GOLF / LPGA AT BUENA PARK : Briles Joins Leaders With Career-Best 66

Nancy Lopez and Caroline Keggi were already in the clubhouse, sharing the lead at 139, five under par, after two rounds of an LPGA tournament at Los Coyotes Golf Course in Buena Park. Nobody still playing was even close.

By 2 p.m., Friday’s round seemed a done deal.

Even Jill Briles, who teed off hours after Lopez and Keggi, didn’t pay any attention to the leader board.

“When you start the day one over par and you have been playing as bad as I have, you aren’t thinking about leading, but getting your mind and game together,” Briles said.

“I have a coach that teaches me to grip it, rip it, chase it and hit it again. Wherever it goes, I find it. Fortunately today, they were down the middle so I didn’t have to look so far.”

Briles, who had a 73 Thursday, shot a 66, the best round of her career, to join the leaders. “I played steady and just slid in there,” she said, perhaps too modestly, for her card showed seven birdies and just one bogey.

Briles said that winning this tournament would make a nice wedding present. She is getting married in November.

While Briles is thinking about weddings, Lopez is thinking about babies.

“I told Ray (Knight, her husband) that if I win the tournament and had a little boy, we have to name him Malvern,” said Lopez, referring to Malvern Avenue, a street that runs south of the Los Coyotes Country Club.

“They say everything breaks toward Malvern Avenue, and it does,” said Lopez, who began the day one stroke off the lead. “Sometimes you think it’s a flat lie, but it’s not. You think it’s going to break left to right, but it doesn’t--it breaks toward Malvern.”

Armed with that knowledge and her putter, Lopez shot a 70.

Malvern, though, means little to Keggi, who shot a 69. “I worked on that theory last year, but I haven’t given it much thought this year,” she said. Behind the trio of leaders are Cindy Rarick and Pat Bradley at 140. Cathy Gerring, Kim Shipman, Nancy Brown and Chris Johnson are at 141.

For Briles, of Peoria, Ill., everything broke toward the cup. Starting her round on the back nine, she made only two bad shots all day: her iron shot on No. 10 and her drive on No. 17.

By her 12th hole, Briles had six birdies--including four in a row on Nos. 18 through 3--and had tied for the lead. She made a 15-foot putt on No. 7 to go to six under but then three-putted No. 8 for a bogey.

“I don’t feel any pressure yet,” said Briles, who is in her third year on the tour. “I’ve never been in this situation before, so I guess I will find out tomorrow.”

Briles will be paired today with Keggi and Lopez, a veteran at playing under pressure and before big galleries.

Under a sunny sky with a slight breeze, an estimated 9,000 people roamed the course Friday and Lopez continued to draw the biggest crowd.

“I like playing in Southern California,” she said. “I have lots of relatives here and lots of fans wishing the ball in.”

The ball dropped a lot for Lopez, who has not won this year. She says she has hit well all year--too well not to win--but has struggled with her putting. She changed to a new putter here and plans to enshrine her old one.

“I think I will put it in a glass case and put down how much money it won for me over the years,” she said.

Lopez, starting the day on the back nine, struggled early, pushing her first drive but saving par, then missed a putt on No. 11 for a bogey.

“I pulled myself together and started playing well,” she said. “I missed a few putts at first, but I got my timing going and started putting well.”

Keggi began the day at two under, stayed even at the turn and made headway on the backside, where she had three consecutive birdies.

In her rookie year last season, Keggi, 25, of Middlebury, Conn., had six top-20 finishes and finished 56th on the money list at $52,762. In 1987, as a student at the University of New Mexico, she won the California State Amateur Championship and the NCAA championship.

This season, her best tournament was in August at Stratton Mountain, Vt., where she birdied five of the last six holes and forced a playoff. She lost to Gerring.

“It is definitely a learning process to go from amateur to pro,” Keggi said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be this tough. In the pros it’s more experience and patience.”

LPGA Notes

Players had to score a two-round total of 148 to make the cut, and 72 players made it. For the first time this season, Betsy King missed the cut, shooting 77-73--150. Jan Stephenson also missed the cut at 74-76--150, as did Amy Alcott, who shot 74-77--151.