PGA CHAMPIONSHIP : Simpson Proves Himself Wrong : Golf: He shoots a record-tying 64 at Inverness to take the first-round lead.

By GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI

Aug. 13, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

TOLEDO, Ohio —

He said it with a straight face, but no one really believed Scott Simpson when he insisted that Inverness, site of this week’s 75th PGA Championship, is still “a pretty hard golf course.”

Not on Thursday . . . not after Simpson, who lives in San Diego, treated proud Inverness as if it were a muni course.

Taking advantage of greens as soft as a feather pillow, Simpson shot a record-tying seven-under-par 64 in the first round of the PGA. His score, which he achieved despite having to play under less than desirable afternoon conditions, tied Bob Tway’s third-round PGA Championship mark here in 1986.

Simpson needed every one of his seven birdies to take the lead. That’s because Lanny Wadkins checked in with a tidy 65, and little-known Dudley Hart and Richard Zokol each recorded a 66.

Lurking a bit farther back at 67 were, among others, Phil Mickelson, Steve Elkington and Mark McCumber. Behind them at 68 were Greg Norman and Nick Faldo.

Perhaps that’s why Simpson wasn’t in a big hurry to bronze the round just yet. Asked how he would rank it, Simpson remained noncommital.

“I’ll let you know in three days,” he said.

Good point. Not only are the big names nearby, so is just about everyone else in the field.

There were 56 players under par Thursday, seven more than the previous PGA Championship record set at Kemper Lakes in 1989. If Donald Ross, who designed Inverness, were still alive, he’d probably be reaching for a handful of antacid tablets.

Simpson seemed more surprised than impressed by the score. Last year, he didn’t even qualify for the tournament. This year, he leads it.

“I would have never expected me to shoot 64,” he said. “Today was one of those days when everything seemed to go right for me.”

Simpson saw red all day, from a birdie on the first hole to one on the last. He didn’t record a bogey, didn’t make a mistake with his putter.

Yet, the moment the round ended, Simpson wanted to make a beeline for the practice range. To work on what, nobody knows. Maybe his visor-tipping technique was a mess.

What he ought to do is find Byron Nelson, the former Inverness club pro turned golf legend. The kindly Nelson told Peggy Simpson to relay a message to her husband.

Like Nelson’s swing, the advice was short and sweet: “Aim for the middle of the greens. You’ll always get a birdie putt.”

Said Simpson after having only 27 putts Thursday: “Pretty good advice.”

Wadkins had a nice day himself. He even broke a smile afterward, something he didn’t do after holing a nine-iron from 139 yards for an eagle on No. 11. If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought the grimacing Wadkins had just tapped in for a 10, not plucked the ball out of the cup for a two.

Wadkins is like that: serious, intense, ornery. Someone made the mistake of asking him if there was anything he needed to work on after the sparkling Thursday effort.

“I’m real (ticked) off with 65,” he said. “Hey, I’m going to have some nice pasta tonight, some Scotch and enjoy the evening.”

He earned it. Wadkins missed only three greens in regulation. Grinding and scrambling weren’t part of his first-round review vocabulary.

Instead, Wadkins is trying to win a tournament, as well as a place on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, which is captained by close friend Tom Watson.

In fact, Watson and Wadkins played a practice round earlier in the week against Lee Janzen and Paul Azinger, both of whom have secured Ryder Cup spots. The result?

“We dusted off Azinger and Janzen,” Wadkins said.

Wadkins, who has played on nine Ryder Cup teams, desperately wants a spot on the 12-man U.S. roster. A PGA victory would all but guarantee him a place.

Meanwhile, Simpson couldn’t care less. “I don’t think I’ll be one of the Watson picks even if I win here,” he said.

Until Simpson and Wadkins made their sprints up the leaderboard, the attention was focused on two no-names, Zokol and Hart.

Zokol, whose name sounds as though it should be on a prescription drug label, hasn’t exactly had a banner ’93. He has botched more cuts than an airport barber, missing nine of 19. During one tournament, he ventured into the crowd in search of a heckler.

Even the official PGA Championship players’ guide had a tough time coming up with something nice to say about Zokol. About the best it could do was this fascinating career bio tidbit: “Roommate for three years with Bobby Clampett.”

Zokol, a Canadian, won the Greater Milwaukee Open last year. That’s it for PGA Tour victories, so needless to say, nobody has alerted an engraver about sticking his name on the Wanamaker Trophy just yet.

“If you look at the money list, the indicators are not conducive to me staying,” Zokol said of his chances. “I don’t think of the money list when I’m playing.”

Hart isn’t quite the mystery Zokol is. The other tour players regard him as someone to watch, because of a handful of top-15 finishes this season. He is 26 and, on occasion, his temper moves directly to boil.

This is only his third major tournament and third year on the circuit, but already he has the nickname, “Baby Volcano.” Steve Pate, king of the on-course tantrums, was the inspiration.

“I guess I’m the up-and-coming ‘Volcano,’ ” said Hart, who has been known to snap a club in half when sufficiently perturbed.

Hart, whose father used to be a club pro, broke so many clubs in anger that he perfected the quickie shaft replacement technique. Either that, or get whupped by the old man.

“When I was in high school, it got to where I could re-shaft a club faster than anyone on the planet,” he said.

So far Hart has kept his cool. A 66 will do that.

Golf Notes

Keith Clearwater didn’t stay long. After shooting a 78, he packed up and quickly left Toledo. The official PGA explanation: “He was unhappy with his game.” . . . Bob Tway, who has finished no higher than tied for 45th in the PGA since winning the tournament in 1986, shot a one-under-par 70. For Tway, who has struggled for two years, the round was encouraging and comforting. “Anytime you come back to a place where you played well, you want to play well again,” he said.. . . Darrell Kestner, a club pro from Manhasset, N.Y., recorded the first double eagle in PGA Championship history. On No. 13, a 515-yard par-five, Kestner holed his second shot from 222 yards out.

LEADERS

Scott Simpson: 33-31--64

Lanny Wadkins: 33-32--65

Dudley Hart: 33-33--66

Richard Zokol: 34-32--66

Mark McCumber: 35-32--67

Barry Lane: 33-34--67

Dan Forsman: 34-33--67

Eduardo Romero: 32-35--67

Steve Elkington: 33-34--67

Mike Hulbert: 32-35--67

Phil Mickelson: 33-34--67