LPGA Tournament at Rancho Park : Alcott Has One-Shot Lead Over 4 Players Entering Last Round

Rancho Park Golf Course, the site of this week’s AI Star Centinela Hospital women’s golf tournament, is a public golf course. That means just about anyone, at least anyone with a little patience and a starting time, can play it.

So, with 18 holes remaining in this Ladies Professional Golf Assn. event, it’s somewhat fitting that just about anyone can win it.

There are four players one stroke behind the leader, who happens to be Amy Alcott. All have starting times, but it remains to be seen who has the patience.

One reason for the close proximity of pros is that the tournament is, by design, only 54 holes. It is also the last stop on the West Coast swing of the LPGA tour.

Alcott, who grew up playing Rancho Park, shot a 70 Saturday, which when combined with her opening-round 69 gives her a two-day total of five-under par 139.

“It’s the kind of course that tends to equalize players,” Alcott said. “This is a difficult course to win by a lot. It just has a feel to it that the finish will be tight. Someone could go out and shoot a good round and hopefully that will be me.”

Alcott’s story has been well chronicled, especially since her jump into the pond after winning the Dinah Shore tournament two weeks ago at Rancho Mirage. Alcott seems to have an affinity for Ranchos.

Notoriety, however, has been more difficult to come by for some of the contenders, one stroke back.

--Lynn Adams. She hasn’t won since 1983, when she won the Orlando (Fla.) tournament. Adams equaled her opening round of 70 Saturday.

“This is a beautiful setting for a golf course,” Adams said. “It’s an old-style golf course. It’s not tricked up, like others, but I’m not going to mention any names.” (The name she didn’t mention was Industry Hills, which had an LPGA tournament for one year before an outcry from the players kept them from coming back.)

--Marta Figueras-Dotti, who has never won a tournament. She shot a 70 to go with her opening round of 70.

“The greens are not very good, they’re bumpy,” Figueras-Dotti said, expressing what has been a minority opinion. “This (course) is playing longer because of the rain (earlier this week).”

--Sherri Turner. She, too, has never won a tournament. She had five birdies and one bogey on Saturday to go with her opening-round 72.

“The greens are better than I thought they’d be,” Turner said, expressing a majority opinion. “The weather was very strange today (Saturday). It was warm some times and it was cold some times.”

--Juli Inkster, winner of eight tour events, hasn’t won since the Atlantic City tournament in 1986. She shot a 70 for the second straight day.

“I’m right where I want to be,” Inkster said, although it’s doubtful she would be complaining if she were a stroke or two better. “I feel real good going into tomorrow (Sunday). I’ve got to play really aggressive.”

Although the winner will probably come from those five players, there are others that could make that prediction premature.

Sally Quinlan shot a 68 and is two back at 141. Connie Chillemi, who shot Saturday’s low round of 67, is at 142, along with Judy Dickinson, Patti Rizzo and Shirley Furlong. There are 11 players at 143, including Nancy Lopez.

Alcott, playing in the afternoon when the conditions are more difficult, could have improved her chances greatly but hit her drive on No. 18 into the rough. Her second shot was slightly short of the green and she chipped to within 4 1/2 feet. However, she missed her putt for par.

Patti Rizzo was also in strong contention until her last two holes (Nos. 8 and 9--she started on the 10th tee). She was five under before double bogeying the par-5 eighth and bogeying the par-5 ninth.

Except for those two holes, Rizzo may have played the best golf of the day. With some luck, she could have handled the back nine. She missed birdie putts of 12, 14, 12, 18, 20 and 8 feet. She was in position to be in a better position.

Oh well, so much for old golfer tales, especially on Amy Alcott’s course.

Rizzo finished the round with a 73, after being tied with Alcott and Shelly Hamlin for the lead after the first round with a 69.

Hamlin, playing in one of the last groups, shot a 74 and is four strokes back.

But despite all this professional parity, it’s still Amy Alcott that everyone is shooting at.

LPGA Notes

Connie Chillemi’s round of 67 didn’t come without a little luck. She eagled the par-5, 9th hole after her second shot hit a cement cart path and bounded over a sand trap and onto the green. She then sank a 30-foot putt. . . . Nancy Lopez is $15,053 short of the $2-million mark in career earnings. Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley and JoAnne Carner are the only LPGA players to have won that much. . . . The cut was 148, four over par. Among those that get a Sunday off are Jody Rosenthal (149), Jan Stephenson (151), Patty Sheehan (152) and Bradley (154). Bradley was given the Victor Award, this week at Rancho Park as the top LPGA player of 1986-1987.