Blake Won’t Throw a Victory Away : Golf: After heaving his old putter into a lake last Monday, he makes some big putts for a two-stroke victory over Bill Sander.

The divers have been called, and will fish for Jay Don Blake’s putter today in the lake adjacent to the eighth hole at The Springs Club in Rancho Mirage.

“We will be happy to keep it for Jay Don at the normal storage rate,” said Jim English, pro at The Springs Club. “Whatever the cost, I’m sure he can afford it now.”

Blake earned $180,000 Sunday with a two-stroke victory in the Shearson Lehman Brothers Open, six days after chucking his longtime putter in the drink.

“I’m surprised he won, as badly as he was putting here,” English said. “That’s why he just let that putter fly. By air-time standards, it was a pretty good throw.”

It was a throw long overdue. Blake had been playing with that putter, a gift from his father, since his days in high school. And while he has been good enough to make it on the PGA Tour for five years, he was 106th on the money list last year and will be 33 this October.

Last year he competed in 30 events and never finished in the top 10. He missed the cut two weeks ago at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, tied for 67th in the Bob Hope Classic, and came to Torrey Pines still looking for his first career victory.

But with his backup putter in hand, he dominated the greens at Torrey Pines and shot a closing-day 67 for a 20-under-par 268 total. His 18-foot birdie putt off the back of the green at No. 15 and his 15-foot-birdie putt at No. 17 left runner-up Bill Sander, who had posted a 66, with no opportunity to win.

Blake, 32, was playing with friends at The Springs last Monday when he threw his putter about 30 yards into a pond.

“I just couldn’t make any crucial putts,” Blake said. “It was very much out of character and I don’t know what came over me. But I was tired of missing putts.

“I might still be struggling if I had kept it,” he added. “So I guess it’s beneficial that I threw it in the water.”

Dan Forsman threw away his chance to defend his title with three putts on No. 14 and an off-the-fairway drive on No. 18 that left him blocked by a tree.

Forsman turned in a 68 for a third-place total of 271, one stroke better than Ben Crenshaw, who had a 69.

“I know what Jay Don is feeling now; that first victory is a great big hurdle,” Forsman said. “He’s been highly touted, has won the NCAA (championship in 1980) and has all the talent in the world.

“I’ve watched him play and there was no doubt in my mind he was capable of winning. And he proved it to all of us today with his outstanding performance.”

Blake began the day two strokes behind third-round leader Steve Pate, and a shot in back of Corey Pavin and Brad Faxon.

Pavin lost a stroke on the first hole and then collapsed to a 75.

Blake birdied three of his first six holes to reach 18 under, but Pate and Faxon were right there in contention with him.

But on the par-four, 454-yard seventh hole, the second shots of both Pate and Faxon went into the canyon. Pate fell from 18 under to 15 under with a triple bogey, and Faxon dropped from 17 to 15 under with a double bogey.

“I heard somebody say, ‘Oh, he’s way right of the green,’ at No. 7,” Blake said. “But I didn’t pay any attention to who they were talking about because I had hit a pretty good shot on No. 8 and was thinking about my chances for a birdie. I still don’t know what happened to them.”

Pate finished at 15 under with Jim Hallet and Robert Wrenn, and Faxon fell off the leaderboard to 14 under with Ed Humenik and Dudley Hart.

Phil Mickelson, who had problems of his own on No. 18, recovered and shot 70 for a seven-under 281. As an amateur, Mickelson gets no prize money, but those who tied him for 42nd place each earned $3,217.50.

Mickelson’s drive on No. 18 landed on a root of a large tree, and his second shot rolled into a sewer closer to the hotel bordering the final hole than the green. The youngster maintained his composure and offered a few funny remarks to the large gallery that followed him.

After taking a drop in deep grass closer yet to the hotel, he went over trees, water and the scoreboard to land on the green, where he two-putted for a par.

“It was fairly routine,” said Mickelson.

Nothing routine for Sander, who began the week on the easier north course and was two over after eight holes when fog suspended play.

He said he considered making plane reservations at the time in anticipation of failing to make the cut. But he returned to the course and played the next 64 holes in 20 under.

“I would have liked to have gone out there and played for two or three more holes (in a playoff),” Sander said. “But hey, it was a great week.”

Blake was oblivious to his challengers. “I was trying to not look at the leaderboard,” he said. “They say this is supposed to be fun when you play well and win a golf tournament. But it’s nerve-racking.”

Blake’s game off the tee began to wander down the stretch as everyone else began to wonder if it was time for the non-winner to collapse.

He recovered from an errant drive on No. 14 with a par, and after a poor drive on No. 15, he hit a nine-iron off the back of the green.

“Things were kind of sliding away,” Blake said, “so the big key of the round was that putt that trickled in on No. 15 for a birdie. It kind of relaxed me.”

After Sander birdied No. 18 to go 18 under and pull within a shot of Blake, he climbed up to the NBC television tower. About the time he was putting on his headset, Blake was sending folks to a different channel with a tournament-deciding birdie putt on No. 17.

“It’s a big relief to get that first win,” said Blake. “I’ve always felt like my game’s good enough and I have the potential to win out here, but you wonder if it’s ever going to happen.”