Putter with which Appleby shot 59 is missing

KAPALUA, Hawaii - The putter with which Stuart Appleby shot 59 has gone missing.

Winner of three straight at Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course, Appleby carded a 4-under-par 69 in the opening round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions with a $120 replacement found in the pro shop at the Kapalua Golf Academy.

"Somebody obviously needed it more than I did," Appleby said. "We have no idea what happened to it."

Appleby arrived at the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort about an hour before his 11 a.m. tee time and went straight to the practice putting green where he and caddie Scott Sajtinac discovered that his Odyssey White Hot XG 300 mallet putter was not in the bag.

Appleby's agent, Matt Judy, Sajtinac and a handful of volunteers scoured the pro shops at the nearby Kapalua Bay Course and the Academy trying to find Odyssey putters of any model. They brought back four to the Plantation Course, including one out of "Lost and Found," and Appleby settled on a Black Series 2-Ball model.

"I just said, 'go get me an Odyssey putter. If you get me an Odyssey putter I'll know what to do,'" Appleby said. "It's familiar ... different but the same. And I putted pretty good today.

"There's not much you can do. You can kick and scream, but there's no way that will help you get to the first tee. I had to have faith in it."

Appleby had about 10 minutes to practice with the new club and then went out and converted eight birdies with the bar code sticker still on the shaft. He needed just 28 putts and did not have a three-putt.

Last July in the inaugural Greenbrier Classic, Appleby fired a final-round 59, the fifth in PGA Tour history, and made up a seven-shot deficit to edge Jeff Overton by a stroke. The victory was his first since the 2006 Shell Houston Open, the same year he won his third straight Tournament of Champions at Kapalua.

"Maybe that's why it magically disappeared. We'll keep track on E-Bay," the 39-year-old Aussie said. "We had some balls nicked out of the bag, too. Scottie said he left a few in there to give away the next day. I guess they needed it more than me."

-- Dave Shedloski