BOB HOPE CLASSIC : Road Has Been Hard for Leader Bryant

Brad Bryant, who has been struggling with a shoulder injury since 1984, apparently has finally revived his golf game.

Bryant, a part-time PGA Tour player in recent years, shot a 68 Thursday at Eldorado and took a 1-stroke lead at 135 after 2 rounds of the 90-hole Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Fred Couples, the first-day leader at 65, is now grouped with Blaine McCallister and Jim Benepe at 136.

Paul Azinger, Jeff Sluman, Peter Jacobsen and Tom Kite are another shot back.

When someone asked Bryant his age, he replied: “In age, or abuse? Sometimes I feel like 60. Other times I feel like 25.”

Bryant is 34, and there was a time when he considered quitting the game after the injury to his left shoulder relegated him to being a part-time player the next 3 years.

“My wife and I thought seriously about doing something else,” Bryant said. “It just didn’t seem like there was anything else for us to do. We looked for other things, but nothing else came along.”

There was a bonus, though, for Bryant in his inactivity. He said he was able to spend a lot of time at home between 1985 and ’87.

“We lived like normal people, and I sort of enjoyed it,” Bryant said.

Bryant was 141st on the money list last year, earning $62,614.22. First prize for the Hope tournament is $180,000 from a total purse of $1 million.

On a day when the winds subsided to some degree, Bryant made 7 birdies and 3 bogeys. He had 7 birdies, an eagle and 4 bogeys Wednesday while playing Indian Wells.

“I felt lucky to play Indian Wells on the first day and Eldorado today,” he said. “Those two courses are shielded somewhat from the wind. I’m playing much better than I expected to play.

“I feel like my game has returned. I feel like I’m almost as good a player as I was before I got hurt. And I feel I’m much more of a mature player now. Adversity helps you grow.”

A tour player off and on for 10 years, Bryant had his best year in 1982, when he earned $99,576 for 37th place on the money list.

Bryant had 5 of his birdies on the front 9 while shooting a 32. However, a bogey on the 18th hole, where his second shot went into the water, prevented him from shooting an even lower score.

No one is in control of the 90-hole tournament. With the pros playing all four courses, there could be revolving leaders until the final round Sunday at Bermuda Dunes.

Bryant will play Palmer PGA West today, perhaps the most demanding of the courses.

Jacobsen said that Bryant could get a gutsy-guy award, adding, “He has been up and down on the tour and lost his card. But give him credit for fighting back.”

McCallister, who shot a 66 at Indian Wells, said he was pleased with his game from tee to green.

He was especially pleased with his eagle on the 483-yard, par-5 14th hole.

“I drove into the rough, and my ball landed on top of a tree root,” McCallister said. “I picked (the ball) off the root with a 5-iron, a shot of 185 yards to the green.”

McCallister then made a 10-foot putt for his eagle.

He could have been risking injury if his ball had not been placed perfectly on the root.

McCallister confounds his partners by playing right-handed from tee to green and then putting left-handed. He’s a natural left-hander. While growing up in Ft. Stockton, Tex., however, he had to settle for right-handed clubs, since left-handed ones weren’t available. “I can see the line better from the left-handed side,” McCallister said. “And it’s natural for me because I do most everything left-handed except swing a golf club.”

He said he had developed the yips while putting right-handed.

“So at the end of 1985, I started experimenting with left-handed putting. When I came out in 1986, I was putting the long putts right-handed and the short putts left-handed.

“In June of 1986, I switched completely to left-handed putting. In the week of a tournament at Chattanooga, the first putt I hit left-handed I made from 30 feet.”

McCallister said there are only three left-handed putters on the tour, Mac O’Grady, Jim Nelford and himself.

“When I was putting left-handed and right-handed, the guys playing with me didn’t know which side of the hole to stand on,” McCallister said.

Golf Notes

Peter Jacobsen made an eagle on the 380-yard, par-4 fourth hole at Eldorado. He said he hit a 9-iron 151 yards, with the ball spinning back into the cup. “I had 8 birdies the first day and 6 birdies today,” he said. “Unfortunately, I’ve had my share of bogeys. . . . Craig Stadler had the low round of the day, a 65 while playing at Bermuda Dunes. He has a 2-day total of 139, 5 under par. . . . Bernhard Langer, Lanny Wadkins, Sandy Lyle and Mark Calcavecchia were among a group at 138. . . . Johnny Lujack, the former Notre Dame All-American quarterback, is on the low amateur team, 30 under par.