King Fades, Is Unable to Take Home a Victory

Betsy King had home, not golf, on her mind before Sunday’s final round of the Kyocera Inamori Golf Classic.

She began the day tied with Pat Bradley, three shots behind leader Ayako Okamoto.

Mentally tired and eager to see her new home in Scottsdale, Ariz., King walked on the course ready to put the final 18 holes behind her.

This may have seemed a defeatist attitude, but she played like anything but a beaten golfer.

King made six birdies on the first nine holes before she faded with a two-over-par 38 on the back nine and ended up with a 68 that left her one shot behind Okamoto.

Her second-place finish was worth $18,500 and kept her atop the LPGA money list with earnings of $162,432.

King, who won last week in the Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament, nearly did it again, and when Sunday’s round was over, she seemed more relieved than disappointed.

“I started today looking forward to a few days off,” King said. “I haven’t even slept in my new house yet, or seen the furniture.”

Now she’s going to be there for a brief time before she rejoins the tour.

Were it not for her troubles on the 16th hole at Bernardo Heights Country Club, King might have gone home with three victories in the last four weeks (she also won in Tucson last month).

King said her undoing this week probably was the 16th, where she made three bogeys and only one par.

She had a bogey Sunday after a 5-iron approach shot bounced over the green and she followed that with a poor chip shot.

“I guess that hole conquered me instead of me playing it,” King said. “I guess it owes me three or four birdies. It’s not really that tough a hole, but I misjudged the wind a couple of times and turned the ball over.”

King’s downfall actually began before she came to No. 16 Sunday. Bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes left her feeling deflated after her hot start.

“I thought after the front nine I might be able to win,” she said.

“I didn’t think I’d be in the 50s, but I did think I could shoot 64 or 65, maybe even 63. It’s silly, but the bogey at 10 may have turned it around. I could have kept my momentum with a par there.”

She hit a 5-iron into a bunker, then missed an eight-foot putt for par at 10.