King Has That Old, Familiar Feeling Again

By THOMAS BONK

March 31, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

RANCHO MIRAGE —

So what do you call that thing in the lake at the 18th hole Sunday at Mission Hills Country Club? Would it be a King fish?

Betsy King didn’t jump in the lake after she won her third Nabisco Dinah Shore. She waded and then just sort of fell into the thing, which comes amazingly close to the way she wrapped up her 31st victory and sixth major tournament title in a 21-year career.

King needed only a one-under-par 71 to win by two shots, basically because Kelly Robbins blew a three-shot lead on the back nine and came in with a 40.

To say the least, King was surprised.

“What was I thinking?” she repeated the question. “I was thinking Kelly was going to win and I was trying to finish second. It was just my turn to win, I think.”

Robbins, who won last week at Phoenix, could have bagged her second major title, but she staggered in with a 74 and finished tied for third with Amy Fruhwirth.

That left Kris Tschetter as King’s closest pursuer. But the former ballet student’s chances ended when her golf ball made a pirouette on her 2 1/2-foot par putt on No. 17 and eventually decided to stay out of the hole.

“You miss those every now and then,” Tschetter said. “It’s unfortunate when it happens at No. 17 in a major.”

Tschetter’s closing 70 moved her into second place at 10-under-par 278.

King’s 12-under-par total of 276 was five shots better than Patty Sheehan’s winning total last year and nine shots better than Nanci Bowen won with in 1995.

Other than that, it was just another routine day on the golf course for King, 41, who added $135,000 to her historic bank account.

She has won more money than anyone in LPGA history. Her cash now totals $5.7 million in a career that began in 1977, although she didn’t win for seven years.

Beginning in 1984, King won at least once every year until 1994. She hit the front door of the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1995, when she won her 30th event, the number needed for membership.

Last year was a total washout for King, who finished no higher than fifth and seemed close to being lapped by the newer stars, such as Laura Davies, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Michelle McGann.

Now you can score one for the fortysomethings.

“Beth Daniel, Patty Sheehan, Nancy Lopez, me--we’re just not as good as we used to be, not week in and week out,” King said. “Occasionally, you think you can play well at times.”

“Once in a while, the old guard can still do it, I think.”

This was one of those occasions. It didn’t look that way, though, when Robbins took a three-shot lead over King after 10 holes.

King could have used a map to keep the ball on the fairway. She had been under more trees than shade.

“All of a sudden, it just turned around,” she said.

Robbins bogeyed the 12th and the 13th holes and double-bogeyed the 15th. It was eerily similar to what happened last year when Robbins was tied for the lead with Sheehan, then double-bogeyed the 15th.

“I hit it better than I did all week, but the ones I missed were not good,” Robbins said. “You never like to finish like that.”

King birdied the par-five 11th, when she rolled in a 12-foot putt; and the par-three 14th, when she hit an eight-iron to within 15 feet and made the putt.

She gave a shot back at 15, when she two-putted from nine feet for bogey, but got it right back on the 16th. Her nine-iron from 131 yards stopped four feet from the hole and she made the putt.

Tschetter was only one shot behind until the ball made the U-turn on No. 17, so King owned a two-shot lead and all she had to do was to stay away from the water on her tee shot on 18.

She did. The ball was safely left. King was on the green in three and two-putted for her par from 35 feet.

She was coaxed into the pond that surrounds the island green in what has become something of a tradition, although sort of a murky one, judging from the water.

King said it was better than the champagne spray she received after her 30th victory in 1995. She hadn’t won since.

“That champagne stank,” King said. “At least this doesn’t smell. It’s just wet.”

The feelings inside were familiar ones. King had not forgotten how it felt to win.

“I thought I would win sooner,” she said. “You just want to play well and be in contention on Sunday. It’s an awful feeling, though. You say things like ‘Why am I doing this?’ and ‘What am I putting myself through this for?’ The answer is when you win, you feel better.”

There is no mistaking how King feels about herself right now.

“I feel like I can play again,” she said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

How They Finished

At Mission Hills CC--Par 72

72-Hole Scores

276 (-12) $135,000

Betsy King: 71-67-67-71

278 (-10) $83,783

Kris Tschetter: 66-76-66-70

279 (-9) $54,346

Amy Fruhwirth: 69-70-68-72