Stockton, 3 Others Share Lead : Golf: Pooley, Cook, Funk also shoot 65 in first round of 90-hole Bob Hope Classic.

Two veterans, a relative newcomer and a player who is making a comeback after extensive hand surgery shared the first-round lead Wednesday in the $1-million Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Dave Stockton, Don Pooley, Fred Funk and John Cook each shot a 65, seven under par, on an alternately cloudy and sunny day.

It rained here early Wednesday morning, but not enough to delay the first round of the five-day tournament.

Jim Benepe and Hale Irwin were only a shot behind the leaders, and 13 players were grouped at 67.

Stockton, a two-time PGA champion who plays only a limited number of tour events while concentrating on corporate outings, got his 65 at Tamarisk. He birdied the first four holes, had a 30 on the front side and got a bogey and two birdies on the back nine.

It was a gratifying start for Stockton, a former USC star who shot an 80 in his opening round of the Tucson Open last week.

Sixty-five is a familiar number for Stockton. He had that score for the sole first-round lead in the AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am a year ago.

Stockton said he was upset about his 80 at Tucson and spent the weekend working on his game with his sons, David and Ron, who play on the USC golf team.

“Ron will really be excited,” Stockton said. “He has helped me. He knows my game and swing.”

Ron Stockton is a freshman at USC. David, a junior, finished second in the NCAA tournament last year.

Stockton plans to play five of the first seven tournaments this year and a total of about 15.

“I’m 48 so I’ve got two years before I can play on a tour that I’m supposed to be able to play on,” Stockton said, referring to the senior tour.

But Stockton says he’ll be confronted with a delightful conflict when he’s eligible to join the seniors. He still wants to maintain his financially rewarding corporate outings, of which he played more than 90 last year.

“It’s really good,” he said of the corporate outings. “There are no kids and no cuts and I’m low pro every day. And I get top dollar.”

Stockton was hampered by bone spurs in his neck last year, but after reading a book dealing with mind over matter he said his neck problems diminished.

He takes part of the year off for hunting and fishing, and the respite from golf apparently revitalizes him.

“It’s amazing how much better my sense of humor becomes,” he said.

Cook, who shot his 65 at Indian Wells, needed a sense of humor last year.

What was believed to be tendinitis in his right hand has pained him since 1982. It was finally learned that he had, at some time, suffered a fracture.

So he had surgery to relocate a tendon and to remove tiny pieces of bone that had broken away. He didn’t return to competition until the Isuzu Kapalua tournament in Hawaii last November.

“I was tired of taking aspirin,” said Cook, who played his junior golf in Southern California and has been on the tour since 1979. “I’d soak my hand in the morning because I couldn’t even make a fist when I got up.”

Cook was aware that his hand problem was more severe than tendinitis.

“I had a big bump on my hand and I knew it wasn’t a cyst,” he said. “I’d have a real good week on the tour, then I’d have an awful week.”

Cook was able to compete in only 12 tournaments in 1989 because of the hand injury and subsequent surgery. Now he says he’s playing free of pain.

Funk, who shot his 65 at the Palmer course at PGA West, is a former University of Maryland golf coach. Last year was his first on the tour.

The 33-year-old Funk, who finished 157th on the money-winning list last year, earning $59,695, said life on the tour wasn’t as glamorous as he had imagined.

“It was a big learning experience,” he said. “The travel was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It was a grind and living out of hotels gets old.”

Funk had to finish no lower than 125th on the money winning list to be exempt for another year on the tour. He didn’t, so he went back to qualifying school and finished ninth, earning another year on the tour.

He said that he will persevere for another two or three years to see what he can do.

Funk was obviously pleased with his bogey-free round.

Pooley, 38, was similarly pleased with his 65 at Indian Wells, saying, “I wasn’t in serious trouble all day, striking the ball, or putting.”

Golf Notes

The players said the courses were in excellent condition and they took advantage of them. There were 93 sub-par rounds by the 128 players. . . . Among those grouped at 67 were Mark Calcavecchia, Jeff Sluman, Fred Couples, Bob Tway, Jodie Mudd, Peter Jacobsen and Andy Bean. . . . Sluman, as John Cook, is making a comeback this season after an appendectomy last May and unrelated back problems. He said he is only 80-85% physically fit now, but expects to be 100% in a month or six weeks.

Defending champion Steve Jones, who has been bothered by a pulled muscle in his neck, shot a three-over 75 at Bermuda Dunes. . . . Tom Watson, who has a corrected swing and an adjusted putting stroke, had a 70 at Bermuda Dunes. Tom Kite, the PGA player of the year in 1989, also had a 70 at the same course. . . . Lee Trevino shot a 69 at Bermuda Dunes.

Arnold Palmer had a 73, also at Bermuda Dunes.