Brown Leads by Two Shots at StoneRidge

You could read the look of anticipation on Nancy Brown’s face.

You could tell she wished that 24 hours had suddenly passed and that she was accepting congratulations instead of looking ahead to today’s final round of the LPGA Tour’s Red Robin Kyocera Inamori tournament at StoneRidge.

That’s the way it is when a pro golfer is this close to a first victory. Brown has been on the tour since 1985 without winning, and now she is only 18 holes away.

Despite slipping to a one-under-par 70 Saturday, after shooting 69 and 67 in the first two rounds, Brown broke away from a tie with Laura Davies and took a two-stroke lead with a 54-hole score of 206, seven under par.

“I think I’ll sleep OK tonight,” Brown said. “I sure hope so. My biggest problem is that I get too worried about making mistakes. I’ve got to forget them and do what’s gotten me here.”

Patti Rizzo--who was in a 10th-place tie at the halfway point, four strokes behind Brown and Davies--shot a 68 and climbed into second at 208. Martha Nause retained third place but slid from one shot back to three with a 72 for 209.

Juli Inkster, winner of the Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament in Rancho Mirage last week, moved into a fourth-place tie along with Penny Hammel and Jane Crafter at 210. A shot behind them were Cindy Rarick, Amy Alcott and Amy Benz.

Davies met disaster on the par-five sixth hole in the form of two out-of-bounds drives that cost her four strokes in penalties. She wound up with a nine on the hole and struggled to a 76 that left her in a 10-way tie for 10th at 212.

“I hit two terrible shots and paid the maximum penalty,” Davies said. “I sliced the first one and hooked the second. I had three-putted the two holes before that, and that probably led up to it.”

Brown has finished as high as a tie for third, in the 1988 du Maurier tournament in Coquitiam, Canada, but so far the big one has eluded her.

“I led once before going into the final round,” Brown said. “That was six weeks ago in the Kemper Open (in Kauai, Hawaii). It rained most of the week, and they cut the tournament to three rounds. I shot a 77 the last day and fell way out of it.”

She fell so far that she wound up in a tie for 14th. Her best finish this year has been a tie for eighth in the Oldsmobile in Boca Raton, Fla.

“Hopefully, I’ll profit from what happened in Hawaii,” she said. “I certainly hope it’s going to be different tomorrow. I’m happy with my attitude, and I’m putting much better. I’m more aggressive now.”

Brown said that the slow greens at StoneRidge have worked to her advantage.

“For three weeks in a row, I hadn’t made any putts,” she said. “I’d been too tentative on the greens. On these greens, I’ve been a lot more aggressive.”

Brown putted so well Saturday that she drew praise from Davies, who played in the last threesome with her and Nause.

“Every putt she hit, she had a chance,” Davies said. “She was outstanding.”

Said Brown: “It’s nice to hear that from as good a player as Laura is. Her attitude is unbelievable. She didn’t even let that trouble she had get her down.

“I could learn so much from her attitude.”

Brown had four birdies and three bogeys, averting a fourth with a superb shot out of a bunker behind the 18th green. It landed just a foot from the hole, and she finished with a par.

“That was one of my best shots of the day,” Brown said.

Brown expressed surprise that no golfer made a run at her on a day the temperature finally fell short of 100. Still, Rizzo, an eighth-year tour veteran from Miami, picked up enough ground to put herself into contention.

“I think I’ve got a little more experience tomorrow (than Brown),” said Rizzo, who has won three tournaments and $605,596 in her career. “I’m going to have to shoot a couple under par tomorrow and pray. Nancy is a good player, a long hitter, but I’m playing well now, and I’m playing with confidence.”

Rizzo’s 68 included four birdies and a bogey.

“I bogeyed No. 13,” she said. “I hit my tee shot into a tree and had to punch it out.”

Nause, from Sheboygan, Wis., has won once in 11-plus seasons on the tour. She was even with Brown after four holes, but after shooting 11 consecutive pars--she had 12 in a row Friday--she bogeyed two of the last four holes. She missed a two-foot putt on No. 18.

“The wind made it a guessing game out there,” Nause said. “Some holes played a lot different from other days. My iron shots weren’t good at all, so I’m happy to be where I am.”

The ever-positive Davies, who is from West Byfleet, England, said her horrendous experience of Saturday hadn’t destroyed her hopes of winning the tournament.

“I’m only six shots behind, so I’m still in the hunt,” she said. “Maybe I have to shoot 64 to win, maybe I don’t.”

LPGA Notes

Lenore Rittenhouse shot the second hole-in-one of the tournament Saturday, sinking her drive with a six-iron on the 153-yard seventh hole. She went to shoot a 29, the best nine-hole round of the tournament, but followed with a 39. Sue Thomas had shot a hole-in-one Friday before missing the cut. . . . Cindy Mackey’s 66 was the tournament’s best 18-hole round and moved her within six strokes of the lead at 212. . . . Cindy Rarick, Dale Eggeling and Sue Tonkin, who had been only two shots back after 36 holes, slipped back into the pack with rounds of 73, 74 and 76. Rarick was so upset with herself at the halfway point that she slammed her ball into the water off the ninth green. . . . The three surviving San Diego County golfers also had tough days. Kathryn Young of Coronado shot a 74 (219), Deedee Lasker of Rancho Santa Fe a 75 (217) and Meg Mallon of Ramona a 76 (223).