Eaks Says He Might Not Be Able to Eke Out This One

NEWPORT BEACH — R.W. Eaks, two-time defending champion of the Taco Bell Newport Classic pro-am golf tournament, doubts he will become the first three-time winner of the event.

Not after shooting two-under-par 69 in the first round Friday at Newport Beach Country Club. “I think somebody else is going to win this year,” he said. “I didn’t get off to a good enough start.”

Eaks, 44, a Colorado native who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., said he hasn’t written himself off, but at four shots behind leader Brian Kontak of Tempe, Ariz., Eaks has a lot of ground to make up in one day.

He also would have to climb over a slew of capable golfers. Craig Kanada of Lake Oswego, Ore., M. Michael Clark II of Delta, Ga., and Jeff Hart of Solana Beach each shot 66.

Eric Woods of Newport Beach, Perry Parker of Dana Point, Sam Randolph of Fort Worth and Jim Estes of Crystal Lake, Ill., had 67s, and nine players shot 68.

But Eaks doesn’t seem overly concerned with his place on this leader board. He says he’s happy to hitting the ball well. If his putts aren’t falling, maybe they will another day.

Knowing what Eaks has endured during the last year, no one could blame him for a happy-to-be-here attitude. Last April, he was seriously injured in an auto accident near Mobile, Ala.

He and his caddie were heading to the airport after a Nike Tour event, with Eaks in the passenger seat, when a car hit their pickup truck from behind. The truck flipped and landed on the cab. Eaks, the only one seriously hurt, was knocked unconscious and trapped for about 30 minutes.

Luckily, after one night in the hospital for head and neck injuries, was able to check out and fly home to Arizona.

After a more than a two-month layoff to recuperate, Eaks returned to the Nike Tour and lost a playoff to Stewart Cink in his first tournament back. “He made a 40-footer on me in that playoff,” Eaks said. “That would have been quite a story to win a tournament after that happened to me.”

Eaks finished second in two more events and finished 13th on the Nike Tour’s money list at $95,025. Eaks was tantalizingly close--slightly more than $8,000--to winning his 1997 PGA Tour card that went to the top 10 Nike players.

Then at the PGA Tour qualifying tournament in December, he was two strokes away from his card when the final round was canceled because of rain at La Purisima in Lompoc.

But Eaks isn’t frustrated by his narrow misses. “As long as I’m playing golf somewhere and making a living I don’t care where it’s at,” said Eaks, who is playing in his seventh Newport Classic. “How many people get to do something they love? Take this tournament, for example, it’s not a tour event, but it’s a nice little tournament.”

Notes

Leader Brian Kontak, who turned professional four years ago after playing at Scottsdale Community College, pulled away with a 30-foot putt for eagle on the par-5 15th and a birdie on the par-4 16th. Kontak turns 25 today. . . . R.W. Eaks, who has played against Kontak in Arizona mini-tour events, says he has plenty of potential. “He hits it 40 yards by me on the tee,” Eaks said. “He’s as long as anyone out here. He’s John Daly long.” . . . Steve Jurgensen, a Newport Beach pro, reached four-under but bogeyed two of his last three holes to finish at 69. Dennis Paulson (Costa Mesa High) shot 68, Esteban Toledo (Costa Mesa) 69, Muffin Spencer-Devlin (Laguna Beach) 73, Kelly Manos (Costa Mesa) 74, Dan Bateman (Huntington Beach) 75, Kim Saiki (Ocean View High) 75, Cathy Mockett (Newport Harbor High) 76. . . . Play continues at 7 a.m. today. The leaders are scheduled to tee off at 12:10 p.m.