GOLF PGA TOUR AT TORREY PINES : Wrong Step Costs Stewart Third-Round Lead

As far as Payne Stewart was concerned, it was a day that cried out to be forgotten.

If not for a mistake that cost him a two-stroke penalty and the anguish that followed, Stewart might be holding a lead after three rounds of the Buick Invitational of California at Torrey Pines. Instead, he finished Saturday’s play in a three-way tie for second place, one stroke behind Dave Rummells, who shot a one-under-par 71.

Stewart, who has won seven PGA tournaments, still reasoned that he was lucky to be so close to the lead after shooting a 75. With Rummells on top at 212, four under par, Stewart shares second place with Jay Haas and Phil Mickelson. Craig Stadler is fifth at 214.

“The great thing about today is that there’s tomorrow,” Stewart said. “Unless we get washed out, I could win the tournament.”

Still, there was the nagging question of how well off Stewart might have been if he hadn’t stood in the wrong place when he chipped to the green on the fourth hole on the South course, where the last two rounds are being played.

Stewart was six under par and two shots ahead of Rummells. His ball had landed on a cart path, and in accordance with the rules, he took a drop from it. But when he took the next shot, the back of his right foot was on the cart path, a violation. A cart path is an immovable obstruction.

Stewart didn’t realize that he had broken a rule until Roger Maltbie, a fellow pro who was doing commentary for NBC, told him about it. Later, NBC showed it on tape during its telecast.

“It was nobody’s fault but mine,” Stewart said. “When I took relief (moved the ball) and got ready to play the shot, I wasn’t standing on the cart path. But when I stepped away and lined up the shot to get it a little higher, I had my right heel on the path.

“I putted out for a bogey, which turned out to be a triple bogey with the penalty, and when we got to the fifth tee, Maltbie told me what I’d done.

“I just wasn’t there after that. I kept wondering what I should do, and finally when we got to No. 9, I told Mark Russell (a PGA official). He gave me the penalty, and that was it.”

Stewart’s game picked up after that, but from the 11th hole through No. 16, he had near-misses for birdies on every hole but 12. He finally sank a birdie on 18 to finish with a 75.

“But at least my head was back in the game and I never gave up,” he said. “I’m too good a player to quit.”

Stewart noted that if he hadn’t turned himself in, he might have been disqualified, as Stadler was in this tournament six years ago, when he was caught on television using a towel to kneel on to make a shot. The error cost him a tie for second place and $37,333.

“San Diego is famed for these penalties,” Stewart said.

When Stadler was told what had happened to Stewart, he said kiddingly, “He deserved it, the dummy. That’s something you learn when you’re 4 years old.”

For the most part, the weather was better than that of the first two days. The sun even shone for an hour or so. But the wind and rain reappeared in the afternoon, and scores again were abnormally high.

Defending champion Steve Pate, who shot a seven-under-par 65, had barely survived the cut at 151, but now is only four strokes off the lead.

Rummells, who has yet to win since joining the tour in 1986, said after inheriting the lead from Stewart, “I’ll be nervous tomorrow. The toughest thing to do is to win your first tournament.”

Mickelson, the young San Diegan whose one tour victory came as an amateur, moved into contention with his second consecutive 69.

“A lot of people are in the tournament because of my 75,” Stewart said. “The toughest thing about is that I’ve got to go home and explain this to my wife.”

* GOLF ROUNDUP

Lisa Walters struggled with a two-over-par 74 but it was good enough to overcome Nancy Lopez to win the $450,000 Hawaiian Ladies Open. C7