True to Form, Hope Reaches Low Points

It was business as usual on opening day at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, all right. It’s almost as if they start the tournament with this announcement on the first tee: “Gentlemen, start your birdies.”

Pretty soon, they’re going to keep track of scores on sonar, because they’re going very low, if Wednesday’s first round is any indication. Jay Haas and Brandel Chamblee showed the way with nine-under 63s that were barely enough for the lead since they’re one shot up on six other golfers who shot 64.

That group at eight under includes Phil Mickelson, who hasn’t played since August but in his first competitive round in nearly five months looked as though he had never been away.

Chamblee is making his first start of the year after celebrating the birthdays of his wife and son as well as his parents’ anniversary.

“I decided it was time to try and make some money instead of spending it like I have been,” Chamblee said.

As for Haas, who won the Hope in 1988, he’s 48 now, which means he’s only two years away from riding a cart on the Senior PGA Tour. Chances are that can’t be any easier a ride than the Hope has been in recent years.

“It’s about getting the ball in the hole,” Haas said. “And occasionally, I can do that still.”

Most players were getting the ball into the hole in record time, but that’s not so unusual. A score of 63 has been the first-round lead at the Hope every year since 1997. In 1996, Mark Brooks led with a 66.

Opening day was a study in low scores--100 players in the field of 128 shot under par. How this happened is not much of a mystery. Everybody knows the deal around here. Mickelson said it as well as anyone, in an understated sort of way.

“We know the courses here are very susceptible to birdies,” he said. And holes are round and bunkers have sand in them.

Haas hasn’t won a tournament in nine years, but he took some putting lessons from former tour player Stan Utley last year and started to notice that good things were beginning to happen.

Haas said he knew something was going right at Tamarisk.

“It was kind of a magical day for me on the greens,” he said. “I putted about as well as I’ve ever putted before. I was on fire on the greens.”

It was a common condition Wednesday. Jerry Kelly, who recorded his 64 at the Palmer Course at PGA West, said the pressure is always on to post a low score.

“You’ve got a benchmark now of, what, 36 under?” Kelly said. “So you do the math. It equals a pretty low score every day.

“It’s an absolute birdie-fest. You cannot let up. You could be 30 under and lose by a lot. So you do the best you can to make every putt.”

Mickelson and Kelly, last week’s winner at the Sony Open in Hawaii, have a lot of company a shot behind Haas and Chamblee. Heath Slocum, Glen Hnatiuk, Kirk Triplett and John Senden are all at 64.

Corey Pavin, Mark O’Meara and Charles Howell are in a six-player bunch at 65. It’s a good start, we should all remember, because that’s what Joe Durant opened with last year on his way to the record setting 36-under total. And speaking of records, on his way to a 65, J.P. Hayes made eight consecutive birdies at the Palmer Course to tie the PGA Tour record.

Said Hayes: “Things just started falling for me.”

The feeling was contagious.

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Leaders

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