Jacobsen Plays for Birdies, Laughs : Hope golf: With Trevino and Rodriquez gone, he’s the PGA Tour’s resident comedian.

It’s appropriate that Peter Jacobsen is the defending champion in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Like Hope, Jacobsen knows how to work a room.

Animated and personable, Jacobsen doesn’t regard golf as a grim chore. He has fun when he’s playing, while remaining serious with his shotmaking.

“One thing I think is missing on the tour is the absence of people like Lee Trevino, Chi Chi Rodriguez (both on the Senior PGA Tour) and Fuzzy Zoeller, guys who have a good time,” Jacobsen said.

“So many times guys only have a good time when they’re winning. They need to have a good time when they’re not playing so well, too.”

Some players deliberately avoid the 90-hole Hope tournament that begins today. The format of playing with three amateurs for four days with the final round restricted to just the pros, doesn’t appeal to them.

“I’ve enjoyed playing with the amateurs,” Jacobsen said. “I like the energy at the tournament. A lot of guys don’t like it. And a lot of guys forget how lucky they are to do this job.

“I’m sometimes too hard on myself playing in the regular tournaments. But playing with the amateurs, it’s a little more fun and relaxing for me.”

The tournament will be contested on four courses: Indian Wells, the host course; La Quinta; Bermuda Dunes, and the Palmer Course at PGA West.

If there’s added pressure on Jacobsen as the defending champion, it’s not apparent.

For sure, Jacobsen had fun last week playing with actor Jack Lemmon in the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

As usual, Lemmon didn’t make the cut, but Jacobsen did--only to finish 12 strokes behind the winner, Paul Azinger.

Jacobsen’s Hope victory in 1990 was significant inasmuch as it was his first win since 1984. He suffered a ruptured disk in 1985, a back injury that sometimes is career ending.

He was 78th on the money-winning list in 1986 and slipped to 111th in 1987. He rebounded to earn $526,765 for 16th place in 1988 and $547,279 for 19th place in 1990.

Jacobsen said a series of exercises have strengthened his back so that he can swing without pain.

“I’m 36 now and I really feel like the next several years are going to be the best ones of my career,” he said. “I’m smarter now and not as hard on myself. I have a good time out there and enjoy the situations.”

Jacobsen even has his own act, imitating golf swings and mannerisms of other pros at clinics and corporate outings.

He has even ventured into the theatrical field, mainly for his own amusement. A few years ago, he organized a musical group, Jake Trout and the Flounders.

Jacobsen is Jake Trout and the vocalist, while Mark Lye and Payne Stewart, playing guitar and harmonica, are the Flounders.

“We did an album with a full backing band,” Jacobsen said. “We lost money on it, but we did it mostly for fun.”

A former Pacific 8 Conference champion while playing for Oregon, Jacobsen has been on the tour since 1977. He won his first tournament, the Buick Open, in 1980 and has four career victories.

Even though last year was his most rewarding financially, he won only one tournament.

“It was disappointing because I had some real good chances,” he said. “I almost won at Los Angeles and the Centeel Western (third places). You know you can’t play well every week, so when you’re in the hunt, you’d like to capitalize on your good play and win.”

In any event, Jacobsen will be working the galleries this week like a nightclub comedian.