Eggeling Beats Kobayashi to Finish Line

Standing on the 18th green, needing a tough putt to win only her third tournament in more than two decades of professional golf, Dale Eggeling had one thing in mind.

Drag racing.

Earlier this week, the LPGA veteran had taken drag-racing lessons in Pomona and had learned a little something she figured could help her game.

“After being that nervous, being behind the wheel of a 725-horsepower car, that putt didn’t seem so bad,” Eggeling said.

She sank the 15-foot putt for a birdie, beating Hiromi Kobayashi on the first playoff hole of the $650,000 Los Angeles Women’s Championship at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale.

For Kobayashi, it was an agonizing end to a day in which she shot a two-over 74 to lose her grip on what had seemed to be a commanding three-stroke lead.

“I was so good the first round,” Kobayashi said. “I just missed the green and three-putted too much.”

For Eggeling, who sneaked back into contention with a three-under 69, it was proof that, at age 43, she still has enough game to win on the tour. It was also a total surprise.

“I can’t describe it,” she said. “I never even thought about [winning].”

Perhaps her triumph, worth $97,500, was fitting for a tournament that in some ways resembled a drag race. After rain washed out Saturday’s play, LPGA officials decided to shorten the event to 36 holes, making it a sprint to the finish.

Except that no one wanted to run off with this thing.

The tournament had drawn a world-class field--including 95 of the top 100 money winners from last year--yet none of the big stars could muster a challenge.

Annika Sorenstam seemed rusty after a five-week vacation while Karrie Webb remained back in the pack most of the time. Kelly Robbins, poised to be the game’s next superstar, finished 11 shots back at 152.

It was left to Kobayashi to streak to an early lead, a lead she could not hold.

Looking tentative from the start of Sunday’s final round, Kobayashi had bogeys on the second and fourth holes. Meanwhile, she could hear cheering just ahead, where Nancy Lopez and Dottie Pepper were mounting a charge.

Near the turn, Lopez pulled even at four under and Pepper was one stroke back.

“I had a chance in the last five holes to make some birdies,” Lopez said. “But I started fighting it a little bit. When you try too hard, you think too much.”

Pepper also fell back. So did Webb, who missed an eagle putt that would have tied her for the lead. Eggeling seized the opportunity to stage an unlikely comeback.

With all eyes focused on the leaders, Eggeling gained momentum.

On the 14th hole, she hit an eight-iron to within two feet of the cup and sank a birdie putt. On the 15th, she knocked a nine-iron close enough for another birdie.

“The wind got really tricky out there,” she said. “I was just thinking about hitting good shots.”

She might have won this tournament outright on No. 18. Another deft iron, from the edge of a fairway bunker, left her with a short birdie putt to go four under.

That putt missed by inches.

That meant Eggeling had to sit around the locker room to see if Kobayashi could put it away. Friends tried to keep her relaxed.

“We were telling jokes,” she said. “I can’t repeat the jokes.”

Outside, Kobayashi was having no fun at all. The Japanese veteran bogeyed 13, 14 and 16. Only a birdie putt on No. 18 pulled her into a playoff at 141.

And that gave Eggeling reason to muse about her drag-racing experience last Tuesday. She had gone to the track at the urging of her husband, Mike, who has his drag-racing license.

He coaxed her into a supercomp dragster powered by a 500-cubic-inch engine. She made two runs, reaching speeds of almost 100 mph in seven seconds.

“She didn’t want to do it,” her husband recalled. “She said, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been more nervous doing anything.’ ”

Nervous enough to make a sudden-death playoff seem tame and a 15-foot putt seem easy.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

