Tucker’s Dreams Realized : Golf: With hard work, no-name golfer moves to one stroke behind the leaders at the Buick Invitational.

Chris Tucker, renowned to family and friends, emerged from the final no-name threesome of the day on Torrey Pines South with a story to inspire every wanna-be.

Tucker, 34, who spent the past decade working as a club pro while also trying 13 times to make it through the PGA Tour Qualifying School, finished one shot behind the Buick Invitational second-round leaders.

Tom Watson, Brad Faxon and Mike Springer, who can be forgiven for never having heard of Tucker, finished in the lead at 13-under Friday. A field of 74 survived the cut at four-under.

The winner of the Buick Invitational earns $180,000. Chris Tucker’s biggest payday in golf so far has been $4,000 for winning a local tournament in his home state of North Carolina.

“It’s more fun than I thought it would be,” said Tucker, who got his first look at Torrey Pines earlier this week. “To be treated like a king every week . . . I mean in the past 10 years I was the person putting on the party for everyone else. I was cleaning the clubs at night, making the pairings and doing the scoreboards.”

Tucker made the tour by finishing 27th in the qualifying school last year, and after tying for 52nd place at Pebble Beach, he missed the cut in Hawaii and Tucson.

He sent a letter to Tom Morgan, the executive director of the Buick Invitational, seeking admittance to this week’s tournament. Tucker wrote: “I am living proof of ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.’ . . . I am a firm believer in, ‘Never give up on your dreams,’ and I hope in 1992 to fulfill these dreams by participation in your great event.”

Today at 1, Chris Tucker will play golf in front of a national TV audience.

“I’m pretty persistent,” said Tucker, who never thought about quitting. “It’s just in your blood. Financially I came to that conclusion (to quit) several times, but I was always fortunate to find someone who would help me and send me back for another trip to the school.”

Tucker said he consulted a sports psychologist this week, changed drivers, putters, and, save his sand wedge, every club in his bag.

“I hadn’t played enough rounds coming into this week to be in the statistical categories for driving the ball,” Tucker said, “but I’d probably be one of the shortest and crookedest.

“The session with the sports psychologist got me more emotionally stable and more under control. I was too intense on the course, and I’d be drained by the end of the day. Hopefully I can stay calm for two more days.”

The headlines belonged to Springer, Watson and Faxon until Tucker’s closing charge late in the day. He used a pair of eagles to send die-hard tour observers scurrying for their media guides.

“I was even-par through eight holes, and the (par-five) ninth hole was the turning point,” Tucker said. “I hit a three-wood and luckily the pin got in the way of it, and it stopped for a tap-in eagle.

“On the (par-five) thirteenth, I hit a three-wood about eight feet from the hole to eagle again. On No. 18 I hit a wedge within a foot and half of the hole for a birdie, which was pretty lucky. My heart was kind of racing and my nerves were about half-shot.”

Like Tucker, Springer went seven-under on the South. But unlike Tucker, Springer talks like a man reading a bedtime story to his children.

“Just solid golf for the first two rounds and taking advantage of the par fives,” he said. “Birdied all but one of them. Parred my last hole on the North Thursday and that’s been my only five so far.

“I missed the cut here last year. I wouldn’t mind finishing up the same as the first two rounds this year. I’d have to say that would be pretty good and pretty tough to beat.”

Watson, who has 32 more tour victories than Tucker, matched the South course record in the first round with a 63. However, he failed to take advantage of the more forgiving North course and settled for a share of the lead.

“The 63 is history. . . . It was a lot more of a struggle today than it was yesterday,” said Watson after a four-under 68. “The round was peppered with about five or six pretty bad shots, but fortunately I didn’t make a bogey.

“I’m obviously happy about my position of still being tied for the lead. Overall the two days have equaled out. I played a terrific round, and this was a below-average round. I’m going to have to play awfully well the last two rounds to win the golf tournament, and I feel capable of that.”

Faxon, who has made a run for the title here in the past only to crumble down the stretch, birdied No. 18 to finish strongly--for a change.

“I’ve never played a great last round here,” Faxon said. “It would be nice to cap it all off finally with a win.”

Robert Wrenn tied Tucker at 132 and finished one shot behind the leaders, and one in front of Steve Pate and Steve Elkington. John Huston and Tim Simpson are three behind the leaders at 10-under.

“The golf course is yielding a lot of birdies,” Watson said. “To maintain the lead I’m going to have to shoot in the 60s.”

The birdies, however, did not come easily to players such as Lon Hinkle (141), John Daly (142), Phil Mickelson (145), defending champion Jay Don Blake (145) and San Diego State sophomore Kevin Riley (150), who failed to make the cut.

Larry Rinker had a hole-in-one on No. 3 on the North, but missed the cut by seven strokes.

“I played in the Heritage Classic last year because I won our section championship back in Carolina,” Tucker said. “I made the cut there, but then I shot 80 in the last round.

“I was paired with Corey Pavin in the last round and that was kind of my first experience playing with a heavyweight, you know, a name player. I felt like I really didn’t belong, and I was just trying to stay out of his way.”