Clements a Birdie Watcher : Golf: He spies 12 of them in his round of 61 to take the Bob Hope Classic lead. Crenshaw cards a 13 on 18th hole at PGA West.

Lennie Clements was on such a high at La Quinta Country Club on Friday, he didn’t realize how low his score was.

Ben Crenshaw was on such a low at the Palmer Course at PGA West, nobody was sure how high his score was at the 18th hole.

Clements just kept firing everything at the pin and kept making birdie putts. When everything was totaled at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, he had a course-record 11-under-par 61, a 54-hole total of 19-under-par 197 and a one-stroke lead over Scott Hoch, the second-round leader who shot a 70, also at La Quinta.

Crenshaw kept pumping shots into the lake and finally ended his misery with a chip and two putts. When everything was totaled on No. 18, he had a record 13. It was only his ninth hole of the day because he had started his round at No. 10. The 13 gave him a 45 for nine holes, then he played the front nine in 41 and wound up with an 86, which left him at 229.

Clements was still in somewhat of a daze when asked if he could remember the last time he had led a tournament.

“Do you mean on this tour?” Clements asked.

It was a legitimate question.

Clements has had some lean times during his 14-year career on the PGA Tour and hit his low in 1992 when he earned only $30,121. He supplemented his income by playing in 14 Nike Tour events.

Crenshaw was still in somewhat of a daze when asked to explain how he took a 13, declining to talk to the media.

No. 18 on the Palmer Course is a 532-yard hole that dog-legs to the left. A massive lake runs up the entire left side of the fairway. Crenshaw’s drive found the fairway, but a four-wood, from 224 yards, landed in the water. Then, from 160 yards, he hit two seven-irons into the water. He went down to a six-iron and put that one into the water, too. He finally got his next shot, also a six-iron, over the lake and just past the green, chipped on and two-putted for his 13.

It was the tournament lowlight during a week in which scoring records have been threatened, tied or set every day.

“You come out here and just expect somebody to shoot a sub-65 round every day,” said Jay Delsing, who had a 66 at Indian Wells that left him at 200, four strokes out of the lead and tied for third place with John Huston, who shot a 66 on the Palmer Course.

Keith Clearwater, with a 70, and Guy Boros, with a 67--both on the Palmer Course--are tied for fifth at 201.

Hal Sutton set the tone for the week with his opening-round 63 at Indian Wells; Hoch chipped in with his 62 on the Palmer Course Thursday and now that Clements has kept the streak going with his 61, nobody will be surprised with a 60 today.

The record Clements broke was the 63 set by Rocco Mediate in 1991 and equaled by Blaine McCallister and Hoch the same year and by Mike Springer in 1992.

“The courses are so perfect, you just know there’s going to be a lot of birdies,” Clements said. “Once you get on a roll, you get confident and feel like you can make all of them.”

In going over his round, Clements realized it could have been a day to shoot 60 or better without needing much luck.

He birdied the first hole, making an 18-foot putt, but bogeyed the second hole.

“That was a little bit of bad luck,” he said. “I had to lay up on that hole because I drove it into a bunker. I thought I had hit it close enough to save par with a short putt, but the ball spun back about 40 feet.”

That was his lone bogey.

He made birdie putts from six feet at the fourth hole, from five feet at the sixth, from 15 feet at the seventh and from 20 feet at the ninth.

“I was feeling pretty good about my round at the turn,” he said. “It’s nice to get it to four-under on the front nine with a bogey. Then you hope you can make another four-under on the back.”

Clements almost birdied the 10th, but lipped out from 20 feet.

On the 11th, a 526-yard hole, he hit his third shot from 90 yards to within two feet of the cup.

He barely missed a 15-footer at the 12th. It was the last putt he would miss the rest of the round.

Clements laid up at the par-five 13th, then hit a wedge to 12 feet. Birdie.

He hit a six-iron to seven feet at the 14th. Birdie.

He hit a five-iron to 30 feet at the 15th. Birdie. “That was my best putt of the day,” Clements said.

He hit an eight-iron to two feet at the 16th. Birdie.

He hit a five-iron to five feet at the 17th. Birdie.

He hit a five-iron to six feet at the 18th. Birdie.

“It was really exciting. People were cheering every time I hit an iron to the green. That meant it was close and I was going to have a chance at a birdie,” Clements said.

Because there are still two rounds to play, Clements isn’t getting too excited about his chances--yet.