Nervous time is over

S.J. Cahn

Paul Hahn wore his nerves plainly enough before he teed off Friday

during the first round of the Toshiba Senior Classic.

The Newport Beach Country Club’s head golf professional probably

wasn’t helped much by the “Let’s go Paul!” chant from the 100

spectators that greeted him at the first tee.

Hahn’s first shot of the day was his worst, as he hooked his drive

into the trees, far enough to the left that the crowd clearly was

worried he might land it in the driving range.

“It got airborne, that’s all that counts,” one man in the crowd

shouted.

“Where’d it go,” Hahn jokingly asked as he walked off the first

tee box of his home course.

Hahn’s second shot from deep in the rough clipped a tree on its

way out of trouble, dropping into the fairway, and he ended up

bogeying the 339-yard hole just as the sun broke through the fog.

“I knew I was in trouble when my caddie handed me the towel

instead of the ball,” he said after finishing up his 2-over 73.

Hahn’s caddie, one of the club’s top amateurs, Kent Pfeiffer,

admitted to accidentally handing his golfer the wrong item. He

chalked it up to the jitters both were feeling.

But if Hahn was down at that point, he wasn’t down long. After

leaving his drive on the 390-yard second hole to the right, but just

on the fairway, he hit a short iron onto the green about 20 feet from

the hole.

He knocked the putt in, for a birdie, the first of three on the

day to return quickly to even par.

Hahn managed to save par -- to cheers from the crowd of 40 or so,

many sporting tournament badges identifying them as club member, who

followed him all day -- on the next hole, at 549 yards the longest

par-5 on the course and one that neatly captured his day: strong

drive onto the fairway followed by an approach shot to an edge of the

green, leaving him tough birdie putts.

Those putts would bedevil all day, and Hahn often had hard short

putts for par.

“I think he’s doing great,” club member Jane Hilgendorf, who

followed Hahn throughout the afternoon, said midway through his

round. “It wears on you to have to be hitting those four-, five-,

six-footers.”

He missed one of those trying short putts for par on the fourth

hole, dropping to 1-over and joking afterward, “If someone could have

putted that for me...”

On the fifth, he just missed a long, curling birdie putt to get

back to even par.

From there, sitting at 1-over, he continued a string of pars

through the 10th hole, including a two-putt on the difficult seventh

green.

By the par-4, 344-yard 11th, Hahn clearly was loosened up, the

nerves steadied. When he three-putted for a bogey, dropping himself

to 2-over, he was relaxed enough for the first time to look truly

disappointed in his play.

The 12th also proved to be trouble, as Hahn again three-putted for

a bogey on the 373-yard hole to fall another stroke back.

Once again, he was quick to rebound. He nailed his tee shot on the

170-yard 13th onto the center of the green and then birdied it with a

tough, slightly downhill putt that broke hard to the left.

His steady group of followers, few of who dropped away to watch

other pros, cheered.

After missing one of his few fairways on the 14th, a 397-yard par-4, Hahn found more magic in his putter, holing a par-saving

35-footer that brought forth even louder applause.

He made par again on the 492-yard par-5 15th, after failing to get

a chip to roll up from the green’s lower, right-side tier. His birdie

putt stopped four feet from the hole, but he again was able to drain

a nerve-racking putt.

On 16, however, he landed his second shot on the 437-yard par-4

just short of the green. A chip left him 12 feet from the hole, a

putt he couldn’t sink, and he had to settle for a bogey.

As he’d done four holes earlier, Hahn bounced right back, landing

his tee shot of the day just eight feet from the hole on the

intimidating, water-protected 17th. He drained the birdie putt to go

back to 2-over for the day.

His supporters, joined by the spectators seated in the hole’s

grandstands, erupted again.

Hahn’s final drive of the day was like most -- and not at all like

his first -- as it landed squarely in the fairway. But his second

shot went awry, landing short, to the right of the green and behind

one of the grandstands.

After taking relief -- which proved a difficult drop on the steep

slope -- Hahn hit the short approach just off the back of the green.

He judged the speed of the 45-foot putt well, but just went past,

leaving yet another five-footer to finish with a par.

He knocked it in, to a final round of cheers and cries of “You’re

the man.”

“I was trying to hit it too hard,” he said of the errant shot

after finishing the hole and the round. “It was fun, though.”

Fun -- and tiring.

“My brain... I’m exhausted. Oh my god,” he added.

Hahn was quick to point out that he wasn’t the only one drained by

the round.

“I didn’t know if [my caddie] was going to make it,” Hahn said. “I

looked back on a few holes ... “

Pfeiffer admitted caddying was harder than he expected.

“I have a little more respect for these guys carrying the bags,”

he said, adding that on most holes by the time he’d swung the bag

onto his shoulders the other two caddies were 50 yards down the

fairway.

Hahn’s playing partners, Scotland’s Sam Torrance and Japan’s

Hajime Meshiai, shot a 2-under and 3-over, respectively.

As he left the scorer’s tent, Hahn was besieged by club members

seeking autographs, including reigning women’s club champion Debbie

Albright.

“Good job,” she told Hahn as she stuck her tournament pass out for

him to sign.

Hahn said he felt good throughout the day.

“I felt like I was swinging at it pretty good,” he added.

“As long as I have my stroke,” Hahn said, pointing out that he

knows the greens well and hopes for a better round today.

Before then, though: “I need a 19th hole.”