Inkster Eyes Another Title, Leads Longs by 4 Strokes

Pat Sullivan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, April 3, 1999

Juli Inkster got it going yesterday on a sunny, breezy day at Twelve Bridges Golf Club, and before the day was over most of the 11,000 in attendance had had a chance to witness at least some of her eye-opening act.

She hit every fairway and sank putts from here to Rocklin in posting a 5-under-par 67 that put her in command of the LPGA Longs Drugs Challenge at 8-under-par 136 after 36 holes. She holds a four-stroke lead over a quartet of golfers, none of whom has career marks that compare to Inkster's.

``I played really good,'' she said. ``I felt good. I don't know what to say.''

One thing you can say about her game is that when Inkster is being competitive, she's not going to back off or play safe. She's been that way every since she was winning a pair of San Francisco City championships at Harding Park in the late 1970s, then competing at San Jose State, then winning three consecutive U.S. Women's Amateur titles (1980-82) before beginning a professional career that, with her 18th victory last month, has her within hailing distance of the LPGA Hall of Fame. She has 21 points out of a needed 27 to gain admission to the hall under its recently revised criteria.

Inkster has five top-10 finishes in seven events so far this year, and she gave part of the credit to being free of contact lenses after having laser eye surgery 18 months ago. But there's also the inner fire.

Twice yesterday, Inkster three-putted for bogeys. In each instance, she followed up with a birdie at the next hole. The two bogeys, at the 1st and 13th holes, were the only blemishes on her round.

``I'd like to have a couple of those putts back I three-putted, but that's going to happen,'' she said, while enjoying the company of her two daughters, Hayley, 9, and Cori, 5, during a post-round session with the media.

At the 13th hole, Inkster had sensed an opportunity to go for the kill after taking the lead at 8-under with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 12th, which she had reached with a 5-wood. She rifled a 7-iron shot at the flagstick at the 156-yard, par-3 13th hole, the ball coming to rest eight feet above the hole. But her birdie attempt was too firm, leaving a three-foot putt that she also missed to put a temporary damper on her round.

Cut to the 14th green, where Inkster regrouped nicely by draining a six-foot birdie putt to get back to 8-under par for the tournament, one the 18-time LPGA winner acknowledged is now hers to win or lose.

``Yeah, I think so,'' she said. ``I've got to go out and do what I've been doing. I've got to play aggressively, because four shots isn't that much on this golf course, but it beats three shots''

Inkster gained a share of the lead with a birdie at the 6th hole and took sole possession of it, at 5-under, with a birdie at the 7th.

Two holes later, as swirling winds moved over the ridge along the right side of the 9th fairway, she boomed a 7-wood tee shot down the middle that caught a downslope and easily outdistanced playing partners Sally Little and Chris Johnson by some 30 yards.

Inkster's approach iron at No. 9 stopped some 28 feet below the cup, not exactly in birdie range. But her putt never wavered off line, diving into the hole to send her to 6-under as the gallery around the green erupted with cries of ``Go get 'em, Juli!''

That's a sound sure to be heard even more today and tomorrow. Tournament officials, anticipating large crowds, cleared land yesterday for an additional 1,500 parking spaces.

Of Inkster's four closest pursuers -- rookie A. J. Eathome of Canada, Wendy Doolan of Australia, Hiromi Kobayashi of Japan and Cindy Figg- Currier of Austin, Texas, only Figg- Currier is sounding like she might be able to hang with Inkster.

``I'm a grinder,'' said Figg-Currier, a former University of Texas golfer who enjoyed the golf-swing expertise of the late teacher Harvey Penick. ``I don't know if that's something my parents taught me or I learned from Harvey. But I got the nickname `Trash Queen' in college because I could get the ball up and down from anywhere.''

• October 19, 1999:  Plager Vision Center Patient, Juli Inkster Named Sportswoman of the Year!
  
  

• April 5, 1999: Plager Vision Center Patient, Steady Inkster, Breezes to Long's Challenge Title!
  
  

• February 11, 1998: Golfer Tom Kite's successful laser vision correction