Martin Has His Game in Drive

INDIAN WELLS —  Casey Martin teed off and knocked his first shot right down the fairway. Then he hopped in a golf cart and drove.

The earth did not rumble. The spirits of Ben Hogan and Walter Hagen did not cast thunderbolts down from the heavens.

In fact, the skies were nice and blue. Just another lovely day in the Palm Springs area. Just another round of golf.

Martin rode his cart into history Wednesday, tooling around the course as the first member of the PGA Tour to use a vehicle during tournament play in the first round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

He hit some good shots and some bad shots and finished the round with a four-under-par 68.

He was five strokes off the lead set by David Toms. That left Martin tied for 30th. That also gave him the same score as some of the tour’s biggest names, including David Duval, Justin Leonard, Fred Couples and Hal Sutton.

PGA Tour officials didn’t want to let Casey and his cart on the tour. He had to take them to court to win the right to compete before he followed the standard route to the circuit by finishing among the top 15 money winners on the Nike Tour.

All Martin wants to do is play golf for as long as he can keep standing and walking on a withering right leg that is afflicted by a circulatory disorder. No cart, no competing for Martin. It’s that simple.

But the PGA Tour says the cart gives Martin an unfair advantage over everyone else, who must walk. They said it violates the spirit of competition.

The PGA Tour appealed the decision and a federal court ruling could come down at any minute.

Someone should Fed-Ex a tape of this round to the 9th Circuit Court as additional evidence in Martin’s favor.

As if to emphasize the silliness of the tour’s argument, Martin’s score Wednesday was dictated by his performance on an area carts aren’t allowed to get near: the green.

He missed several makable birdie putts. Otherwise he’d be staring down the leaders.

It reinforced that the sport isn’t decided between shots, it’s decided by swinging the club at the ball. And on the basis of that skill, Martin deserves to be on the PGA Tour.

Granted, this wasn’t the purest measurement. The format of this tournament, in which the pros play with amateurs for the first four days, gives it a different feel from a typical PGA event.

Martin wasn’t competing with Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, he was alternating shots with guys who make their money off motor homes and frozen peas.

The Bob Hope also features celebrities of varying degrees of skill, from the scratch-golf play of John Elway to the Whack-A-Mole swing of Charles Barkley, who showed up last year and spent more time entertaining the galleries than he did playing golf.

It features other unique distractions, such as the gardener who ran his gas-powered edge trimmer while Martin’s group teed off at the 16th hole.

But Martin was the only golfer, pro or amateur, who had to go to court for his right to be there. And he had the extra burden of reporters numbering in double figures at all times tracking his every move Wednesday.

“I get nervous before I play, regardless of whether I’m playing for a $2 nassau with some buddies,” Martin said. “So I wasn’t concerned about it. But more so now because of [the media] and being out here and wanting to do well, there was just, maybe, a little added pressure.”

After a while there was nothing so distinctive about Martin’s cart, an E-Z-GO with something called the “Drive Control System.” (That sounds like something most golfers could use for their swings, not their carts).

Two of the three amateurs in his foursome rode carts as well, and nobody made a big deal about that.

Martin didn’t use the cart when the course layout offered a short walk from the green to the next tee.

At times Martin used his cart as a resting place between shots. Woods did the same thing during the Ryder Cup, taking advantage of an official’s cart to grab a break when he started to wear down.

The strangest thing about the cart was that a security guard or marshal kept an eye on it whenever Martin was on the tee or green.

“Just in case,” the guard said.

Right. As if the world’s first cart-jacking was going to take place at the Indian Wells Country Club, with a pack of photographers and video cameras hanging around.

Martin didn’t wince or show any other signs that the leg was bothering him.

“I was OK today,” Martin said. “I think I limped because that’s just how I walk.”

There are a couple of holes at Indian Wells that force the golfers to walk down and up steep slopes. As painful and laborious as it is for Martin to walk across a flat surface, it’s almost impossible to imagine him making it without a cart.

So keep riding, Casey. This is golf, not mountain climbing.

Martin’s the one who made a great seven-iron shot from the rough onto the green on his second hole. He’s the one who chipped in two 30-footers, one for eagle, one for birdie.

He’s also the one who missed some easy putts, including a two-footer on the second green. That’s the way it goes, some good, some bad.

“Right now, it’s another round of golf,” Martin said.

That’s all it ever has to be, as long as the PGA Tour leaves the issue alone.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.

TOMS LEADS WITH 63: As usual, scores are on the low side in almost perfect conditions in the desert. Page 10