The Starter: Round 2, 50th Bob Hope Classic

text size

Dunn/Getty Images

Mike Weir will another shot at going low if the weather stays calm in the second round.

Jan. 22, 2009
By PGATOUR.COM staff

The first group will soon tee off in today's second round of the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer. Here's how it sets up:

Note: This is a five-round pro-am event, with PGA TOUR players paired with amateur partners for the first four rounds. There will be a cut after the fourth round, and the field will be paired normally for the fifth and final round. The tournament is spread out over four courses. For a complete rundown of the four courses the field will play this week, click here.

Groups We're Watching

Tee time	Player
11:48 am ET (8:48 am in California)		Pat Perez As hard as it is to believe, Perez has never won on TOUR. He'll have to keep the birdies -- and eagles -- coming this week to change that.
1 pm ET (10 am in California)		Mike Weir Even though Weir doesn't hit it as long as some, his world-class skill with a wedge helps him dominate short par 4s and long par 5s. No one was surprised by his 62 on Wednesday.
12:24 pm ET (9:24 am in California)		Bubba Watson Watson also shot 62 on Wednesday. He, Weir and Perez all played the Palmer Course at PGA West. All three will play the Nicklaus Course in Round 2, the newest course on the rotation.

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR Network on-site correspondent Brett Wright previews Thursday's second round:

In five decades of the Bob Hope Classic, there has never been a scoring day like Wednesday. Silver Rock provided the most difficult scoring challenge in the rotation, and even it yielded a 68.95 scoring average.

Several players had legitimate chances to break the supersonic 60 barrier -- Pat Perez shot 61, Mike Weir and Bubba Watson shot 62, with six other players shooting 63. Not one of those players said anything about it being their best round ever.

With little wind in the forecast for the second round, watch for more low scoring. The greens are receptive and in easy locations due to the four amateurs that play in each group. The greens are running true, but that will change a little as the week goes with the high amount of traffic they are taking.

The fairways are running out just right -- not too hot -- and players are able to place the ball where they want it. I think with these conditions Thursday, we will see the magic number of 59 -- or better -- if the wind stays down.

The one stat(s) you need to know

There were 706 birdies in the first round, averaging out to an incredible 5.5 per player. Both of the players that shot 62 on Wednesday are left-handers (Mike Weir, Bubba Watson), and both of them had nine pars, eight birdies and an eagle. Both hit 15 greens.

TAYLOR: BEST IN CLASS?
Pat Perez's flirtation with 59 overshadowed the sensational start of Vaughn Taylor, who fired a 63 on the tougher Bermuda Dunes layout. Taylor's 63 was two shots better than the next-best score on Bermuda Dunes (Steve Stricker, 65).

Taylor

Taylor is still trying to return to the form he enjoyed in 2005-2006, when he was consistently in the top 75 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Taylor finished tied for eighth at the Bob Hope Classic in 2008, but he didn't get another top 10 until the Fall Series.

"You know, it's, you always want to get off to a good start and it alleviates a lot of pressure," Taylor said. "If you're struggling early in the year, you start putting pressure on yourself and you feel like you're getting lapped by everybody else. "But it's always important to get off to a good start and get some momentum going more than anything. I just need to keep playing solid and have some good tournaments here."

Taylor will play the Silver Rock course on Thursday.

FEDEXCUP NOTES: ROUND 2
Chris DiMarco (Shot 64 on Wednesday, starts day tied for 10th)
• Last season, DiMarco missed the cut at the Wyndham Championship, dropping from 133rd to 143rd in the standings and just sneaking into the playoffs.

Baird

Briny Baird (Shot 63 on Wednesday, starts day tied for fourth)
• Baird finished in the top-25 in 14 of his 22 starts during the FedExCup regular season.

Steve Stricker (Shot 65 on Wednesday, starts day tied for 13th)
• Stricker finished in the top-10 six times in 2008 -- four of which came in his first seven starts of the season.

Martin Laird (Shot 67 on Wednesday, starts day tied for 49th)
• Laird recorded three consecutive top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR in 2008. They were his only top-10s for the season.

Thursday's forecast

Showers
Temp: 75 high/53 low
Considerable clouds with occasional rain showers. Winds will come from the south at 5 mph.

Tim Clark (Shot 66 on Wednesday, starts day tied for 28th)
• Clark is an extremely underrated player on the PGA TOUR. He has finished in the top-30 in the FedExCup in each of the first two years and ranked second on TOUR in proximity to the hole on approach.

Mike Weir (Shot 62 on Wednesday, starts day tied for second)
• Finishing sixth overall in the 2008 FedExCup, Weir finished the PGA TOUR season with five top-10 finishes in his last six starts.

Ryuji Imada (Shot 67 on Wednesday, starts day tied for 49th)
• After recording five rounds below par at the 2008 Bob Hope Classic, Imada finished in the top-five three times in his next four starts. Imada finished the season 25th on the FedExCup points list and ranked sixth on the PGA TOUR in final-round scoring average in 2008

D.J. Trahan (Shot 65 on Wednesday, starts day tied for 13th)
• The defending champion at the Hope, Trahan enters this event ranked second on the PGA TOUR in ball striking after two events. On the strength of his victory here in 2008, Trahan started the Playoffs as the 18th seed. He slipped to 35th after the first two Playoffs events, before a top-five finish at the BMW Championship got him into the field in East Lake.

The Film Room

	PGA TOUR Today Win McMurry takes a look at the first round and has a preview of Thursday's action. Watch it
	Bank shot: Pun intended Amateur Andrew Goldfarb aced the 15th hole during the opening round to win $50,000 for himself -- and for charity. His shot hit rocks next to the green and bounced onto the green and into the hole. Watch it
	Big hitter, low round After shooting an opening-round 62, Bubba Watson spoke with Bob Stevens from the PGA TOUR Network on SIRIUS XM Radio. Watch it