match back to the18th for the playoff.

McCallister was in the same situation in the playoff and this time he placed his second shot onto the middle of the green. Franco on the other hand, hadlanded in the fairway bunker on his tee shot and left his second shot considerably short of the green. His third shot also landed short and allMcCallister had to do was two putt from 35 feet.

But McCallister’s first putt was short, leaving him with that golfer’s nightmare – a four-foot putt with the match on the line. McCallister pulled itand Franco recovered from his three errant shots to salvage par to send it to a second playoff hole.

At this point, it was almost a guarantee Franco would now win it. McCallistersealed it soon after, failing to get out of the greenside bunker after landing there in two and then sailing a shot past the pin. Franco also landed in thetrap but chipped on and sank his three-foot putt for the win.

Franco thus became the first golfer to win back to back titles in New Orleans since Tom Watson in the early 1980s and the first to do it at English Turn.

Franco may want to consider buying property at English Turn. After all, overthe past two years he seems to have owned the course.

Return To Sports Stories

Copyright © #Thisyear# Wick Communications, Inc.Best viewed with 4.0 or higher