It’s a Tie in Triplicate, Any Way You Spell It

The leaders’ names as today’s fourth round begins in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic: Deane Pappas, Kirk Triplett and Duffy Waldorf.

You may know them in other ways--as John Daly’s former college teammate, the guy whose name is misspelled on his own golf bag and the fellow who hits balls with kids’ artwork scribbled all over them.

Whatever works is fine. The thing is, their names don’t really matter nearly as much right now as they might come Sunday, when the last birdie is shot and the last guy out the door at the Palmer Course at PGA West cleans up the feathers.

Pappas is a 34-year-old South African by way of the University of Arkansas, where he and Daly played on the same team and probably shared one of those hog-snout hats. Pappas laid waste to Bermuda Dunes on Friday with a nine-under-par 63, good for a 19-under total of 197 after 54 holes. He’s still remembering the big lift he got Wednesday at Indian Wells, where he made a double-eagle two on the last hole. Said Pappas: “That was nice.”

For more insight, it’s better to call on Waldorf, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour who didn’t even commit to the Hope until the deadline last Friday, when he was in Hawaii, where he was busy missing the cut. To hear him explain it, he had just finished lunch and was thinking about going to the beach, but decided that the first thing he should do was to call in and say he would play the Hope.

“I thought, ‘Well, I don’t really want to play Palm Springs, but....’”

And so Waldorf, who went out Friday and stuck a 64 on the Palmer Course, has played 54 holes with just one bogey.

So when was the last time that happened, Duffy? “Without having to dig deep in my memory bank, I’d say never.”

Then there is Triplett, the Nissan Open champion two years ago, who matched Waldorf with his own 64 at the Palmer Course, despite using a bag that has his name spelled TRIPRETT on the back.

“I’m sure the guy stitching it got a phone call in the middle,” he said.

Hopefully, it’s not the same guy who does the engraving for the trophy on Sunday.

Anyway, at this point, not a whole lot of preparation work can be done for that little task. Even though the Triplett-Pappas-Waldorf triumvirate shares the lead, it’s only a one-shot margin over Jerry Kelly, Brandel Chamblee, Cameron Beckman and John Senden.

In fact, 17 players are within four shots of the lead, including Daly in a group at 15-under 201 that also includes Phil Mickelson.

Daly had a 65 at Bermuda Dunes and moved from a tie for 34th to a tie for 13th. Mickelson had a rough day at the Palmer Course with a two-under 70 to fall from a tie for third. Jay Haas is two shots behind the leaders, just ahead of a Justin Leonard-Craig Stadler-Chris DiMarco-David Berganio foursome that’s at 16-under 200. Leonard had a 64 at Bermuda Dunes and Stadler, 48, had a 64 at Indian Wells.

Triplett has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Nevada, and he obviously knows something about math. He started figuring up how much under par he might have to be to win Sunday.

“You’ve got to be around that 30-under range,” he said. “You have to be there to have a chance.”

With an eight-birdie, no-bogey round, Triplett made the most of his chances at the Palmer Course and should enjoy today even more because he’s playing user-friendly Indian Wells. “Well, yeah, there’s a lot of low scores shot at Indian Wells over the years,” he said.

The only player who shot a 65 and probably was a little disappointed was Kelly, who made a bogey on his last hole at Tamarisk. Beckman, who won the Southern Farm Bureau Classic last year despite a sore neck, doesn’t have anything wrong with him this week, so that’s probably a bad sign. But with a 64 at the Palmer Course, he can’t be counted out. He’s a survivor, which is what you become when you win a PGA Tour event after you’ve gone through qualifying school three years in a row.

Meanwhile, Waldorf is continuing his tradition of playing with golf balls that have doodles on them. Since his kids aren’t here this week, Waldorf has borrowed Chase and Kyle Freeman, the children of touring pro Robin Freeman, to do the artwork.

The patterns are unmistakable, said Waldorf: “Well, this one looks like a couple of circles with some blobs in the middle.”

Whatever. As long as he can find it and as long as it rolls into the hole quickly, that’s all any player can ask this week.