Nancy Brown Isn’t Dwelling on Past Collapses

Things are looking up for Nancy Brown now that she’s so far down the Inamori Classic leader board.

By precise definition it may not qualify as the Heimlich maneuver, but after swallowing hard in the final round the past two years here, a first-round 75 has probably expunged a three-peat collapse.

If Nancy Brown is to win her first LPGA Tour event here, a whole lot of golfers this weekend will have to make like the Nancy Brown of old.

Brown trails 63 golfers after first-day activity and stands six shots behind a trio of leaders. Another poor outing today, and she might be looking at StoneRidge in her rear-view mirror after missing the cut for the fourth straight week.

This is the same golfer who left the Inamori Classic field behind in 1989 to take the third-round lead. The same golfer who repeated the feat in 1990, only to fall out of sight both years in the final round.

She was a dominating 15-under-par in those six preliminary rounds, and a hand-to-the-throat 12 over in her two closing performances at StoneRidge. Her four-stroke lead over eventual winner Kris Monaghan last year became a seven-stroke deficit after nine holes.

“You wouldn’t call Patty Sheehan a choke, and she shot whatever (76) in the final round of the U.S. Open last year,” Brown said. “If it can happen to her, you think, well, then it’s not that unusual. I mean, this is a tough game.

“You’re not happy when it happens. You’re mad, you’re upset, you’re really mad. But you get over it. And people forget.”

Reporters don’t.

“Yeah, I know what you want to talk about,” she said.

There are a number of athletes who would put a gag order on such discussion, but it’s just like Nancy Brown said after last year’s final-round bellyflop: “I don’t blame you guys. It’s a good story, and if I was writing, I’d do the same thing.”

Had she remained in front of the pack the past two years, she would have earned headlines and $90,000 in first-place prize money. But she tied for 17th in 1989 and tied for seventh last year, which accounted for a combined $11,025 in winnings.

“I hear it from people: At least you get there,” she said. “A lot of people would kill to be in the position once. So there’s something positive, but sure, it still hurts. You think about it.”

Watch her compete, however, and it does not show. She became one of the gallery’s favorites in 1989 when she emerged as a chatty and personable leader, and whiplash defeat has done nothing to change her upbeat demeanor.

“It’s my life, it’s my profession, but it could be a lot worse,” she said. “I could not even be out here playing. My feelings got hurt, but there are a lot worse things than losing a golf tournament.

“I have good memories when I come back here. I love this golf course, and for whatever reason, I play well here.”

The past two years this golf course has kick-started Brown’s game. She recorded five top-10 finishes after leaving here in 1989. After falling into a tie for seventh last year here, she went on to record seven more top ten finishes while placing 26th on the LPGA’s money list.

Her first victory on the tour, however, remains elusive.

“I don’t know if I’m playing that well right now to think about that,” she said. “I had the flu in Hawaii and lost a lot of strength, and I haven’t gotten a lot of momentum going. But I’m comfortable here, and when I stand up on the tee, I can remember the birdies I’ve had here before.”

Brown was in position to birdie No. 17 in the opening round and finish two strokes better. She was pin-high in two on the par-five 448-yard uphill hole, but a poor lie left her with no shot, and she settled eventually for a bogey.

“It’s frustrating; that’s the way it’s been going,” she said, “but maybe tomorrow.”

Brown, the LPGA’s leader in eagles a year ago with nine, has the game to climb back into contention before Sunday’s final round.

And if so, she said, “Then I may just leave.”