Golf Roundup : Inkster, Purtzer Are Really Enjoying Four-Shot Lead

Juli Inkster and Tom Purtzer had shot an opening-round 61 to tie a J.C. Penney golf tournament record, but they insisted it was no more enjoyable than the 66 they shot Saturday.

Inkster and Purtzer have a four-shot lead going into today’s final round of the $650,000 mixed team event at Largo, Fla.

“This round was a little more satisfying,” Inkster said after she and Purtzer held off Lori Garbacz and Craig Stadler, and finished the third round with a 54-hole total of 20-under-par 196.

“We ham-and-egged it today. We had to scramble,” Inkster added. “We showed ourselves we could still score out there without hitting as many greens.”

The leaders withstood a challenge on the back nine from Garbacz and Stadler, who trailed by one stroke before faltering with a double bogey on the 17th hole.

Inkster-Purtzer birdied No. 17 to go four shots ahead.

The double bogey for Garbacz and Stadler capped an up-and-down round that also featured six birdies, an eagle and two bogeys. The team finished with a 68 for a total of 200.

Debbie Massey-Mark McCumber also shot a 68 and trailed Inkster-Purtzer by five shots at 201. Val Skinner-Mike Hulbert began the day one stroke off the lead but faded with a 71 that left them six strokes back at 202.

Bernhard Langer of West Germany and Howard Clark of Britain remained tied for the lead after struggling to 74s in the third round of the Million Dollar Challenge at Sun City, South Africa.

Langer, defending champion, and Clark are at four-under-par 212 entering today’s final round, two strokes in front of South African Mark McNulty, who shot a 70.

Lanny Wadkins, the only American in the nine-man field, was fourth at 215 after a 74.

Langer came to the 18th with a two-stroke lead but put his second shot into the lake in front of the green. He took a double-bogey 6, while Clark made par.

Cindy Scholefield of Malibu used a string of birdies on the front nine to advance along with Oregon high school senior Amanda Nealy to today’s final of the 20th California Women’s Amateur Championship at Pebble Beach.

Scholefield birdied Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7 en route to beating Cindy Mah-Lyford of Stockton, 3 and 2.

Nealy, the 18-year-old Oregon junior champion from Grants Pass, defeated Patricia Cornett of Greenbrae, a 32-year-old physician in the U.S. Army at the Presidio in San Francisco, 4 and 3.

Steve Jones of Phoenix shot a five-under-par 67 to take a seven-shot lead after 72 holes of the 1986 PGA Tour Qualifying tournament at LaQuinta. Jones has a four-day total of 20-under-par 268.

Jones leads Doug Johnson, who posted a 65 for a 275 total. Former tour player Bill Britton was eight shots back, along with Australian Steve Elkington, at 276. Vance Heafner, a former winner on the tour, and Mike Bender, were at 279.

Among those missing the cut were former tour winners Peter Oosterhuis and Mike Nicholette, and Mike McCullough, Lance Ten Broeck, Tommy Valentine, Rod Curl and Bob Byman.