Once, Weekends Weren’t Made for Rex Caldwell : But Golfer Found Spot Sunday With Final Round of 65 to Finish in Top Five

SAN DIEGO —  The wait was relatively painless for Rex Caldwell.

Although he seemed determined not to let anything get in the way of a semi-defeatist mentality, a note of satisfaction kept breaking through his mood of resignation.

After a string of five straight birdies that momentarily put him in contention, Caldwell walked off the course, grabbed a couple of icy beers and sat down with friends to await the finish.

Caldwell shot a 65 Sunday, including a 30 on the back side, to finish 17 under par in the Isuzu-Andy Williams San Diego Open. No one came within three shots of his round Sunday.

It wasn’t until nearly three hours later that Woody Blackburn three-putted on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff to defeat Ron Streck for the $72,000 first prize check.

Despite one of the great rounds of his life, Caldwell had put winning out of his mind when he settled for par on the 18th hole.

It would be difficult to imagine a more contentedly resigned golfer than Caldwell only minutes after he was done with work.

After signing his scorecard, he retired to the clubhouse area. Then he joined some friends to pass the time until the tournament ended as the sun was beginning to set.

Sitting atop a waist-high split rail fence outside the clubhouse, Caldwell happily described his round and casually dismissed any chance of winning.

“I was pretty impressed with myself,” Caldwell said. “I felt so comfortable, it was like I was just going through the motions.

“I can’t remember ever making five straight birdies (which came on holes 13 through 17). I had made six out of seven, but never five in a row. I was hitting it dead straight, just beating the hell out of it. Just standing there and swinging at it.”

In spite of the delicious ease with which he addressed his work Sunday, Caldwell entertained no illusions of being victorious.

“Would I be sitting here drinking beer if I did?” he said.

Well, maybe.

A few minutes later he ventured the guess he could probably do OK if it came to a playoff later in the afternoon.

But he seemed resigned to finishing in the top five.

“There’s no way the leaders will all back up to me,” Caldwell said. “If they do, there’s going to be something like a 10-way playoff.

“But, hey, I’m happy, I had a very good week here. I was under 10 under for the weekend. If you had told me that yesterday, I would have been delighted.”

In recent years, Caldwell has played his best golf in on Thursday and Friday. The weekends were costing him a lot of money.

According to statistics compiled by the PGA, Caldwell’s average round was 70 on the two opening days of tournament play in 1984. By contrast, he slipped to an average of 72.5 on the two finishing days.

“I only made $130,000 last year, and when I saw those numbers, I said the hell with it, I can’t make any money playing that way.

“Saturdays were really bad for me. I mean, I would get myself into a position where I would have to shoot 54 on Sunday to make any money.”

He opened here with rounds of 71 and 66, then finished with 69 and 65.

On his string of birdies Sunday, he put the ball within 10-feet of the cup on every green.

“I made a 17-footer on the 13th and then I started putting it close on every hole, just out of nowhere,” Caldwell said.

And, with that amazing run, he went to the 18th tee believing he might have a chance to win the tournament.

But he hooked his drive to the left and wound up with a par that he believed took him of contention for the championship.

Despite his failure to win, Caldwell was more than satisfied. It was, in a sense, the best week of golf he ever put together. He didn’t hit, by his own standards, even one really bad shot, and didn’t make a single bogey for the closing two rounds.

Bet he can’t wait to tee it up again this week, right?

Nope. Caldwell is going to take a three-week break from the tour and won’t play again until New Orleans.

Even a round such as he had Sunday won’t dissuade him from getting away awhile, as he has been planning to do all year. How was he to know he would make five straight birdies on the day before his vacation?