Glendale LPGA Tournament : Walton, Walker Move to the Top

Donna Caponi, who has won 24 Ladies Professional Golf Assn. tournaments, recalls that when she joined the tour in 1965 there were maybe 35 players who could win.

“Now there are 144, so it’s hard to win one in a row,” she said.

The changing of names on the leader board at Oakmont Country Club during two days of the $250,000 GNA-Glendale Federal Classic pretty well substantiates her point.

After the first 18 holes, the leaders were Betsy King, Alice Ritzman, Sally Little and Kathy Young.

After the second 18 holes, only King remained--and she had gone from two strokes ahead to two strokes behind.

The new leaders are Robin Walton and Colleen Walker, neither of whom has ever won an LPGA tournament. Each shot a 70, two under par, after an opening 72 for a 142 total.

They are the only players under par after 36 holes over Oakmont’s deceivingly long 6,256-yard course in the foothills of Glendale.

Defending champion Chris Johnson, who had Friday’s low round of 68, is at 144 with King, who soared to a 77, and Cindy Rarick, winner of the Hawaiian Ladies Open two weeks ago. Rarick is the steadiest player in the field with two 72s.

Little, like King, slid down the leader board with a 76 to share the 145 slot with Patti Rizzo, who had a 71, and former UCLA basketball star Janet Coles, who shot 73.

The most impressive group of names is at 148, six shots behind the leader. They include Pat Bradley, 1986 player of the year who received a sportswoman of the year award in ceremonies Friday night at Oakmont; Jane Geddes, U.S. Women’s Open champion, and Jerilyn Britz, former U.S. Women’s Open champion, all of whom shot 74, and Jan Stephenson, 1985 GNA champion who shot 77.

Friday’s higher scores were difficult to explain because the day was much more pleasant than Thursday’s all-day rain.

“The course played much longer,” seemed to be the popular answer to the question. An all-night drizzle left puddles in the fairways and the grass heavy with water, thus cutting down roll on tee shots.

King, for instance, pointed out that on Thursday she had used a 7-iron for her second shots on the 12th and 13th holes, whereas on Friday she needed a 3-iron on both holes.

“The greens weren’t mowed, so they were uneven when you putted,” was another explanation.

Johnson’s 76-68 turnaround was reminiscent of last year when she followed an opening 75 with a 70 en route to winning the $37,500 first money.

Her 68 was only one shot short of the course record she set in last year’s final round, and equaled Thursday by King.

“Before I teed off today, all I thought about was hanging in there,” Johnson said. “I felt like I had sabotaged myself Thursday. I felt terrible. I didn’t feel good warming up and I didn’t feel like I was going to play well today, but I kept patient. I just kept plugging along until the 18th hole (her ninth after starting on the 10th hole) when I made my first birdie. My confidence in my game turned completely around.”

Johnson, a lanky 5-foot 11-inch Arizonan who was married shortly after winning last year’s Oakmont tournament, made three more birdies on the final nine holes for her bogey-less 68.

King, as might be expected, had just the opposite reaction.

“It’s amazing how you can lose your confidence so quickly,” she said after making a string of four bogeys in six holes.

When asked the difference between her 67 of Thursday and her 77 of Friday, the former LPGA player of the year smiled and said, “About 10 strokes.”

What hurt King most was bogeying both the 524-yard 17th and 427-yard 18th holes, par-5s that usually yield more birdies than bogeys. On both holes, poor drives did her in.

Walton, who might have learned how to play on wet fairways while getting her degree in microbiology at the University of Washington, said her round of 70 was set up by her 72 Thursday.

“I played very well on the first day and it gave me the confidence to attack today,” she said. “I had one of those days when every time I made a bogey, I birdied the next hole to get back in the game.

“You have to do something like that on this course, because if you don’t you can get on a bogey train.”

Walker, a Florida State product, said patience was her greatest ally.

“You can’t get too excited on this course, whether you make birdie or bogey,” she analyzed. “You take the birdie, you take the bogey, you take the par--and then you move on to the next hole. You have to forget the last shot, and the last hole, and keep on going.”

Walker was hitting the ball so close to the hole that all three of her birdie putts were from less than five feet. The 36-hole cut at 153, nine over par, left 80 players for the final two rounds. Notable absentees will be Beth Daniel, who had 156; Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth and Alice Miller, each of whom had 159, and Marlene Hagge, a charter member of the LPGA now in her 38th year on the tour. She had 160.