GOLF LPGA AT POWAY : Walton Finds Lens, Share of Lead

Even the most imaginative scriptwriter would have to struggle to top the tale of Robin Walton in the Inamori Classic golf tournament at StoneRidge here Thursday.

In Walton’s words, “It was an unbelievable, coincidental, you’ll-never-believe-it-in-a-million-years story.”

En route to the three-under-par 69 that put her in a first-place tie with Marsha Foyer and Caroline Keggi, Walton lost a contact lens on the fifth fairway.

Walton had left her backup contacts in the house at which she is staying with James and Sonya McMunn. As luck would have it, the McMunn home is between the fourth and fifth holes, so Walton took off in a sprint and picked up the spares with a minimum of lost time.

“I wasn’t gone more than three or four minutes,” she said. “I ran all the way. Some people offered me a ride, but we’re not allowed to ride at all, so I said, ‘I can’t. Sorry.’ I hope they didn’t think I was rude.”

And the story didn’t end there. Immediately upon completing her round, Walton returned to the fifth fairway to resume the search.

“I had to go right back,” she said. “Once the lawn mowers got out there, the lens would have been history.”

By that time, everybody else had finished the fifth hole, and, amazingly, the search was successful.

A group of five golfers finished the day a stroke behind at 70. One of them, Laura Davies, did it without using a wood. The others are Judy Dickinson, Tina Barrett, Shelley Hamlin and Judi Povin.

Eleven players tied at 71 and 13 more were at par 72.