It’s a Day of Chills and Thrills for Tryba and Paulson

What kind of a day was it for Dennis Paulson on Friday at the Buick Invitational? Blocked by a wall of trees on the 18th hole of Torrey Pines’ South Course, he floated a sand wedge to the fairway and then holed a pitching wedge from 120 yards. Ho-hum, an eagle.

“I got chills,” Paulson said.

Ted Tryba had the chills too, his coming from the less-than-balmy temperatures. The weather was good, but certainly not cozy warm, not as warm as the golf games of either Tryba or Paulson.

Tryba, the first-round leader with a 65 on the North Course, repeated that score Friday on the tougher South, holding the lead at 14-under-par 130 at the halfway mark.

Paulson’s 64, which included a course record-equaling 29 on the back nine, left him one shot behind.

These are the guys to catch as the 73 golfers who made the cut at three under gather on the South Course for the final two rounds. Frank Lickliter, minus-11, and Billy Ray Brown, minus-10, are the only others at double figures below par.

Among the so-called “name” golfers, Craig Stadler is at minus-eight, Tiger Woods and defending champion Scott Simpson at minus-five, and Peter Jacobsen at minus-three. Phil Mickelson, at two under, was among those who missed the cut.

Woods was five under after his first nine holes, but his hopes of moving closer into contention were dashed by a couple of double bogeys on the South Course’s back nine.

It was on that same back nine that the leaders made their moves. Both played the back side first, Paulson four groups ahead of Tryba. Paulson’s eagle at 18 moved him to 12 under at the time and into a two-shot lead, but Tryba proved to be a relentless stalker.

“I was just playing real solid,” Tryba said. “Drove the ball in the fairway. If anything, I could have shot better. I missed short putts for birdies on six and nine and a short putt for eagle on 18.”

Tryba, wearing a long-sleeved sweater under a short-sleeved golf shirt to ward off the nasty ocean breezes, birdied five holes on the back to make the turn with a 31. His birdie on the 18th, after he’d missed an eight-foot eagle attempt, pushed him back into the lead.

Paulson had followed his eagle with a bogey on No. 1 after he made the turn.

Everything was going Paulson’s way before that bogey on No. 1. He was five under for the back going to the 18th, with three birdies and an eagle on the 13th.

“It was a joke,” he said. “Everything I hit was right at it. It was like it is for you guys when you’re out playing with buddies and having a good match. You don’t even realize what you’re scoring. And then I made that shot on 18.”

But Paulson hit only two fairways on his back nine and needed a scrambling birdie on No. 9--two shots out of the rough and a 25-foot putt--to finish his round in a temporary tie with Tryba at 13 under.

Tryba, if he will excuse the expression, was not quite as warm on the front either. He had a birdie on the third hole and then another on the seventh, the South’s toughest hole, to get to 14 under and hold the lead at the halfway mark.

“I’m not going to shake a stick at a 65,” Tryba said. “I’ve got to put it in my mind that I can do better than that. I have to focus as much as I can on each shot and try to keep making birdies. I can’t look back and admire anything yet. Maybe on Sunday.”

The Leaders

Scores through Friday’s play (Complete scores, Page 10):

BUICK INVITATIONAL--PAR 72

Ted Tryba: 65-65--130 -14

Dennis Paulson: 67-64--131 -13

Frank Lickliter: 67-66--133 -11

Billy Ray Brown: 69-65--134 -10