GOLF / DINAH SHORE TOURNAMENT : Alcott Jumps Into a Two-Shot Lead at 67

Amy Alcott would like to make as big a splash in the Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament at Mission Hills Country Club as she did in 1988.

She was well on her way to that goal Thursday in the opening round, shooting a five-under-par 67 for a two-stroke lead.

When she won here in 1988, Alcott, in keeping with her ebullient personality, linked arms with her caddie and jumped into the lake guarding the 18th green.

As she approached the 18th green Thursday, a spectator shouted, “Are you going to jump in the lake again this year, Amy?”

Alcott smiled, nodded and proceeded to birdie the par-five, 526-yard hole with a six-foot putt.

“Nobody knows that I’ve won this tournament, but they know I jumped into the water,” Alcott said. “And I’ll jump in again Sunday if I win, and drag my caddie and anyone else who wants to come in with me.”

Alcott, who also won here in 1983, had seven birdies and two bogeys in her round of 67.

South Korea’s Ok-Hee-Ku, with a 69, was her closest pursuer. Lauri Mertin, Dottie Mochrie, Laura Baugh, Vicki Fergon, Meg Mallon, Tina Barrett and Pat Bradley all were three strokes behind, each with 70.

“I had an absolutely great round of golf,” Alcott said. “I’ve been hitting the ball really well. I’m playing too good not to shoot those kinds of numbers.

“My round could have conceivably been better, but I’m not going to be greedy.”

Alcott, 35, who joined the LPGA tour when she was 18, said her game plan is to play aggressively.

And on a picture-postcard day, temperature in the low 80s and snow covering the nearby San Jacinto Mountains, Alcott finished with a flourish.

She birdied the par-four 16th hole with a 20-foot putt. She barely missed a birdie putt of 10 feet on the par-three 17th.

Then she birdied the 18th, getting a round of applause from the gallery.

“I think this year is the best condition I’ve ever seen the course,” Alcott said. “You could putt off the fairways.”

Last year was untypical for Alcott. She didn’t win a tournament and finished 42nd on the money-winning list.

“Last year was a year to get through, with the death of my mother,” Alcott said. “I was also going through a transition in my golf career. Being in the top 10 of the money-winning list for 14 years takes an element of energy and control that very few people can have.”

Alcott added that she finally ran out of mental toughness in 1990.

“My mother getting ill with cancer was an awful time for me,” she said. “I lost a bit of confidence, but I never stopped trusting myself.”

Alcott, who grew up in Santa Monica, said she had been extremely close to her mother.

“We would even finish each other’s sentences,” she said.

Alcott has 28 victories, including four major championships, and needs only two more wins to make the LPGA Hall of Fame. She said she hears about it every time she plays.

“But it’s not something that I think about when I wake up every day,” she added.

Betsy King, the defending champion, finished with a par 72 after spectators came to her rescue, overruling a marshal, who said her second shot on the sixth hole had failed to clear a water hazard.

Several witnesses disputed the marshal, saying the ball had landed five feet beyond the hazard before rolling back in. Even so, she ended up with a double bogey.

Nancy Lopez had an even more unrewarding day. Struggling with her putting, Lopez shot a 75.