Mallon Doesn’t Need Work on Long Game

So halfway through the Nabisco Dinah Shore, right there at the top of the leaderboard, you’ve got Meg Mallon and Dottie Pepper, two stars who play the same game and sure don’t act like it.

If Mallon were any straighter, she would be a ruler. She is as controversial as toast. And Pepper is the exact opposite . . . excitable, intense. The last time she looked at a stack of wood she set it on fire.

On Friday, Mission Hills Country Club took it from both directions, all right. Mallon birdied the last hole to finish with a 69 to take a one-shot lead over Pepper, her Solheim Cup teammate, who turned in a 66.

Mallon needed nearly five hours to complete her round, which didn’t end until she rolled in an eight-foot putt at No. 18, a putt that she spanked hard, probably so she could just get the darned thing over with.

“If I didn’t hit the hole, I’d probably be in the water,” Mallon said after succeeding in keeping her golf ball dry.

So ended Mallon’s 21st consecutive day of golf, which sounds good until you start wearing out the grooves of your clubs.

The truth is, it has been quite a trek for Mallon, who played at Tucson, at Phoenix, two days of the Pro-Am and two days of the Dinah. Mallon said she’s pretty exhausted.

“If a player wins this event, she should get a medal besides the trophy,” she said. “It’s a long week.”

Mallon’s 36-hole score of 135 is nine under and puts her within range of Amy Alcott’s tournament record of 15 under. Pepper is next at 136, but there is no shortage of contenders going into the weekend.

Janice Moodie, the 25-year-old Scot by way of San Jose State, is only two shots back after turning in a 68. Juli Inkster’s 66 vaulted her into a tie for fourth at 138 with Kris Tschetter, who bogeyed two of the last four holes to finish with a 70.

Meanwhile, there are some big names with a lot of ground to make up. Se Ri Pak is seven shots back, Annika Sorenstam and Pat Hurst are eight shots behind and Karrie Webb is nine shots out.

Right now, they’re all chasing Mallon, who said she was held up all day by slow play. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mallon and her group took time out to help Barb Mucha search for her ball that was lodged in a tree at No. 10. They were eventually waved through or else Mallon might still be out there with binoculars, a flashlight and a ladder looking for that ball.

“It threw me off a bit,” Mallon said.

Then there is Pepper, who has made a career out of not being thrown off even when she’s the one doing the throwing. After all, it’s all her own doing.

Pepper has the personality of lava, which, as you might expect, means she is misunderstood from time to time.

At the Solheim Cup last year, Pepper’s gung-ho demeanor got the European team so upset that some of the players drew her picture on a punching bag and took turns pounding it. By the way, Pepper was 4-0, and the U.S. team won in a rout.

When she left a chip short on the 71st hole at the 1992 Dinah Shore, a fan yelled “Loser!” and Pepper gave the guy a stare that could have melted titanium. She promptly birdied the last hole to win her only major title.

Last year at this same tournament, television cameras caught Pepper giving her caddie a total airing-out in the middle of the fairway. Of course, the fact that her caddie also happened to be her husband was pure Pepper.

As it turns out, Pepper’s husband no longer carries her bag. It’s better that way, she said.

“I think we enjoy our time when we aren’t on the golf course together all the time,” she said.

Pepper really enjoyed her time on the course Friday. Her seven-birdie, one-bogey round featured two stretches when she was hotter than one of her sideways glances.

Pepper had a good thing going. She hit it close with her irons and then wasted no time putting the ball in the hole. She birdied No. 4 from five feet, No. 5 from three feet and No. 6 from 12 feet. Pepper was still three under for the round when she arrived at the par-three 15th, where she dispatched the ball to within 12 feet with a six-iron and rolled in the putt. She followed with birdies at No. 16 and No. 17 and then allowed herself a smile.

But she would not allow herself to be called, well, mellow.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she said.

And she is what she is, no matter what anyone might think, because there’s really no alternative.

“It would be very difficult to be any other way,” Pepper said. “I get excited when I do pretty cool things. I get upset with myself when I see the other side.”

There was only one side this time, and it was the cool-thing side. Lucky for everybody.

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In Front

NABISCO DINAH SHORE--PAR 72

Meg Mallon: 66-69--135 -9

Dottie Pepper: 70-66--136 -8

Janice Moodie: 69-68--137 -7

Juli Inkster: 72-66--138 -6

Kris Tschetter: 68-70--138 -6

Hiromi Kobayashi: 70-69--139 -5

Donna Andrews: 70-69--139 -5

* COMPLETE SCORES, PAGE 14