Verplank, Rose in for long haul

Scott Verplank and Justin Rose are the co-leaders, after 36 holes, at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

With two rounds down and three to go, however, it’s not much to get worked up over.

Yet.

“I don’t even know how many holes it is, 90 is it?” Rose joked.

Ninety it is, and they haven’t even reached the halfway point.

Verplank and Rose emerged from the four-course scrum of amateur, celebrity and professional golfers to share the lead at 12-under-par 132.

Rose shot seven-under 65 on Thursday and Verplank fired his second 66.

Verplank needed only to par his final hole, the par-five ninth at the Classic Club, to take the outright lead into today’s third round.

But Verplank flubbed his second shot to the 595-yard hole, watched his ball ver-plunk into the water and then had to knee-rattle home a five-foot putt to save bogey.

“I probably could have gone lower, but no complaints,” he said.

Rose was happy with his 65 at La Quinta Country Club, but no one is ordering champagne.

Verplank and Rose hold a one-shot lead over Robert Allenby and rookie Johnson Wagner, both at 11-under 133. Matt Kuchar and John Rollins, both at 10-under 134, are two shots behind.

Phil Mickelson, the most famous player in the field, shot his second consecutive 70 and is tied for 51st place at four under.

Mickelson, making his 2007 PGA Tour debut, was playing at PGA West and was four under for the day through 11 holes before ruining his momentum with bogeys on his final two holes.

Eight shots off the pace, Mickelson still says it’s anyone’s tournament to win.

“I think if I can get to seven or eight under par, I can get within striking distance,” he said.

Allenby, who followed his nine-under 63 with a two-under 70, had another bizarre day with his volunteer scorekeepers.

Wednesday, playing at La Quinta, his tracker misreported several scores back to the clubhouse, leading to the impression Allenby was en route to a possible 12-under 60.

The score was off by three strokes.

Thursday, playing with a different scorekeeper at PGA West, Allenby was stricken again.

At the ninth green, he peered at a leaderboard that listed him at 12 under.

“I knew I was at 11,” Allenby said.

His scorekeeper also put him down for a par on the fifth hole when he actually had a bogey.

Strange?

“It happens every now and again,” Allenby said. “It doesn’t happen two days in a row.”

Allenby, an Australian, is at least having fun with it.

“Maybe it’s the accent, they just don’t understand what I’m saying,” he said. “I say ‘four,’ maybe it means three to some people.”

So it’s Verplank and Rose for now, with two more rounds before the cut.

Both players had a chance to win this tournament last year but faded in the end.

Verplank was in the thick of it before his final round of 73 pushed him into a second-place tie with Jesper Parnevik, three shots behind winner Chad Campbell.

Rose finished tied for 10th after a final-round 74.

These guys couldn’t be much different.

Verplank was born in Texas but now lives in Oklahoma. He is 35, a four-time winner on tour and a former All-American at Oklahoma State.

He was one of Tom Lehman’s captain’s picks on last year’s Ryder Cup team and won both his matches. Verplank thought he should have been used more during America’s crushing defeat to the Europeans in Ireland.

Verplank accounted for two of the United States’ 9 1/2 points, but that was last year’s news.

“He wrote me a nice note after the thing and said obviously he should have played me more,” Verplank said of Lehman. “You know, really, looking back, it wouldn’t have made any difference if I would have played all five matches and won all five points. We got it handed to us as a team pretty good.”

Rose was born in South Africa, now resides in London, likes bacon sandwiches, breakfast tea and was considered, in 1998, to be golf’s next rising star.

Except it didn’t work out that way. Rose, at age 17, finished fourth in the 1998 British Open at Royal Birkdale, chipping in for eagle on his finishing hole.

He immediately turned pro, and proceeded to miss 21 straight cuts. Finally, his game is taking hold.

Now 26, Rose still hasn’t won on the PGA Tour, although he did finish tied for second last year at the Valero Texas Open. And last year he missed a 14-foot birdie putt that would have given him a round of 59 at the Funai Classic in Florida.

Rose has won five international events, including a breakthrough victory at last year’s Australian Masters.

Thursday, he holed two bunker shots, for an eagle on No. 5 and a birdie on No. 12, but there are a lot of holes to go.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com

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Leaderboard

Scores after the second round of play at the $5-million Bob Hope Chrysler Classic:

*--* Player 1st 2nd Total Par Justin Rose 67 65 132 -12 Scott Verplank 66 66 132 -12 Robert Allenby 63 70 133 -11 Johnson Wagner 66 67 133 -11 Matt Kuchar 66 68 134 -10 John Rollins 67 67 134 -10

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