Is King a Shore Thing? : Women’s golf: She leads by five shots over Walker and Postlewait after 69 at Mission Hills.

Colleen Walker and Kathy Postlewait were trying hard to imagine themselves as contenders.

“There’s no such thing as a safe lead,” Postlewait said. “You can make double bogeys on every hole. Even a 10-shot lead isn’t safe on a course like this.”

Said Walker: “Somebody can come out and put pressure on her early. Then maybe she can be caught.”

Strong thoughts. Bold words. But nobody was paying attention. At least not seriously.

Betsy King, with a five-stroke lead going into today’s final round of the Nabisco Dinah Shore, seems as certain of winning as Nancy Lopez does of making the cut in her next tournament.

“I guess the tournament is mine to win or lose,” King admitted after shooting a three-under-par 69 at Mission Hills Country Club Saturday to leave her at five-under 208 through 54 holes.

Walker’s 67 was the best score of the third round, followed by Postlewait’s 68, but at 213, neither player is close enough to apply much pressure to King.

Rosie Jones, who started the day tied for second with Laurie Rinker, shot a 71 and is alone in fourth at 214. Rinker had an 80 to drop from contention.

Walker, who once shot 65 on this course, thought about her chances and started talking like a realist.

“Betsy is obviously in the best position to win the tournament,” she said. “She’s won it before, so she knows what she has to do.

“I’d have to say I like Betsy’s chances. If I had a five-stroke lead, I would just try to make as many pars as possible. I think Betsy will make a lot of pars and probably throw in a birdie or two, too.”

That’s exactly what King has in mind.

“I just want to get it over with,” said King, who won this tournament in 1987 and expects to make it her third major victory. She also won the U.S. Women’s Open last year.

“I know Colleen is a good player and I know what Posty can do, but I have to just play my own game and try not to make any silly mistakes. I’ve never had a five-stroke lead going into a final round, but I know it’s good to have. Especially on this course where you don’t expect a lot of people to shoot low scores.”

King also knows in the back of her mind that the unthinkable is possible. She remembers coming from six strokes back in just 15 holes to win a tournament last year.

“Those things don’t happen all the time,” King said. “I know I can shoot 74 or 75 without hitting the ball too badly on this course and somebody else can shoot a 68 and I’m history. But I’m not going to think like that.”

King admits there is pressure to play it too conservatively with a large lead and felt it cost her a couple of strokes Saturday.

“I was trying not to make mistakes and found myself saving pars,” she said. “That’s not the way I like to play.”

King, who started the day with a four-stroke lead, increased it to five with a birdie on the second hole.

But after three-putt bogeys at the seventh and eighth, she saw her lead cut to just three.

“That’s when I started playing more aggressively,” King said. “I wanted to give myself chances to make more birdies.”

King birdied the 10th and 12th, then added another at the 17th and was in command again.

Besides being anxious for another major championship, King wants this victory for another reason.

“I’m beginning to get tired of people asking what’s wrong with me,” King said. “They want to know why I haven’t won in eight events.”

Such are the expectations of the LPGA player of the year after a season in which she won six tournaments.

“I guess it would be easier to catch the leader if it wasn’t Betsy King,” Postlewait said. “I’ve never won a major championship and this is as close as I’ve ever been going into the final round. It would really be something to talk about years from now. It’s exciting to even be in contention.”

“In contention” in this case is for second place.