Langer Leads but Just Has Hope of Surviving

As a reward for surviving the cut in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, 71 golf pros will return to the Stadium Course at PGA West for today’s final round. Some reward.

It’s like winning a contest and discovering that the prize is a trip to Buffalo. Where do the pros who didn’t make the cut have to go? Devil’s Island?

Telling the survivors they have to go back to PGA West is like telling Janet Leigh she has to go back into the shower.

Even tournament leader Bernhard Langer said he would rather go somewhere else, anywhere else, and his 68 Friday is tied for the low round of the tournament at PGA West. In fact, that is two strokes better than he shot Saturday at Bermuda Dunes.

Through four rounds, he has a total of 272, 16 under par, and a one-shot lead over Mark Calcavecchia, who had a 66 Saturday at Bermuda Dunes.

Another stroke back, at 274, are Corey Pavin, who shot a 66 at Indian Wells, and Jeff Sluman, who shot a 67 at Tamarisk.

Also in contention, at 276, are Willie Wood, who shot a 66 at Bermuda Dunes, and David Edwards, who shot a 69 at Tamarisk.

Take a long look at all those scores in the 60s because there may not be any today at PGA West. There have been only five all week at the year-old course, considered to be the nation’s most difficult.

“If I had a choice, I’d rather play one of the other courses,” Langer said.

But as the host course, PGA West is the site of the final round. It’s like having Don Rickles as your host. Bring your sense of humor.

“You’ve got to come out here and have fun watching all the crazy bounces,” Calcavecchia said.

Starting his round at PGA West Friday on the back side, Calcavecchia had bogeyed three of the first four holes and was four over par through nine.

“But for some reason, I relaxed,” he said. “I just started hitting it and chasing it.”

He finished the front side in 31, five under par, and had a 71.

“I consider it a fluke,” he said.

Still, it goes into the books as one of only 24 subpar scores shot during the first four rounds at PGA West. There were almost that many a day at Indian Wells.

Langer’s 68 at PGA West was matched Saturday by Sandy Lyle and Bruce Crampton. Considering all three are foreign-born, that lends credibility to the charge by some pros that the course is un-American.

PGA West’s victims Saturday included Ray Floyd and Bob Tway. Floyd began the day in second-place, three strokes out of the lead, while Tway was four back. Both shot 74 to fall off the leader board.

If the course was that tough for two pros who won major tournaments last year, imagine what it was like for the 84 amateurs out there Saturday.

After venturing into a fairway bunker on No. 9, the portly Tip O’Neill couldn’t scale the steep bank. A secret service agent handed the former Speaker of the House the shaft end of a club and pulled him out.

On the same hole, O’Neill almost beaned Gerald Ford with a wedge shot. Now there’s a switch.

O’Neill later found himself in the 19-foot bunker at the foot of the 16th green. He tried several times to hit the ball out of the bunker before finally giving up and throwing it toward the green. It hit short and rolled back down.

If he was watching on television, it’s probably the first real laugh Ronald Reagan has had in months.

The amateurs step aside today to watch the pros, who probably will look like amateurs at PGA West.

Then again, if there’s anything most of the leaders have in common, it’s that they didn’t allow themselves to be pushed around by PGA West in their previous rounds there. Of the top 20, 14 shot par or better.

Langer’s 68 Friday was a study in patience. He took what little the course gave him and didn’t give very much back, finishing with only one bogey. That’s not much different from the round he played at Bermuda Dunes Saturday, when he had 2 birdies and 16 pars.

“I will play similarly to what I did Friday,” Langer said of his return engagement at PGA West. “I think that’s the best way to play the course. It certainly worked yesterday. It may not tomorrow.

“There could still be somebody to make a charge, but the major thing is I don’t want to go over par. As long as I stay under par, I’ll feel pretty secure.”

Sluman, a three-year tour veteran who has yet to win a tournament, said Langer is the favorite.

“I don’t know if we can catch him,” Sluman said. “Bernhard is one of the top three or four players in the world. It’s hard to give a player of his caliber two shots. But golf is a strange game.”

Calcavecchia, who is giving Langer only one stroke entering today’s round, will vouch for that.

He had an eagle and a birdie on his final two holes Friday at PGA West, then birdied the first four holes Saturday at Bermuda Dunes to go seven-under for his last six holes.

After three more birdies, he was tied with Langer at 16-under through 14 holes. Then he bogeyed 16, birdied 17 when he chipped in from 60 feet and bogeyed 18.

Who knows what today will bring?

“This is such a hard golf course, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Calcavecchia, who shared the lead last week in the final round of the MONY Tournament of Champions before finishing in a third-place tie with Greg Norman.

“All the leaders could shoot 75 or 76. I could shoot 75 and win. The bad thing is that the guy who plays the best isn’t necessarily going to win. There are a lot of strange humps and valleys. There’s a lot of luck involved.”

At least the weather has improved. After two trying days, one wet and cold the other cold and windy, the temperature Saturday was a balmy 60 degrees.

The pros hope the it holds today. PGA West is difficult enough without an assist from the weather.