Simpson Has Incentive, Second-Round Hope Lead

Tim Simpson had every reason in the world not to play this week in the Bob Hope Classic.

He has a chest cold he picked up from his year-old son, he was in bed two days last week with a flu virus, his doctor recommended that he not leave Atlanta for the trip here, and his father-in-law is extremely ill with cancer.

Despite these problems, Simpson shot a six-under-par 66 Thursday at Tamarisk and is the 36-hole leader of the 90-hole tournament.

“I wouldn’t be here, but my father-in-law, Vince Termini, insisted I play,” said Simpson, who shot a 67 at Bermuda Dunes Wednesday. “I wanted to stay home with Kathy (his wife) and do what I could for him, but he said to ‘Go, win, win for me.’ I’m playing on a day-to-day basis.”

Simpson, a non-winner starting his ninth year as a touring professional, is alone at the top at 11-under 133, but there are five players just one stroke behind him.

Tied at 134 are former Masters champion Craig Stadler (66-68), former PGA champion Lanny Wadkins (67-67), second-leading money-winner Mark O’Meara (67-67), Doug Tewell (66-68) and rookie Paul Azinger (70-64), the low qualifier at last month’s tour school.

Defending champion John Mahaffey, who had a share of the first-round lead at 66, shot 69 at Tamarisk and is two shots behind with three others at 135.

“I’m a little surprised at the way I’m playing because I only played two or three times in the last three weeks before coming here,” Simpson said. After arriving Sunday, however, he gave his confidence a shot in the arm with practice rounds of 68 Monday at La Quinta and 62 Tuesday at Tamarisk.

“Maybe the layoff made me sharp mentally,” he said. “I really felt good about my game after last summer, and I had a good year financially ($157,082), so when my father-in-law suddenly became terminally ill, I wanted to stay home with him. He’s only 53 and since I met Kathy four years ago, we have been very close. He’s a sports nut and so am I. This cancer thing came so suddenly.

“He followed me around in the Atlanta Classic last June when I finished third, and said he was feeling poorly. He’d just had a clean bill of health in a physical, but when they opened him up he had cancer everywhere. We’ve watched him lose 120 pounds in six months. I know if I won here it would add a few more days to his life, so I feel inspired to play well. He’s at the point now, though, that if something happened, it probably would be for the better. It’s only a matter of days, not weeks, but it’s tough to be prepared for it.”

Simpson, a powerfully built athlete from the University of Georgia, has played extremely well the last two days. He made his first bogey Thursday when he drove into the trees on the 401-yard 15th hole and missed the green with a 4-iron second shot.

“I had five birdies Wednesday at Bermuda Dunes and didn’t come close to a bogey, and other than the one I had at 15 today, I came close only one other time. I missed the green on No. 5 (199-yard par 3), chipped up and sank a 10-footer for par.”

That par-saving putt came in the middle of a stretch of birdies when Simpson’s putter rolled the ball in the hole from 17, 20, 15 and 20 feet.

“I worked hard on my putting last year, and I can see the results in how I’m playing,” he said. “I also worked hard on the mental aspects of the game. That’s given me a more positive outlook and has given me new confidence.

“Seeing what happened to my father-in-law has changed my outlook on life, too. I know there are more important things than living and dying on every putt.”

Simpson, whose best-ever finish was a second last year at Memphis, has been playing since he was 7 when his father, Jim, started him in the game.

“I played everything--football, basketball, soccer, track, golf, everything--in high school, but when I got to college I settled on golf,” Simpson said. After winning the Southern Open in 1977 and making the All-America team at Georgia, he turned pro and has had a gradual progression up the money ladder. Last year he finished 41st.

Stadler and Mahaffey, two former winners here, had contrasting rounds.

Mahaffey got his 69 out of what he said “could just as well have been a 73,” while Stadler got his 68 from a round that “could have been a 63 or 64.”

The difference was that Mahaffey was making putts after poor drives, while Stadler was not capitalizing on his putting after hitting excellent iron shots.

Mahaffey also hit what he called “the greatest bunker shot from a buried lie in my life” to save par on the 389-yard 17th hole at Tamarisk.

“It was a Fuzzy Zoeller shot,” Mahaffey said. “You know, close your eyes and swing as hard as you can. I did, and the ball stopped about a foot from the hole.”

Stadler helped himself with his second chip-in of the tournament for an eagle 3 on the 515-yard eighth hole at Indian Wells. He hit a driver off the fairway for his second shot and chipped in with an 8-iron.

The tournament surprises at the moment are 25-year-old rookies, Azinger and Robert Wrenn, who shot 69 at Bermuda Dunes after an opening 67 at Indian Wells. Azinger, who lost his playing card last year when he won only $27,821 in 21 tournaments, had eight birdies--four on each nine--at Tamarisk. Twice he reached par-5 holes in two shots for two-putt birdies by using an iron for his second shot.

Wrenn, who only got in the tournament as an alternate when Jim Thorpe withdrew Wednesday morning, is playing in his first professional tour event. He is at 136 with a group of nine that includes Calvin Peete, last year’s Vardon Trophy winner for the year’s low-scoring average.

Jack Nicklaus, making his first start since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee, shot 69 at Tamarisk and at 140 is tied with five-time Hope winner Arnold Palmer, who had a 70.

Today’s course shifting will find Simpson, O’Meara, Wadkins, Nicklaus and the celebrities at La Quinta.