Wet day leads to course record for Bubba Watson at Bob Hope Classic

Reporting from La Quinta — 

Golf balls landed with a splish-splash Friday at the Bob Hope Classic but at least they landed.

One day after the second round of the 90-hole event was canceled by rain for the first time since 1980, the second 18 holes was completed and the leader was Bubba Watson, 31, a long hitter from Bagdad, Fla., who spent his off day doing Twitter videos for his 7,000-plus followers.

Because of the Thursday rainout the tournament is scheduled to finish on Monday for only the third time in its 51-year history.

Watson, whose best professional golf moment was being in the final group at the 2007 U.S. Open, shot a course-record 62 Friday on the SilverRock Resort course.

His two-round total of 16-under par gives him a two-shot lead over Alex Prugh, a 25-year-old who is playing in only his third PGA Tour event. Four golfers, including first-round leader Shane Bertsch, are tied for third at 13-under.

Watson’s score included a 29 on the front nine. He was still on the course when Bertsch finished and Bertsch suggested it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the long-driving Watson at the top.

“The wet weather just totally plays into his favor because his ball’s not going to get out of control when it hits the ground,” Bertsch said. “He can just fly it 330 yards and plug it and lift it, clean it and hit wedges into every hole. It doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

The social media-savvy Watson used Twitter for letting loose his excitement. He likes to post video of himself doing silly things with a golf club like hitting fruit in the hopes of getting on “ The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

After his Thursday round he tweeted, “Man, what a day, a course record!! The best was the chip in for par on 17!”

Excuse the exclamation marks. Watson earned the lead on what have been the two toughest of the four-course rotation here. He’s 16-under after playing La Quinta Country Club (70.234 average over the first two rounds) and SilverRock (72.040).

That doesn’t make Watson feel comfortable though. “I’ve got three days left,” he said. “If it was the last day I’d be a lot happier.”

Because of the continuing rain, the amateurs and celebrities that are part of this tournament were told to stay home Thursday to speed play.

Watson’s wife, Angela (Ball) Watson, who is 6-feet-4 (an inch taller than her husband) was one of those amateurs. When players received a text message telling them of the change in schedule, Watson said his wife, a former basketball player at Georgia, “was yelling in the background . . . she was mad. She would rather her play and me not play.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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