Everybody into the Pooley

They weren’t merely playing golf Friday at Riviera Country Club, they were shooting the breeze. By late in the afternoon, the front doorbell at the clubhouse was replaced by a set of wind chimes.

In the second round of the Nissan Open, you not only needed to know the way to the next tee, you had to know which the way the wind was blowing.

It wasn’t blowing that hard, it simply couldn’t make up its mind which direction it liked best.

Obviously, figuring it out wasn’t that easy. Don Pooley, who lives in Tucson and knows about such things as cactus, sand and especially wind, blew into the lead with a three-under-par 68, which was good enough for a one-shot advantage.

At the midway point of the $1.4-million tournament, Pooley’s seven-under total of 135 is one shot better than the scores of Nick Faldo, Mark O’Meara, Scott Hoch and Ted Tryba.

Next are Craig Stadler and Payne Stewart, two shots off the lead at 137.

Fred Couples and Tom Watson lead a group of seven at 138 that also includes Brad Faxon, Tom Purtzer, Fred Funk, Bob Estes and Frank Lickliter.

His second consecutive round of 70 put Tiger Woods five shots behind at 140. He had three birdies and two bogeys, and one of them was a real adventure.

On the par-three No. 4, Woods overshot the green, chipped back over the green, chipped back over the green again, then chipped in for bogey.

Until they replace the flagsticks with wind socks, Riviera may yet prove to be a place as hard as one of those eucalyptus trees.

As best the participants could figure it, the wind was either (a) tricky, (b) swirling, (c) switching or (d) *$#&%%$#(*!”

Pooley has had the best luck so far, which is a nice change of pace for him, since at 45 he no longer has an exemption to play.

Instead, Pooley lives off sponsors’ exemptions and top-10 finishes that get him into the next week’s tournament. But so far this year, Pooley has finished fifth at the Bob Hope and at Tucson and has won $134,126.

That’s more than he made last year, when he finished No. 169 on the money list and lost his exemption.

“I have felt no added pressure at all,” Pooley said. “I’ve been out here 22 years, after all.”

Pooley said he managed to turn himself around with a single lesson from Jim Flick in Scottsdale. It was Pooley’s first lesson in 10 years. Maybe he should schedule them a little more frequently.

“I didn’t have high expectations that he could do anything wonderful,” Pooley said, “but it’s been wonderful.”

O’Meara, who has won his last two tournaments, had a 69 as he embarks on a five-week tournament grind. He eagled No. 1 when he holed a bunker shot that the wind couldn’t touch.

“It was kind of swirling and switched back and forth,” O’Meara said. “When the wind blows here, Riviera is that much more challenging. And today was one of those days.”

Tryba decided to send his swing into the shop for a complete overhaul at the end of last year, his fifth on the tour. He played 36 tournaments but missed 20 cuts and won only $162,944.

There is only one way to describe a year like that, Tryba said after his second-round 66.

“Terrible,” he said. “But I still made a pretty good stash of earnings.”

In 1995, he made much more when he finished with $451,983 and won the Anheuser-Busch Classic. But after that, he sort of went flat.

“It kept getting worse and worse,” said the 30-year-old from Orlando, Fla., who has missed four cuts in six tournaments, including his last three.

Stadler also shot 66, which isn’t that unusual. But he almost sounded pleased about it, which is.

For instance, since he is the defending champion, Stadler was asked about Riviera as a good place to play.

“It’s OK, no complaints,” Stadler said.

Actually, it’s nice to know that golf isn’t interfering with Stadler’s hockey schedule. Stadler went to King games Tuesday night and Thursday night at the Forum.

He had four birdies in seven holes, from the eighth through the 14th, and put himself in contention with his round of five under par that included a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 11 and a 20-footer on No. 14.

Afterward, Stadler was tossed a softball question about the West Coast tour, and that turned out to be another subject that hacks him off.

“You might hear guys complaining about the Hope or something with all the amateurs in it,” Stadler said. “Well, don’t play if it bothers you. It’s fine with me. They can all stay home.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

