Persistence Pays Off for Tucker : Golf: Former club pro gets in field at Torrey Pines and trails by one after going 67-65.

Chris Tucker, who spent the past decade working as a club pro while also trying 13 times to make it through the PGA Tour Qualifying School, shot a seven-under-par 65 Friday at Torrey Pines South and finished one shot behind the second-day leaders in the Buick Invitational.

Tom Watson, Brad Faxon and Mike Springer, who can be forgiven for never having heard of Tucker, finished atop at 13-under-par 131. 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 this week. “Everywhere you go and 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 gained entry to 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, Chris Tucker will play golf in front of a national television audience.

“I’m pretty persistent,” said Tucker, who never thought about quitting. “It’s just in your blood. Financially, I came to that conclusion (quitting) 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. He used a pair of eagles to send 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.”

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,” Watson said 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.”

Robert Wrenn tied Tucker at 132, 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.