At 16, Woods Steals This Show : Golf: Levi hauls out old putter, old attitude to fashion a 64 for a one-shot lead over five others after one round.

Wayne Levi won four tournaments and more than $1 million in 1990 and was named the PGA Tour player of the year.

Then, his game went sour. He didn’t win a tournament last year and finished 87th on the money list, earning $195,861.

But Levi is back on top.

On a warm Thursday, with virtually no wind, Levi shot a seven-under-par 64 to take the first-round lead in the Nissan Los Angeles Open at the Riviera Country Club.

Keith Clearwater, Buddy Gardner, Chris Tucker, Mark Carnevale and Doug Tewell, who won the L.A. Open in 1986, are one shot behind Levi.

The leaders didn’t attract the largest galleries. That was reserved for 16-year-old Tiger Woods, the youngest player to appear in a tour event.

Woods shot a 72 and spent some time in the fitness trailer after his round. He pulled a muscle in his back while trying to hit a ball out of the rough on the 11th hole.

Levi, 40, said his slump in 1991 was a combination of his poor putting and lack of effort on his part.

“My wife (Judy) told me, ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself the way you played last year,’ ” Levi said. “It was kind of embarrassing because I never really put much together. She told me to just go out and play solid and keep making the cuts, and that there was no reason I couldn’t pick up where I left off in 1990.

“You probably need someone to tell you that, someone as close as your wife.”

Levi has made every cut this year, with his best finish a fourth place in the recent Hawaiian Open.

“It was a pretty solid round, and I kept the ball in play,” Levi said of his play Thursday, “and it was one of the better days I’ve had this year hitting my irons.”

Levi had nine birdies and two bogeys. Seven of his birdie putts were from eight feet or closer.

An avid follower of the stock market, Levi has taken several weeks off the tour to pursue his other vocation. He is not doing that now.

“I’m getting too old . . . to come back here and pick up where I left off like I used to,” he said. “The guys are just too good and the overall strength of the fields is so much better.”

Levi said he hit the ball respectably last year, but his putting touch deserted him.

“You get down on yourself, and it’s pretty easy for you to quit,” he said. “So you end up shooting a 73 or 74. I must have missed a half dozen cuts by one stroke.”

Levi retired a putter he had used for 20 years in June of 1990. But he pulled it out of the garage, rust and all, redesigned it and it helped him Thursday.

Putting problems also had hounded Clearwater in recent years. From tee to green, he is regarded as one of the best players on the tour.

However, after winning two tournaments in his rookie season of 1987, he regressed, mainly because of a balky putter.

He said his weakness in putting has prevented him from getting to the next level on the tour: that of a more consistent winner.

So Clearwater has devoted most of his practice time to putting, spending three to four hours a day on the greens.

“The difference between putting mediocre and putting great is about 10 shots in a round,” Clearwater said.

Clearwater shaved six strokes off par and said he missed only three putts he could have made.

Tewell, who hasn’t won on the tour since 1987, said he had no indication that he would play as well as he did.

“I had probably the worst warm-up I’ve had all year,” he said.

Like the other players, Tewell praised the the course. “It’s in fabulous condition.

“I got away with a good round today, but I’m still apprehensive,” said Tewell, 42, who is aware the course conditions could change if the wind comes up.

He added that some of the shots he made Thursday were identical to those he remembered while winning here in 1986.

Tewell finished with a flourish, with birdies on the last three holes after getting a bogey on the par-four 15th hole.

Gardner said that Riviera was “pretty defenseless.”

It would seem so as there were 70 rounds below par of 71 compared to 56 rounds over par.

And, it was a rewarding day for some of the struggling young pros, such as Carnevale and Tucker.

“This was the seventh qualifying school for me,” Carnevale said. “Up until this past June, I was looking for a job.”

Tucker has been through qualifying school 13 times.

So some newcomers found Riviera to be relatively easy. It wasn’t that way, though, for defending champion Ted Schulz, who had to be content with a 71.

Golf Notes

Buddy Gardner said Riviera is his favorite course. “You dream about shooting 65s on a course like this,” he said. . . . John Daly, who had a 68, said that he kept his driver in the bag on the first nine holes. “I used it only twice,” he said. “I haven’t been hitting the ball that well, but I scored well.” . . . Tom Weiskopf, 49, making a comeback in preparation for the senior tour, was five under par after 17 holes. However, he bogeyed the 18th for a 67. . . . Holes in one were recorded by Jay Delsing and Doug Martin on the sixth and fourth holes. Delsing used a seven-iron on the 165-yard sixth hole, and Martin used a three-wood on the 226-yard fourth hole. . . . Gil Morgan, a two-time winner of the event, dropped out for unspecified reasons.

Leaders

First-round scores at the par-71 Riviera Country Club. Player: Score Wayne Levi: 32-32--64 Keith Clearwater: 32-33--65 Buddy Gardner: 31-34--65 Doug Tewell: 32-33--65 Mark Carnevale: 31-34--65 Chris Tucker: 31-34--65 Tom Sieckmann: 31-35--66 * 9 are tied at 67 * 15 are tied at 68