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Saturday, February 19, 2000
Final round
By Bill Kwon
at Kapolei
an odd coupling
Star-BulletinBetsy King vs. Sally Dee.
It's an interesting matchup for today's final round of the Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open.
There are 71 other golfers -- all under par -- who survived yesterday's 36-hole cut. But the attention is focused on the odd coupling of co-leaders who both shot 67s for a 36-hole score of 10-under-par 134.
That's where the similarities end.
King is an LPGA Hall of Famer. Dee just earned her tour exemption for 2000.
King has more tour victories (31) than Dee's tour starts (18).
King has been there before. Never been for Dee, who's in a position to win a tournament for the first time.
"This is like vuja de - never been here before," Dee said. "I'm not putting any undue pressure on myself. I'm excited more than I am nervous."Betsy had been King for the day at 10-under until Dee, playing in the last group of the day, joined her at the top of the leaderboard. But Dee missed a 4-foot birdie putt that would have given her the undisputed lead.
A high school All-American in basketball, Dee said all week that she's like a "sponge," soaking up as much learning experience as she can from veteran players.
She makes it a point of playing practice rounds with them whenever she can, as she did with Annika Sorenstam earlier this week.
Today, she'll get a chance to sponge some more, this time under real battle conditions.
King's also competitive and hungry as she seeks her first victory since the 1997 Nabisco Championship.
"I haven't been there awhile. Hopefully, I'll be there a lot," said King.
Joining King and Dee in the last threesome today will be Sophie Gustafson, the first-day co-leader with Joanne Morley.
Gustafson, who was at 10-under after five holes yesterday, finished with a 70 to be alone at 135.
Marisa Baena and Leta Lindley are next at 136.
Baena, a 22-year-old Colombian native who was a three-time All-American at the University of Arizona, hit 17 greens in regulation in shooting a 67.
Lindley plays with a set of clubs that would gladden any high-handicapper's heart. She carries six woods, including an 11 that led to a birdie at the 147-yard eighth hole.
"It's my favorite club. Anyone who has seen me hit it doesn't say anything because of how well I hit it. I really don't care what anyone thinks."
Unlike the opening round when eagles were flying, double bogey was the "buzz-ard" word yesterday as the tradewinds finally returned to the Kapolei Golf Course.
Former HLO winners Annika Sorenstam had two and Marta Figueras-Dotti three to tumble off the leaderboard. The latter fell all the way to the point of missing the cut at 143, 1-under par.
Others lamenting the double-bogey blues included Morley, Mi Hyun Kim, Jackie Gallagher-Smith, Kris Tschetter and Gail Graham, who was 8-under before her buzzard.
That made the rounds by King and Dee all the more impressive.
"I feel like I've had two careers," said King. "I was out here for seven years without a win. Then I had a really good stretch of 10 years."
She won 29 times in that stretch, starting with her first tour victory in the 1984 Women's Kemper Open at Kaanapali, Maui.
Is there a third career up ahead?
"I hope so. Maybe this is a rebirth," said King, who says she's making a concerted effort to get back on track. "I've worked hard during the off-season."
And King wants to show Dee and the rest of the field that she's still got game.
NOTES: Sue Ginter aced the 154-yard 16th hole with a 6-iron to win $10,000 ... The par-4 13th hole played the most difficult after two rounds with a 4.26 scoring average. No. 6, a par-5, ranked the easiest at 4.51 average ... Joining Hall of Famers Betsy King and Pat Bradley in the inaugural LPGA Takefuji Classic March 2-4 at the Kona Country Club will be Patty Sheehan, another honoree ... Karrie Webb, the 1999 Player of the Year who skipped this week's tournament, is also committed to play in the event.
