SENIOR CLASSIC NOTEBOOK / MARTIN BECK : Eichelberger Has One of Those Days

Dave Eichelberger, who started the day atop the Toshiba Senior Classic leader board, ended it quite a way down Saturday.

His five-over-par 75 left him in a group of seven, six shots behind leader Tom Wargo.

“Yesterday I couldn’t do anything wrong, today I couldn’t do anything right,” Eichelberger said. “It was 100% opposite. I can’t come up with an explanation.”

His putting, which had fueled his seven-under 63 Friday, deserted him Saturday.

“I couldn’t make anything,” he said. “I three-putted twice. I missed three or four putts there from about four or five feet for par and did not make one single birdie.

“I don’t know. It just didn’t work.”

*

Some hazards are not on the scorecard. Simon Hobday’s drive on the 419-yard No. 5 was skirting the tree line when a course marshal peeked out from behind one of the larger trees.

“It hit his foot and went under a damn tree,” said Hobday, who is from South Africa. “I was so bloody angry.”

Actually, the ball had nestled in a recess in the tree, so Hobday had to punch out onto the fairway and took a bogey.

“That might have been what woke me up,” Hobday said. “After that I made four threes in a row.”

Two of those were birdies, and he made three more birdies to finish four-under 66, one under for the tournament.

*

DeWitt Weaver, who shot 65 Saturday to move to three under, got a little help from his caddie/son Brian midway through the round.

Facing a 30-foot putt on the eighth green, Weaver called his son over.

“I was having trouble reading putts, so I had him do it,” Weaver said. “I knocked it right in the middle. I had him read all the rest after that.”

Weaver didn’t need any help on the 18th green. He chipped in from about 35 feet.

*

Crowd favorite: After a birdie-free first round, Chi Chi Rodriguez was finally able to unleash his trademark saber dance on the 175-yard ninth hole.

Rodriguez had two more birdies on the back nine and finished one-under 69, leaving him four over for the tournament.

After his round, he signed autographs for nearly an hour, signed and gave his glove and a ball to a young boy and even agreed to sign a mother’s baby carrier.

*

Up-and-down day: John Brodie, the former NFL quarterback playing here on a sponsor’s exemption, took a bogey on the first hole, then birdied the next four.

Brodie, who shot four-over 74 Friday, is trying to regain his form of 1991 when he won the senior event at Rancho Park. He finished the front nine Saturday two under and birdied the 10th hole. But he fell apart late with bogeys on 13, 14 and 16, and finished even 70 for the day.

“I wasn’t playing good, I just made four or five putts,” Brodie said. “I felt like I had seven different parts and they were all going in different directions.”

*

Good day: The Senior PGA Tour wives sold $2,210 in tickets Saturday at Mesa Verde for a drawing to win a needlepoint carpet featuring autographs of 93 of the world’s greatest living golfers over 50.

It was the most the group has sold in a day.

A $10 donation buys a chance at the carpet, which will include signatures of Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, as well as the four living U.S. Presidents who play golf.

The money benefits the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which is working to eradicate breast cancer. The drawing will be held in September.