THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510080176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
To reach the golf course where Carl Paulson will be trying to win his first PGA tournament, a visitor steers his rental car toward the exit marked ``Magic Kingdom.''
Fitting - Disney World is where athletes announce they are going after the most magical victories of their lives.
Paulson is already here. He is tied for the lead with Brad Bryant with one round to play in the $1.2 million Walt Disney World Oldsmobile Classic.
The 24-year-old tour rookie out of First Colonial High and the University of South Carolina has earned $31,224 this year in 18 tournaments. His best finish was 20th place two weeks ago at Quad Cities. Not bad, but not the stuff of headlines, either.
``It's probably a big surprise to everyone else walking around here that I'm where I am,'' Paulson said Saturday. ``But not to me. I think I've been close to breaking through for awhile.''
On Thursday, Paulson broke from the gate with a 10-under-par 62, the best round of his life.
Friday, heavy rains came, suspending the golf and playing havoc with the scheduling. Saturday was a short day for Paulson. He parred the final four holes of his interrupted second round, completing a 68 on the Lake Buena Vista course, one of three being used for this tournament.
Meanwhile, Bryant birdied three of his four Saturday holes to catch Paulson with a career-low 63.
Both Paulson and Bryant, as well as most of the other top contenders, play the Magnolia course today, with a Disney winner being crowned after 54 holes.
The wet stuff has shortened the tournament for the first time in 25 years. But it has not shrunk the purse. The winner receives $216,000, the runner-up $129,600.
What could that kind of cash mean for Paulson? To stay on tour, he needs to finish the year among the top 125 money winners. About $140,000 should do the trick, and a win would be worth two more tour seasons.
In other words, with just two more tournaments after Disney, this weekend can make or break his year. That's all.
``If I start thinking about the money,'' he said, ``I won't play well tomorrow. I've got all the time in the world to think about that.''
Paulson spoke while standing on the practice green. He said his parents were back at their hotel sleeping. Friday afternoon, Susan and Ned Paulson jumped into their car and drove overnight to see their son resume his round at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. They drove 13 hours, got out of the car on rubbery legs and walked the final four holes.
``They're wiped out,'' Paulson said.
Later in the day, he said, Butch Liebler, his pro at the Cavalier Golf and Yacht Club, would be flying in. So would Paulson's fiance from Columbia, S.C. Together with his parents, they would all be going out to dinner.
But first, Paulson wanted to drop in on Bob Rotella, the noted University of Virginia sports psychologist he first consulted in the spring.
``Just to have a chat with him,'' he explained. ``Just a half hour or so.''
Rotella set up shop this week nearby, making himself available to fine tune the fragile psyches of needy golfers. It can be a full-time job.
And though Paulson insists that coping with the PGA Tour ``gets easier the more you play,'' this is the first time he will be competing with a title on the line, with $216,000 and his tour card at stake.
Paulson brings a long-hitting game and a growing confidence to the final round, but he gives up a lot in the way of experience.
Bryant, almost 41, turned pro when Paulson was 6. And while he's never won a PGA tournament, Bryant enjoyed his biggest year in 1994, winning $687,803 with two second-place finishes and two thirds.
Pat Burke, alone in third a shot behind at 11-under, is a 33-year-old journeyman with no tour victories. Two shots back is Bob Gilder, who's won six tour events, but none since 1983.
Fred Funk, in a crowd of seven players at 9-under, won last week's Buick Southern Open. Payne Stewart and this year's Anheuser-Busch champion, Ted Tryba, are in another gang at 8-under.
Today may be a different story, but Saturday, as he stood on the putting green, Paulson's grin said it all.
``I'm getting a lot of publicity,'' he said. ``This has been great for me. I'm still younger than 90 percent of the guys out here.''
He's at the right place, then. Disney World is for kids, after all. When he tees off today, Paulson gets a chance to turn the Magnolia course into his own Magic Kingdom.
``I'm going to play aggressively,'' he vowed. ``I'm in a position now to do something great. I'm going to go for it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JOHN RAOUX/The Orlando Sentinel
``I'm going to play aggressively. I'm in a position to do something
great,'' Carl Paulson said of his first good shot at a PGA Tour
win.
by CNB