SENIOR CLASSIC AT MESA VERDE : Smith Gets Education on Putting : Golf: Senior Tour player seeks some advice to improve the weak link of his game.

George Smith is the best putter in the family, but he’s a retired basketball coach who works for CBS. His brother, Bob E., is on the Senior PGA Tour and the only thing holding him back from the big money is his erratic putting.

Bob E. Smith is eighth on the tour in driving accuracy and tied for fifth in hitting greens in regulation. But he’s 63rd in putting. So he has taken a lot of lessons from--who else?--Dave Stockton and listened to advice from his brother . . . and just about anybody else willing to offer advice.

“I’m a good putter because there’s no pressure,” said George, who is a caddie for his brother during the Toshiba Senior Classic at Mesa Verde Country Club. “But when your livelihood is riding on every putt, it makes it a lot tougher.”

The past couple of days, Smith’s tutor has been Bob Cisco, author of a book that was excerpted in a booklet passed out to the amateurs during this week’s pro-am event.

“The porter at the airport didn’t help and the bellman at the hotel didn’t help, but you have to give credit where credit is due,” said Smith, who had only one bogey Saturday en route to a 65 that left him five under and three shots behind leader Tom Wargo going into today’s final round. “Bob has been working with me the last couple of days and he’s helped tremendously.

“Everything felt comfortable today, even the two times I three-putted, I felt good. I can’t remember the last time I felt this comfortable with the putter.”

Smith bogeyed the first hole after leaving a four-iron to the right, chipping on and missing a 12-foot putt. But he hit an eight-iron within 10 feet on No. 2 and sank the birdie putt. Then, on No. 7 he sank a 25-foot putt for birdie, and backed that up with a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 8.

He made 15-foot and 20-foot birdie putts on the 12th and 15th holes and saved par by dropping in a putt from 15 feet on the 203-yard, par-three 16th.

“Then things got a little silly,” Smith said. “I think they had to replace the pin on 17.”

Smith missed the fairway to the left with his second shot on the 406-yard, par-four 17th and had a 40-foot chip from the fringe. His nine-iron shot hit the flagstick and popped in the hole.

On No. 18, his birdie attempt slipped six feet past the hole and he had his brother line up the putt before hitting it in the center of the hole.

“The way he was putting today, I knew he’d make that putt,” George said.

There have been lots of times that wasn’t the case and that’s the reason Bob E. Smith is not a common name on the PGA.

He earned $382,786 on the regular tour between 1968 and ‘81, his best performances being second-place finishes at the 1973 B.C. Open and the 1975 Byron Nelson Classic.

He joined the Senior Tour in 1993 and made only $10,375 his first year. He earned $123,957 last year, but that was only good enough for 62nd place. So Smith was back at the qualifying school, where he finished fifth to earn full-exempt status for this year.

Smith is golf’s version of the quintessential road warrior. He played in Europe seven years (1983-90) and in South Africa during the winter months. He played on the Asian tour in 1986 and the PGA of Japan Senior Tour in 1993. He won the Yanase Cup tournament in 1993 and played 10 events in Japan last year.

“That was my security blanket last year,” he said. “I was in a category where I just didn’t know how many tournaments I would be playing in here, so I went back.”

Smith has won $23,325 in five tournaments this season, putting him 48th on the money list. With that hot putter in his bag, however, that looks like 48th with a bullet.

A top-five finish at Mesa Verde and a few more rounds like Saturday’s would probably end Smith’s days as a world traveler. The tour media guide states that he “has no permanent residence,” but Smith says he now has a home in Clearwater, Fla.

And his vagabond days may be over . . . thanks to his brother, Stockton, Cisco and maybe even a porter or a bellhop or two.