Players Love to Ham It Up for Cameras : Golf: Jacobsen, Rodriguez, Stadler and Zoeller joke their way through at nine rain-soaked holes.

DOVE CANYON —  Creators of the Pro Stakes Golf Tournament envisioned a designed-for-TV event with four fun guys playing a round the way a weekend golfer does.

The only difference between the notion and the reality was that most weekend golfers take the game more seriously.

Miked for sound and seemingly more concerned with their verbal slings than their swings, Peter Jacobsen, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Craig Stadler and Fuzzy Zoeller sloshed their way through nine rain-soaked holes Saturday at Dove Canyon Country Club. Along the way, they accrued points in a number of categories, such as longest drive in the fairway, first on the green and closest to the pin in regulation.

Those points will be wagered on the back nine today in the “challenge” phase of the event, in which the four bet their points in the same categories. The player with the most points after today’s competition will take home $175,000; second place is worth $100,000; third $70,000, and fourth $55,000.

Jacobsen took advantage of the soggy conditions and the rule allowing the players to clean their ball before placing it down for a perfect lie. He made some excellent iron shots, including backing up the ball about 15 feet to within five feet of the pin on No. 2, and was closest to the pin on five of the nine holes, which was worth 2,000 points alone.

Stadler, who was two-under-par 34, leads the field with 7,650 points. Zoeller, also two-under, is second with 7,450. Jacobsen, who shot 36 despite a triple-bogey on No. 8, is third with 7,400. And Rodriquez, who was one over, is fourth with 4,500.

There is also a $100,000 medal-play purse, with $40,000 going to the low score after 18 holes, but as Jacobsen said afterward, “that’s insignificant.”

Obviously.

“Gimmes” abounded, with Rodriguez being awarded a five-foot putt on No. 9. Jacobsen let actor Jack Lemmon, an unofficial official for the event, take a sand shot for him after he failed to get out of a bunker on his first two attempts. The rest of the foursome threw their balls at Zoeller as he rolled in a short putt.

And everybody threw barbs at anyone in sight.

A few examples:

--When Jacobsen hit his drive in the left rough on No. 2, Zoeller asked, “Does he get points for contact?”

--Rodriguez, after a discussion of the point totals: “I was never good at mathematics, but I do understand numbers with a bunch of zeros on the end.”

--Zoeller to Rodriguez after a particularly poor putt: “That had a chance . . . until you hit it.”

Rodriguez, who won $711,095 on the Senior Tour last year: “Tell you what, I had a better year than you did.”

Zoeller: “Out there playing against those wounded ducks, I tell you, I think it’s great.”

--Rodriguez, who hit all seven fairways: “Last time I left the fairway was to answer the phone.”

--Zoeller, after Stadler’s low, faded six-iron kicked toward the pin and ended up inside of Zoeller’s ball to win the closest-to-the-pin points: “That’s sick. That is sick.”

--Rodriguez, after surveying a quick, downhill putt: “This is going to be faster than a roach in a chicken nest.”

And so it went, for 2 1/2 made-for-TV hours.

The event was designed to debunk the theory that pro golfers are walking robots and the game is nothing but a putting contest. With points rewarded for almost every shot and the players provided every opportunity to let their personalities show, it was a success in that regard, despite some confusion in the scoring that wasn’t resolved until hours after the final putt.

(If you watched this on television, you were left with the impression that Jacobsen led, followed by Zoeller, Stadler and Rodriguez, but the point totals were eventually changed after debates on the longest drive on No. 2 and closest to the pin on No. 9.)

“On the tour, there are a lot of tense moments, but today we had the opportunity to loosen up,” Jacobsen said. “Every week, every town, every place we play, we read about how bland pro golfers are, how we’re all playing in a coma. But we hope something like this can foster another image.”