STILES SETS HIS OWN PACE
By MARK PUKALO; Courant Staff Writer
CROMWELL -- — Darron Stiles didn't want to move too fast Saturday morning.
He was the first off the tee and played alone in the third round of the Buick Championship.
"Some guys would have been done in an hour and a half," Stiles said. "That's just not my pace."
He found a way to settle into a comfortable flow and took the extra time to thoroughly enjoy a special round.
"It was a pleasant morning," he said.
Stiles, who had to birdie his final hole Friday to make the cut at even par, equaled his career best with a 7-under par 63. He also shot 63 at the TPC at River Highlands two years ago. When Stiles, 32, left the course after his 3-hour, 5-minute round, he was tied for fourth. He ended up five back, alone in seventh.
"I just played really well," said Stiles, from Pinehurst, N.C. "It's nice to finally see some putts go in. I've been hitting it so good the last month and just not getting results. Today, I got some of that and hopefully I can carry it over."
Stiles made birdie putts of 25 (first), 15 (third) and 35 feet (ninth), then rolled in three straight starting at the 11th. He two-putted from 15 feet for birdie at the par-5, 13th to cap that run and made a 16-foot birdie putt at the 17th. He had 25 putts Saturday after averaging 31 the first two rounds.
On Friday, he made birdies on two of the final four holes to make the cut, the last one on his final hole, the ninth.
"I knew exactly where I stood from the fourth hole on [Friday]," Stiles said. "We could see the boards and we knew the cut line wasn't going anywhere. I was an inch out of bounds on the first hole [double bogey], but I fought hard coming in."
It has been 16 years since another battle for Stiles. His mother was kidding him about shaving one day and noticed a lump.
Stiles said it had been there for three or four months and, after getting it examined, a cancerous tumor was discovered. Surgeons removed the tumor and grafted bone from his hip to repair his jaw.
"The big hurdle was getting back into playing," Stiles said. "It took me about two years to get to where I was before the surgery because of fatigue."
Stiles still doesn't know all the details of what happened.
"All I know," he said, "is I have a boatload of X-rays at home."
Stiles, who finished tied for 15th at the Reno-Tahoe Open last week to move to 174th on the money list ($214,579), won three times on the Nationwide Tour before qualifying for the PGA Tour in 2003. He finished 151st on the money list, despite a tie for 11th at the TPC at River Highlands to lose his card. But he bounced right back by finishing 15th on the Nationwide Tour money list last year.
His tie for ninth at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson in late February is his best tour finish. But he has made only 9 of 18 cuts and might have to go through qualifying school again.
"Q school is something you don't want to ever go through again," Stiles said. "A few more days like this the rest of the year and I won't have to go back."