Here’s One Way to Make Up Ground : L.A. Open: Jacobsen jumps several places on leader board with hole in one on 180-yard 14th hole.

Peter Jacobsen started quickly Saturday at Riviera Country Club, then stalled, looking like a golfer who was about to let the top of the leader board run away and hide.

But then Jacobsen pulled out his ace in the hole at No. 14.

Jacobsen’s tee shot, a five-iron into the wind from 180 yards, started right, moved left, skidded onto the green slightly right of the pin and about 12 yards short, rolled directly to the pin and rattled the hole before falling.

Hole in one.

In one swing, Jacobsen gained several strokes, jumped several places on the L.A. Open leader board--moving from a tie for sixth to third--and won a new red Nissan 300 ZX convertible situated directly behind the tee.

After the ace, Jacobsen immediately jumped into the car and pretended to drive off. Then he leaped out, got the hugs, and motored up the fairway to the green gripping his hands on an imaginary steering wheel until he drove himself up to the cup to remove his ball.

“Those are the funny kind of magical moments in golf,” Jacobsen said.

Jacobsen said the tee shots by Fuzzy Zoeller and Nolan Henke gave him the confidence to go at the pin.

“We got up on the tee and Nolan Henke hit a real good shot in there,” said Jacobsen, whose third-round 68 put him at 208, six shots behind leader Fred Couples.

“Fuzzy hit a great-looking shot, ball went right by the hole and he said, ‘Man, I just went from the driver’s seat to the trunk of that car.’ Which I thought was funny.

“When the first two guys hit a good shot, you almost feel like OK, it’s right there for me. So I hit the shot, and the minute I hit it, I went, ‘Oooooh, that looks awfully good.’ It was right at it, felt very, very solid off the blade. It landed and boom, went in the hole.”

Said Zoeller: “We all hit five-irons back there, and I actually hit a very nice-looking shot that hit just about pin high about a foot left of the hole.

“Then he hit his, and heck, it rolled right in the hole.”

The 39-year-old Jacobsen, who is sponsored by Toyota--not Nissan--started the day two-under for the tournament, then birdied Nos. 1, 5, 7 and 8 before bogeying Nos. 9 and 12.

The ace temporarily lifted Jacobsen to six under for the tournament. But, at 15, Jacobsen hooked a four-iron that bounced off a hill beside the green and about 30 yards left.

He had to punch uphill through two trees to get on the green and two-putted for a bogey. He parred in from there, finishing five under overall.

Jacobsen disagreed with the thought that he bogeyed because of the emotion of the 14th.

“Oh, no,” Jacobsen said. “Something like that is so fun and it’s so out of the ordinary. I’ve made about 12 holes in one. But you never expect to make them. It’s just gravy. I’ve never won a car before.”

With Couples and Corey Pavin so far ahead, Jacobsen said he didn’t know if it was realistic to try to catch them today.

But he said if it can be done on any course, it can be done on Riviera, where he finished third at the 1983 PGA Championship and tied for sixth in the L.A. Open last year.

“You can gain shots in a hurry--I made five straight threes on the front side,” Jacobsen said. “And you can lose strokes in a hurry.

“The key for Fred and Corey is they’ve got to be careful they don’t play match play against each other. Because they can go back and forth and stay at nine or 10 (under) and someone at five or someone even at four could rush, make five or six birdies, the next thing they know they’re tied on the 14th hole.”

Where unpredictable things happen.