Sinn, 17, Shows Virtue as Golfer With a 70 : Only Amateur in Field Is in Four-Way Tie for LPGA Lead at Oakmont

While many of the big names of the Ladies Professional Golf Assn. were finding Oakmont Country Club a difficult test Thursday, 17-year-old Pearl Sinn, only nine years removed from South Korea, set the pace in the GNA tournament with a two-under-par 70.

Sinn, a senior at Bellflower High School and the only amateur among the 144 starters, was the first player to tee off after a 35-minute delay while the fog dissipated. She appeared suddenly on the leader board after birdies on the final two holes.

When her 70 was posted, it brought only a murmur from the large, first-day gallery. After all, Betsy King, Patty Sheehan, Nancy Lopez, JoAnne Carner, Hollis Stacy and Pat Bradley were still on the course.

But Sinn’s name was still up there at the end of the day. Jan Stephenson and Barbara Moxness, who both started from the 10th tee, and Atsuko Hikage of Japan also had 70s and share the 18-hole lead with Sinn. Stephenson was the only “name” player who finished under par for the day.

Stephenson is a former LPGA and U.S. Women’s Open champion. Moxness is a former occupational therapist from San Diego State who has never won in seven years on the tour. Hikage, the Japanese Women’s Open champion, has not played a full season in the United States.

Tied at one-under-par 71 are Anne-Marie Palli of France and Jane Geddes, another non-tour winner.

Carner, a Hall of Fame veteran, led a group of five at even par, including Penny Pulz, Chris Johnson, Lauren Howe and Myra Blackwelder, who was playing her first competitive round since giving birth to boy on Jan. 24.

The course, 6,328 yards long and lined with tall pines and leafy eucalyptus trees, proved a formidable foe. As witness:

King, the 1984 Player of the Year, had a 77; Bradley and Amy Alcott had 76s, and Stacy and Juli Inkster had 78s.

A full 53 professionals failed to break 80 despite a nice day for playing golf. Once the fog lifted, the sun came out, and with a minimum of wind, conditions were ideal for scoring.

Sinn’s round was only one shot shy of her career record, a 69 made at Yorba Linda during a junior match. Nervous at the start, she began inauspiciously by bogeying the second hole when she missed the green with her second shot. She dropped another stroke to par at No. 6 when she drove into the tree.

For the next 12 holes, the 5-foot-4 3/4, 115-pound Sinn played Oakmont at four under par. Surprisingly, she made two birdies on two of the longest par-4 holes--the 400-yard No. 8, where she hit a 3-iron 20 feet from the flag, and the 410-yard No. 12, where she hit a 3-wood three feet from the cup.

This brought her back to even par, but two spectacular approach shots brought her birdies on the 17th and 18th holes. On both par-5 holes she put her approaches a foot from the pin, using a 7-iron on the 524-yard 17th and a wedge on the 427-yard 18th.

This is Sinn’s second tournament playing with professionals. She played two years ago in the Inamori in San Diego and missed the cut.

“I like to play in these tournaments because I know I want to be a professional golfer, and this gives me a good chance to learn their life style,” Sinn said.

The No. 1 player on her high school team, Sinn said she will decide in the next two weeks where she will play her college golf.

“I have narrowed it down to USC, UCLA, Arizona State, Stanford and Georgia,” she said. Insiders say she is leaning toward Stanford.

Sinn learned to play at the Bellflower municipal course, where her parents operate a coffee shop. She was 8 when she came from South Korea, and she played in her first tournament when she was 9 1/2. Last year she won the California Junior championship.

“I always liked to play, but I never liked to practice until I started getting offers from colleges,” she said. “I had no idea I would hear from so many places where they wanted me to play golf.”

A 2-handicap golfer, Sinn qualified for the GNA tournament by beating another high school student, Cathy Mockett of Newport Beach, in a sudden-death playoff after each had shot an 83 at Oakmont.

“I was more nervous during the qualifying than I was today,” Sinn said. “There were only two places and there were 13 players. I was very nervous.”

Whereas Sinn was the first player to tee off, in the fog, Hikage was the last off and finished in the dark. In fact, Hikage finished after LPGA officials had blown a horn ending play. Hikage was in the 18th fairway and players have the option of finishing the hole they are on when play is suspended.

“The dark did not bother me, and I did not want to come back tomorrow morning and play the hole,” Hikage said through an interpreter.

Like Sinn, Hikage birdied both the final two holes to pull into a tie for the lead.

Moxness and Stephenson both credited their putting with their position. Moxness had only 25 putts, including five in the 10-foot range and another of 25 feet. Stephenson, who said she “made a whole bunch of putts,” rolled in two of more than 25 feet.

After today’s second round, only the low 70 and ties will be back for the final 36 holes Saturday and Sunday.