Title Nothing New for This Team

Juli Inkster and Dottie Pepper had outstanding 1999 seasons on the LPGA Tour, combining to win three of the four majors. But get them together as a team and they are nearly unbeatable.

They proved it again Sunday at Pelican Hill Golf Club, winning the Diners Club Matches for the third time in a row. The pair beat some tough competition, dispatching Karrie Webb, the No. 1 player in the world, and Kelly Robbins, 4 and 3.

Saturday, they put away Laura Davies and Kelli Kuehne, 1 up.

Inskter and Pepper, undefeated in two matches as partners in the 1998 Solheim Cup, haven’t lost together since the 1995 Diners Club semifinals.

So what’s their secret?

“Dottie is an extremely good partner,” said Inkster, who won the U.S. Women’s Open and the McDonald’s LPGA Championship and qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1999. “She makes a lot of pars. She’s very patient and competitive. She just complements my game.”

“I’m so complimentary,” interjected Pepper, who is noted for her prickly demeanor on the course.

“I’m the only one she compliments,” Inskter responded. “No one else could put up with her for 36 holes.”

It’s all in good fun for the teammates who have carved out something of a Diners Club dynasty. They both give their caddies the week off during this event and have their husbands on the bag. It has become a holiday tradition, one they missed in 1998 because of the event’s one-year hiatus.

“It was a bad Christmas without the tournament last year,” Pepper said, only partly joking. “We really had to scale back.”

The $100,000 in Christmas cash they each won for the victory never was in much danger Sunday. They went 4 up on the ninth hole with Pepper’s fourth birdie of the front side. Twice in the first three holes, she made a birdie after Robbins made a birdie.

“Her putting was awesome today,” Inskter said.

Webb and Robbins battled back on the back nine but never got closer than three holes back. Finally on the 357-yard 15th hole, Webb missed a 10-foot birdie putt and Inkster made a five-footer to win the match--except she didn’t know it was over.

“I was sitting there doing the math,” Pepper said, “and thinking, ‘Oh, wow this is to win.’

“Obviously, Juli’s not a very good math major.”

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In the third-place matches: LPGA players Annika Sorenstam and Lorie Kane defeated Kelli Kuehne and Laura Davies, 4 and 3; PGA Tour players Chris Perry and Skip Kendall beat Steve Pate and Mark Wiebe on the 19th hole and seniors Jay Sigel and Gil Morgan beat Allen Doyle and Dana Quigley when Sigel made an eagle on the 19th hole, the par-five No. 1.

The UC Irvine athletic department, the tournament’s charity beneficiary, received $100,000.