BLAINE -- Even though they may not understand exactly what it is, most people are aware that there is something called theoretical physics, the branch of physics that . . . . You get the idea. (A complete explanation of theoretical physics is more likely to produce a headache than any clear understanding.)
Very few people, on the other hand, are aware that there is also something that, for lack of a better label, could be called theoretical golf.
That's what David Frost played over the weekend at the TPC Twin Cities, especially on Sunday, when he sealed his first Champions Tour victory with a course-record 61, which gave him a cumulative 191 -- that tied a record -- for 54 holes. The victory was worth $262,500.
Mark Calcavecchia shot a 68 and finished at 198. That's two strokes better than the winning total posted by Bernhard Langer in 2009 -- and he ended up seven strokes behind!
It is conceivable that someone could play as well as Frost did. There are mathematical models that say it could be possible, but it's never happened before, and it may never happen again.
Frost's performance was surreal.
"I was keeping his card, and I couldn't believe all the 3's" said Kirk Hanefeld, whose 68 put him at 200 and earned him a share of sixth place. "After 11 holes, I started adding it up, and that was when I realized he was 9 under par."
Frost started the round with a birdie at No. 1 (8-iron to 10 feet), added a birdie at No. 2 (250-yard 2-iron off the tee, 9-iron to 15 feet) and then eagled No. 3 (320-yard drive, 250-yard 3-wood to 3 feet).
So he was 4 under after three holes. Having begun the day tied with Calcavecchia for the lead, at 14 under (130), he was now three ahead after only three holes.
At the 571-yard, par-5 sixth, Frost, who turned 50 last September, hit his drive over 350 yards, to within 205 of the hole. From there, he hit a 4-iron (too much club) into a bunker and blasted out to 4 feet.
"I've got a new driver this week," he said, "and I can't believe how far I'm hitting it. I think the shaft in my driver was too stiff before. This one goes forever."
The resulting 4 was only the second one on his card at that point in the round, and he followed it with four consecutive 3's. He birdied the short (318-yard) seventh with a 3-iron and sand wedge to 3 feet. At the 456-yard ninth, he hit a 170-yard 8-iron to 8 feet and made the put to complete the front nine in 29 strokes. Another record.
"It's just something you try not to think about," Frost said of his assault on par. "You just have to deal with each shot as it comes along, and not worry about anything else. At the end of the round, you add it all up."
Anyone who's ever had a really good round of golf knows how hard it is to avoid doing the math in your head before you've finished. Keeping your mind off the numbers is one of the hardest things in the world to do.
Nevertheless, Frost was able to keep doing it through the early part of the back nine.
A 174-yard 8-iron at the 10th set up a 20-foot birdie putt that just barely got to the hole, toppling in with the last erg of energy that it could muster. He got to 9 under for the day at No. 11, where he hit a wedge to 4 feet.
Frost hit a rare -- up to that point -- indifferent shot with a wedge at the par-5 12th, and left the ball 18 feet short of the hole, which cost him a chance to be 10 under. Then he missed a 10-footer for birdie at the 210-yard, par-3 13th.
It was at the 14th tee that Frost could no longer resist thinking about just how well he was playing.
"That was when I realized that I hadn't made any bogeys in the tournament," he said, "and I didn't get it very close at all on 14, 15 or 16. I was lucky just to two-putt from where I hit on those three holes."
His tee shot at the 185-yard 17th was exactly what any sensible person would have expected, considering that there's water just left of the green. So Frost put his ball 30 feet right of the cup. His first putt ended up 3 feet away, and the second putt nearly ended the bogeyless streak.
It was slightly off-line, caught the edge of the cup and remained visible for that extra fraction of a second that those kinds of putts always torture you with, then disappeared. Frost had his par 3.
The 18th is listed as being 582 yards, but that counts the detour around the lake. If you measure from the tee across the water, the hole is more like 520, and Frost had about 200 left after his tee shot on Sunday. He hit a 5-iron that stopped 25 feet short, and concluded his remarkable round with a perfect putt, which broke exactly the way he thought it would and entered the cup dead center -- for his second eagle of the day.
"You just never know when you're going to win," said Frost, whose last victory on the PGA Tour came at the 1997 Colonial Invitational (he's won 10 times on the American tour and 12 times in international competition). You just have to remain confident and making the best swing you can on every shot."
Calcevecchia's chances were pretty much wiped out in the first five holes, as he went from tied for the lead with Frost on the first tee to five behind. He did birdie the third hole (thus losing only one stroke to Frost's eagle), but followed that with bogeys at the fourth and fifth.
"What can I say?" he asked as he came out of the scorer's tent. "David played great. He hit it great. He putted great. The way it turned out, I was just happy that I won the tournament within a tournament and finished second."
It was Calcavecchia's best finish since joining the Champions Tour in June, and it was worth $154,000.
First-round leader Tommy Armour, whose putter went into a coma for a stretch of about 28 holes, birdied five of the last eight to shoot 65 and claim a 33-percent share of third at 199. He tied Nick Price, who closed with a 64, and David Peoples, who shot 67.
For anyone who might be wondering about the defending champion, Bernhard Langer, who won senior majors in each of the last two weeks (the British Open on July 25, and the U.S. Open on Aug. 1), he shot 71 on Sunday and tied for 25th with an aggregate of 208.
For complete results, and hole-by-hole scoring, go to pgatour.com.