U.S. Women's Open: Inkster sour over loss in 1992
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LPGA veteran Juli Inkster tees off on the 12th hole in her round during Wednesday's practice for the U.S Women''s Open at Oakmont Country Club.
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In an interview tent about 200 yards away from the spot where a U.S. Women's Open championship slipped from her grasp 18 years ago -- albeit after a controversial, but correct, ruling -- Juli Inkster wavered for a moment on Wednesday.
Think back to 1992.
Think back to that very spot, alongside the 18th fairway -- the hole she went into with a one-shot lead after 71 holes in 1992.
Think back almost two decades to when Patty Sheehan's drive, on the 72nd hole, leaked a bit right on that swampy day, coming to rest in a gulch of casual water.
And think back to how Sheehan was granted relief, able to drop fortuitously onto the fairway, hit a 5-iron to 18 feet, then making the putt to force a playoff.
Then think about that Monday playoff, the one Sheehan won and slaughtered any Oakmont exhilaration Inkster might have had.
Still, 18 years later and from a vantage point about 200 yards away, Inkster couldn't shake the sour feeling. Most of it, to be certain, was the result of that ruling made by then-USGA chairman of the women's committee, Ann Beard.
Inkster was asked Wednesday a simple question: Has she gotten over the ruling?
"Well, yeah," Inkster said before a quick pause and reversal. "Well, no. It's the worst ruling in the history of golf. But, I mean, I've overcome it, yes. ... Well, I mean, you know, you know, it is what it is. [Sheehan] made a great shot after that and made a great putt, so ..."
So here we are again, at Oakmont, almost two decades and about 8,000 fewer trees later on this inland links-style course that twists and turns hills above the Allegheny River.
Inkster, 50, is one of just four players who will play in this Open and also played here in 1992, joining Helen Alfredsson, Pat Hurst and Sherri Steinhauer.
After that disappointing weekend here -- and the ruling she seemingly will never get over -- Inkster went on to win the U.S. Open in 1999 at Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi and in 2002 at Prairie Dunes Golf Club in Kansas.
Can she win here this week and capture a third U.S. Open title?
Carol Semple Thompson, the general chairman of this Open, one of the most accomplished amateurs and a regular player at Oakmont, understands the uphill fight Inkster will have the next four days.
"As much as I would love for Juli to win this week, I think she will have a tough go at it out there," Semple Thompson said. "She will probably play well. She will probably make the cut, but I think it will be hard for her to contend to actually win this championship, in my opinion.
"I hate to say that, but age does take its toll on us players."
The increasingly decreasing age of women in this sport seems a point of deep contention for Inkster, who admits the time she spent at San Jose State University was something deeply beneficial to her.
Those late-teenage, carefree experiences are something this new collection of players -- there are 23 teenagers in the field -- seems to eschew for a chance to get into professional golf as quickly as possible.
"You know, I'm not saying they're not great kids," Inkster said of the youth movement. "They're good kids. It's just I think it's a little young to ... I mean, golf is going to be here."
First Published July 8, 2010 12:00 am
