GOLF LPGA AT LOS COYOTES : Walters Seeks First Victory; Bradley, Alcott Going for 30

Gaining entrance into the LPGA Hall of Fame is one of the most difficult accomplishments in sports. You don’t get voted in by sportswriters or even by your golfing peers. You win your way into it.

The rules are tough: A player must win 30 tournaments, including at least two major championships, or win 40 tournaments without a major.

Only seven players have made it since the original foursome of Patty Berg, Betty Jameson, Louise Suggs and Babe Didriksen Zaharias were inducted in 1951. Nancy Lopez was the most recent, finally attaining the pinnacle in 1987.

Pat Bradley and Amy Alcott are on the brink, each with 29 victories, and after shooting sub-par rounds Saturday in the MBS LPGA tournament at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park, today could be the breakthrough day for one of them.

Lisa Walters, who is still 40 victories shy of membership, followed her 65 of Friday with a 71 to hold the 54-hole lead with a nine-under-par 207. One shot back are Meg Mallon, winner this year of both the LPGA championship and the U.S. Women’s Open, and Judy Dickinson, president of the LPGA. Both shot 68s.

Bradley had a bogey-free, five-under-par 67 for 209, a score she shares with Brandie Burton, the 19-year-old rookie from Rialto, who shot 68. A 68 by Alcott left her at 211.

“This is my sixth week in a row out here (on tour), and I’ve worked very hard every minute,” Bradley, 40, said after her round. “Six straight weeks is highly unusual for me, but I am pursuing an opportunity not available to too many people. Amy and I are only one away, and we’re rooting each other on.”

Bradley was emphatic that even if she wins No. 30, she has no intention of retiring.

“I cannot find a job that pays me $700,000 a year, so until I do, I’ll be right here,” she said. The former ski instructor has earned $694,027 this season.

Alcott, 35, salvaged a 68 after an adventurous round that included six birdies, two bogeys and a par on No. 18 after twice hitting in bunkers.

“I’m not playing for No. 30 because I know it’s going to happen,” Alcott said. “If not this week, then one of these days. I want to get in there (Hall of Fame) as much as Bradley or (Patty) Sheehan, but it’s really not on my mind. What is on my mind is playing the same kind of exciting golf that I’ve played all through my career. If I do that, it’ll happen.”

Sheehan, who has 26 victories, is not playing at Los Coyotes.

On the 18th hole, a 474-yard par five, Alcott drove into a fairway trap on the left side of the dogleg hole.

“That is jail,” she said. “I tried to cut a seven-iron out of the bunker over some trees but caught the top and dropped down. Then I hit a five-iron over the lake into another bunker and got up and down for my par.

“Bunker shots have always been one of the strongest points of my game. I get up and down about 90% of the time. It goes back to the days when I was 9 or 10 and I practiced trap shots in our front yard.”

Walters, a Florida State graduate who spent the morning watching the top-ranked Seminoles defeat Michigan, 51-31, in football, has never led a tournament going into the final round in her eight years as a professional.

“I’m not going to try to win. I’m going out to try and play well,” Walters said. “To tell the truth, all I’m thinking about right now is that I’m going home (to Tampa, Fla.) tomorrow night. I’ve been struggling out here, and I’m ready for some rest. If I win, it would be a great way to end a season.”

Walters, who had five birdies and an eagle Friday with only 27 putts, had a more orthodox round Saturday with one bogey, two birdies and 32 putts.

“I had more putts today, but I really felt good about my putter,” she said. “I made some really good par putts. If I continue putting the way I have this week, I’ll do all right.”

Mallon, who will be paired in today’s final threesome with Walters and Dickinson, warned that the player who expects to win had better do her birdie shooting early.

“I feel like I’ll have to be three or four under par on the front nine, because the backside is two or three strokes more difficult,” she said. “The way the leader board is backed up, it could be anybody’s ballgame, although I don’t think anyone could win from more than four strokes back.”

There are nine players within four strokes of Walters. Donna Andrews and Tina Barrett, who double bogeyed the 18th hole to fall out of a tie for second, are at 210 and Robin Walton, who had a 67, is at 211 with Alcott.

“It will be a great day, no matter what happens,” Mallon said. “If it’s your day, and you get on a roll, it could be your tournament. I can’t wait to see how it comes out.”

Neither can Bradley and Alcott.

Leaders

After three rounds at the 6,352-yard, par 36-36-72 Los Coyotes Country Club course.

Player: Score Lisa Walters: 71-65-71--207 Judy Dickinson: 70-70-68--208 Meg Mallon: 69-71-68--208 Pat Bradley: 72-70-67--209 Brandie Burton: 71-70-68--209 Donna Andrews: 69-70-71--210 Tina Barrett: 70-69-71--210 Dottie Mochrie: 68-73-69--210 Amy Alcott: 71-72-68--211 Robin Walton: 73-71-67--211