ESPN Golf Online: 1999 Women's U.S. Open: One more time, Inkster puts her name in lights

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One more time, Inkster puts her name in lights

By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press
WEST POINT, Miss. -- Chances are, not many people at Old Waverly Golf Club this week were aware of all Juli Inkster had accomplished until her record-breaking performance in the U.S. Women's Open.
She won two majors as a rookie before anyone knew about Se Ri Pak.

" One of my goals when I started was to win all four majors. I won two my rookie year, so I thought it was going to be easy. It's been kind of a dry spell. It's been a long time coming since my third different one. "

-- Juli Inkster

She won three consecutive U.S. Amateurs before anyone cared about Tiger Woods.
But at a time when women's golf was getting more exposure and a new infusion of talent from Annika Sorenstam, Laura Davies and Karrie Webb, Inkster was splitting time between banging balls and changing diapers.
"I think the last 10 years, golf has just picked up on a high," she said. "I really don't think golf was as popular as it is now, and the media wasn't as involved as it is now. I think that maybe if I did it 10 years ago instead of 20 years ago, I think I would have been a little more appreciated.
"But I'm very content with where I'm at," she said. "And I know a lot of people respect my game. I don't need the fanfare. I just want to play golf. And I want to be Mom."
Inkster finished four sub-par rounds at 16-under 272, shattering by five strokes the Open record in relation to par set two years ago by Alison Nicholas. Her victory Sunday in the most prestigious event in women's golf also put the spotlight on a 38-year-old mother of two in the twilight of her career.
Just like when Mark O'Meara's career took on new meaning after he won two majors at 41, Inkster is more likely to be recognized now as one of the top performers in the game.
The victory was her third of the year and 20th of her career, more than any active player who is not already in the Hall of Fame.
It also was her fourth major championship, and put her only an LPGA Championship away from joining Pat Bradley as the only women to win the modern grand slam.
"One of my goals when I started was to win all four majors," Inkster said. "I won two my rookie year, so I thought it was going to be easy. It's been kind of a dry spell. It's been a long time coming since my third different one."
Inkster was reminded Sunday how difficult it has become.
She had a four-stroke lead over Kelli Kuehne, a spunky Texan who reminds Inkster of herself when she was 22. Whistling and singing between shots, Kuehne said she would go at every flag and delivered with alarming precision.
Kuehne was the first on the green and the first in the cup on the first five holes when she managed to shave one stroke off the lead. Inkster, who poured in important putts on top of her to keep some distance, restored order with a birdie on No. 6 and a brilliant bunker shot from a buried lie to save par on No. 7.
"She gets that old blood of mine pumping," Inkster said. "She reminds me so much of me when I was coming out ... just her guttiness and desire to win."
Inkster's rookie season must seem like an eternity ago.
She won the Dinah Shore and the du Maurier Classic in 1984, won four times in 1986 and her second Dinah victory made her a winner in six of her first seven seasons on the LPGA Tour.
Hayley was born in 1990, and Cori followed in 1994. Inkster remembered her mother being there for her when she came home from school, and wants the same for her children.
"I was kind of straddling the fence," Inkster said. "Do I quit? Do I play?"
She went four years without winning or even finishing in the top 20 on the money list. Ultimately, Inkster decided to commit herself to practice and to bring her daughters on the road while they were still young.
She has won the Samsung World Championship each of the past two years, starred in the Solheim Cup in September and is now making sure Webb doesn't run away from the rest of women's golf this year.
Next up is the Hall of Fame.
The revised standards award one point for a victory, two for a major and one point for either player of the year or Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average. The Women's Open gave Inkster 24 points, three shy of the requirements.
She will play a full schedule the rest of this year and in 2000 with hopes of making the Solheim Cup team, then will scale back to no more than a dozen or so each year.
"If I can just give myself opportunities to win, I feel like I can earn those three points," she said. "But I'm not going to say that if I don't have it by then, I'm going to play another year. It would be a great honor."
It might not be the most critical piece of the puzzle. She couldn't wait to get back to California for Cori's pre-school graduation and Hayley's softball playoffs. The Women's Open trophy will be placed in Los Altos Country Club, where husband Brian is the head pro.
"I look back on my career," Inkster said, "and I say I've done myself proud."