SCORES

Don Pooley: 67-68--135

Nick Faldo: 66-70--136

Ted Tryba: 70-66--136

Scott Hoch: 65-71--136

Mark O’Meara: 67-69--136

Craig Stadler: 71-66--137

Payne Stewart: 65-72--137

Tom Purtzer: 67-71--138

Brad Faxon: 73-65--138

Fred Couples: 68-70--138

Bob Estes: 68-70--138

Fred Funk: 67-71--138

Tom Watson: 67-71--138

Frank Lickliter: 67-71--138

Willie Wood: 71-68--139

Rafael Alarcon: 70-69--139

Lennie Clements: 71-68--139

David Ogrin: 68-71--139

Kenny Perry: 72-67--139

Jim Carter: 72-68--140

Paul Goydos: 66-74--140

Jeff Maggert: 69-71--140

Robin Freeman: 69-71--140

Kirk Triplett: 69-71--140

Tim Simpson: 71-69--140

Tiger Woods: 70-70--140

Phil Blackmar: 71-69--140

Frank Nobilo: 71-70--141

Jay Delsing: 69-72--141

Kelly Gibson: 72-69--141

Scott McCarron: 68-73--141

Mike Standly: 71-70--141

Omar Uresti: 70-71--141

Justin Leonard: 71-70--141

Jay Haas: 72-69--141

Dave Stockton: 69-72--141

J.P. Hayes: 71-70--141

Russ Cochran: 72-70--142

Billy Mayfair: 72-70--142

Joe Ozaki: 73-69--142

Scott Simpson: 69-73--142

Yoshinori Kaneko: 70-72--142

Brett Quigley: 71-71--142

Sonny Skinner: 69-73--142

Jeff Hart: 71-71--142

Jay Don Blake: 74-69--143

T.C. Chen: 72-71--143

Larry Rinker: 71-72--143

Scott Gump: 70-73--143

Joe Cioe: 71-72--143

Todd Demsey: 71-72--143

Phil Tataurangi: 73-70--143

Larry Nelson: 71-72--143

Steve Pate: 71-72--143

Corey Pavin: 73-70--143

Mark Brooks: 71-72--143

Duffy Waldorf: 69-74--143

Peter Jacobsen: 68-75--143

Davis Love III: 71-72--143

Donnie Hammond: 74-69--143

Olin Browne: 71-72--143

Kevin Burton: 70-73--143

Brent Geiberger: 74-69--143

Clarence Rose: 74-70--144

Bob Tway: 73-71--144

Hugh Royer: 73-71--144

Skip Kendall: 71-73--144

Hideki Kase: 73-71--144

Patrick Boyd: 72-72--144

Taylor Smith: 72-72--144

David Duval: 72-72--144

Mike Springer: 72-72--144

Ed Dougherty: 69-75--144

Kelly Manos: 73-71--144

John Maginnes: 72-72--144

Michael Christie: 73-71--144

Stewart Cink: 70-74--144

Failed to qualify

Jim McGovern: 73-72--145

Scott Verplank: 75-70--145

Lee Janzen: 72-73--145

Brian Henninger: 71-74--145

Ernie Els: 71-74--145

John Dowdall: 72-73--145

Lee Rinker: 70-75--145

Ronnie Black: 72-73--145

Scott Dunlap: 69-76--145

Larry Mize: 72-73--145

Jim Gallagher: 72-73--145

Mike Reid: 73-72--145

John Wilson: 73-72--145

Eric Johnson: 73-72--145

Mark Wiebe: 70-76--146

Marco Dawson: 73-73--146

Stuart Appleby: 69-77--146

Nobumitsu Yuhara: 73-73--146

Tom Pernice Jr.: 74-72--146

P.H. Horgan III: 74-72--146

Bradley Hughes: 73-73--146

Lee Porter: 74-72--146

Robert Damron: 71-75--146

Jimmy Johnston: 73-73--146

Jerry Kelly: 74-73--147

Patrick Burke: 70-77--147

John Mahaffey: 75-72--147

Dave Barr: 72-75--147

Ted Schulz: 73-74--147

Kevin Sutherland: 72-75--147

David Berganio: 72-75--147

Gabriel Hjertstedt: 74-73--147

David Sutherland: 72-75--147

Doug Tewell: 72-75--147

Billy Ray Brown: 72-75--147

David Toms: 71-76--147

Chip Beck: 74-73--147

Steve Lowery: 70-77--147

Jimmy Green: 72-75--147

Nobuo Serizawa: 74-73--147

David Edwards: 69-79--148

Hal Sutton: 80-68--148

Neal Lancaster: 73-75--148

Blaine McCallister: 78-70--148

Tray Tyner: 69-79--148

Allen Doyle: 70-78--148

Craig Parry: 73-76--149

Jim Furyk: 73-76--149

Jeff Sluman: 74-75--149

Chris Perry: 72-77--149

Adam Mednick: 74-75--149

Brad Sherfy: 73-76--149

Kazuhiro Takami: 72-77--149

Tommy Armour III: 74-76--150

Shaun Micheel: 77-73--150

Craig Kanada: 74-76--150

Larry Silveira: 71-79--150

Todd Gleaton: 73-78--151

Bob Wolcott: 77-74--151

Emlyn Aubrey: 69-83--152

Woody Austin: 72-81--153

a-Terry Noe: 71-82--153

Shane Bertsch: 77-78--155

Ben Crenshaw: 76-80--156

Tony Mollica: 76-80--156

Terry Ferraro: 78-78--156

Chip Sullivan: 78-78--156