Monaghan Is In Swim as Brown Sinks Again

Don’t ask. She did it again.

Nancy Brown, leading the Red Robin Kyocera Inamori golf tournament after the third round for the second consecutive year and still attempting to win her first LPGA tournament, went out for Sunday’s final round and shot a five-over-par 76, opening the way for Kris Monaghan to win her first LPGA tournament.

Monaghan, 29, shot an eight-under 276 and picked up the $45,000 winner’s check. She had five birdies and shot a 31 on the front nine, then added two more on the back nine to finish with a four-under 67.

Cathy Gerring--who also has never won an LPGA tournament--was two strokes back at 278 and earned $27,750. Rosie Jones and Ayaka Okamoto were three back at 279. They won $18,000 each.

Brown, meanwhile, finished in a tie for seventh at three-under 281. It was the second consecutive year she led after three days here and then shot over par on the fourth to lose. Last year, she had a two-stroke lead after three rounds and shot a seven-over 78 to fall into a tie for 17th.

She started the day eight-under Sunday, but was taken off the leader board by the time she finished her ninth hole. Three bogeys and two double-bogeys took care of that.

Two birdies on the back nine put Brown back on the leader board by the end of the day but, by then, she didn’t need to worry about birdies. She needed to be concerned with buzzards.

She said she tried to steer the ball with a nine-iron on her drive to the eighth hole and got a bad lie. That sent her to the first double-bogey, bringing her down to three-under par.

Then, she double-bogeyed the ninth hole as well.

“I was scared on nine,” she said. “I thought, ‘Great, what am I going to do today?’ ”

At that point, what mattered was what Monaghan was going to do. She started the day tied with Gerring at four-under, but she birdied the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth and 11th holes to get to nine-under. She was interrupted briefly with a bogey on 13 but birdied 15 to put her back at nine-under. She bogeyed 18 but, by that time, it didn’t matter.

The two strokes she will remember for a long, long time came on the 11th and 15th holes.

On 11, she made a 25-foot putt that snaked up the crest for birdie.

“When that went in, I was feeling a little unconscious,” she said.

But it was nothing compared to her birdie on 15, which came when she made a 30-foot shot by chipping out of the right front bunker.

“That’s the kind of shot that you dream about to win a tourney,” she said.

She shot a one-over 72 Thursday but came back with a 67 Friday. She said she figured her most difficult task would be following Friday’s round. She overcame that challenge with a 70 Saturday, setting the stage for Sunday.

“I tried to stay patient and consistent today,” she said. “Two big words that are almost new to my vocabulary.”

Monaghan, in her sixth year on the tour, had missed the cut in four of five tournaments this year and tied for 39th in the Desert Inn LPGA Invitational March 11 in Las Vegas. Her career best finish was fourth in the Safeco tournament in Seattle.

She made more money Sunday than she ever has in a year. Previously, her career-best year was 1987, when she earned $21,937.

She has no sponsor, and she had earned just $2,052 this year on the tour. The $45,000 winner’s check will help.

“You have no idea how important that is,” she said. “I’ve stuggled with money ever since I’ve been out here. This makes my whole career. Winning is what it is all about, but the money is nice, too.

“Money has always been a problem--I’ve never had very much of it. It’s been a concern, but I’ve tried not to dwell on it. I’m not going to tell you how small my bank account is.”

She stays in private housing so she can save money when she is on tour. She doesn’t insist on high-priced, professional caddies. This weekend, her caddy was Robert Delgado, a senior on the San Diego State golf team. She walked into the caddy shack one day earlier this week, said she didn’t want a tour caddy, and Delgado happened to be standing there.

“The thing that amazed me about her every day,” Delgado said, “was that nothing mattered to her--who she was playing with, what she was wearing, what balls she was using. There were no superstitions.”

Delgado wasn’t the only one impressed with Monaghan. Okamoto, who played in Monaghan’s threesome, hugged her when they finished. Jones hung around the 18th green long enough to congratulate Monaghan as well. Jones and Monaghan are both from Albuquerque, N.M. and played Junior golf against each other.

“I’m really proud of Kris,” Jones said. “What I know of Kris and what she has inside of her, I think this is just the beginning. What she needs is to get her confidence up to where she can play that well every week.”

Gerring, meanwhile, finished with three birdies, two bogeys and several looks at the leader board. She was in the same group as Brown and Missy McGeorge--and Brown wasn’t the only one who collapsed. McGeorge started the day alone in second at four-under, but she shot a five-over 76 and dropped into a tie for 11th at 282, two-under.

“I was watching (the scoreboard) all day,” Gerring said. “I was playing with Nancy, and obviously she wasn’t playing very well. And Missy was struggling. But I felt like somebody out here was capable of shooting a good round.”

Gerring was one, but there was another. Kris Monaghan.

LPGA Notes

Tournament executive director Tom D’Agostino said next year’s event will be moved to the first or second week of March to avoid conflicts with The Masters and the opening of the baseball season. Gregg Shimanski, LPGA vice-president of business affairs, also said the tournament will be moved, either to early or late March. Both said no paper work has been signed yet, but D’Agostino said the $300,000 purse will “definitely” be increased for next year. The tournament has three years remaining on its contract at StoneRidge. . . . Cathy Gerring ranked 21st on the LPGA money list entering the tournament with $49,509 in earnings. . . . San Diegan watch: Kathryn Young (Coronado) finished tied for 24th at two-over (286) and won $2,775; Heather Drew (Solana Beach) was tied for 33rd at four-over (288) and won $1,867; Meg Mallon (Ramona) was tied for 49th at six-over (290) and won $948; and Dee Dee Lasker (San Diego) was 74th at 13-over (297) and won $315.