Seconds tough on Hahn

S.J. Cahn

A year ago during his first start in the Toshiba Senior Classic, Paul

Hahn was a bundle of nerves.

This year, the head pro for tournament host Newport Beach County

Club looked a lot looser and more at ease from the moment he stepped

to the first tee. Besides a few deep breaths, there were smiles,

final stretches and an almost absent-minded tossing of his ball from

right to left hand.

After he hit his 3-wood to the right side of the fairway, he

greeted the cheers of the crowd with hands raised, the way a

10-year-old might spur on his parents’ applause.

And as he walked down the first fairway, Hahn wasn’t too far away

from being a 10-year-old again. Beside him was playing partner Pat

McGowan, whom Hahn has known since both played junior golf in

Northern California some 41 years ago.

The two talked throughout the day on the way to a 5-over 76 for

Hahn and 1-over 73 for McGowan. The third in their group, John

Harris, shot 1-under.

“I tried to keep him loose,” McGowan said after the round. “He had

a respectable score.”

Being tight or too nervous was not the issue for Hahn this year.

No, the story of Hahn’s 76 -- three strokes higher than his opening

round last year -- was more a lack of playing than any jitters.

“I was tired,” he said of how he felt on the final holes. “It’s

the first 18 holes I’ve walked since the Jones Cup [in August]. But

that’s no excuse.”

Hahn hasn’t been playing much lately, and didn’t even know he’d be

in the field until last Friday when he received a sponsor’s

exemption. But that short notice didn’t keep a crowd of about 20

fans, with most sporting Toshiba passes that identified them as

members of the club, from following him throughout the day.

It was a day that got off to a rocky start after his strong drive.

His approach left him about a 20-foot putt, which he pushed past the

hole. His par putt came back too far, and he was 1-over.

That first green would exemplify Hahn’s day. Good drives -- he

frequently out-drove his professional partners and averaged more than

252 yards off the tees -- landed in the fairways or the thinnest

rough. His driving accuracy was 64%, tied for 53rd in a field of 76,

but his approach shots always seemed far from the holes.

“I wasn’t getting close enough on my second shots,” he said. “I

left myself 30-footers. I was putting defensively.”

That attitude characterized the second through sixth holes, a

stretch that included his nearly holing a birdie chip from deep rough

left of the fifth green.

The seventh hole proved the roughest spot of the day. After Hahn

again out-drove Harris and McGowan in the center of the fairway, his

second shot went long on the tricky, sloping green, where the pin was

at the front left.

He then missed his long birdie putt, pushed the next back, missed

a short one and ended up with a double bogey.

“I got careless,” he said of his missed short putt.

He then pared the 8th and bogeyed the 9th to finish the par 35

front nine in 39.

Like many golfers, though, Hahn found new life after the turn.

Following a shot down the middle on the 10th, he landed his approach

shot 10 feet from the cup. For the first time all day as he studied

the green, Hahn looked like he thought he could make it.

He did, just rolling it enough, for his first birdie of the day to

bring him back to 3 over par.

He gave the stroke back on the 11th, a hole that could have been

worse. He landed his approach in the front right trap, blasted out to

5 feet but then lipped the putt out. More dramatically, his short

bogey putt circled all the way around the cup before dropped,

bringing a collective gasp from the crowd.

At the 12th, he missed the fairway wide left -- but on this hole,

where trees guard the green most harshly to the right, he knocked his

approach to 12 feet.

Once again, Hahn looked like he thought he could make the putt,

and he did.

At the par 3, 170-yard 13th, Hahn had his first chance to tee off

first since the first hole. He nailed it to about 7 feet and for a

third time stalked the putt like it was destined to go in.

The undulating green, though, had other ideas as the putt faded

just to the right of the hole.

That miss didn’t outwardly diminish Hahn’s spirits, but his run of

birdies was over. He bogeyed both the 14th and 16th, shot even par on

the rest to finish the back in a 1-over 37.

“I think he’s more relaxed this year,” said club member Janice

Sauter, who was among the crowd following Hahn. “He doesn’t seem as

up tight.

“He’s holding his own.”

Hahn’s fans weren’t limited to those watching behind the yellow

tape.

“It was great,” said McGowan, who now lives in North Carolina. “I

saw him Tuesday when I came in. We’ve been talking and having fun.”

For the next two days, Hahn will be mixing a little focus in with

that fun.

“Take away for or five mistakes, and I’m even par,” he said. “I’d

like to shoot even par the next two days.”

Hahn, who’s tied for 76th, tees off first at 7:40 this morning.