Bob Hope Classic report from a wet California

Big-hitter Bubba leads by two after record 62

FROM THE PGATOUR.COM WEBSITE
QUINTA, California (AP) -- Bubba Watson loves a little rain on his game. With his mammoth drives sticking to fairways instead of bounding across them, he had the best round of his pro career to take the Bob Hope Classic lead.
Watson shot a course-record 10-under 62 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead over Alex Prugh after the second round, which began and ended in the driving storm that washed out Thursday's play and pushed the final round to Monday.
============================================
Link to more golf news:
PGATOUR.COM: Complete coverage of the Bob Hope Classic
============================================
But there were just enough hours in between squalls for a SilverRock course record by Watson, who's trying to show there's more to his game than his jaw-dropping work off the tee.
"I didn't expect it to be that wet," Watson said. "I didn't come out of my house yesterday, so I didn't know what it was. It was really wet."
The Palm Springs area, which typically gets about 5 inches of rain a year, has been pounded by 3.3 inches already this week. Although it's expected to clear on the weekend before returning Monday, the storm has wreaked havoc on the US PGA Tour's only five-round, four-course tournament -- but some players handle it better than others.
Prugh, no stranger to rain from his college career at the University of Washington, followed his opening 64 with a bogey-free 66 on the Palmer Course at PGA West. First-round leader Shane Bertsch (69) was at 13 under with Joe Ogilvie (66), Chad Collins (64) and Martin Flores (65).
Watson passed off his Thursday by filming videos for Twitter of himself hitting balls out the door of his rental house -- but the prolific tweeter had no trouble getting back to business.
Watson still hasn't won on the US PGA Tour, but he showed off an improved putting stroke and capitalized on wet fairways at the four-course tournament's longest venue for a 29 on the front nine, including an eagle on the fifth hole when he drove the green from 335yd and made a 7ft putt.
Watson, who led the tour in eagles and was second in driving distance last year, was at 16-under 128 after taking on the tournament's two toughest courses in his first two rounds.
"My length is definitely going to play a part on that golf course, because it's got wide fairways," Watson said. "I can rip it if I want to. The par 5s are reachable, unless you get a day like today. ... It's different (in the rain). It's going to be hard for everybody, but I putted well today. That was my key. I hit a lot of good shots, but I putted well."
After a morning delay to avoid the worst of Friday's storm, the early starters played through the rain before it largely stopped an hour later. Their iron shots still produced large sprays of water from the fairways throughout the round.
In such marshy conditions, the rest of the players could see reasons for Watson's success.
"The wet weather just totally plays into his favour, because his ball's not going to get out of control when it hits the ground," Bertsch said. "He can just fly it his 330 (yards), and plug it and lift it, clean it, and hit wedges into every hole. It doesn't surprise me one bit."
The rain hasn't been quite so kind to Watson's wife, Angie. Her Friday round with actor Kevin Nealon in the pro-am portion of the Hope Classic was cancelled when the amateurs were scratched in an effort to get the round in between the raindrops.
"She would rather her play and not me," said Watson, who got his wife into the field as a fifth-anniversary present of sorts.
Angie Watson is a former Georgia basketball player who's even taller than her 6ft 3in husband. She's a four-handicapper after six years of serious play.
Bubba Watson finished fifth at the 2007 US Open in Oakmont, but he's best known for his freakishly long drives and his even more prodigious tweeting abilities. Watson attempts to answer every tweet sent to him, and he posts links to videos of everything from his swing to his rendition of "Happy Birthday" to talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres.
In the morning hours before Friday's round, he tweeted 112 responses to fans -- albeit most of the one-word variety.
While Watson played indoor golf Thursday, Prugh waited out the rain by going to see "The Book of Eli" with another pro.
"I think the biggest factor was having to control your wedge shots," Prugh said. "Water-wise, there wasn't any trouble, no casual water that I found. There might be (Friday night), with all this downpour that we're getting."
Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Bob Hope Classic, PGA West Palmer Course, La Quinta CC, Silver Rock, PGA West Nicklaus Course, California, United States of America
SECOND ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 144 (2x72)
PGA West (Palmer Course)
131 Chad Collins 67 64, Martin Flores 66 65, Joe Ogilvie 65 66
132 J.P. Hayes 65 67
134 Mike Weir (Can) 67 67, Tom Gillis 68 66, Steve Elkington (Aus) 69 65
135 Kevin Na 69 66, Briny Baird 68 67
136 Jeff Overton 68 68, Brian Gay 71 65
137 Derek Lamely 68 69, D.J. Trahan 69 68
138 Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 68 70, Paul Goydos 69 69, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 67 71, Heath Slocum 66 72
139 Greg Chalmers (Aus) 70 69, Marc Turnesa 69 70, David Duval 74 65, Brandt Snedeker 70 69, Greg Owen (Eng) 74 65, Webb Simpson 67 72
141 Justin Bolli 70 71, Jeff Gove 72 69
142 Billy Mayfair 71 71, Blake Adams 74 68
143 Jeff Maggert 76 67
144 Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 74
145 Boo Weekley 71 74
147 Mathew Goggin (Aus) 76 71
149 Steve Flesch 71 78
Silver Rock
136 Kevin Stadler 67 69
137 Pat Perez 68 69, Justin Rose (Eng) 70 67, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 68 69
139 Jason Dufner 72 67, Ryan Palmer 72 67, Lee Janzen 69 70, Jimmy Walker 71 68
140 Joe Durant 71 69, James Nitties (Aus) 71 69, Josh Teater 71 69
141 Charley Hoffman 69 72, Jason Bohn 69 72, Kevin Streelman 70 71
142 Tim Petrovic 67 75, Troy Merritt 72 70
143 Brian Davis (Eng) 73 70, Bo Van Pelt 73 70, Chris Couch 71 72
144 Rickie Fowler 74 70
145 David Lutterus (Rsa) 75 70, Rich Beem 71 74, Billy Horschel 77 68
146 Justin Leonard 75 71, Rocco Mediate 75 71, Ron Skayhan 71 75
147 Woody Austin 77 70
148 Mark Calcavecchia 71 77, Greg Kraft 75 73
149 Chad Campbell 79 70
150 John Mallinger 74 76
151 Craig Stadler 76 75
La Quinta CC
128 Bubba Watson 66 62
134 Bill Haas 68 66
136 Matt Kuchar 67 69, Ryan Moore 69 67
137 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 67 70, George McNeill 65 72, Brett Quigley 71 66, John Senden (Aus) 68 69, Roger Tambellini 66 71
138 Jeff Klauk 66 72, John Merrick 68 70
139 Ricky Barnes 67 72, Ben Crane 70 69
140 Bob Estes 68 72, Michael Sim (Sco) 73 67, Matthew Every 69 71, David Toms 70 70, Cameron Percy (Aus) 70 70, Graham Delaet (Can) 71 69
141 Mark Brooks 70 71, Cameron Beckman 67 74, Sam Saunders 74 67
142 Michael Bradley 74 68, Jamie Lovemark 71 71, Chez Reavie 71 71
144 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 71, Chris Tidland 72 72, Harrison Frazar 72 72, Scott Verplank 70 74
145 Johnson Wagner 75 70
147 Steve Lowery 71 76
149 Christopher Baryla (Can) 71 78
PGA West (Nicklaus Course)
130 Alex Prugh 64 66
131 Shane Bertsch 62 69
133 Vaughn Taylor 66 67, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 63
134 Garrett Willis 65 69
136 Chris Wilson 69 67, Bill Lunde 68 68, Matthew Jones (Aus) 69 67
137 Omar Uresti 70 67, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 70 67, Matt Bettencourt 71 66, Charles Howell III 68 69
138 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 69 69, Scott McCarron 67 71, Jeff Quinney 64 74, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 68 70, Jerod Turner 69 69
139 Chris Stroud 71 68, Chris DiMarco 72 67, Ted Purdy 70 69, Jay Williamson 71 68, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 73 66
140 Brendon De Jonge 73 67, Kevin Sutherland 69 71
141 D.A. Points 70 71
143 Brad Faxon 70 73, Nicholas Thompson 72 71
144 Kris Blanks 69 75
145 Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 73 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 73 72
147 Scott Piercy 76 71
151 Kevin Johnson 76 75