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Editor's note: Brett Avery, PGATOUR.com's Fantasy Insider, is going to do a live blog direct from the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic this week. Check back frequently throughout the day for his next entry. Have a question or comment for Brett? Send it to him at brettavery@aol.com.

All times are pacific.

New tournament host George Lopez has his own name for this weekend's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

• Leaderboard • Explore The Course • Tournament Central

4:21 p.m.
It's a wrap
So the Hopez Celebrity blog comes to a close from a comfy leather chair in the warmth of the men's locker room. It's been a blast sending these missives out from the BlackBerry while watching all the play, good and bad, and hearing all the jokes, side-splitting and otherwise. Thanks for reading along and circle the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am week on the calendar, when this blog is slated to return.

3:58 p.m.
Warm round in cold conditions
Rose drives right and within two feet of the trunk of a 15-foot-high tree. He can get a club on the ball and he smashed 5-wood into one of the day's stiffest winds that checks up at the front of the green. That's 210 into the fan, one of his best of the day. Sharpe has 168 from a fairway bunker and pounds it to 22 feet. The guy is such a stud with the irons. No one is expecting more than a routine two-putt from Rose but his 85-footer grazes the edge. He taps in after Sharpe gives a weak birdie try. The leader at 18 under accepts hearty congratulations from the football guys. With any luck this will be the coldest temperatures Rose will compete in this year. It'll certainly be remembered as having the warmest camaraderie.

3:50 p.m.
Roughing it
The tailgate crew is standing, cameras at the ready, as the football guys approach. They clearly respect talent. And they also clearly respect an icon: Pesci is in the last group and they're staying to the bitter, blue-lip-frozen end.

3:46 p.m.
Leading and frustrated
Rose has 90 yards to the hole at the eighth but cannot capitalize by spinning the ball and checking it close to the hole despite playing into the wind and from the fairway. Sharpe, from a few yards closer and in the deepest of the right rough, lands the ball six feet short and pulls it almost 10 feet back. Rose studies the board at the green and sees he's two ahead of Verplank and five in front of Rollins and Lucas Glover. He may be 6 under for the day and have a 22-footer from the fringe to hit 19 under -- a putt he misreads by two feet left -- but he should be 21 or 22 under. The football guys also see the board and know they're close to the lead at 43 under. Sharpe grinds but misses his birdie and The Bus can't hole his five-footer for par. These guys clearly are ready to find a favorable beverage as some sprinkles return.

3:22 p.m.
Sterling approach
Rose, in the next group, stakes it to 10 feet from the center of the fairway and has that to go 19 under. He's one-upped by Sharpe, who hits it to six feet with his team 37 under. It's been a good second nine. Especially for Marcus Allen, who does his foursome proud by going to the ropes for hugs. When he drops a one-footer for par a chorus of young women start singing the USC fight song. The gallery might be cold and bundled up but they're having scads of fun. Rose again barely misses a makeable putt, about the fourth today. He could be throttling the field if he connected on all his superb iron play. As if in sympathy, Sharpe misses, too. Two holes left and daylight is disappearing fast. Rose needs a pair of solid pars to head toward tomorrow's round at the Classic with plenty of momentum.

3:07 p.m.
The Rocket
The football guys can unleash some monster drives but Roger Clemens can flat-out (insert superlative of your choice here) it. He's a huge favorite of the gallery, too. At the par-4 seventh he has a wedge left, no small feat considering it's into the wind. Which leaves Carson Daly to cavort with the gallery. Three young girls attending one of the plentiful patio parties, this off the lake right of the lake, scream as they hold a banner reading, "We're Good Luck. Hug Us!" So Daly ever the Don Juan, dashes over to dispense embraces as the stoic Clemens strides toward his birdie putt. Roger, Roger, Roger. You are not Ben Hogan. Stop and smell the roses, for cryin' out loud. PS: Clemens misses his birdie putt. Daly nearly chips in. Good luck indeed.

2:37 p.m.
Desperate Housewives
Kim just sent a quick email on the item about women celebs. The nominee: Nicolette Sheridan, whose fiance, Michael Bolton, is in the field. OK, that's one. Other suggestions?

2:14 p.m.
Funny how?
The break for the burger was well worth it but the wait for Nelson, Bolton and Pesci was not. They're only 5 under for the day, 33 under for the week and about a dozen out of the team lead. Poulter's doing equally poorly, 1 over and trying to remain stoic. Will skip a few holes and try to catch up with Rose again, who's probably at the third tee (or close to it).

