Levi Proves to Be Much More Than Mere Shot in the Dark : Golf: He will take aim at the Tournament of Champions after winning four events last year.

When Wayne Levi peered through the gathering darkness at the 18th green during the final round of the Atlanta golf tournament last May, he said he could barely see the flag.

“I couldn’t even see the stick, though, nor the shape of the green,” he said.

He knew the yardage, 100 yards, and deftly hit a sand wedge to within three feet of the hole.

“Somehow I made the putt,” Levi said. “I wasn’t going to wait all night and come back and putt that thing the next day.”

His putt in virtual darkness averted a four-way playoff and provided him with his first PGA Tour victory in five years.

That putt was a catalyst for him as he won again in the Western Open and in the Greater Hartford tournament, making it three victories in only 36 days.

Levi--it rhymes with heavy --won for the fourth time in September, at the Canadian Open, and a month later, he shot a nine-under-par 63 on the final day of the Nabisco Championships to finish third.

To put his season in perspective, no one on the tour has won more than four tournaments in a year since Tom Watson won six in 1980.

Levi, 37, an unassuming sort who will play in the Infiniti Tournament of Champions starting today at La Costa, is not amazed by his accomplishments in 1990.

“I didn’t expect it, but I’m not surprised by it,” he said. “Even though it had been five years since I won a tournament, I’ve been playing a lot of good golf in those five years. I just had a lot of bad breaks and misfortune not to win more tournaments.”

Levi made an inauspicious start last year. In his first 11 tournaments, a 12th-place finish in Hawaii was his best finish, and he missed six cuts. Then he surged, crediting some swing refinements and a change of putters for upgrading his game.

Rick Christie, Levi’s friend and golf adviser, wasn’t surprised by the breakthrough.

“Putting always did him in,” Christie told Golf World. “The last few years, he’d hit it (within) 10, 12, 15 feet all day and nothing would go in. For him to win four, or five, a year shouldn’t even be an effort if he putts reasonable at all, because he hits it so close. It’s one thing to hit a lot of greens, but Wayne literally beats the pins down.”

Levi has what is called a simple and efficient swing. He has been on the tour since 1973 and had eight victories from 1978 through ’85.

A native of Upstate New York, Levi spends as much time at home as he can. He lives in Utica with his wife, Judy, and their four children. He says he doesn’t practice while at home, even when the weather permits.

He candidly says he plays golf to make money, while some other pros skirt the subject and try to persuade you that they have more lofty goals.

Levi doesn’t have an inflated ego. However, he has said he doesn’t believe he gets the recognition he deserves.

Such recognition usually comes from a player’s performance in the majors--the U.S. Open, the British Open, the Masters and the PGA Championship. He has never finished in the top 10 in a major and has never played in the British Open.

“I let too many little things bother me before I play in those tournaments,” he said.

Nonetheless, there are other tournaments that Levi regards as “majors,” even though they haven’t been anointed.

“The Western Open had the strongest field of the year,” he said. “It was a lot better than the (U.S.) Open because a lot of guys who were there couldn’t (qualify for) the Open.”

He also said he considers the Players Championship and World Series of Golf majors.

Levi is justifiably proud of his achievements in 1990, considering the competition on the tour.

“The bottom portion of the fields are a lot stronger than when I came out,” he said, “and people are making an awful lot of money. You don’t have to come here to make it.”

He cited corporate events, pro-ams and overseas competition in which players get appearance money. And, of course, there are endorsements.

Levi earned $1,024,646 last year to become the fifth player to win more than $1 million in a season.

Greg Norman was the leading money winner on the PGA Tour with $1,165,477, which impressed Levi.

“He played in almost half as many tournaments (on the tour) as I did (actually, 17 to 23),” Levi said. “I’ve played with him a few times, and he has a tremendous game. He’s very accurate with his long drives and he putts well.”

Levi didn’t finish in the top 10 in any of the nine statistical categories last year. However, for the 1980s he ranks in the top 25 in five categories.

Levi regards driving accuracy and hitting greens in regulation as the most important statistical categories.

“Unless you can’t putt at all, you’re going to make a lot of money if you keep the ball on the fairway and get it on the green,” he said.

Golf Notes

Tim Simpson withdrew from the tournament after learning of the death of his brother-in-law, John Termini, in Atlanta. Termini was reportedly stabbed by an unknown assailant Tuesday night. Simpson’s wife, Kathy, sister of the victim, said she had no idea why it happened. . . . Among those competing in this T. of C. are defending champion Paul Azinger, U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin, PGA champion Wayne Grady, Jodie Mudd, Peter Jacobsen, Tom Kite, Mark O’Meara, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Payne Stewart, Lanny Wadkins and Chip Beck. . . . Britain’s Nick Faldo, the Masters and British Open champion, and Spain’s Jose-Maria Olazabal, who won the World Series of Golf, aren’t in the field. As non-tour members, they are restricted in the number of tournaments they can play in this country.