BOB HOPE CLASSIC GOLF TOURNAMENT : Forsman 1-Ups Haas With a 62 : His Round at Indian Wells Produces One-Stroke Lead

INDIAN WELLS — After Jay Haas shot a 63 Wednesday, he bumped into Dan Forsman, who was getting ready to hit some practice shots.

“He asked me, ‘How do you shoot a 63?’ ” Haas said. “Well, I guess he knows how now.”

Actually, Forsman was one shot better than that Thursday when he toured Indian Wells with a round of 62, which gave him a 130 total and a one-stroke lead over Haas after 36 holes of the 90-hole Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Haas shot a 68 at La Quinta for a two-day total of 131.

Ken Perry, John Mahaffey and Jim Hallett were at 133, three shots behind Forsman, whose round of 10 under par was his best since he turned pro in 1983.

Forsman, 29, a two-time winner on the Tour, is a disciple of Mac O’Grady, who has helped him with the mental approach to the game.

What’s important, Forsman said is to “enhance the creative process” of playing golf in which the mind plays an important part.

The mind is “the next frontier” of golf, said Forsman, who is working on his “holistic sensory awareness.”

The idea is to play relaxed and to see the game in the mind, said Forsman. He saw 9 birdies, 1 bogey and 1 eagle on the way to his 62, but he had seen something else the night before, while visiting an art gallery in Palm Desert.

“I saw a painting of an eagle, and Mac was in that picture,” said Forsman, who does not see himself soaring like an eagle yet.

“I’m still a chick in the nest,” he said.

The new tournament leader reads psychology books, rejects labels of the younger players as “no-name, no-face clones” and is into dream analysis. He keeps a journal of his dreams.

Last year, Forsman won $157,727 and was 63rd on the money list, but he finished with 409 birdies, more than anyone on the PGA Tour. He also played in 32 events, coming back from rotator cuff surgery, so he felt pretty good about his game.

He birdied five consecutive holes on the front nine and began the back side with another birdie before his second shot on No. 11 clipped the top of a tree. He wound up with a bogey on that hole.

But Forsman came right back with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 to go eight under par. He closed with an eagle on the 505-yard, par-5 18th after driver and 6-iron shots had left his ball 10 feet from the cup.

Of course, Forsman made it. The way he was playing, he almost had no choice.

“It was a great, great day and an unbelievable finish,” Forsman said. “I felt like I had laughing gas in me. Everything was a joke. I had fun. That was the key. I was very relaxed and comfortable.

“I felt like some kind of an artist painting,” he said. “I was throwing my brush out there and everything stuck.”

The painting analogy comes from O’Grady, the acknowledged leader of the deep thinkers on the Tour. O’Grady wants to paint masterpieces out there.

“A Mona Lisa,” said Forsman.

The round Haas shot at La Quinta wasn’t a very pretty picture, but he did scramble to a four-birdie, no-bogey round even though his driver was erratic.

“I was kind of all over the lot today,” he said. “I kind of feel like I stole a round. If I continue to drive like I did today, well, I can’t keep testing my luck. I felt like I couldn’t take a breath out there for a while.”

Mahaffey, the 1984 Hope winner, shot a 65 at Indian Wells even though he had some, well, equipment problems.

The zipper on his pants broke with four holes to play, so Mahaffey finished his round wearing a pair of rain pants.

“And it was too hot to be wearing rain pants,” Mahaffey said.

Too dry, too.

Although he is leading, Forsman said he doesn’t want to get too excited about that.

He remembers going into the final round of the Quad Cities Open several years ago with a chance to win, and announcing to reporters that he would win.

“I saw myself shooting eight under par and holing out a wedge on the final hole,” Forsman said.

Instead, he shot a 75. That taught him to be wary of high expectations as well as reporters, who he likes to keep at a distance.

“I know what happened to Gary Hart,” he said.

Forsman said he must approach the rest of the tournament in the right frame of mind.

‘Obviously, what I have to do is, I can’t think I’ve got it licked,” he said. “Let’s face it. We’ve only played two rounds. I’m not telling everybody I’m the next great superstar. You never quite have it in this game. Some have it for a certain period of time.

“You want to be cautiously optimistic in a sense you don’t go overboard,” he said. “You won’t be out here (playing) forever. You could get hit by a car tomorrow.”

Forsman remembered his first Hope, five years ago. He had just shot a 68 at Bermuda Dunes and was going to play La Quinta next.

“I thought, ‘Hey, this is all right. I’m here,’ ” he said. “Then I had one of the most humiliating days of my life.”

Forsman was introduced to the gallery on the first tee. His first drive hit some eucalyptus trees, rattled around and landed out of bounds. His second drive hit a cart path and bounced out of bounds.

“I shot a nine on that hole,” said Forsman, who will play La Quinta today.

“Hopefully, I’ll play that hole a little better than I did the first time,” he said.

THE LEADERS

Dan Forsman . . . 68-62--130

Jay Haas . . . 63-68--131

Ken Perry . . . 67-66--133

Jim Hallet . . . 68-65--133

John Mahaffey . . . 68-65--133

Steve Pate . . . 66-68--134

Donnie Hammond . . . 67-67--134

Leonard Thompson . . . 68-66--134

THE NAMES

Ben Crenshaw . . . 70-67--137

Fuzzy Zoeller . . . 69-68--137

Raymond Floyd . . . 72-66--138

Lanny Wadkins . . . 72-68--140

Curtis Strange . . . 74-68--142

Mac O’Grady . . . 69-74--143

Corey Pavin . . . 75-68--143

Johnny Miller . . . 71-72--143

Craig Stadler . . . 73-70--143

Arnold Palmer . . . 71-74--145