Quayle Chips Shots, Quips Lots in Windup of Campaign Swing

It was the 7th hole at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Saturday, and Vice President Dan Quayle had sliced his tee shot into the rough at the edge of a sand trap.

Quayle was staring at his golf ball, pondering the best way to deal with the situation, when a man in the gallery yelled: “Throw some money at it.” Ignoring the advice, Quayle chipped onto the green. He then turned to the crowd and declared he had just extricated himself from a “Democratic lie.”

Such banter was the order of the day as Quayle completed a four-day California campaign swing by concentrating on his golf swing in a foursome with comedian Bob Hope, former President Gerald R. Ford and PGA champion John Daly.

After arriving in Palm Springs on Friday, Quayle told reporters that he did not believe his appearance at the Hope tournament would, in a time of economic woes, promote the stereotype of Republicans as members of a country club elite.

“(People) know I work hard, they know the President works hard. And to come out and participate in a golf tournament that is raising a lot of money for charity and helping people, I think the American people understand,” Quayle said.

Most of those in the gallery seemed to appreciate Quayle’s appearance, with many streaming forward for autographs.

“It’s his kind of place and his kind of people,” said Bakersfield stockbroker Jay Ericsson, 40, who trailed the quartet around the links. “I’m a Republican so I like him. But it’s obvious he isn’t as consistent in golf as in politics. He’s been (hitting) to the left and to the right all day.”

Quayle, whose golf handicap is six strokes, hit his share of clunkers. But each time he shot his way out of trouble, finishing the day with a 10 over par 82.

On one hole, he even out-drove the hard-hitting Daly.