2:01 p.m.
Pimps and pros
Got a question looking for an idea of whether there are any women in the pro-am field. The answer is a resounding yes, there are a few paid ams. Lopez has said more than once this week that juicing up the celeb field could include inviting some women. So, let's see ... Who might he cobble together as a team? There have been jokes about Paris Hilton and a few of her hard-partying peers. But they'd need to keep to that 18-handicap ceiling in order to compete during the daylight hours. Speaking of Lopez, he comes off the ninth green resplendent in creme colors and two-tone shoes. He crosses paths with Ian Poulter's blue-green-red-white plaid slacks (which look better than they sound) and red-and-white saddle shoes. "Look at us!" Lopez yells to the crowd in the grandstand. "Looks like we're golf pros. Or pimps."

1:55 p.m.
Shorts? Seriously?
Don Cheadle in the shorts again. Takes some cojones to wear those in this chilly breeze. His drive at the first tee, his 10th of the day, has a rhythm much improved over the first two days.

1:27 p.m.
Fist bumps all around
The gallery in the grandstand at No. 18 is still buzzing about Rose's second to 16 feet hole high. Well, except for the people waving the Terrible Towels after Bettis reaches in two, too.

Rose has it on a rail but he leaves it two inches short. The crowd groans. When it comes to the Hope, where 30 stays in the hunt, he cannot drop opportunities like here and the 16th.

Bettis shows another flash of brilliance with a three-foot second putt that gives him 4 for 3. Fist bumps all around.

Time for a cup of something warm. Back in a bit.

1:09 p.m.
Tackled
Take the football guys out of the team equation after they make bogies. And give Rose a second to pull himself together after blowing an uphill six-footer at the 17th to regain the shot dropped at the previous hole. The clubhouse is back in sight and that means sandwich time and dropping back to see how Nelson and Co. are doing.

12:49 p.m.
Ups and downs
Justin Rose's drive trickles to the bottom of a fairway bunker at the 16th and he's forced to get the ball up mighty fast. Misjudging the wind, the ball comes short and -- in a moment he may well credit Sunday night if he wins -- the ball ricochets off the far concrete bank of the canal and flies backward. He's now left with about 60 yards but is stymied by the trunk and low branches of a tree five yards ahead of his ball.

Most players would try some low-driving wedge beneath the branch but Rose takes his 60-degree wedge, lays the face wide open and flies it through the Y fork in the trunk. The ball floats over the stick and leaves an 11-footer for par. In a stroke of excellent time, The Golf Channel has a crew at the green to capture the shot and the subsequent disappointment when the putt goes wide right. That drops him out of the lead with Verplank but he's still three clear of John Rollins and Robert Allenby.

"It looked like a 5 all the way," Rose confides coming off the green.

12:34 p.m.
Big putts
Jerome Bettis finds the front-center of the elongated 15th green and gets the expected rookie ribbing from his teammates. About 60 feet from the hole Rose, measures the break to the left by spreading his arms wide and adding "and then some."

Bettis rolls a superb putt three feet past, nipping at the high side of the hole going by, and does his part for the team with the 3.

"Big putt," Rose says with a smile. The pro two-putts from 17 feet for his par.

12:05 p.m.
It's windy
Here's one thing you don't get during the telecast from the desert: an appreciation of ether wind.

Hitting off the 14th tee the wind is howling into their faces hard enough to make eyes tear. Crushed drives go nowhere fast.

Walk forward about 240 yards and the fairway is dead calm. The palms to the left of the hole are dancing around, making those grass-skirt swirling sounds. They might as well be playing indoors in the fairway.

Everyone hits their position shot for crossing the canal on their thirds and by the time they reach their balls, they're back in the wind tunnel, towels whipping on the bags. Even the Englishman is standing with arms folded, shielding himself.

How the hell does the wind change so abruptly? There's a logical, scientific explanation, no doubt. But that doesn't mean it makes any sense to a golfer.

Justin Rose flips a wedge to seven feet and drains the putt to reach 16 under. "We're not worthy!" yells to the gallery across the canal. Then, walking off the green, Sterling Sharpe turns to the walking marshall and says, "He could have an awesome year the way he's playing."

11:51 a.m.
Hut, hut
Sterling Sharpe skies a utility wood into the lake at the 13th so Marcus Allen hammers a 2-iron 250 down the middle. Sure, it's a downwind shot, but let's see you hit that club with any consistency. Justin Rose walks over to the bag and admires the club while Jerome Bettis hits.

Allen follows up with a wedge from 150 yards to 18 feet and Rose, from a yard closer, drops his 14 feet right and behind the hole. Allen misreads and the putt flutters short and right but Rose drains it into the center of the hole to get to 15 under and probably take the lead.

Rose's composure is so much improved from that first season as a pro, when he could not make a cut if his life depended on it. Where he once rushed shots he now deals with the uncertainty -- today that would be the gusting wind -- before pulling the trigger.

At the 14th, the incoming nine makes a 180-degree turn in the direction on the clubhouse. And the river wash so prominent over the next four holes lurks to the right.

