Inkster Has a Happy Birthday

Juli Inkster’s daughter reminded her first thing Saturday morning that it was her 40th birthday.

Big deal.

Inkster simply rolled out of bed, made breakfast for her two kids and then pieced together the best score of the LPGA Championship, a six-under-par 65 that gave her a share of the 54-hole lead with Wendy Ward and a chance to win yet another major championship.

“Forty has been a lot easier than 30,” said Inkster, referring to a time when she was struggling to balance motherhood and a career on the LPGA Tour. “But 40, I feel pretty good.”

Inkster celebrated in style at Wilmington, Del., closing with three birdies to pull her out of the pack and into a tie at seven-under 206 with Ward.

A year ago, Inkster won the LPGA Championship to become only the second woman to complete the LPGA’s modern Grand Slam. She plans to scale back after the Solheim Cup, but it looks as though she wants to go out with a bang.

“Any victory at this stage of my career is gravy,” said Inkster, who can become the first player since Patty Sheehan in 1984 to successfully defend an LPGA Championship title.

Ward made four consecutive birdies in a 68, putting her in the final pairing of a major championship for the first time. Ward has only one top 10 in a major, a tie for fourth in the LPGA two years ago.

Jan Stephenson, the 48-year-old Australian who hasn’t won in 13 years, had a two-under 69 and was at 208.

Laura Davies, the second-round leader, struggled to a 75 and was at 211, among the eight players within five strokes of the lead.

*

Bob May shot a two-under 69 in windy conditions at Memphis, Tenn., to take a one-stroke lead over Steve Pate and Notah Begay III after the third round of the St. Jude Classic.

May, who has strung together three consecutive rounds in the 60s for the first time this year, is at 12-under 201.

Begay shot a 67 and Pate had a 70.

After warm but near perfect conditions the first two days, the wind started gusting and caused plenty of trouble on the back nine on the TPC at Southwind course where water lies along most of the holes.

May, whose best finish on the PGA Tour this year was a tie for 23rd last week in the U.S. Open, nearly blew his lead by bogeying the final two holes. But he had given himself enough of a cushion with his putter with five of his birdies through the first 14 holes.

*

Lee Trevino made a 45-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a share of the second-round lead with defending champion Allen Doyle in the Cadillac NFL Classic at Clifton, N.J.

Trevino, the first-round leader who is looking for his first victory since 1998, shot a five-under 67 and Doyle had a 64 for 11-under 133 totals on the Upper Montclair Country Club course.

Television analyst Gary McCord was a stroke back after his second consecutive 67.

Trevino, 60, who has not won since the 1998 Southwestern Bell Dominion, had five birdies and no bogeys.

“On the front nine I hit the ball close and couldn’t make a putt,” Trevino said. “On the back nine I couldn’t get it close and I made all the putts.”

*

Steve Conway, a recent graduate of Santa Margarita High, made par-saving putt after par-saving putt at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club, threw in a few birdies at the end of each nine and shot two-under 69, good enough for a three-round total of 208 and a two-shot lead heading into the final round of the Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship.

First-round leader Darin Sullivan of San Diego, who works in the cart barn at Rancho Santa Fe, shot one-over 72 and is Conway’s nearest pursuer.

Scott McGhion of Bermuda Dunes, a graduate of UC Irvine, shot 73 and is five strokes back in third place. Terry Noe of Fullerton shot 70, one of only four sub-par rounds Saturday, and is in fourth at 214.

If Conway, 18, wins today, he will become the second youngest to win the 101-year-old tournament. Paul Hunter was 17 when he won the first of his record five titles in 1908.

*

Staff writer Peter Yoon contributed to this story.