$1-Million Bonus Adds Incentive for Juli Inkster

Defending champion Juli Inkster teed off Wednesday with former President Gerald Ford, Bob Hope, former hockey star Bobby Orr and F. Ross Johnson, chief executive officer of Nabisco Brands, sponsor of Dinah Shore’s $400,000 tournament.

At stake in the pro-amateur were silver loving cups for the winners.

Today, Inkster will tee off with Donna Caponi and Patti Rizzo in the first round of a Ladies Professional Golf Assn. tournament.

At stake for Inkster is $1 million, a bonus Nabisco will pay her if she can repeat in their tournament. That is in addition to the $55,000 first prize.

“I was more nervous teeing off this morning with those guys than I will be tomorrow,” said Inkster, the three-time U. S. Amateur champion from San Jose who won the Dinah Shore tournament as a rookie professional. “That was a pretty heavy group, but they were real down-to-earth guys. Mr. President helped us all day with his putter. He was definitely MVP of our group.”

Inkster said she felt the million dollars was a great incentive because it was a goal that could realistically be reached.

“All I want from the first couple of days is consistent golf, something to keep me in striking distance,” she said. “Come Saturday and Sunday, that’s when you’ve got to get creative.”

That is what Inkster, 24, did here last year when she came from two shots back in the final round to catch front-running Pat Bradley and beat her in a playoff.

“Really, I haven’t thought too much about winning the million except the last couple of weeks when it seems that’s all anyone wants to talk about,” she said. “I don’t take anything too seriously, so I don’t expect to get uptight no matter what happens.”

She is a goal-oriented person, however, who accomplished all she set out to do last year.

“I wanted to win two tournaments, make the top 10 in winnings, become rookie of the year and break Nancy’s (Lopez) rookie money mark,” she said.

She won the Dinah Shore and Canada’s du Maurier, considered one of the LPGA majors, finished sixth in earnings and, in the 12 months after getting her LPGA card, won $217,424 to shatter Lopez’s 1977-78 record by $156,189.

Inkster is off to a slow start this year. In six tournaments, she has missed the cut twice and finished no better than 10th. For a few moments when she twice fainted before the Uniden tournament at Costa Mesa, it was feared she might not even be here this week.

“I played in the (Uniden) pro-am Wednesday, but I didn’t feel very well so I went to bed early,” she said. “I had a late tee time in the first round Thursday, so I slept in late, hoping I would start feeling better. I finally decided to take a shower in hopes it would freshen me up, but then I fainted.

“I got nauseous and light-headed for a second, hit my head against the shower wall and then fell down. The doctors at the hospital said it wasn’t anything serious, so I got a ride with my mother-in-law to the airport.”

There, she fainted again.

“You can be sure I went to a different hospital this time. It turned out I had the flu and was susceptible to fainting spells, but I recovered quickly enough to play the next week in Hawaii.”

The rumor spread that Inkster, whose husband Brian is head professional at the Los Altos Country Club, was pregnant.

“No, that wasn’t it,” she said with a smile. “Not that I would have minded, really. I would like to have a family and continue on the tour, at least until it was time for the child to go to school. There are six girls on the tour with children, and they all seem to enjoy themselves.”

Putting the $1 million and winning the tournament in her own perspective, Inkster said: “Golf and money are two different things. Winning is important for yourself. The million dollars is important for women’s golf.”

Asked for the umpteenth time if the pressure of playing for such a sum bothered her, Juli gave an impish smile and said: “There are 150 gals in the LPGA who would love to be in my shoes.”

Patty Sheehan, who won a $500,000 bonus last year by winning the LPGA and McDonald’s Kids tournaments consecutively, had this advice for her former San Jose State College teammate:

“She should concentrate on winning the tournament first. It’s like baking a cake. You have to bake the cake before you can put on the frosting. When you have the frosting (the million), you can throw away the cake.”

The other players are keeping the thought on Inkster’s mind, too.

As the defending champion was walking off the course after a practice round, Alice Miller yelled at her, “Hey, champ, you gonna win again?”

Inkster shot back: “I’ll give all you guys 1% if you’ll all withdraw.”