10:56 a.m.
No funnies
No dice on the funnies. Mr. Pajamas is grinding on the crossword puzzle in that section. Too bad it's not The New York Times puzzle, a back-breaker on Fridays. Not the kind of challenge one tackles in the PJs.

10:42 a.m.
Hitting the wall
NASCAR driver Boris Said's starting to chop it, nasty X at the par-3 12th off what should be a routine mid-iron (for a 5 handicap). Time to find a more energetic group.

The football guys and co-leader Justin Rose are just leaving the 10th tee, so walking back to catch them around where Mr. Pajamas was lounging.

Perhaps if there's time he'll read the funnies to me.

10:18 a.m.
Still getting together
Here's something you don't see enough of at Tour stops.

Guy's sitting on his patio right of the landing area at the par-5 11th, reading the newspaper and watching the world pass.

There's one of those big heater towers blazing away beside him, the kind you'd find on a restaurant's outdoor deck.

The guy's wearing light blue jammies, a silk bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.

Somewhere it's 5 p.m., isn't it?

10:05 a.m.
Vrooom!
Out with the Boris Said group and the NASCAR driver looks anything but the role. He's lanky and slim, not the heavy upper-body development one typically sees in a guy who horses a few tons of sheet metal and steel around a track at near 200 mph.

Said has the style of swing any amateur can appreciate. He's stiff-legged, almost to the point of awkwardness, and his takeaway is a herky concoction in which the hands first fall behind the shaft, then rush ahead like a trailer being pulled into motion behind a truck. His putting stroke is a bit more fluid, although he tends to hulk over the ball.

Then again, the guy's a 5 handicap, so he's doing plenty of things correctly.

At the 10th, his first of the day, he pounds a drive down the center, as far in terms of distance covered as the poke by pro J.L. Lewis. He steps into a 7-iron approach that is covering the flagstick before the wind, blowing in their faces, holds it up and drops it short of the greenside bunker.

Not pretty. This is going to be an especially trying day up in the foothills, especially for the ams.

9:54 a.m.
Weather change
It has turned windy and downright cold, almost to the point of calculating the wind chill. For the most part the rain has stopped and shouldn't reappear, although the low clouds persist barely above the tops of the mountains. It doesn't help to keep looking north, toward the other three courses, and wish that the clouds might open and allow some sunshine to bathe this place, too.

The blimp arrived about 10 minutes ago and fought the winds in making an initial circle around the property. The pilot will earn that paycheck today.

9:27 a.m.
Big-money idea
A quick count of the gallery around the 10th tee shows six Jerome Bettis jerseys and another half-dozen spectators wearing Steelers ball caps. That's what the TOUR needs in its golf shops: numbered jerseys for the pros. Can't you imagine a sea of coordinated colors following each pairing?

9:09 a.m.
What a kid
Kenny G asked "Hopez" officials to find him a caddie who plays, with one other stipulation: A high school student who would bring some enthusiasm to the bag. So he's got a 16-year-old kid who is about 6 feet tall and 110 pounds.

G tells the kid to hit the drive at the opening hole, the 10th with the lake hugging the entire left side.

The kid steps up and rips it down the center cut, like he's been doing it all his life.

8:50 a.m.
'Just like Scotland'
Looking north the clouds have cleared and the sun is shining. Up here in the foothills, the rain has started to fall, the wind is picking up and the temperature refuses to rise. "Just like Scotland," Samuel T. Jackson says, "but 20 degrees warmer."

Of course, he's huddled in the starter's tent at the time, peering out from under the flaps.

8:26 a.m.
All about Hart
A reader named Hart wonders how the four courses stack up, from easiest to hardest:

Bermuda Dunes is unquestionably the easiest, the only layout used all 48 years and one of the old guard of the desert. As noted Wednesday, it has that friendly, comfortable aura that breeds low scores. The holes are lined by mature palms and eucalyptus, which help focus the amateurs' eyes and minds. There's talk this week that BD is at the end of its run and will be replaced by one of the new layouts in town. That'd be a shame.

La Quinta is next with many of the characteristics BD has, especially the tree-lined fairways and less-severe greens. There aren't too many par-4 holes longer than 400 yards the first two days for the celebs on those courses and the bunkering isn't too penal.

The Palmer at PGA West covers more territory, has a number of water hazards (including the canal slicing through the heart of the back nine) and can cause problems in terns of gauging distance. The course is at the base of the mountains south and west of town, which can trick the eye no matter how many times you play here. There is something to be said about watching a good shot float through the air with the mountains as a backdrop.

The host Classic is the toughest because it is spread out across a huge tract, has enormous (for this week) greens and is open to any winds arising in the Coachella Valley. For the pros, it's the newest course in the rotation so they are still learning the nuances -- especially considering they're not seeing it every day as they would in any other TOUR event.

