GOLF : Pros Get a Chance to Show Their Lighter Side

Creators of the Pro Stakes Golf Tournament envisioned a designed-for-TV event with four guys playing a round the way your weekend golfer does.

The difference between the notion and reality was that your weekend golfer takes the game more seriously.

Wearing microphones and seemingly more concerned with verbal slings than their golf swings, Peter Jacobsen, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Craig Stadler and Fuzzy Zoeller sloshed through nine rain-soaked holes at Orange County’s Dove Canyon Country Club on Saturday. They accrued points in several categories, such as longest drive, first on the green, closest to the pin in regulation and others.

In today’s “challenge” phase, golfers will bet their points in the same categories.

The player with the most points will make $175,000; second place is worth $100,000; third, $70,000; and fourth, $55,000.

Jacobsen took advantage of the soggy conditions and a rule allowing the golfers to clean their ball before setting it down for a perfect lie. He was closest to the pin on five of the nine holes, worth 2,000 points alone.

Stadler, who is two-under, leads with 7,650 points. Zoeller, also two-under, is second with 7,450. Jacobsen, who shot an even-par 36 despite a triple-bogey on No. 8, is third with 7,400. Rodriguez, one over par, is fourth with 4,500.

There is also a $100,000 medal-play purse, with $40,000 going to the low score after 18 holes, but as Jacobsen said, “that’s insignificant.”

Obviously.

“Gimmes” abounded. Jacobsen let actor Jack Lemmon, who served as an unofficial official, take a sand shot for him after he failed to get out of a bunker on his first two attempts. The rest of the foursome threw their balls at Zoeller as he rolled in a short putt.

And everybody threw barbs at anyone in sight.

Said Jacobsen: “On the tour, there are a lot of tense moments, but (Saturday) we had the opportunity to loosen up. Every week, every town, every place we play, we read about how bland pro golfers are, how we’re all playing in a coma. But we hope something like this can foster another image.”