Perez goes into fourth round of Hope 2 shots ahead

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Pat Perez expected to hit a rough spot or two over the long grind of the Bob Hope Classic.
His sensational putting from the first two rounds of the five-day tournament deserted him for the first nine holes of the third. He found his touch again after the turn, birdied five holes and finished with a 5-under 67 Friday to maintain a two-shot lead.

"In 90 holes, you're going to go through a stretch like that and you're just not going to be hot," Perez said of his 1-under 35 at the turn, a mediocre score in the low-scoring Hope.

After opening with rounds of 61 and 63 to complete the first 36 holes at 20 under, unprecedented in PGA Tour history, Perez was at 25-under 191 heading into the final 36 holes of the tournament.

He played the first two days on the Palmer and Nicklaus courses at PGA West, and moved to SilverRock Resort for the third round. Four courses are used for the first four days, which are a pro-am. The low-scoring 70 pros, and ties, go it alone at the Palmer course on Sunday.

He said he had never played SilverRock before, "So I was kind of worried about some of the holes."

"I knew it was going to be tough over there and I thought I got out with a pretty good score. And I've still got the lead," said Perez, who has a pair of second-place finishes on the tour but hasn't won a title.

He didn't match the tour record of 189 for the first 54 holes of a tournament, shared by three players and last accomplished by Tommy Armour on a par-70 course in the 2003 Texas Open. The PGA Tour does not keep a record of lowest 54 holes against par.

Steve Stricker shot an 11-under 61 to move into second at 23 under. Vaughn Taylor's 64 left him another shot back at 194. Jason Dufner, who made it into the tournament when Anthony Kim withdrew Tuesday because of a sore shoulder, stayed in contention with a 67 that left him in a group of four at 195.

Taylor wasn't surprised that his 22 under was only good enough for third.

"It's the Hope and the weather is good," he said. "Sometimes we play such difficult courses and difficult conditions and it's good to have a change of pace where you feel like you can just go out and aim at flags and make birdies and just have fun."

Tom Pernice Jr., whose 31 on his first nine at Burmuda Dunes briefly gave him the lead at 21 under before Perez had teed off, had a 37 on the back and was in a group of five at 196.

Defending champion D.J. Trahan shot a 65 to move within striking distance of the lead, six shots off Perez's pace.

Stricker, who played the Palmer course, wasn't expecting to shoot as low as he did.

"I wasn't thinking 11 under," he said. "But I was thinking about putting up a good solid 8-, 9-under round and fortunately I was able to get back up there. I made up some ground today."

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Golf-Japan’s Ishikawa stunned at U.S. Masters invite

By Alastair Himmer

TOKYO, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Japanese schoolboy sensation Ryo Ishikawa was stunned to have become the youngest player ever to be invited to play at the U.S. Masters.

The 17-year-old, already one of Japan’s biggest sporting celebrities, will become the second youngest player to compete at the Masters when he makes his major debut on April 9 at Augusta.

“It still hasn’t sunk in,” Ishikawa told Japanese media on Saturday. “It’s always been my dream to play at the Masters and on the PGA Tour.”

Ishikawa said he had been watching television when the call came from Augusta National offering him a special invitation for this year’s tournament.

“I was sitting in the living room watching TV and mum answered the phone,” he said. “At first I didn’t understand the English but I caught the words ‘invite you’ and ‘Masters’.

“It was a pleasant surprise. I was so nervous I just hung up with a blank look on my face.”

Ishikawa, who helped Asia beat Europe to claim the Royal Trophy earlier this month, will be 17 years six months and 23 days when the opening major of the season starts.

American Tommy Jacobs, who qualified for his first Masters as an amateur in 1952, was 17 years one month and 21 days.

“When I think about playing at Augusta it makes me feel numb,” said Ishikawa, who is ranked 60th in the world, the second highest Japanese player behind number 34 Shingo Katayama.

“It would be rude for someone like me to speculate about where I would finish at the Masters. I’m not on the same level as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson but I would like to meet them.”

Ishikawa added: “I don’t to think too much about it. I just want to play well. If just one person says ‘Nice shot!’ or remembers my name I’ll be happy.”

Ishikawa, widely seen as the saviour of the flagging JGTO men’s tour, is poised to make his U.S. PGA Tour debut in next month’s Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club.

He shot to fame in May 2007 when he became the youngest winner on the Japanese tour at 15 years eight months.

Ishikawa won his first tournament as a professional in November at the ABC Championship after joining the paid ranks at the start of 2008.

Last year he also became the youngest player to win 100 million yen ($1.11 million) in a single season on the Japanese tour.

(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)

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Palmer brings embassador spirit to Hope Classic

LA QUINTA – Dozens of interviews. Hundreds of autographs. Thousands of handshakes. And more, so many more smiling salutations.

All part of being host of Bob Hope Chrysler Classic?

Just part of being Arnold Palmer.

By design, the most popular golfer at the 50th Bob Hope Chrysler Classic isn’t in the field. In fact, the five-time winner of this event rarely golfs anymore.

That doesn’t mean Palmer, the ultra-successful sportsman turned ultra-successful businessman, is any less of an influence on the game than before.

And the King, as he’s long been known, always had an awesome impact.

“He’s probably the biggest impacter on the growth of game from ’60s to the ’90s,” PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said.

“He’s probably the best example for our players to follow in terms of the consummate gentleman and how a professional should relate to fans. He’s better, probably, than anybody else in sports.”

And that’s why he’s turned out to be a swell fit as tournament host, fans concurred.

“I’ve seen him with all the people, he’s just so genuine and so nice and he’s just been a great host,” said Palm Desert’s Jeannie Simpson, a volunteer marshal and longtime member of Arnie’s Army. “It’s perfect for the 50th.”

That’s what he’s saying.

Palmer was the winner of the first Classic – then called the Palm Springs Golf Classic – in 1960, when he shot a final-round 65.

Since then, he delighted in watching the tournament grow.

“The prominence of the tournament has increased rather dramatically over the last 50 years,” Palmer said. “In 1960, you could have probably shot a gun off and not hit anybody. But it has steadily increased from that first one.”

Though substantially bigger than it was when it launched half a century ago, the current incarnation of the Classic is missing the game’s biggest current stars, who’ve made a habit of skipping the 90-hole event that requires its pros to play four rounds with amateurs.

“There’s not a way you can predict what the top players are going to do,” Palmer said. “I hope that (players) would understand that they need to support the tournaments as much as they possibly can.

“I was a player and I knew and I know that you can’t play every week. But when I hear some of the reasons for not playing, it disturbs me a little. They do need to get out and support the events.

“I used to try to spread my tournament appearances so that I never missed a tournament more than two years in a row.”

While Palmer might not have attracted the game’s top players to this year’s event – only two players ranked among the top 30 in the World Golf Rankings in the field – he certainly attracted many of his old fans, and some new ones.

On Saturday, Palmer gamely participated in a Make A Wish Foundation event that introduced him to Brock Marvin. The 15-year-old from Elizabethtown, N.Y., suffers from an enlarged heart, a condition that’s called Familial Dialated Cardiomyopathy and that nearly cost him his life.

Palmer listened to the young player’s story and then headed out to the driving range with him, where he carefully taught Marvin the same grip Deacon Palmer taught his son many years ago.

Afterward, a clearly moved Marvin shook his head and marveled that one of golf’s greatest figures took the time for him.

“For him to do something like that … most people aren’t like that,” Marvin said. “Most people with fame and money aren’t at all like him. He’s a real down-to-earth guy.

“And he is the King,” Marvin added. “He knows what he’s talking about.”

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