Veteran Haas Has Hot Hand at Hope Classic

It seemed like old times Saturday at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. No, change that. It was old times, especially at Indian Wells, where 48-year-old Jay Haas shot 63 for the second time in four days and took a one-stroke lead going into today’s final round.

If Haas wins, at least he’s going to know how to act, because it would be nearly 14 years to the day that he won the Hope in 1988 at Indian Wells. Carrying it a step further, if Haas wins, he’ll have PGA Tour victories in four decades. Only Sam Snead and Ray Floyd have won events in four decades.

No one should expect Haas to need a walker to make it to his victory speech. Just two years shy of being eligible for the Senior PGA Tour, Haas has put together the best four consecutive rounds of his life--63, 68, 68, 63--and is a mere 26 under par at 262.

Haas would like to say he saw all of this coming, but he really can’t, because he hasn’t won in nine years. But he does know what kind of mind-set has been working for him.

“What you need out here is to be aggressive, take chances when you can,” he said. “But who predicts shooting 26 under for four rounds of golf?”

Who would have predicted that Kenny Perry and Cameron Beckman would be the players closest to Haas? Who would have predicted that Haas and Kirk Triplett would hit golf balls into trees during their rounds? Who would have predicted that after setting a record with 36 under par in his victory a year ago, Joe Durant would miss the cut?

Haas says he remains confident, knows he’s putting well and is playing from tee to green as well as anyone in the field. But he didn’t want to get too far ahead of himself, which is probably why he sort of softballed his handicap of the Palmer Course setup for today’s last round.

Said Haas: “There’s rough out there. ... There’s water, you know, it’s not a pitch-and-putt course.”

And this is not a pitch-and-putt tournament, even though the scores are so low it almost seems that way.

Perry, the 1995 champion when he finished 25 under, blistered the Palmer Course with a 10-under 62 and moved up from 13th place to second ... and he’s now 25 under with 18 holes to play. So is Beckman, who had a 65 at Indian Wells, including a 31 on the front side, his back nine. Going that low is not familiar territory for Beckman.

“I’ve never been 25 under after 72 holes,” he said.

Triplett, Deane Pappas, Brandel Chamblee and David Berganio are tied for fourth and only two shots from the lead. Duffy Waldorf and John Senden are within three shots. Also right there, easily within reach of Haas, is Phil Mickelson, who made the most of Indian Wells with a seven-under 65. Mickelson is tied with Jerry Kelly at 22-under 266.

Anyone else, it’s going to be a stretch to get a winner, but Haas said he expects low scores again. Somewhere in the mid-30s is going to get it done, he said.

“Somebody could come out of the pack at 23 under, 24 under or 25 under, and it’s kind of funny to say that’s the pack, but I guess that’s what it’s going to be,” Haas said.

You might guess you’re going to have a good round when you eagle the first hole, which is what Haas did. He hit a five-wood and pushed it in the short rough on the right into a divot, then, from 154 yards, pumped an eight-iron at the flag and watched the ball disappear.

Triplett also watched a ball disappear in his round of 67 at Indian Wells. At the fifth hole, he hit a three-wood from the middle of the fairway into a palm tree. “It gobbled it up,” said Triplett, who followed up that bogey with a birdie on the par-three sixth.

Perry was almost stopped before he even began because of a sore hip that nearly caused him to withdraw before his first round Wednesday at Bermuda Dunes. He shot a 68 in pain, but wasn’t hurting when he torched the Palmer Course with his 62.

“It’s just a putting contest,” he said. “With no wind, the courses are defenseless.”