Round Is Almost Too Long for King : LPGA: She soars to a 75, sees six-shot lead fade to two over Furlong and Postlewait in Dinah Shore tournament.

Golf’s dreaded C-word kept popping into the mind of Betsy King.

Some call it “choke.” King was calling it “collapse.”

It provided the only excitement during the closing holes of the Nabisco Dinah Shore Sunday at Mission Hills Country Club.

In the end, it didn’t really matter that King’s three-over-par 75 was the highest closing-round score ever recorded by a winner.

King didn’t care that she almost blew a six-stroke lead over the last eight holes.

She was satisfied that her 72-hole total of five-under-par 283 was two strokes better than Kathy Postlewait (who shot 72 Sunday) and Shirley Furlong (68) because it made her the tournament champion for the second time and gave her a third major championship.

She acknowledged, however, that she was nervous down the stretch when she was letting the field back into it.

“I haven’t had a collapse like that in a long time,” King said after she bogeyed four holes during a five-hole stretch on the back nine. “I was getting myself in trouble with bad swings off the tee. It’s not easy playing with such a big lead.

“I kept looking at that leaderboard and noticed I had a five-stroke lead with five to play. Then it was four and four, then three and three. I was just relieved when we ran out of holes.”

When King thinks of her victory, she will think about the player who blitzed the field for the first 63 holes of the tournament.

“I had played 11 consecutive rounds under par,” King said. “I knew that streak had to end. I just didn’t want it to happen in a major championship.”

And what about the player that butchered the back nine?

“I like to think I would have responded to a challenge,” King said. “I feel like I would have played better if it was close. I know what it’s like to try to catch somebody else. You can be more aggressive. I’m a little surprised nobody made a move.”

Throughout most of the afternoon, Kings’s lead was at five or six strokes. She moved it to six with a birdie at the third hole.

Said Postlewait: “Betsy started strong, then she just kind of stayed at the same place making a lot of pars. I kept having chances, but kept missing a lot of 10- to 12-foot putts. It was getting frustrating because I kept feeling like I had a chance to do something. Betsy looked a little tentative, and I thought if I could get close, something might happen.”

When King reached the 12th hole, a definite trend was noticeable. Nobody was making birdies. King had made nine pars in a row, and the others were having their own private tournament for second place.

Then came the first crack.

King hit her second shot into a bunker at the 12th. Bogey.

King drove into the rough at the 13th and had to hack her ball back to the fairway. Bogey.

Those two didn’t matter. The field was backing up, too, and her lead was still five strokes.

The serious problems came at the 15th and 16th holes.

King pushed her drive into the right rough and had to chip back to the fairway on the 15th hole. Bogey.

King reached the 16th in regulation, but three-putted from 28 feet. She missed her second putt from three feet. Bogey.

Now her lead was two strokes, and Postlewait had a chance to cut it to one with an 18-foot birdie putt.

“I really thought it had a chance to go in when I hit it,” she said. “But the ball never took the break.”

But at least she had hope. Two down with two holes to play, Postlewait needed to gain at least a stroke at the 171-yard 17th to put some pressure on the leader.

Besides, Furlong was already in the clubhouse, tied with Postlewait at three-under. “I didn’t know I was in contention until somebody told me that Betsy was starting to make bogeys,” said Furlong, who finished almost an hour ahead of King. “I was four back when I finished. Then they told me Betsy bogeyed 15 and 16 and was in trouble at 17. I was only two back and starting to think about a playoff. I was getting excited.”

But just as King’s mistakes had put the excitement back into the tournament, her excellence over the last two holes restored order.

King missed the green at the 171-yard 17th hole, but she chipped close for an easy par.

Then she played three good shots and two-putted for par at the 18th.

King took the ball from the cup and threw it into the crowd.

“Those last two hours seemed like an eternity,” said King, who earned $90,000 from the purse of $600,000 for her first victory of the year and 21st of her career.

“This is my third major and each one is special. The (1989) U.S. Open is one that always sticks in your mind because it’s one I’ve played in every year since 1975. The first Dinah Shore was special because it was my first major. And this one is special because it’s my third. You know, in a way, this one is a lot like the Masters. It’s the only major we always play on the same course. It even has its own little Amen Corner. Holes 13-14-15 will make anybody pray a little. They always get my attention.”

Another thing about the Dinah Shore that gets her attention is the walk in front of the stands and across the bridge at the 18th.

“It’s one of the special moments in golf when you walk in front of all those people knowing you’ve won the championship.

“I was kind of hoping to have an easy day . . . but I guess these things never come easily.”