Golf column, Pepper and Inkster going for three-peat

Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson are marquee names from the Senior PGA

Tour, and Fred Couples of the PGA Tour is certain to draw a large

gallery.

But the only players going for a three-peat at the star-studded Diners

Club Matches Dec. 11-12 at Pelican Hill Golf Club are Dottie Pepper and

Julie Inkster of the LPGA Tour.

Pepper and Inkster, best friends away from the greens, seem to generate a

special chemistry when playing together in match-play competition.

Pepper said their games are complementary, with Inkster driving a little

longer off the tee, and Pepper hitting straighter.

“So if I play first, it lets (Inkster) be more aggressive yet,” Pepper

said in a recent conference call.

Pepper, who was 4-0 at the 1998 Solheim Cup and is 12-4-1 overall in the match-play event, has teamed with Inkster to win the last two Diners Club

Matches -- 1996 and ’97.

And with Inkster and Pepper trying for their third straight title, it

could make the LPGA Tour the most interesting to watch of the three

tours.

Besides the two-time defending champions, the other ladies’ teams at the

Diners Club event are Karrie Webb and Kelly Robbins, Nancy Lopez and

Kelli Kuehne, and Annika Sorenstam and Lorie Kane.

“We’re best friends and competitors, and we both enjoy match play,”

Pepper said. “We’ve generated an awful lot of birdies between the two of

us and that’s what it takes. It seems like we have an inherent sort of

ability to hit a lot of greens and a lot of fairways and be able to be

very aggressive, and, you know, that’s the secret I think of playing

best-ball, and especially in match play.”

Pepper, who holds the record for the most points in Solheim competition

(12 1/2), and Inkster won three of the four majors this year on the LPGA

Tour: Pepper won the Nabisco Dinah Shore and Inkster captured the U.S.

Women’s Open and the McDonald’s LPGA Championship (in the same month).

The Diners Club Matches, which also features a pro-am on Dec. 10, will be

televised by ABC during the two days of weekend competition. Tickets are

available through the tournament office, (949) 759-5175.

The senior tour event at Newport Beach Country Club, the Toshiba Senior

Classic, is expanding its charitable platform by instituting a new

scholarship program for local high school students.

The program will be a joint effort by the tournament title sponsor and

Hoag Hospital Foundation, the Senior PGA Tour event’s managing charity.

The sixth annual Toshiba Senior Classic, a $1.3 million event, is Feb. 28

through March 5. Under the auspices of Hoag Hospital Foundation, the

tournament has donated more than $1.5 million to charity in its first two

years as operator.

In 2000, scholarships will be granted to a total of four students in the

Newport-Mesa Unified School District and Irvine Unified School District.

The scholarship includes a $2,500 grant and a Toshiba computer.

To be considered for the scholarship, the applicant must be a high school

senior, rank in the upper half of their graduating class, receive a

recommendation from the school’s scholarship committee, and demonstrate

leadership, involvement in extracurricular activities or community

services.

Applications will be made available in the scholarship offices of the

targeted high schools. The submission deadline is Feb. 1, 2000, and

scholarship winners will be announced at the Toshiba Senior Classic.

“We wanted to develop an annual program that would provide ongoing

benefits for students here in our community,” said Jake Rohrer,

co-chairman of the Toshiba Classic. “The participating schools have

indicated that this is a very substantial scholarship, so we anticipate a

great deal of interest from qualified applicants.”

The Hoag Hospital Foundation was voted the inaugural Senior PGA Tour

Charity of the Year Award in 1998.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.