When it comes down to it, though, how can you think any course is tough when you get to watch a touring pro at close range?

8:04 a.m.
Gimme grief
Joe Kernen of CNBC is taking massive amounts of grief from Mossimo Giannullii and Huey Lewis over that missed gimme on the 18th green. "If it had been six feet, I would have made it," he says with utmost confidence to great laughter.

Giannulli is trying to talk him out of using the claw grip while Lewis breaks into a story about the year Jack Lemmon was going to make the cut at Pebble Beach. Seems Lewis was in the same group with Lemmon and witnessed the agony of his missing from inside two feet on a putt that would have given him 6 net 4. "He was over it and his hands went like this," Lewis says, shuddering his arms as he was hit by 50,000 volts of electricity."

Ah, jokes about the yips. Through it all Kernan smiles the smile of a sad clown.

7:42 a.m.
Calm before the storm
Sitting on a practically empty practice range that will fill with activity in the next 10 minutes. So, before the madness begins ...

• Magnolia Drive at Augusta National can't be beat, but for a guy who grew up north of Buffalo the PGA West entry is pretty sweet. Literally. Orange trees laden with fruit alternating with majestic palms, now that's a memory that will brighten the morning juice break during the rest of the winter.

• Art Buchwald's passing coinciding with this tournament week seems apt. One of the best comedic columnists of the 20th century would have fit in with this crowd through all its ages. Hey, what if he'd been born 35 years later and could have taken advantage of the Internet in his prime? "Art Buchwald, blogger" has a nice ring, doesn't it?

• Doug Sanders is out this morning in mint green. It's not easy to pull off those colors and he makes it look so easy.

• Host George Lopez is out early this morning, trying to get loose and keeping a running commentary with his caddie. Apparently, his little party last night for the celebs, players and caddies was quite the bash. Everyone's cracking jokes with him this morning, trading inside jokes. A few of the caddies are moving slowly. Lopez sees the clothes designer Mossimo Giannulli and begins roaring with laughter, causing Giannulli to hide his face in his hands. "Who knew you could dance like that?" Lopez jabs. "What? I wasn't even there ... " comes the retort.

Anthony Anderson, orange head to toe. Too bad he's not Sanders' size because they could have a hell of a mix-and-match session.

5:37 a.m.
Top o' the morning
And a fine Friday morning to you. Getaway day from your office but hump day here at the 90-hole "Hopez."

Shaping up as another lovely day with the temperature already at 54 degrees.

Mid-60s again in the forecast, according to the Weather Channel, but partly cloudy with a "slight" chance of a rain shower.

Might need to break out a parka.

The Desert Sun¹s tournament section has a Q & A is with Andy Garcia this morning. The last exchange:

Q. What can we expect from your new movie, Smoking Aces, which opens next week?

A. It¹s funny. A bit violent, but very funny.

Kind of like watching the football guys play. Sterling Sharpe, Marcus Allen and Jerome Bettis are at 23 under par, not close enough to contend for the pro-am title unless they have two monster rounds.

But they need to remain especially aware that today¹s pro partner, Justin Rose, is tied for the lead at 12 under. They¹re one of the last groups onto the course off the 10th tee at PGA West¹s Arnold Palmer Private Course.

The last group off that tee is Craig T. Nelson, Michael Bolton and Joe Pesci, whose 28 under owns a share of seventh. That¹s three back of leaders Michael T. Glenn, Mark Zesbaugh and Samuel Allen, who clocked 18 under at the Classic Club yesterday with Scott Verplank, the other co-leader.

Ah, the beauty of the draw for the pro-am players: Getting a hot pro on your side for a day is a big bonus. It¹s nearly a requirement to winning.

None of the other all-celebrity teams are close to the Nelson-Bolton-Pesci trio, but mogul skier Toby Dawson and his two ams, Louis Capano III and Rolf Klam, cranked out a 15-under round at La Quinta CC yesterday. They¹re at 27 under. There¹s an all-celebrity team in a lump of teams at 23 under with the football guys: Samuel L. Jackson, Oscar de la Hoya and tournament host George Lopez.

So, have any questions about the players, the format or anything else related to this week¹s blog? Feel free to send them to brettavery@aol.com.

We¹ll answer some in the blog as time allows.

And here¹s a warning: During tomorrow¹s last pro-am round you¹re on your own in front of the television. Saturday and Sunday will be spent at the Classic Club, writing actual stories in the press center, where the bulk of the writers and broadcasters have spent the entire week.

That¹s two days of writing on a computer. On a keyboard that makes for a little faster writing than these three days on the BlackBerry.

Time for the shower and breakfast. See you at PGA West.