Doing 65, Lancaster Finds Passing Lane

It’s a race to the finish line today at Riviera Country Club, where Neal Lancaster, a good old boy from Smithfield, N.C., is one step ahead of a six-pack of players that are closer than a shave.

Lancaster threw a 65 at Riviera on Saturday, even if it also was sort of bewildering to the author.

“It’s kind of shocking I can be leading,” Lancaster said.

This is basically due to the fact that he sometimes hits golf balls off the tee that travel sideways.

But as the last round of the Nissan Open begins today, there he is at seven-under-par 206 with a two-shot lead and getting chased by almost as many people as there are back in Johnston County, N.C.

Lancaster began formulating his game plan for today the minute his 40-foot birdie putt jumped into the hole at No. 18.

“We’d all like to win,” he said. “But the main thing is not to go out and embarrass yourself.”

Yeah, that’s the main thing. Lancaster said you have to remember there are more bad days than good days out there on the golf course, not to mention in real life.

“It’s a fact of life for most people,” Lancaster said. “Unless you’re filthy rich.”

It’s also a fact that today’s winner will bag $216,000 in a tournament that looks as if it could go in about as many directions as a Lancaster tee shot.

Lanny Wadkins, Bob Tway, Scott Simpson, Tom Lehman, Mark Wiebe and Don Pooley are only two shots behind Lancaster at five-under-par 208. Peter Jacobsen is next, three strokes behind at 209 after shooting a 66.

There are five others within four shots of the lead at 210--Fred Couples, Craig Stadler, Steve Elkington, Kelly Gibson and Jay Don Blake.

Riviera continued to play hardball, mostly because the rough is high enough that you could bungee jump from it. Big, bad, nasty rough is usually a problem for Lancaster, 10th from the bottom in the driving statistics on the PGA Tour last year in terms of accuracy.

By the time Lancaster got to Riviera, he decided it was time to change his philosophy about driving.

“I said, ‘What the hell,’ ” Lancaster said. “I’m hitting it terrible.”

Lancaster decided to take drastic action. There was only one thing to do. He decided to stop thinking so much. He said he had become too swing-oriented, too mechanical, so he scrapped the thinking and went back to pure impulse.

The result was stunning in its simplicity. Lancaster’s round of 65 was the low round of the tournament. It also put him into position to win for the second time in his career. He also won the 1994 GTE Byron Nelson Classic that was shortened to 36 holes by rain. So it could be a good omen that Nelson is being honored this week on the 50th anniversary of his 1946 victory.

If Lancaster wins, chances are it won’t be by the book. It’ll be by the magazine. A self-taught golfer, Lancaster, 33, says he has taken three lessons in his life.

He studied golf magazines instead, always looking only at the pictures.

“I didn’t read the articles because they’d just confuse you,” said the former club pro who gave many lessons.

“But I kind of didn’t know what I was doing.”

Lehman shot a 68 and once again put himself in position to finish well. He was third at Torrey Pines and fourth at Hawaii.

Simpson didn’t have a birdie after the eighth hole and missed his six-foot putt for par on the 18th, which didn’t make him very happy.

“I finished like a chump,” he said. “The last one hurts a lot.”

Wadkins was going the other way at the end. He birdied three of the last five holes and chipped in from 40 feet on the par-three 14th.

Jacobsen’s 66 was not only the second-best round of the day, it also was one of the quickest. At least it was fast on the front. Jacobsen was playing with John Daly and they made the turn in one hour 40 minutes.

“We weren’t rushing,” Jacobsen said. “We were just playing golf.”

Of course, Lancaster knows what that’s all about. He probably has it right, that golf is simple to play, especially if you don’t think too much.

“The whole object of the game is whoever gets it in the hole the quickest,” Lancaster said.

Maybe today he’ll get somewhere fast.