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Just How Low Can They Go? : Golf: O’Meara is 24 under par with one round left in the Bob Hope Classic. He leads Tim Simpson by one and Pavin by two.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Tim Simpson said it would be a shootout today in the final round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

What else could it be on these desert courses, where low rounds are commonplace?

Mark O’Meara has a one-stroke lead over Simpson after 72 holes of the 90-hole tournament and six others are within five shots of the lead.

Moreover, the tournament record of 27 under held by five players is in jeopardy, especially because the final round will be at Indian Wells, regarded as the least demanding of the four rotating courses.

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O’Meara, with his five-under-par 67 Saturday at Bermuda Dunes, is already 24 under (264) for four rounds. Simpson had a 68 at the Palmer Course at PGA West and is 23 under.

Corey Pavin, the former UCLA star, will join them in the final group today. He had a 66 at Indian Wells Saturday and is 22 under.

Fred Couples and Blaine McCallister are 21 under, and if Scott Hoch, at 20 under, treats Indian Wells with the same disdain he showed for La Quinta Saturday, he could steal the tournament.

Hoch shot a nine-under-par 63, equaling the course record that was set by Rocco Mediate Thursday and matched Friday by McCallister.

Ho hum. Another 63.

Hoch was nine under after 12 holes and he couldn’t help thinking about the tour record 59 shot by Al Geiberger in 1977 at Memphis.

“I can honestly say that I was thinking about shooting in the 50s and that might have put a damper on it,” Hoch said. “The last five holes I must have had a lump in my throat because I played like it.”

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However, the best round of the day--considering the circumstances--was the 64 shot by Raymond Floyd at Indian Wells.

His amateur partners attracted the biggest gallery, which is understandable considering that Floyd was playing with Bob Hope, former President Gerald Ford and New York Giant star linebacker Lawrence Taylor.

Now that’s pressure for any pro, but Floyd responded and would have had a 63 if he hadn’t missed a two-foot putt at 18. He is at 269, 19 under par, tied with Steve Pate, who had a 64 at the Palmer Course.

Hoch is probably dry-washing his hands in anticipation of playing today at Indian Wells, where he shot a 64 Thursday.

“I read in the paper where a couple of guys scoffed at my prediction of 30 under (for the tournament),” Simpson said. “I say it’s still realistic and the winning score will be somewhere between 27 and 30, unless everybody gets amoeba dysentery.”

The pros will abandon their amateur partners today in the anticipated shootout and O’Meara predicted there will be low scores, but not, perhaps, as low as they have been because of more difficult pin placements.

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“It’s going to be a putting contest,” Simpson said.

O’Meara agreed, saying, “I hope it is, because I’ve been putting well all week.”

O’Meara said he put a lot of pressure on himself last week at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where he was the two-time defending champion. He didn’t make the cut.

“I’m not going to attack everything tomorrow, and I’ll stay with my game plan,” he said, adding, however, that someone will have to shoot five or six under to win the tournament.

Pavin said that Indian Wells is his favorite course in the desert and he showed his appreciation with his 66 there Saturday.

He wouldn’t predict what number it would take to win the tournament, saying only, “I hope I have my name next to it.”

O’Meara had six birdies and a bogey in his round of 67 at Bermuda Dunes. Simpson said he had four three-putt greens in his round of 68: “Otherwise I would have really lit it up.”

Golf Notes

Scott Hoch shot a 29 for nine holes on his way to his 63 Saturday at La Quinta, but that isn’t the tournament record for nine holes. Steve Pate shot a 28 at Indian Wells in 1989. . . . Mark O’Meara is 24 under par after 72 holes. That would have been good enough to win the 90-hole tournament the past four years. . . . After shooting a 76 in the first round, Rocco Mediate has had rounds of 63, 68 and 64. He is 17 under, seven strokes behind O’Meara. Mediate recalled that Steve Jones shot a 76 in his first round here in 1989 and then went on to win the tournament.

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The cut was at eight under par, a record for the tournament. Among those who missed the cut were Arnold Palmer and Wayne Levi. . . . Indian Wells is the shortest course on the PGA Tour, measuring 6,478 yards.

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