Trahan is trying to keep himself in the picture

Moose meat, that seldom-broached topic especially in the desert, has come up in advance of the 50th Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, seeing as how the defending champion has 300 pounds of it jamming a South Carolina freezer.

It’s the kind of detail that illuminates a sports personality, and that’s an upgrade in the case of the up-and-coming D.J. Trahan, given that 12 months ago, his anonymity reigned such that his father remembers . . .

“What I remember was for the first time we got to see him on TV,” Don Trahan said by telephone Tuesday from the northwest corner of South Carolina. “I’m going to use this as a soapbox. TV golf coverage is pitiful. They only show four or five people.”

Calling that “an insult to players, an insult to fans,” the instructor who schooled his son and goes by the nickname “swing surgeon” said, “I’m not complaining about this as a father. I’m complaining about this as a golf pro. I want to see these guys swing.”

As the five-day Bob Hope tournament begins anew with Arnold Palmer as host and Anthony Kim freshly withdrawn with an uncooperative shoulder, Trahan, 28, returns as less obscure and more touted among golf savants. He returns to the tournament where his 65 on Sunday let him reel in Justin Leonard from four shots back, where his putting broke its habit of thwarting him and instead carried him.

He returns as one of only nine sub-30 golfers with plural PGA Tour victories; he returns after a 3 1/2 -month break that closed 2008 and included bagging an 800-pound bull moose in Newfoundland; and he returns after two swell finishes in Hawaii (sixth, 32nd). He returns hoping more people will learn his name only because that’ll mean he’s thriving.

“I don’t want to be left out of that category” of promising young players such as Kim, Camilo Villegas and Sergio Garcia, he said. “I feel like I can play with those guys, I feel like I can compete with those guys, and I certainly feel like I can beat those guys.”

He beat all kinds of guys regularly through his youth, won the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 2000, helped Clemson win the NCAA championship in 2003, won once on tour in Mississippi in 2006. By Christmas 2007, though, just before dinner in the family living room with his father and uncle, Don Trahan diagnosed some excessive calm.

“I said, ‘D.J., I think you’re mellowing out too much and you need to get a little fire back in you,’ ” Don Trahan said, and remembers his son replying, “Dad, I don’t want to get angry again,” a reference to crankier golf days of youth.

But Dad, noting that some on-course anger never seemed to subvert his son’s game, prescribed some of what he calls “warrior mode.” Said Don: “Anger is like fire and water. It’s a great resource if it’s properly channeled and properly controlled.”

And fun? “I despise that word for competition,” he said.

Seeing his son on TV -- at last! -- as D.J. caught Leonard rounding the turn, Don noticed the return of the old, fuming countenance, a change the commentators noted as well. As Don’s wife and D.J.’s mother, Susan, changed planes flying home from Massachusetts, Don gave her the play-by-play, the win coming as she coursed through the boarding tunnel.

Later, she watched the replay at home and remarked, “Donald, he’s got the look back.”

Having the look back led to winning the $918,000, which led to buying hunting property in South Carolina where his father expected maybe some “dumpy” house but instead, “I can’t believe what he’s amassed out there on that farm. It’s a house better than what I’m living in!”

From the Hope to a heady tie for fourth at the U.S. Open, a tie for 31st at the PGA, a $2.3-million year and a rankings hike from 217th a year ago to 70th beginning this week, it seems that soon enough, fans could know Trahan for details well beyond even moose meat.

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chuck.culpepper@yahoo.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Bob Hope Classic

Today-Sunday in

Palm Desert and La Quinta

Courses: PGA West Nicklaus Course; PGA West Palmer Course; Bermuda Dunes Country Club; SilverRock Resort.

TV: Golf Channel.

Today-Friday: noon-3 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday: 1-4 p.m.

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Bob Hope Classic

Where: Palmer Private Course at PGA West, La Quinta, host course, 6,930 yards; Bermuda Dunes Country Club, 7,107 yards; Nicklaus Private at PGA West, 6,924 yards; SilverRock Resort, La Quinta, 7,403 yards. All par 71.)

When: Today through Sunday (five rounds).

Format: The 128 professionals play alongside 384 amateurs/celebrities for the first 72 holes, with the low 70 professionals (plus ties) playing the final round at Palmer Private on Sunday.

Field: Top-50 players include Steve Stricker (No. 16), Justin Leonard (No. 23), Mike Weir (No. 24), Tim Clark (No. 30) and Stephen Ames (No. 39).

Defending champion: D.J. Trahan.

Purse: $5.1 million ($918,000 for the winner).

Host: Arnold Palmer won the first Bob Hope Classic in 1960. He replaces comedian George Lopez.