At Kapolei Hawaiian Ladies Open
Second round
Par 72Betsy King -- 67-67--134
Sally Dee -- 67-67--134
Sophie Gustafson -- 65-70--135
Marisa Baena -- 69-67--136
Leta Lindley -- 68-68--136
Suzanne Strudwick -- 70-67--137
Sherri Steinhauer -- 69-68--137
Kris Tschetter -- 67-70--137
Jan Stephenson -- 70-68--138
Jackie Gallagher-Smith -- 69-69--138
Gail Graham -- 68-70--138
Brandie Burton -- 67-71--138
Joanne Morley -- 65-73--138
Oh-Yeon Kwon -- 71-68--139
Eva Dahllof -- 71-68--139
Liselotte Neumann -- 69-70--139
Leigh Ann Mills -- 69-70--139
Susan Ginter -- 69-70--139
Kristal Parker -- 68-71--139
Kim Saiki -- 67-72--139
Annika Sorenstam -- 66-73--139
Mi Hyun Kim -- 66-73--139
Hiromi Kobayashi -- 71-69--140
Becky Iverson -- 71-69--140
Jenny Lidback -- 70-70--140
Chris Johnson -- 70-70--140
Grace Park -- 70-70--140
Kellee Booth -- 69-71--140
Kathryn Marshall -- 68-72--140
Moira Dunn -- 68-72--140
Diana D'Alessio -- 68-72--140
Akiko Fukushima -- 72-69--141
Kaori Higo -- 71-70--141
Fiona Pike -- 71-70--141
Laura Philo -- 71-70--141
Michelle McGann -- 70-71--141
Dana Dormann -- 70-71--141
Alison Nicholas -- 69-72--141
Carin Koch -- 69-72--141
Jenny Rosales -- 68-73--141
A.J. Eathorne -- 67-74--141
Janice Moodie -- 74-68--142
Michele Redman -- 73-69--142
Kate Golden -- 73-69--142
Pearl Sinn -- 72-70--142
Yu Ping Lin -- 72-70--142
Heather Daly-Donofrio -- 72-70--142
Amy Read -- 71-71--142
Yuri Fudoh -- 71-71--142
Lorie Kane -- 71-71--142
Jeong Jang -- 71-71--142
Michie Ohba -- 70-72--142
Nancy Scranton -- 69-73--142
Cathy Johnston-Forbes -- 69-73--142
Jane Geddes -- 69-73--142
Karen Weiss -- 69-73--142
Charlotta Sorenstam -- 69-73--142
Debbie Harmon -- 69-73--142
Barb Whitehead -- 68-74--142
Sherri Turner -- 68-74--142
Lisa Hackney -- 75-68--143
Cindy McCurdy -- 73-70--143
Hee-Won Han -- 73-70--143
Jean Zedlitz -- 73-70--143
Emilee Klein -- 73-70--143
Debbi Koyama -- 72-71--143
Cristie Kerr -- 72-71--143
Hollis Stacy -- 71-72--143
Vicki Goetze-Ackerman -- 71-72--143
Maria Hjorth -- 70-73--143
Stefania Croce -- 69-74--143
Julie Piers -- 68-75--143
Tracy Hanson -- 68-75--143
Failed to qualify
Nancy Harvey -- 74-70--144
Leslie Spalding -- 72-72--144
Amy Fruhwirth -- 72-72--144
Aki Takamura -- 72-72--144
Cindy Flom -- 71-73--144
Tina Barrett -- 71-73--144
Catriona Matthew -- 71-73--144
Kyoko Ono -- 70-74--144
Heather Bowie -- 70-74--144
Aki Nakano -- 68-76--144
Mhairi McKay -- 75-70--145
Jean Bartholomew -- 74-71--145
Midori Yoneyama -- 74-71--145
Toshimi Kimura -- 73-72--145
Rosie Jones -- 72-73--145
Patricia Baxter-Johnson -- 70-75--145
Marta Figueras-Dotti -- 67-78--145
Vickie Odegard -- 77-69--146
Pat Bradley -- 75-71--146
Harumi Sakagami -- 73-73--146
Dale Eggeling -- 72-74--146
Carri Wood -- 72-74--146
Jill McGill -- 72-74--146
Jennifer Feldott -- 72-74--146
Lori Atsedes -- 72-74--146
Joan Pitcock -- 71-75--146
Jody Anschutz -- 71-75--146
Erika Wicoff -- 71-75--146
Melissa McNamara -- 70-76--146
Meg Mallon -- 70-76--146
Vicki Fergon -- 75-72--147
Maggie Will -- 74-73--147
Gloria Park -- 74-73--147
Deb Richard -- 72-75--147
Lisa DePaulo -- 71-76--147
Caroline McMillan -- 77-71--148
Pamela Kerrigan -- 76-72--148
Jane Egan -- 75-73--148
Susan Veasey-Florin -- 73-75--148
Ashli Bunch -- 73-75--148
Michelle Bell -- 73-75--148
Penny Hammel -- 70-78--148
Katie Peterson -- 76-73--149
Karen Stupples -- 76-73--149
Mayumi Hirase -- 76-73--149
Susie Redman -- 73-76--149
Denise Killeen -- 73-76--149
Liz Earley -- 73-76--149
Riko Higashio -- 72-77--149
Lenore Rittenhouse -- 77-73--150
Dorothy Delasin -- 77-73--150
Michelle Estill -- 75-75--150
Amy Benz -- 74-76--150
Jen Hanna -- 72-78--150
Stephanie Sparks -- 69-81--150
Kristi Albers -- 75-76--151
Ellie Gibson -- 73-78--151
Stephanie Brecht -- 72-79--151
Michelle Murphy -- 71-80--151
Marie-Josee Rouleau -- 76-76--152
Audra Burks -- 76-76--152
LaRee Pearl Sugg -- 75-77--152
Sara Sanders -- 74-78--152
Nanci Bowen -- 73-79--152
Caryn Wilson -- 76-77--153
Caroline Blaylock -- 74-79--153
Tish Certo -- 79-75--154
Annette DeLuca -- 76-78--154
Jenny S. Park -- 74-80--154
Lori West -- 78-79--157
Lisa Kiggens -- 73--WD
