Frost catches fire, cools down field at 3M Championship
[Editor's note: Greg Vara is on-site for Devil Ball at the 3M Championship.]
BLAINE, Minn. -- There have been bigger additions to the Champions Tour over the past few years -- Fred Couples, Tom Lehman and Bernhard Langer, to name a few -- but if you listened to the players in contention this week at the 3M Championship, they've got nothing on David Frost.
Frost is a 10-time winner on the PGA Tour, but it wasn't until Sunday that he picked up his first Champions Tour victory. He shot an 11-under 61 in the final round for a tournament-record 25-under 191 and a five-shot victory. Nick Price had nothing but glowing reviews of his fellow South African after his round, and Mark Calcavecchia backed up those thoughts with his own assertion that "[the tourney] was over after five or six holes today."
Due to the extreme heat and humidity, Calcavecchia had issues with his grip all day, but that wasn't the main reason he was gunning for second place early on. Frost broke the deadlock early with two birdies and an eagle on his first three holes, which must have been devastating for Calcavecchia, who planned to start aggressively and put the heat on Frost during the final round.
Calcavecchia, who finished second after a 4-under 68, was not alone in his assertion, though. Frost also knew this was his day from the beginning. "The momentum of playing well early and Mark not playing well early really got going early," he said, "especially after the fifth hole."
Perhaps a major change in equipment had something to do with his success this week. Frost switched in a different driver shaft and putter before the start of the week and wouldn't you know it, his driving accuracy was 20% higher this week. And with the help of his son's putter, he led the field in putts per round.
When told of his driving accuracy ranking entering this week he seemed a little surprised, but when asked to comment on why he missed so few fairways this week, he surmised, "the shaft is a little stiffer, maybe that's it. I work hard on my game, but I may tinker too much and I never thought, maybe it's the equipment, so I gave it a try."
Though not many gave Frost much of a chance to win this week, after three days of watching him annihilate this course, the win seemed more of a foregone conclusion than a surprise. Frost has plenty of talent, and it appears that everything is falling into place now. This will not be the last we hear of Mr. Frost.
