Mallon Is Ripe for Lead With 66

As soon as she finishes playing the Nabisco Dinah Shore on Sunday, Meg Mallon will disappear faster than a vacant hotel room around this place. She is taking five weeks off, which might be enough time to forget how to play golf, but not enough time to go skiing.

There are many golfers who enjoy spending their free moments on the slopes. Mallon isn’t one of them.

“You should see me ski,” Mallon said. “It isn’t pretty.”

Maybe, but put a golf club in Mallon’s hands and the scene gets a whole lot nicer. The 35-year-old, two-time major winner began pursuit of another one Thursday at Mission Hills Country Club, where the first-round lead of the $1-million Nabisco Dinah Shore belongs to the hottest player on the LPGA Tour. . . .

No, not Karrie Webb. Has to be Mallon.

Who else would have picked Ohio State for the Final Four? Mallon not only has a two-shot lead after her opening 66, she leads every other player in the Final Four pool.

All in all, it was a fine opening round for Mallon, who did not miss a fairway, did not miss an iron shot and did not miss the wind on the first day of the first major of the year.

Mallon’s six-under score was two shots better than Kris Tschetter’s 68, which couldn’t have been any more uneventful, not after she finished with 10 pars. Defending champion Pat Hurst, 1993 champion Helen Alfredsson, 1995 LPGA champion Kelly Robbins and second-year pro Janice Moodie are at 69.

The weather was perfect for scoring, with no wind and gray skies that kept the greens soft.

“I’m just glad I took advantage of it,” Mallon said.

She wasn’t the only one. There are 37 players who shot par or better, including Laura Davies, Annika Sorenstam, Dottie Pepper and Michelle McGann, who are lodged in a group of 16 at two-under 70. Nancy Lopez and Juli Inkster are at even par 72 along with six others.

Webb, who has won three of her last four tournaments, began with a one-over 73.

Mallon has won nine times in her 13-year career. She won her two majors in 1991--the LPGA Championship and the U.S. Open. Mallon has had nine top-10 finishes in majors since then, two of them last year when she tied for fourth at the du Maurier and tied for sixth at the LPGA Championship.

Mallon’s best finish at the Nabisco Dinah Shore was in 1996 when she tied for second with Robbins, a stroke behind Patty Sheehan. In her 10th try, Mallon would like nothing better than to finish it off this time.

“I love this event and this course,” she said. “Sometimes I get too excited and overanxious. That’s one thing you learn as you get older.”

Something else Mallon has learned is how to take it as it comes. She knows exactly what she’d enjoy seeing through the weekend.

“I’d like that same person to show up for three more days,” she said.

On her way to seven birdies and one bogey, Mallon was accurate enough with her irons that she had only one birdie putt longer than 10 feet. And when she had the putts, Mallon made them.

“Even my 30-footers had chances,” she said.

Tschetter, 34, has won once in 12 years on the LPGA Tour and not since 1992, but she has three top-10 finishes at the Dinah Shore. As far as her finish, Tschetter said she doesn’t need to apologize.

“Any time you shoot 68 in a major, you have to be happy,” she said.

At least the first eight holes were eventful. Tschetter eagled No. 2, birdied Nos. 4 and 5, bogeyed No. 7 after she missed the green and sank a 35-foot putt to birdie No. 8.

As nice as that looked, it couldn’t match the shot of the day, Alfredsson’s hole in one on No. 14 from 148 yards with an eight-iron.

Alfredsson said there was one thing about the shot that stood out.

“It went in.”

* HALL RIGHT NOW: Amy Alcott no longer has to worry about winning that one more tournament. Page 3

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

In Front

NABISCO DINAH SHORE--Par 72

Meg Mallon: 32-34--66 -6

Kris Tschetter: 32-36--68 -4

Kelly Robbins: 35-34--69 -3

Janice Moodie: 35-34--69 -3

Pat Hurst: 34-35--69 -3

Helen Alfredsson: 37-32--69 -3

Sherri Steinhauer: 35-35--70 -2

Dottie Pepper: 34-36--70 -2

Michelle McGann: 33-37--70 -2

Cindy McCurdy: 34-36--70 -2

Hiromi Kobayashi: 35-35--70 -2

Tammie Green: 35-35--70 -2

Michelle Estill: 38-32--70 -2

Laura Davies: 37-33--70 -2

Elaine Crosby: 35-35--70 -2

Jane Crafter: 33-37--70 -2

Donna Andrews: 36-34--70 -2

Annika Sorenstam: 35-35--70 -2

Kim Saiki: 36-34--70 -2

Julie Piers: 36-34--70 -2

Mayumi Hirase: 38-32--70 -2

Rachel Hetherington: 37-33--70 -2

Sherri Turner: 36-35--71 -1

Martha Nause: 34-37--71 -1

Cindy Flom: 35-36--71 -1

Michele Redman: 36-35--71 -1

Lisa Kiggens: 35-36--71 -1

Maggie Will: 37-35--72 E

Muffin Spencer-Devlin: 35-37--72 E

Terry-Jo Myers: 35-37--72 E

Missie McGeorge: 39-33--72 E

Nancy Lopez: 37-35--72 E

Juli Inkster: 37-35--72 E

Charlotta Sorenstam: 35-37--72 E

Alison Nicholas: 36-36--72 E

Catriona Matthew: 36-36--72 E

Emilee Klein: 36-36--72 E

* COMPLETE SCORES, PAGE 15