Crown Juli : Webb Might Be the Best Player in 1999, but a Rejuvenated and Hall-of-Fame-Bound Inkster Is Easily the Biggest Story

With apologies to Karrie Webb of Australia, who has won more tournaments, earned more money and probably will be the player of the year, Juli Inkster was the story of the year on the LPGA Tour.

The 39-year-old mother of two from Los Altos, Calif., is enjoying her greatest season, winning two major championships, five tournaments in all, nearly doubling her winnings from her previous most successful season and surpassing $5 million in all-time earnings.

And she played her way into the LPGA Hall of Fame, taking advantage of the new criteria for entry adopted this year.

“It has been just an unbelievable year,” said Inkster, who in March will become the 17th LPGA member inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla. “It’s one I’ll never forget.”

She has 17 top-10 finishes in 23 starts and is second to Webb in player-of-the year points and lowest scoring average at 70.02, the lowest of her career. She has won $1,294,253, also second to Webb, with only two official events remaining on the LPGA Tour schedule, including the season-ending $1-million PageNet Championship in Las Vegas Nov. 11-14.

Webb has had a spectacular season, finishing among the top 10 in all but three of 24 events and winning $1,491,459 and six tournaments, including her first major, the du Maurier Classic at Calgary, Canada, where in August she charged from five strokes behind to win by making birdies on four of the last five holes.

“I don’t ever try to think of myself as the best player in the world,” Webb said in Calgary, “but I played like I was today.”

Actually, she played like it most of the year.

Inkster, though, stole much of her thunder. The Californian, who was considering retirement a few years ago in the midst of a five-year winless streak, made a triumphant return to the top in June when at 38 she won the Women’s U.S. Open at West Point, Miss., becoming the oldest champion since 40-year-old Fay Crocker in 1955. It was her first major title in 10 years.

Then, only three weeks later, she won the LPGA Championship at Wilmington, Del., to become only the second woman to win the modern career Grand Slam in women’s golf.

Her victory last month in the Safeway LPGA Golf Championship at Portland, Ore., was the 22nd of her career. Coupled with her five major titles, each worth two points, the Portland victory gave her the 27 points needed under the new Hall of Fame criteria.

Inkster wasn’t the only player to benefit from the players’ vote in February to adopt a new points system to identify its standouts for enshrinement. Beth Daniels and Amy Alcott, both 42 at the time, received their passes into the hall when 98% of LPGA players voted for the new criteria.

Under the old setup, players needed 30 victories, including two major titles, to get in.

Jim Ritts, outgoing commissioner of the LPGA, said the previous rules made entry into the Hall of Fame virtually unattainable.

“It’s been a long road,” said Alcott, who was one victory short of enshrinement under the old system and hadn’t won in eight years. “I’m just beside myself. This is a monumental day in my life. I had big dreams. . . . This is an amazing dream fulfilled.”

It was for Inkster too.

“Even though it’s easier to get in, I still felt like it was out of reach for me,” she said of the Hall of Fame. “And I was OK with that. I think that’s why I played so well. I didn’t stress over it.”