LA QUINTA — D.J. Trahan had no idea how accurate he was when he was assessing his chances Saturday of a repeat win in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer.

“I'm going to need to shoot 10-under par to even have a chance tomorrow if the conditions stay the same. And that's just to have a chance,” Trahan said after a 68 on the Palmer Course put him at 23 under. “It probably still won't be good enough.”

Trahan uttered those words when he was six shots behind leader Pat Perez. An hour later, Trahan's deficit had jumped to 10 shots behind Steve Stricker.

So Trahan won't become the eighth player to win the Hope two or more times, and he won't join Johnny Miller as the only back-to-back winners of the tournament. But that doesn't mean that Trahan hasn't put up a spirited defense of the title he won last year with a final-round 65 to vault past Justin Leonard.

Trahan joins a long list of defending champions who have not been able to defend the Hope title. Then again, there's no shame in that, because the Hope might be one of the toughest titles in all of golf to defend. From playing with three different amateurs each day to changes in the course rotation, the tournament Trahan won in 2008 isn't exactly the tournament he is playing in this week.

For instance, Trahan's five days in the tournament last year included two rounds at Classic Club and one at La Quinta Country Club. Neither of those courses are in the field this week, replaced by an extra round at the Palmer Course, a round at Bermuda Dunes and a round at the Nicklaus Private Course at PGA West.

This year, as the defending champion, Trahan also finds himself in the celebrity field.

“The celebrity field is tough, because there are so many people following you,” said Trahan, who played with former Vice President Dan Quayle and actor Michael Pena on Saturday. “People are rowdy and there is a lot of noise going on outside the ropes. I've handled it pretty well. There were a couple of times I've been a little frustrated with people not caring at all that there is a golf tournament going on. but it's been okay.”

Tied for 12th entering today's final round, Trahan has a chance for a top-10 finish as the defender, something that has happened just 12 times in tournament history. Everyone involved with the tournament knows that Miller won back-to-back titles, but Miller missed the cut trying to win three Hope titles in a row.

Doug Sanders was second in defense of his 1966 title, losing on the 18th hole of the final round to Tom Nieporte. And Arnold Palmer was third in 1961 after winning the first Hope in 1960.

The only other player to finish in the top five the year after wining the Hope was David Duval, who was fifth in 200 after his magical 1999 win.

Another problem with defending the Hope title is just that it's extremely difficult to put together 10 consecutive rounds of the low, low scoring that the Hope requires. Consider that Trahan's 68 on Saturday, with two bogeys, actually lost him one shot to Perez, who was the leader at the start of the third round.

“Nothing like losing five shots to the field,” said Trahan, only half-joking, after his round.

And consider these numbers. In 2008, Trahan was 19-under through four rounds and was four shots off the lead. This year, Trahan is 23 under, four shots better than his 72-hole score last year, and he is a remarkable 10 shots behind Steve Stricker.

But what makes Trahan's defense this week all the more remarkable is that in his first two Hopes in 2006 and 2007, Trahan missed the cuts in the tournament, failing to even break par in four of the eight rounds. Now he's a birdie machine, going 49 under in his last nine Hope rounds.

“You have to remember that back then (in 2006 and 2007), I couldn't putt it into the ocean, and the ocean is a pretty big thing,” Trahan said. “So if you can't putt it in the ocean, you are going to have trouble out here.”

Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at 778-4633.