KAPALUA, MAUI » It took an All-American effort for an American to finally win the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Jonathan Byrd outlasted Robert Garrigus yesterday, capturing a weeklong shootout with par on the second playoff hole at Kapalua’s Plantation Course.

It was his second win in as many starts. Byrd qualified for Kapalua in his final 2010 event, when he became the first golfer to win a playoff with a hole-in-one. Going into the Fall Series, he was in danger of losing his playing privileges.

So was Garrigus, which only made the two Americans appreciate yesterday’s drama more.

“I’m just thankful,” Byrd said. “I’m overwhelmed, I’m grateful. All of the above.”

So was Garrigus, gracious to what could have been a bitter end, if he had let it.

On the final playoff hole — No. 1, which Garrigus bogeyed yesterday and double-bogeyed Saturday — Byrd nearly drained a 53-foot birdie putt. Then Garrigus three-putted for bogey.

He lipped out a 3 1/2-foot par putt to make Byrd the first American TOC champion since Jim Furyk in 2001.

“I just hit that putt too hard,” said the irrepressible Garrigus, who was signing autographs and giving away all his golf balls while waiting to see how Byrd would finish regulation. “I was trying to take all the break out of it, played it straight and pushed it a centimeter and it hit that lip and didn’t go in.”

Both fired 6-under-par 67s in yesterday’s final round to close at 24-under 268. It was the third-best winning score since the TOC moved here in 1999.

The low scores were a testament to Kapalua’s idyllic conditions and the golfers’ brilliance in the 2011 season opener. Garrigus and Byrd poured in birdies, and a few eagles, all week and so did pretty much everybody else.

The golf was so good that U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell was out of it minutes after tying the course record with an outrageous 11-under-par 62. His remarkable day ended anticlimactically when he parred the 18th for the fourth straight round and came up a shot short of the playoff.

The Plantation’s stunning closing hole proved anticlimactic for everybody yesterday.

Garrigus, who led the tour in driving last year, was 4 under on the 663-yard final hole this week. But he missed a 12-foot eagle putt that could have won it in regulation yesterday.

Byrd, who shared the lead with Garrigus and Steve Stricker going into the day, had a birdie putt to win on the last hole. He came up short on the 18-footer.

Garrigus and Byrd went back up to the 18th tee and tried it again on the first playoff hole. This time Garrigus could not get there in two, and his distance advantage suddenly became a disadvantage.

He was the only one in the 32-man field to reach the 18th three times this week and had never had the chip he faced. He left it 17 feet from the hole and needed a 3-footer coming back to extend the playoff.

He made that one, but missed the next. And smiled, still.

“It was a great week,” he insisted. “I mean, I shot 6 under today and was in a playoff. I felt like I won the tournament within the tournament for myself because I told myself if I could shoot 6 under I could win.

“That’s golf. I’ve lost about 133 golf tournaments and it’s not that big a deal.”

Byrd has been there. This was his fifth win, but he went nearly three years without one until that extraordinary hole-in-one.

“I have to say it was God’s blessing,” Byrd said. “Every good and perfect thing comes from Him, good and bad. It all comes in different packages so I have to give credit where it is due.

“And perseverance. I’ve worked hard. … not changing anything, just keep working at it, keep plugging. I just kept doing that at the end of the year and it paid off.”

Again and again, now.

Byrd pointed to his second shot at the 10th — after a “little shank-cut” off the tee — that led to birdie as a critical swing yesterday. He converted the 11-foot putt to ease the sting of missing a 4-footer the previous hole.

Then, on the 15th, he hit it within 5 feet to get to 24-under. It would become the magic number after Garrigus was left to lament a missed 4-footer at No. 10 and the eagle that got away, and that pesky first hole.

He still walked away with a huge grin, and $635,000 — about what he earned in 2008 and 2009. Since he won at Disney in his last start last year, he is a new man.

“It’s mental,” he said. “Just thinking in my brain that I am better than everybody on the course; regardless if I may be, I have to feel like I am better than every single person mentally and talent-wise. … It’s a lot of fun to think you’re good and actually do it. It’s a blast.”

He was better than almost everyone here, including McDowell, who is ranked fifth in the world and tied his career low yesterday. Only Byrd, who has spent the last few months trying to simplify his golf life, could claim anything else.

Byrd birdied the first hole and led for the first 3 hours yesterday. McDowell and Garrigus finally caught him, but could never overtake him. Byrd rode his 2010 momentum to a $1.12 million payday in 2011.

