Robbins Angling for Shot at Victory

It was a good day to be a kite, a balloon or a flag in the desert Friday. But golf balls? Well, let’s just say their sense of direction was blown all out of proportion.

The wind came up and so did the scores in the second round of the Nabisco Dinah Shore, where Kelly Robbins force-fed Mission Hills a five-under 67 and assumed a one-shot lead over Betsy King.

As the LPGA’s first major tournament heads into the weekend, Robbins’ seven-under 137 puts her one step ahead of King and two shots better than Dottie Pepper, Amy Fruhwirth and Kathryn Marshall.

There were only four rounds in the 60s in the wind, compared to 10 on Thursday, but that’s when there weren’t any whitecaps on the lake at 18.

After a round that featured seven birdies, two bogeys and one ponytail whipping in the wind, Robbins, a part-time angler, is halfway to reeling in her second major title.

She already has her eye on that pond beside the 18th green because she has been told there are bass in there.

She didn’t bring her rod and reel with her, as she usually does, but Robbins hinted she might alter the usual jump-in-the-lake victory celebration and just hop in there to try to grab some bass bare-handed if she wins Sunday.

For the moment, though, that’s only a fish story. That’s putting the outboard motor before the boat.

Robbins made five birdie putts of 10-25 feet after she fished an old putter out of her bag, one she hadn’t used since 1993. Her putting made up for what amounted to an indifferent ball-striking round.

“Believe it or not, I’m really not hitting the ball all that great,” she said. “But I have been getting it on the green and I’m rolling the ball well.”

If Robbins is greatly pleased with her putting, she isn’t at all happy with the way the ball is coming off the club face.

“Maybe by Sunday I’ll have it figured out,” she said.

Laura Davies, who bogeyed two of the last three par-fives and is even par on the par-fives after 36 holes, shot another 70 and is three shots behind at 140. Dale Eggeling finished with a 72 and is tied with Davies.

Annika Sorenstam and first-round co-leader Kris Tschetter are in a group five shots back at two-under 142.

King was winless last year after earning her 30th victory and automatic entry in the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1995. A two-time winner at the Dinah Shore, she said she is relieved to be playing better.

“I’m just happy to be back in a position to do something,” she said.

Fruhwirth is from Cypress and won the California state championship and the U.S. Amateur in 1991, but she hasn’t finished higher than third in three years on tour.

She missed the cut in her last two outings but is feeling good about herself after changing her diet, cutting back on sugar, caffeine and fatty foods.

But Fruhwirth admitted she still has diet drinks sometimes.

“Water gets boring after a while,” she said.

As for excitement, there’s nothing like holing out from 130 yards with an eight-iron for an eagle. That’s what Fruhwirth did on the par-four sixth.

She jumped, screamed and gave a high five to her caddie.

“That’s a tough green to putt,” she said. “I didn’t have to putt, so that’s what I was happy about.”

Marshall followed up her opening 66 with a one-over 73, obviously a round that was gone with the wind.

“It was a bit of a struggle,” Marshall said. “Maybe I got more than my share yesterday.”

Maybe so, but she probably did not start out thinking that way, saving par on her first hole, the 10th, by chipping in from 18 feet after missing the green.

She said the wind seemed to change directions, which made the situation more tricky, even for someone from Scotland. Now that’s the country where golf without wind is like dinner without haggis, but Marshall said it’s not fair to compare.

“Everyone said I’m supposed to be used to the wind, but you can bump and run over there and you can’t here because there usually is rough around the greens,” she said.

In any event, the preliminaries have been completed now that the first two rounds are out of the way, Marshall said.

“Everybody knows this is where the tournament starts,” she said. “This is where it all happens--I hope.”