L.A. Women’s Championship

Final Scores

At Oakmont CC--Par 72

36-Hole Scores

141 (-3)--$97,500

xDale Eggeling: 72-69

141 (-3)--$60,510

Hiromi Kobayashi: 67-74

141 (-2)--$35,433

Cindy Schreyer: 72-70

Karrie Webb: 72-70

Elaine Crosby: 70-72

141 (-1)--$16,043

Cindy Figg-Currier: 74-69

Shelley Hamlin: 72-71

Vicki Fergon: 72-71

Laura Davies: 72-71

Pat Hurst: 72-71

Nancy Lopez: 71-72

Annika Sorenstam: 71-72

141 (E)--$10,198

Dottie Pepper: 71-73

Helen Alfredsson: 71-73

Janice Moodie: 70-74

145 (+1)--$7,908

Colleen Walker: 74-71

Tammie Green: 74-71

Joan Pitcock: 73-72

Tracy Hanson: 73-72

Michelle Estill: 72-73

Leigh Ann Mills: 72-73

Karen Weiss: 70-75

146 (+2)--$6,016

Trish Johnson: 74-72

Lorie Kane: 74-72

Rachel Hetherington74-72

Laurie Brower: 73-73

Danielle Ammaccapane2-74

Charlotta Sorenstam72-74

Wendy Ward: 71-75

147 (+3)--$4,873

Patty Sheehan: 76-71

Akiko Fukushima: 75-72

Kristi Albers: 74-73

Eva Dahllof: 74-73

Julie Piers: 72-75

148 (+4)--$3,659

Allison Finney: 75-73

Shani Waugh: 75-73

Barb Mucha: 74-74

Chris Johnson: 74-74

Kristi Coats: 74-74

Laurel Kean: 73-75

Jane Geddes: 73-75

Kris Tschetter: 71-77

Wendy Doolan: 70-78

Alicia Dibos: 70-78

149 (+5)--$2,369

Beth Daniel: 78-71

Penny Hammel: 76-73

Se Ri Pak: 76-73

Mitzi Edge: 74-75

Brandie Burton: 74-75

Patti Rizzo: 73-76

Mardi Lunn: 73-76

Donna Andrews: 72-77

Amy Benz: 71-78

150 (+6)--$1,534

Barb Whitehead: 75-75

Lisa Walters: 75-75

Jill Briles-Hinton: 75-75

Emilee Klein: 74-76

Maria Hjorth: 72-78

Cristie Kerr: 71-79

Luciana Bemvenuti: 71-79

151 (+7)--$999

Alice Ritzman: 80-71

Meg Mallon: 76-75

Kim Saiki: 76-75

Sherri Turner: 75-76

Marianne Morris: 75-76

Jackie Gallagher-Smith-76

Helen Dobson: 75-76

Betsy King: 74-77

Catriona Matthew: 74-77

Amy Alcott: 73-78

152 (+8)

Joanne Morley: 77-75

Carin Koch: 77-75

Heather Daly-Donofrio: 77-75

Dawn Coe-Jones: 76-76

Kelly Robbins: 76-76

Sherri Steinhauer: 75-77

Michele Redman: 75-77

Jenn Kangas: 75-77

153 (+9)

Kathryn Marshall: 79-74

Jenny Lidback: 77-76

Tina Barrett: 77-76

Muffin Spencer-Devlin: 76-77

Kris Monaghan: 76-77

Maggie Halpin: 76-77

Dianne Barnard: 76-77

Terry-Jo Myers: 75-78

Leta Lindley: 74-79

Martha Nause: 73-80

Caroline McMillan: 72-81

154 (+10)

Val Skinner: 78-76

Dana Dormann: 78-76

Gail Graham: 76-78

Marta Figueras-Dotti: 76-78

Lisa Hackney: 76-78

Cathy Johnston-Forbes: 75-79

155 (+11)

Mary Beth Zimmerman: 79-76

Nancy Harvey: 79-76

Jean Zedlitz: 78-77

Kristal Parker: 78-77

Michelle Dobek: 77-78

Vickie Odegard: 77-78

Deb Richard: 76-79

Natascha Fink: 76-79

Melissa McNamara: 75-80

156 (+12)

Judy Dickinson: 80-76

Cindy Rarick: 79-77

Hollis Stacy: 78-78

Annette DeLuca: 78-78

Rosie Jones: 76-80

Pat Bradley: 74-82

157 (+13)

Nanci Bowen: 81-76

Erika Wicoff: 80-77

Missie McGeorge: 79-78

Kelli Kuehne: 79-78

Susie Redman: 77-80

Kim Williams: 75-82

158 (+14)

Nancy Scranton: 85-73

Smriti Mehra: 85-73

Michelle McGann: 76-82

Amy Fruhwirth: 76-82

159 (+15)

Leslie Spalding: 78-81

Carolyn Hill: 75-84

160 (+16)

Jennifer Feldott: 78-82

161 (+17)

Tracy Kerdyk: 83-78

Angie Ridgeway: 81-80

Nicole Dalkas: 81-80

Patty Schremmer: 80-81

Mayumi Hirase: 79-82

Disqualified

Jan Stephenson: 77-77

Missie Berteotti: 77-77

Becky Iverson: 80-80

Withdrew

Catrin Nilsmark: 79

x-won with birdie on first sudden-death playoff hole.