Stadler Late, Gets More Than a Tardy Slip : Golf: He misses tee time at La Costa by 90 seconds and it costs him a two-stroke penalty. Huston takes lead.

By THOMAS BONK

Jan. 7, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

CARLSBAD —

How late is late?

For Craig Stadler it was exactly 90 seconds, a mere minute and a half that meant a two-stroke penalty and a golf cart full of irritation.

“It’s got me feeling (ticked off),” Stadler said.

It was a rollicking Friday for the Mercedes Championships at spongy La Costa, where sunshine replaced rain for 36 holes that produced some of those, well, special moments.

There were Stadler’s two-shot penalty for showing up late, Lee Janzen’s 63 to tie the course record, John Huston’s clean-shaven face and John Daly’s hairy return to golf.

Huston shot 67-66, and his score of 133 leads Janzen by two shots. Janzen followed up his first round of 72 with a stream-of-consciousness 63 when he felt at one with his putter.

“Amazing,” Janzen said.

Janzen needed only 21 putts in his record round, and that meant only one thing to him.

“That’s not a lot,” he said.

Meanwhile, Stadler might be figuring how much his two-shot penalty will cost him in this $1-million tournament.

He shot 71-65 in the two rounds and would be one shot behind Huston if not for the two-stroke penalty. Two rounds were made necessary by Thursday’s opening-round washout.

If Stadler felt like it, which he didn’t, he could have related how his latest brush with the rules compared to one at the 1987 Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open in San Diego.

In that one, now the Buick Invitational of California, he was disqualified after being reported by a television viewer for improving his stance by kneeling on a towel for a shot.

“I’m not talking about the towel,” Stadler said. “The statute of limitations has run out on that one.”

If that was Towelgate, what happened Friday was simply Lategate.

“Why does this stuff keep happening to me?” Stadler joked. “Why me? I’m going to change my name to Nancy Kerrigan.”

Stadler’s tee time was 8:02 a.m., but starter Bob Fulton noticed Stadler wasn’t there and called senior rules director Mike Shea on the walkie talkie.

Shea started to the tee and said he saw Stadler leaving the putting green. After talking with Fulton, who has been a starter at La Costa for 27 years, Shea notified Stadler he was late for his tee time and liable to be penalized two strokes.

Shea met with Stadler again in the No. 4 fairway and once more on the 18th green when he informed Stadler of the two-shot penalty.

Shea acknowledged there was a lot of discussing going on in the three meetings.

“None of them were very pleasant,” Shea said.

Stadler said he didn’t know where he was at 8:02 a.m. and said he was never called to the tee.

“It’s his job to announce when it’s our turn to hit,” Stadler said.

Not really, said Shea, who said it’s the player’s responsibility to be on the tee on time.

Stadler, paired with Scott Hoch, was not convinced. Hoch was not penalized because he could not tee off until after Stadler.

Huston was sporting a full beard until Tuesday, mainly because he hates to shave. He had six birdies and a bogey during his second round and thought the rain-softened greens held up pretty well.

That may not be the case if the weather forecasts are right in their prediction for rain today.

Huston isn’t worried.

“They’re never right, the weather guys,” he said. “You can’t go by them.”

Daly was at 149 and tied for next-to-last place with Brian Henninger, 16 shots behind Huston.

Daly, who shot 75-74, is playing his first tournament since voluntarily leaving the PGA Tour in August after a tumultuous year.

There is no reason to be discouraged, Daly said. “I’m proud of the way I hung in there,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

LEADERS

John Huston: 67-66--133

Lee Janzen: 72-63--135

Craig Stadler: 71-65--136

Bob Estes: 69-68--137