Pavin Hangs a 65 In There : Golf: Saturday’s score marks his 10th consecutive round of under 70.

Corey Pavin is so hot these days, even his mistakes don’t seem to hurt him.

By his own admission, Pavin didn’t tear up the South course at Torrey Pines Saturday in the third round of the Shearson Lehman Brothers Open. Yet he muddled through to a seven-under par 65 and climbed to within one stroke of the lead with a 54-hole total of 200. He trails only Steve Pate, a former UCLA teammate, who shot a 67.

“I was pleased to hang in there today,” said Pavin, 31. “It was not one of my best efforts of the year.”

Pavin’s statement doubtless came as a surprise to those who note that he leads the PGA Tour with $338,300 in earnings. After tying for ninth and 16th places in his first two tournaments of the year, he tied for second in the AT&T; at Pebble Beach two weeks ago and won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in Palm Springs last week.

With his scores of 67, 68 and 65 here, Pavin has played 10 consecutive rounds under 70 and has averaged 66.7 in the process. Saturday’s 65 was his third during that stretch.

How has Pavin done all this without always being at his best? He answered by using his round of Saturday as an illustration.

“I seemed to do everything I needed to do today,” he said. “That’s the story of my game right now.”

Typical of Pavin’s knack of getting by somehow was his recovery for a par four on the fifth hole.

After hitting a good drive, Pavin knocked his second shot near a bunker in front of the green. His third shot fell so far short of the pin that he beat his club into the bank of the bunker and stomped around the green. Then he walked up and sank a 15-foot putt.

Another example was a 60-foot chip shot that found its mark on the 11th hole, and even that was nothing new. Pavin had chipped in from 40 feet away en route to victory a week ago.

“I had two of those long ones last week,” he said, “so maybe I have one more left for tomorrow.”

There also was a 60-foot birdie putt in Pavin’s bag Saturday, that on the third hole, and he thought that might have been the turning point of his round.

“It was my wake-up call,” he said. “I hadn’t made one like that in years and years.”

All told, Pavin had seven birdies and no bogeys, and his one regret was that he didn’t get one more birdie on the ninth hole.

“I chunked an iron shot,” he said. “I don’t know what I was thinking--obviously nothing.

“It was a signal to me to concentrate better. Later, I think I got mentally tired, and my mind was wandering at times, so I had to remind myself what was going on.”

While Pavin attributes some of his recent success to resourcefulness and a little bit of luck, he doesn’t deny that he has upgraded his game.

“It’s a combination of things,” he said. “I’ve got a new three-wood, and that has helped a lot. My chipping has been good, from 80 or 90 yards all the way in, and my putting has been good. I’ve changed my putting grip a little, too, so both hands are underneath the club.

“If I’m not making birdies, I don’t worry about it. And I try to keep my concentration. You can’t put your game on auto-pilot. You have to play every shot.”

Yet another plus for Pavin is that he constantly tries to improve.

“There is always something to work on,” he said. “It’s a crazy game. You never reach perfection, but you always strive for it. It’s a dilemma, a Catch-22.”

Since joining the tour in 1984, Pavin has won eight tournaments and $2,631,988. His biggest money total is $498,406 in 1987, and he might surpass that before this February is over.

Before his current streak, Pavin had his hottest run in 1985, when he won the Colonial Invitational and finished fourth and second the next two weeks.

“The Colonial was probably as clean a tournament as I ever had, but I’m probably a better player now,” he said. “I’m playing as well as I ever have, and I’d like to think of myself not as a streak player but as a consistent one.

“The way I’m playing now, I’d like to be that type of player all year.”

In any case, Pate is understandably wary as he awaits Pavin’s challenge in today’s final round.

When Saturday’s shooting was over, Pate said, “I don’t know anybody who has been on as big a roll as Corey is right now. He’s had a big year already, and it’s only February.”

Golf Notes

John Cook and Scott Simpson led the San Diego-area contingent into today’s final round of the Shearson Lehman Brothers Open with 54-hole scores of 208. Cook shot a 66 Saturday, Simpson a 72. Amateur Phil Mickelson followed with 71-211, Lennie Clements with 73-211, Lon Hinkle with 76-212 and J.B. Sneve with 78--218. Sneve, who is playing in his first tour tournament and started with a 68, dropped to last place among the 71 players who made the cut.

The South course, which is used for the last two rounds, is supposed to be about two strokes tougher than the North, yet it was no puzzle Saturday. Twenty-six golfers broke 70 and 19 more broke par 72. Sneve had the toughest time with his 78, and Michael Allen and Jim Thorpe were next highest with 77s. Thorpe thus completed a riches-to-rags story that had begun with a 64 Friday.

Steve Pate’s three-day-leading total of 199 was one off the 54-hole record of Woody Blackburn in 1985. . . . The 72-hole record for the tournament at Torrey Pines, which began to be played here in 1968, is 266, by George Burns in 1987. . . . The last time the tournament required a playoff was in 1986, when Bob Tway defeated Bernhard Langer on the second hole of play. . . . If the tournament comes down to the par-five, 499-yard No. 18 today, it will come down to the hole that played the easiest for the pros Saturday. No. 18 surrendered three eagles, 33 birdies and 32 pars. Only three players fared worse: Joey Sindelar, Michael Allen and Phil Mickelson, who recorded bogeys. . . . The toughest hole in the third round was the 454-yard, par four No. 7, which yielded only three birdies. . . . Brothers Curt and Tom Byrum were paired for the third round after they each went 68-70 in the first two rounds. Tom, the younger, however, broke away from Curt in the third round with a 68. Curt posted a 72.