Player Is the Top One at Ojai

The only person who doesn’t think Gary Player is leading the FHP Health Care Classic is, well, Player.

It’s not as though Player’s one-shot lead after 36 holes is a secret or anything, it’s just that Player doesn’t consider a single shot to be a lead.

But he does know what it takes to have a real lead as the last round begins today at the Ojai Valley Inn and Country Club.

“Twelve shots,” Player said.

That would be pretty comfortable, all right. You probably could try putting with a bunker rake, use a bottle cap for a tee and hang on to that kind of lead.

Player’s task is to try to keep a grip using the conventional method, which ought to keep his hands just as full as they usually are when he’s mending fences on his ranch, mucking out a horse stall or jetting to Singapore to check out a course he designed.

“It’s so hard to win a tournament,” Player said. “At 60, shooting what I did, 64 and 67, it’s a gift. If someone had told me when I was in my 30s that I would do this, I would have said, ‘You’re smoking, man.’ ”

While no one exactly burned up the course Saturday, Player’s steady three under par moved him into the lead, but only barely. Tom Shaw posted his second consecutive 66 and begins the day at 132, eight under par, the same as Jack Kiefer, one behind Player’s 36-hole score of 131.

First-round leader Walter Morgan managed only a 71 after opening with a 62, but he is only two shots off the lead at 133. Larry Laoretti shot a 66 and is in fifth place at 134.

John Schroeder’s 65 was the best round of the day and he joins DeWitt Weaver, Rocky Thompson and Tom Wargo at 135, five under.

As the greens firmed up and the wind started swirling in the afternoon, Player produced the score that everyone else will shoot for in this $800,000 tournament where the birdies usually stack up as high as the Topa Topa Mountains.

Player had only three of them Saturday, but he didn’t need any more. When Morgan bogeyed the par-three 14th and Player birdied it by rolling in a five-footer, they were tied.

On the next hole, Player took the lead. He knocked a six-iron to 12 feet and guided the putt into the hole for a birdie.

After that, Player saved par on No. 18 even though he wasn’t happy with his second shot from the rough. He hadn’t stayed with his shot, looking up instead, and that was something he had practiced for 40 minutes before his round.

“It was a waste of time,” Player said. “Well, it wasn’t a waste of time, but it certainly was a waste of effort.”

There was nothing wrong with Morgan’s effort, only his putting, not to mention his irons. He found greatest fault with his nine-iron on the par-three eighth when he hit it over the green. Morgan blamed it on the wind, which changed directions at the wrong time.

“Tricky, tricky,” Morgan said.

Kiefer was merely steady. His 12-foot birdie putt dove into the hole on the 18th to make him feel a lot better about a double bogey on No. 8.

But, like Morgan, he finds himself in a good position as the last 18 holes begin.

“One day to the next, you don’t know what’s going to happen in this game,” he said. “It’s a mystery.”

Shaw’s 66 was pretty straightforward, with five birdies and no bogeys over the last 11 holes. He only wishes he could drive the ball longer.

So far, Shaw said, he has tried everything.

“I’ve swung harder, changed clubs, worked out,” he said. “I’ve even gone on a diet to get rid of my belly. Nothing’s worked.”

Golf Notes

Gary Player won $18,000 for having the best 36-hole score among players 60 or over. The prize money when he won the Masters in 1961 was $20,000. He said he earned $2,000 for winning the British Open in 1959. The winner today gets $120,000. . . . Tom Shaw said he would feel more confident if he birdied the front nine today. “I do that and they’ll be out there with a needle and give me a saliva test,” Shaw said. . . . Ed Sneed shot a hole in one. He aced the 187-yard No. 14 with a six-iron. Rives McBee had a hole in one on No. 11 Friday.