Mochrie Makes It in Time : Dinah Shore golf: She catches Inkster with birdie on 18th, then wins it on first playoff hole.

Dottie Mochrie said that after she missed a birdie putt on the 17th green Sunday at the Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament at Mission Hills Country Club, a man from the gallery yelled, “Loser.”

“That will get you fired up,” Mochrie said.

Mochrie had stalked Juli Inkster for 17 holes, closing a three-stroke deficit to one. Finally, she pulled even with a birdie putt on the 18th green, while Inkster was making par.

Then Mochrie, the 26-year-old pro from Sarasota, Fla., won the third LPGA tournament of her career and first major event on the first playoff hole, the par-four, 356-yard 10th.

Mochrie easily made par, and Inkster was in trouble from the outset. Her tee shot found a fairway bunker, and her second shot landed in a greenside trap.

She was still 20 feet short of the pin after coming out of the bunker. Mochrie was safely on the green with her second shot, some 15 feet from the cup.

Inkster’s putt for a par slid four to five feet past the cup, so Mochrie had only to two-putt to win, which she easily did. Her birdie try lipped out, and then she tapped in for her victory. By winning, Mochrie earned $105,000 and reaffirmed that she is one of the tour’s best young players.

“I just feel a lot of relief,” Mochrie said. “I haven’t had time to comprehend (winning).”

She finished second here last year to Amy Alcott, but Mochrie was playing for the runner-up spot the final day because Alcott ran away with the tournament, winning by eight shots.

“I had to play my best golf to win (today),” said Mochrie, who shot a 69. And Inkster had a 71 for the regulation 18 holes.

“When Juli birdied the third hole, I thought she was going to run the table.”

Inkster had a three-shot lead over Mochrie and two-shot advantage over Patty Sheehan at the time.

However, Inkster, who won the Dinah Shore tournament in 1984 and 1989, then bogeyed the fourth hole, got a birdie at No. 7 and played par golf the rest of the way until the playoff hole. “I didn’t really putt that well on the back side,” Inkster said, “but Dottie played great.”

Inkster, who had a one-shot lead over Sheehan at the beginnign of the final round, had her chances to avoid a playoff. She missed a five-foot putt for a birdie at No. 13. “I just pulled it,” she said.

On the par-five, 526-yard 18th hole, Inkster’s third shot landed five feet from the pin. Mochrie then hit within 3 1/2 feet of the cup.

Inkster was tentative on her putt and left it short. “I had to make it because I knew Dottie would make hers,” Inkster said.

Mochrie did, forcing a playoff, a deadlock at nine-under-par 279 for the 72 holes.

Sheehan, who played in the final group with Mochrie and Inkster, was also in contention after 17 holes. Her birdie at 17 put her at eight under, tied with Mochrie and one stroke behind Inkster.

But Sheehan found the rough on three successive shots on 18, got a bogey and tied for third with Brandie Burton. “I never felt I had any momentum,” Inkster said. “It was par, par, par, and I knew it would catch up with me.”

Some people have said that Mochrie, given her talent, should have won more than two tournaments before now.

“Dottie has always had the respect of her peers,” Inkster said. “She is one of the tour’s best players. She’s real consistent. She stays on the fairway and is a good putter.”

Mochrie proved that persistence pays off. “No matter how far you get behind, you have to hang in there,” she said.

Mochrie didn’t get off to an auspicious start. She bogeyed the first hole, but rebounded with a birdie at the second hole.

She got another birdie at the 508-yard ninth hole, hitting a sand wedge to within 12 feet of the cup and making her putt.

Mochrie chipped in from 18 feet for another birdie at the par-five, 499-yard 11th hole and then caught Inkster with her birdie at No. 18.

“This was just another steppingstone,” said Mochrie in regard to her career.

A major step, at that.