Calcavecchia Is the Lowest of the Low After 54 Holes

By THOMAS BONK

Jan. 18, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

INDIAN WELLS —

Besides being a pro golfer, Jay Don Blake is a part-time drag racer who drove his 1957 Chevrolet to victory in a race not too long ago. That kind of acceleration might come in handy here.

But if there’s anything to be learned from playing a five-day event like the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, it’s probably that playing 90 holes isn’t much like a drag race.

Actually, the pace out here is more like a procession.

Mark Calcavecchia’s 66 Friday at La Quinta put him one shot ahead of Blake after 54 holes, but they’re not exactly running away and hiding.

With 36 holes to go, there are 28 players within nine shots of the lead, and that makes for a crowd. So far, under par is par for the course. Of the 128 players in the field, 116 are at par or better. The last time there were so many people in one place around here, it was the line at the margarita stand.

Calcavecchia is 19 under par at 197, one shot better than Blake, who put up a 66 at Indian Wells.

But John Daly shot 64 at Bermuda Dunes and begins the day at 202, five shots behind Calcavecchia in a five-way tie for third.

Grant Waite, who had a 64 at Indian Ridge, and Dan Pooley, who had a 63 at Indian Wells, are tied with Daly, as are John Cook and Mark O’Meara.

Larry Rinker, who led the first round and was tied with Calcavecchia after the second, shot par Friday at Indian Ridge and was six shots behind Calcavecchia.

Pooley had a memorable round. He began with a bogey, then carded 10 birdies the rest of the way. Since he hasn’t won in 10 years and needed a sponsor’s exemption to play, Pooley’s reaction was understandable.

“I am happy to be here,” he said.

Calcavecchia wasn’t happy until he turned himself around and birdied five of the last six holes.

On his 13th, No. 4 at La Quinta, he hit a one-iron nearly out of bounds, then hooked an eight-iron over some houses to within 30 feet and made the putt for a birdie.

Nothing like a little creative golf.

“If that ball was OB, I was only one under, so I was looking at maybe a 71,” he said. “It was a huge break. It was the only bad shot I hit all day.”

Blake had a couple of them, both on the same hole. That would be the 446-yard 10th at Indian Wells, where he might have been thinking about changing hobbies from drag racing to forestry, since he managed to hit trees on either side of the fairway.

Blake also landed in a bunker and two-putted for a double bogey.

“I kind of had to regroup,” he said.

Blake has been drag racing for six years and that’s long enough to know that when something goes wrong on the track, drivers kick their cars.

It’s sort of the same story when something goes wrong on the golf course, Blake said.

“You kick your caddie,” he said. “No, you either go kick your bag, throw your club or something. You try to blame it on somebody else besides yourself.”

Blake came right back on No. 11 with a birdie when he hit a wedge to three feet, then birdied three of the last five holes to stay close to Calcavecchia.

O’Meara’s 68 at Bermuda Dunes featured six birdies and two bogeys and turned out to be a lot less eventful than Thursday’s round. O’Meara had a 66 on Thursday at La Quinta, despite some distractions--such as the three times the Bob Hope Girls crossed in front of him on the green.

O’Meara said he actually enjoys the pro-am format, which produces such distractions in the celebrity-studded field.

“It can be distracting,” he said. “But I like people a lot. It’s part of my personality.”

And in this format, there’s nothing like making loads of birdies to deepen a player’s level of appreciation.

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Bob Hope Scores

LEADERS

Mark Calcavecchia: 64-67-66--197 -19

Jay Don Blake: 65-67-66--198 -18

Don Pooley: 70-69-63--202 -14

John Cook: 66-69-67--202 -14

Grant Waite: 68-70-64--202 -14

John Daly: 65-73-64--202 -14