U.S. OPEN : Pavin Gets Good Wood on Major Hex : Golf: Shot on 18 helps him finally win a top tournament, with an even-par total of 280.

How do you win the U.S. Open?

If you’re Corey Pavin, you come from six shots back after the first round, six shots back after the second round and five shots back with 13 holes to play.

You hit the most important shot of your life--a four-wood--dead, solid, perfect from a distance of more than two football fields, rolling the ball into the shadow of the flagstick at the 18th green of the 72nd hole.

Besides that, the pressure of the moment hugs your back with all the weight that history can bring to bear.

No, Sunday was not a normal day in the life of 35-year-old Florida-based, Oxnard-born, UCLA-educated Pavin, who won his first major golf title after 11 1/2 years of looking for it, touring Shinnecock Hills in a final-round 68 and taking a two-shot U.S. Open victory over Greg Norman.

Pavin, a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour but without a major title to his credit, changed all that in come-from-behind fashion with an even-par total of 280, one more than Raymond Floyd’s winning score here in 1986.

Afterward, Pavin held the silver U.S. Open trophy high above his head.

“It’s a pretty good feeling, I’ll tell you,” he said. “I’m very excited to have the monkey off my back. It’s been 11 1/2 years out here and I have been trying 11 years to win a major championship.

“To win the national Open is a thrill beyond words.”

As it turned out, it was not beyond his reach. He reached out and grabbed it with his second shot on the closing hole, the uphill, 450-yard par four 18th.

Clinging to a one-shot lead over Norman, Pavin stood in the fairway and swung a four-wood. He had 209 yards to the front edge of the green and 228 yards to the hole.

Pavin had driven to the right side of the fairway and merely wanted to get the ball on the green. He did.

He hit it low and the ball followed the trajectory of a clothesline. The ball hit the front of the green and rolled toward the hole while Pavin raced toward the green to get a better look.

“I wanted to see that ball land,” he said. “All I could see was ball and pin. It was probably the best shot I’ve ever hit under pressure.”

Norman, playing two holes behind Pavin, heard the cheers from his position on the 16th green. There was no mystery what had happened, Norman said.

“They were chanting ‘Co-ree, Co-ree,’ ” Norman said. “I figured that was a pretty good giveaway.”

Pavin two-putted from five feet for par, then waited patiently as Norman bogeyed the 17th to fall back by two shots and end yet another futile run at yet another major title for the 40-year-old Australian.

Norman had led the field after the second round and was tied with Tom Lehman as the final round began, finished with a 73 and counted his missed chances.

Norman had one birdie in the last 36 holes.

“It was a tough day,” Norman said. “Obviously, I didn’t get the job done. Obviously, I didn’t win the golf tournament.

“I gave it my best shot. I played pretty good. There are a lot of other players out there who didn’t play as well.”

Norman’s problems making birdies can be traced directly to his problems on the two par-five holes at Shinnecock. Over four days, he played them at even par. Pavin played them at five-under.

Lehman shot 74 and finished third at 283, his day ruined by a double bogey at the 16th. Lehman found the conditions difficult.

“The fairways were like rocks, the greens were like rocks,” he said.

In the gusty winds, challengers fell like rocks. Phil Mickelson, who was in the running briefly, fell back to a struggling 74 that also included a double bogey on the 544-yard, par-five 16th.

Mickelson played the 16th hole at six-over par and finished four shots behind Pavin. There was a large group at 284 that included Mickelson, Jeff Maggert, Bill Glasson, Jay Haas, Davis Love and Neal Lancaster, who chose the last day for a record day. Lancaster set a U.S. Open record by shooting 29 on the back nine and tied the Shinnecock course record with a 65.

Love, who double-bogeyed the 18th, deserved better, but had trouble putting. Love now has another problem. He inherits from Pavin the reputation as the best player never to have won a major title.

It was not a tag Pavin enjoyed, but neither did he run away from it. Norman said he was happy for Pavin.

“He’s finally got it off his back now,” he said.

Meanwhile, Norman’s got some more baggage directly on his. He chipped short on No. 5 and settled for par. He missed a 12-footer for birdie at No. 6, a 10-footer for birdie at No. 8 and slid a 12-foot birdie putt two feet past the hole on No. 9.

Norman bogeyed No. 12 and No. 13, but he also was forced to settle for par at No. 14 and No. 16 and generally felt he’d missed too many chances.

He said he did not feel like a guy who threw a major title away.

“I have done a lot--a hell of a lot better than a lot of other players,” he said. “I don’t sit back and feel sorry for myself. I put myself in there with a chance to win more times than anybody else.

“Obviously people are going to look at that and say, well, you know, he is letting things slip away. That is not necessarily the case. It is just as hard to get in there with a chance to win as it is to win.”

Pavin’s chance began at the ninth hole. He hit a six-iron to six feet and made the putt for a birdie that put him within three shots of Lehman. Pavin birdied the 12th with a 12-footer, then started watching the scoreboard.

Lehman went on to bogey the ninth, 10th and 11th. When Norman bogeyed the 12th, there was a four-way tie with Norman, Lehman, Bob Tway and Pavin. Love missed a four-foot birdie putt at the 16th that would have produced a five-way tie.

Pavin put himself in the lead at the par-four 15th. He hit a driver, then knocked a pitching wedge to 12 feet and made the putt for birdie.

“I was very aware that put me in the lead,” he said. “I am a big-time leader-board watcher. From then on, I just knew that I wanted to get some pars under my belt.”

Said Lehman, “Corey--the guy’s a competitor. He has a huge heart. He’s a fighter.”

He is also a UCLA Bruin. Pavin, who won the Pacific 10 golf title at UCLA in 1982, is a big fan of the UCLA basketball team.

“Now UCLA has two national champions,” he said.

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U.S. OPEN FINAL RESULTS

Player Score Corey Pavin 72-69-71-68--280 Greg Norman 68-67-74-73--282 Tom Lehman 70-72-67-74--283 Davis Love III 72-68-73-71--284 Phil Mickelson 68-70-72-74--284 Bill Glasson 69-70-76-69--284 Jay Haas 70-73-72-69--284 Neal Lancaster 70-72-77-65--284 Jeff Maggert 69-72-77-66--284 Frank Nobilo 72-72-70-71--285 Vijay Singh 70-71-72-72--285 Bob Tway 69-69-72-75--285

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Bridesmaid

With his runner-up finish to Corey Pavin on Sunday, Greg Norman has now finished second in seven major tournaments:

Tournament Year Winner U.S. Open 1984 Fuzzy Zoeller PGA 1986 Bob Tway The Masters 1986 Jack Nicklaus The Masters 1987 Larry Mize British Open 1989 M. Calcavecchia PGA 1993 Paul Azinger U.S. Open 1995 Corey Pavin