On at least two occasions late in yesterday's final round of the Greater Baltimore Classic at Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley, J.C. Snead raised his putter as he thought he was about to make birdie. Each time, the ball turned away from the cup and Snead walked off disappointed.

As he watched his downhill 10-footer for par on the 18th hole crawl inexorably toward the hole, Snead didn't move a muscle. But when the ball went in and the crowd surrounding the green roared, Snead didn't raise his putter.

This time, he dropped it.

In shock and in victory.

Snead's putt, the second straight he had made to save par, helped preserve his final round of 2-under-par 70 and his three-round score at 13-under 203. It left him one stroke ahead of John Mahaffey, Doug Tewell and Bobby Wadkins.

Five players finished two strokes back. One was Australian Rodger Davis, who led by as many as three strokes after making four straight birdies to start the round. Davis double-bogeyed the par-5 closing hole after being tied with Snead at 13-under.

"I didn't think I had the guts to do it," said Snead, 61, whose first Senior PGA Tour victory in seven years - the longest period between wins in senior history - and fourth overall was worth $217,500, the largest payday of his 38-year career. "Not bad for an old guy with no nerves."

In becoming the third-oldest player in senior tour history to win a tournament, Snead tearfully dedicated the win to his late uncle, Sam Snead, the legendary winningest player in PGA Tour history, who died May 23, four days shy of his 90th birthday.

"I would give him all the money if I had him back," said Snead, his eyes filled with tears.

Snead was apparently so surprised his final putt fell that both he and his caddie, Butch Williams, forgot to pluck the ball out of the cup. Davis realized it after his own three-footer for bogey missed, and he picked Snead's ball out and flicked it in his direction.

Davis, whose misfortune on the final hole began when he drove his tee shot deep into a natural hazard and couldn't find the ball, left the course in disgust. He declined an official post-round interview.

"You're not going to like what I have to say, and I'm not going to get fined," said Davis, 51, who wound up at 11-under after an even-par 72.

Snead was apologetic in his victory speech, and said later he expressed those feelings to Davis in the scoring tent.

"I felt bad it happened," he said. "I didn't know my caddie didn't get the ball out of the hole. Hell, I haven't won for seven years. I didn't know where I was there for a minute. It's too bad that it happened. All the running around the hole certainly didn't help him either."

Snead doesn't plan on building on this victory. Unlike most of the players at Hayfields, Snead won't participate in this week's U.S. Senior Open at nearby Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills. Instead, Snead returned last night to his 1,500-acre farm in Hot Springs, Va., to finish making hay and landscape the property.

"I've been a late bloomer all my life," said Snead, a former minor-league baseball player who didn't win the first of his eight PGA Tour victories until he was 30. "Maybe I'm just getting started."

The victory for Snead came at a time when his senior tour career had been in steady decline. Snead traces his problems to a motorcycle accident in 1995, when he broke three ribs shortly after winning the Ford Senior Players Championship.

"I can't say it's affected my swing, but it might have affected my brain, what little I have," said Snead, who came into Hayfields 55th on the money list.

Snead said he had seriously contemplated going home for good earlier this year, when he played to mediocre results.

"I was about ready to quit," he said. "This is a funny game. You never know when it's going to show up. Sometimes when you think you have it, you don't, and when you don't think you have it, you do."

After shooting a course-record 64 Saturday to give himself a share of the lead with Davis, Snead played a rather routine round yesterday before coming to the 597-yard 18th still tied with Davis. As he did on Saturday, Snead had a disagreement with his caddie on his approach shot at 18. Each time, the ball wound up in the back greenside bunker.

Unlike Saturday, when he holed out from the bunker, Snead left himself a difficult par putt yesterday. After Mahaffey missed a 15-footer for birdie that could have tied him for the lead, Snead was staring at about 10 treacherous feet.

How far did it look?

"About a mile," he said. "Somewhere in that throw-up area. To be honest, I didn't know where to hit it. It looked like it could go either way. I didn't believe I made it. I've never been a very good putter."

When the ball went in, Snead's putter fell to the green and tears began to well in his eyes. After Davis angrily putted out, Mahaffey bear-hugged his longtime friend.

Snead didn't celebrate very long. Shortly after completing some post-round interviews, Snead was gone, trying to get home by dark. In his haste, Snead had forgotten something.

"He didn't take the trophy," a tournament official said.

Just call it a senior moment.