LPGA INVITATIONAL : Notebook : Baugh at Least Won Over Fans

The final round of the Uniden LPGA Invitational at Mesa Verde Country Club was devoid of one bastion of American sport.

Booing.

People just do not boo at golf tournaments. Spectators do not try to distract players putting by waving their arms the way they do to a basketball player shooting a free throw.

They are horribly courteous to everyone. And while the 14,500 spectators Sunday didn’t boo a soul, the majority had one player picked out as the favorite--Laura Baugh, who was looking for her first LPGA victory after 13 years on the tour.

There was a collective groan at the 18th green when the leader board showed Baugh had bogeyed 17 to tie her with Mary Beth Zimmerman and Pat Bradley for the lead at six-under.

All day, a large crowd had followed Baugh and showed their support for her in strikingly different ways.

Said one gentleman as Baugh prepared to her second shot from the 13th rough: “I’m so nervous. I’m a nervous wreck . . . And I don’t even know her. I’m not even going to win any money. What am I worried about?”

One tattooed man used the street-smart approach as Baugh lined up a birdie putt on 13: “If she makes this, it’s lights out.” Baugh made the putt to go nine-under. The lights remained on.

Finally, there was the Beach Boys’ approach from a group of people after she had made the putt on 13: “Baugh, Baugh, Baugh, Baugh’s gonna win, Baugh, Baugh, Baugh . . .”

Baugh’s final-round partners were tournament champion Mary Beth Zimmerman and Patty Sheehan.

Baugh won the crowd, Zimmerman the big money and Sheehan--once again--got the biggest laughs.

Saturday, it was her exploits as duck herder on the 18th green.

Sunday, on the sloping 10th green, Sheehan mugged as she feebly attempted to place her ball back on its mark.

The ball kept rolling an inch or two back. After a minute or so, Sheehan started to laugh, then the gallery started to laugh. Then Baugh, laughing, walked over to see if she could help. No luck.

A moment later Sheehan was on her hands and knees over the ball pleading with it to stay still.

The ball finally cooperated. And then Sheehan made a 10-foot birdie putt.

After going from four-under at 15 to two-under at 17, Sheehan was anxious to get the afternoon over.

After she teed off of 18, she yelled, “Yeah, it’s almost time to go home.”

And after making her last putt on 18, Sheehan threw her ball. But instead of the traditional toss into the crowd, Sheehan threw her ball into the water hazard alongside the 18th green.

Zimmerman was asked if she had ever participated in track and field.

“No . . . Well, I did when I was little.” One person asked sarcastically, “ When you were little?’ Zimmerman is rail-thin at 5-foot 4-inches, 115 pounds.

Baugh was asked the length of her par putt on 18 that briefly kept alive a playoff possibility.

“It looked like 15 billion miles to me,” she said.

Don’t get the wrong idea.

Barbra Mizrahie is going to take a leave from the LPGA tour soon--perhaps for as long as long as a year--but it’s not because of her four bogies on the back nine Sunday.

Mizrahie, 34, is five months pregnant.

She said she plans on playing the GNA Classic at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale because “my parents live around there,” and then it’s off the tour.

“I’ve always been a very career-oriented person,” she said. “But after thinking about it, I decided a family was something I wanted very much. I’ll take sometime off after it’s born. You just can’t jump back onto the tour after something like this.’

Asked if her pregnancy is having any adverse effects on her game, Mizrahie said: “I imagine it has to. But I’m not a person to make excuses. I shot a good front nine. So it didn’t bother me then.” Mizrahie shot a three-under 33 on the front nine, her best performance of the tournament.

A quick suggestion.

If the LPGA does return to Mesa Verde next year, tournament officials might consider nixing one confection.

Potato chips.

In a sport so hungry for quiet, it’s ridiculous to offer chips for the hungry.

In fact, angry were the words exchanged on the 12th green between an woman spectator and a male chip-eater who refused to stop munching.