“You get to a point where you kind of have a gut check,” Byrd said. “You get to a point where you might lose your card, which is where I was last year, and it forces you to find a way to play well.”

Now, the plan is not to change anything at this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii. Garrigus, who will also be at Waialae Country Club, would only like to change the ending.

Article from: The Maui News

KAHULUI – One of the biggest names in the music industry will launch the next chapter of history at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center when Elton John and his band inaugurate the new Yokouchi Pavilion with a “Greatest Hits Live” concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 25.

“Elton John is an icon in the music industry, and his music has stayed classic throughout the decades,” said center Chief Executive Officer and President Art Vento on Thursday.

Over his five-decade career, which includes a British knighthood, the piano-playing singer/ songwriter’s classic hits include “Your Song,” “Daniel,” “Rocket Man,” “Bennie and the Jets” and the proverbial many more. His “Candle in the Wind ’97” was the biggest-selling single of all time, with 37 million copies. With 35 gold and 25 platinum albums, he has sold more than 250 million records worldwide.

Presented by Concerts West, Tom Moffatt Productions and the MACC, the event will be the only Hawaii appearance for Sir Elton and his band, including Davey Johnstone on guitar, Bob Birch on bass, John Mahon on percussion, Nigel Olsson on drums and Kim Bullard on keyboards. It also will be John’s first performance on Maui, according to Vento.

John’s shows with the band are known for having audiences standing, dancing and singing along. The song list also includes selections from “The UNION,” his Grammy-nominated collaboration with Leon Russell.

“The Maui Arts & Cultural Center is ecstatic to have Elton John perform in the new Yokouchi Pavilion. It is an honor to add the MACC to the list of venues in which Elton John has performed during his incredible career,” Vento said.

Ticket prices are $77, $97, $152 and $252, with applicable fees added to each ticket. Tickets go on sale to MACC members at 10 a.m. Tuesday, continuing through noon Jan. 14. They go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Jan. 15.

“We highly encourage becoming a MACC member before tickets go on sale Tuesday,” said Box Office Manager Jason Carbajal.

The maximum number of tickets that can be purchased by an individual will be determined by the level of membership, from two to six. There also will be a six-ticket limit per customer when tickets go on sale to the general public.

Tickets and more information will be available from the MACC box office, online at mauiarts.org/tickets or by phone at 242-7469.

John’s appearance will be the first public event in the glass-roofed, $12.8 million pavilion that has transformed the outdoor space previously known as Yokouchi Founders Court. Occupying the same footprint as the previous stage, the capacity of the A&B Amphitheater remains the same, at around 5,000. Vento said fundraising for the pavilion project is ongoing and about $750,000 short of the amount needed.

Vento attributed booking an artist of John’s stature to fortuitous timing.

“We were just lucky,” he said. “We had been talking over a series of months. There was the possibility that Elton would come to Hawaii at the beginning of the year, and Maui had made the investment in upgrading the facility that would possibly be completed during that time frame. So we very aggressively pursued the idea. We kept in dialogue as we were building, and the timing became a realistic possibility. The fact that the pavilion is built and able to handle a show of this magnitude allowed for the discussions to continue.”

The center’s staff is inviting audiences to “celebrate a new beginning with the opening of the Yokouchi Pavilion,” which will bring state-of-the-art capabilities to producing outdoor shows.

Work on the pavilion has been going on over the last 20 months, generating about 155 jobs. Vento had called the project “a leap of faith” on the part of the MACC’s board of directors, embarking on major construction during a recession.

While he observed last summer that it had helped “put Maui back to work,” he also noted it was the worst of times to try to fundraise.

Now that the pavilion is complete, he pointed out, “The stage doesn’t stick out any further than it did before, and the rock wall at the back didn’t move. It’s just that there’s a real concert pavilion there now, able to accept shows with larger production capabilities.”

He saw the project as continuing the legacy of its namesake, Pundy Yokouchi, the visionary cultural trailblazer who shaped every aspect of the unique facility, generated support for it and oversaw its construction to fruition.

Likening it a “Field of Dreams” approach – if you build it, they will come – Vento described Yokouchi’s approach as “build it right, build it once.” It was a bold approach that resulted in putting Maui on the map of world culture.

“Why build the Castle Theater in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in the first place? And why invest $13 million in a 16-year-old facility?” Vento asked rhetorically.

“The complete package allows us to move forward for the next 16 years. We have to keep reinventing ourselves.”

* Rick Chatenever can be reached at scene@maui news.com.