Finish Not Vintage for Laura Baugh

Laura Baugh had promised champagne for the press if she won the Uniden LPGA Invitational. Sunday night the champagne was back in the case, but the tears flowed like wine.

Baugh’s first pro golf victory seemed so near she could taste it when she entered Sunday’s final round with a four-stroke lead at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa. When it was over she had come just close enough to break her heart.

On the last hole, still hanging in there, she sank a tough 10-foot putt to save par and a possible playoff, but a moment later Mary Beth Zimmerman dunked her third straight birdie to win.

Biting her lip, Baugh sat through the awards ceremony as Zimmerman received the giant check for $49,500 that had her own name on it most of the day, then trudged up to the press tent to tell how she managed to lose.

She was OK until she fell into an embrace from her best friend, fellow pro Marlene Hagge, but then it was all over. The first tear rolled down her right cheek, and from then on throughout the press conference it was a losing battle between forced laughter and her onrushing emotions.

“I don’t even know what I shot,” she told Hagge. “Like, 76?”

It was 76 for a share of second place with Pat Bradley, who arrived at the runner-up spot from the opposite direction: seven strokes behind Baugh at the start of the day. Each received $26,400.

“It’s OK,” Baugh said. “When you haven’t been there for a while . . . I feel real comfortable at second.”

She laughed.

“I’m real happy,” she said, unconvincingly. “This is perfect.”

Baugh bogeyed two of the first three holes but still led by three and four strokes until the last three holes when Zimmerman and Bradley came on.

“I didn’t pay too much attention to what I was shooting,” Baugh said. “I know I started out real rough, and kind of got it going and, gee, I had a couple of problems. It wasn’t real good but, uh (laughing) I guess I feel comfortable in second.

“I was very tight, a little nervous. But it was OK. I thought I hit some good putts. They just went the wrong direction. I hit one bad drive on 17, and it turned out to be real costly. On 18, the first thing that went through my mind was, ‘Do not leave this putt short,’ and I didn’t. And the next thing that went through my mind was, ‘Make sure you make the second one.’

“Mary Beth birdied the last three holes, and I think that’s great. I want all the players that play against me to play the best they can. If I can’t beat ‘em, that’s my problem.”

Baugh’s big lead may have been her downfall. She didn’t know how to handle it.

“You find yourself trying to protect what you shouldn’t protect,” she said. “I know that because I’ve been out here long enough to know it. I tried to protect the lead, and that is a serious problem. If I had gone out and just tried to play, I’d have probably done real good.

“But knowing it and doing it . . . sometimes it’s easier to say, ‘Go out and shoot a 70, at least.’ I was trying to do what I thought I needed to do. I was way too careful. I wanted to make sure I maintained the lead, and then I forgot about the lead, and the next thing I knew, on 18 I was tied.”

She insisted that she wasn’t watching the leader board, as first one rival and then another made a brief move and fell back.

“I didn’t watch the board at all. I knew exactly what I was doing. I had it kind of under control after the 13th hole (which she birdied). I just had a couple bad breaks, basically. I hit a great shot at 14 that went over the green. But when you’re trying to protect a lead, I guess it kind of backfires on you. And it backfired loud on me.

“When push came to shove, I thought I could still do it, and then Mary Beth birdied the last three holes, which was awesome . . . too much for me.”

Baugh was playing in the same, final threesome with Zimmerman and Patty Sheehan. Despite Baugh’s struggles, she and Sheehan seemed to be having a good time, laughing and talking their way around the course, while Zimmerman kept to herself.

“Mary Beth is real quiet,” Baugh said. “I’m not quiet. Patty and I tell a lot of jokes. I enjoy playing golf, so I probably talk a lot, a lot more than most people. That’s OK.”

Said Zimmerman: “I don’t talk much on the golf course. I just try to concentrate as good as I can. I’m more businesslike.”

Zimmerman admitted she almost gave up on her own chances to win and wouldn’t have been terribly disappointed to finish second, after posting her first tour victory at Phoenix a week earlier.

“I’m glad I won,” Zimmerman said, “but I would have loved to seen her (Baugh) win her first tournament here, especially in Southern California where she’s from. It would have been nice for her and good for her confidence.

“She was hitting it pretty good all day, but a couple times she went over the green. She made a couple shots coming down the stretch that weren’t what she was playing like yesterday. You could see that maybe she was getting a little nervous.”

How the loss will affect Baugh’s confidence is uncertain. She seemed to be coming back with a re-dedication to the game the past couple of years.

“If I’m in this position the next couple of weeks, if I’m here, I won’t do it again,” she said. “I’ll be OK.

“I’m playing well and I like it, and I really appreciate the support that I’ve had. I always feel guilty when I don’t . . . “

Her voice choked.

“Don’t do good enough,” she finished, her voice breaking.

Bradley knows all about second place. She’s been there 38 times. But she also has won 16 times. She watched Baugh’s press conference from the rear of the room before taking her turn.

“It’s very disappointing, as we can all see,” Bradley said. “I’ve had extremely disappointing times myself. It’s the nature of the game. It’s competition.

“I know Laura is still trying to get her first, so I’m sure it’s affecting her 10 times more than if she had some wins under her belt. She played extremely well all week long. This golf course has some subtle problems. It can grab you, and sometimes it’s tough to turn it off when it starts going bad.

“It’s a good sign for her to come back and be as strong as she is. As Laura said, there’s no way you can control what someone else is doing out there. You just have to, as best you can, control yourself.

“If the birdies come, great. If it starts to bleed out there, you’ve gotta try to stop it the best you can.”

Baugh’s final ordeal came when she was asked to detail her breakdown, bogey by bogey, in the last few holes. Fighting tears, she did so, then forced a weak smile and declared, “That’s it.”

She shrugged.

“Second’s OK. I guess I like it. Number two’s my favorite number.”

But the Champagne Lady is still waiting for her vintage year.