West Is Best for Steve Pate : Golf: Of his five PGA victories, three have been in San Diego area. This week, he will defend his title at Torrey Pines.

For Steve Pate, this would be the ideal week to end a victory drought that dates to exactly a year.

In the 41 years since San Diego became a stop on the PGA Tour, no golfer has won the tournament three times. Pate, 31, a native of Ventura and an alumnus of UCLA, can achieve that distinction in the Buick Invitational of California starting today at Torrey Pines.

Four other players have won twice each in the tournament, which began in 1952 as the San Diego Open at the San Diego Country Club. Tommy Bolt won in 1952 and ‘54, Arnold Palmer in 1957 and 1961, J.C. Snead--the only repeater--in 1975 and ’76 and Tom Watson in 1977 and 1980.

When Pate won in 1988, he completed a San Diego County double, having won the Tournament of Champions at La Costa six weeks earlier. His victory here a year ago gave him a modest total of five, and it’s interesting that three of them have occurred in this area.

“I guess you’d have to say I like it here,” said Pate, who now lives in Orlando, Fla. “I always seem to putt well at Torrey Pines, and that’s a big plus for me, because the greens here drive some people crazy.”

Conversely, Pate looks back at last week’s Bob Hope Chrysler Classic at La Quinta with a feeling of frustration. He was 13 strokes under par for the 90 holes, yet could do no better than a tie for 55th place. The winner, Tom Kite, who is not playing this week, shattered par by a tour-record 35 shots.

“Everybody else there made every putt they tried,” Pate said. “I couldn’t figure those greens out. They look flat, but nothing there is straight. Still, I didn’t have a round over 71, so I can’t be upset about the way I played.”

After winning here last year in a tournament cut to 54 holes by a third-round fog-out, Pate finished no higher than sixth during the rest of the year. His earnings of $472,626 ranked 30th on the tour.

He started this season promisingly, tying for seventh in the Tournament of Champions. Then he missed the cut at Tucson and tied for 45th at Phoenix before barely cashing a check last week, so his 1993 winnings are $32,463.

“I had the yips in Tucson, and my driving was really bad in Phoenix,” he said. “I experimented with a new driver after the first round, but I gave up on it and gave it to a 13-year-old boy. That made his day and mine, because I didn’t want to see it again.”

Pate had his poorest showing at Torrey Pines, the site of this tournament since 1968, in 1990, when he finished in a tie for 56th place. Still, the memory of it is good for a chuckle, since he was a party to one of the most freakish incidents in the event’s history.

During the third round that year, Michael Allen played Pate’s ball on the 12th fairway. Pate never checked his ball and was also penalized for playing Allen’s Ball.

“I didn’t know about it until I putted out,” Pate recalled.

Pate also had a bizarre experience here last year, only that time it happened on the road to victory.

“On the last day, my second shot on 17 hit a 12-pack of beer,” he said. “We spent 4 minutes and 45 seconds looking for the ball, and we found it only 15 seconds before the deadline.

“Later, the guy with the 12-pack brought it up to be autographed.”