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Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Tuesday, February 22, 2000

King rules on
courses in Hawaii

THE last King to conquer all of the Hawaiian Islands was Kamehameha. The next one could be a wahine.

Heavens to Betsy!

With her victory in the Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open at the Kapolei Golf Course last weekend, Betsy King has now won tournaments on Oahu, Maui and Kauai.

No other LPGA or PGA golfer can make that statement.

Now, King can claim the Big Island -- where it all started for Kamehameha, by the way -- as well if she wins the inaugural LPGA Takefuji Classic next week.

Talk about a Hawaiian "Grand Slam" of golf.

Any first victory is always memorable. And King remembered the first of her 32 LPGA victories at Kaanapali, Maui, in the 1984 Women's Kemper Open.

Especially, King said, when she had gone winless in her first seven years on the tour.

That was the first -- and most forgettable -- of her since illustrious golf career, according to King.

Then she began her "second" career, winning 29 times in a 10-year stretch, starting at Kaanapali.

Two other victories came in back-to-back years (1988-89) in the Women's Kemper Open, which moved to Princeville, Kauai.

In 1995 she was named to the LPGA Hall of Fame and in 1998 became the first player in LPGA history to pass the $6 million mark.

It turned out to be a heckuva second career.

EXCUSE me, Betsy. "Heckuva" comes close to a swear word for King, whose strongest epithet might be, "gosh."

Not that she was on cruise control after gaining the Hall of Fame, but when King won the Nabisco Dinah Shore in 1997 for her sixth major championship, the media asked, "What took you so long?"

Well, when King won at Kapolei for her first victory in 35 months, inevitably the question again was, "What took you so long?"

King admits that at 44, the old "bod" isn't as spry as it used to be. "It gets harder as you get older," she said.

It also doesn't help when Sally Dee, playing with her in the final threesome on the last day, said, "It's an honor playing with you." And, "My parents are big fans."

Why is everyone making a big deal about my age? King asked no one in particular. Like, nobody's asking Jan Stephenson how old she is, King continued.

THAT question mounted last year when King's best finish was a tie for sixth and she dropped to 66th on the money list.

She took long breaks, playing in only 17 events.

"It was frustrating to play that poorly," King said. She thought about retiring, but knew that it wasn't like being a teacher and coming back after a couple of years.

As an athlete, her biological clock was ticking. King knew she just couldn't unretire. Athletes just don't come back like that.

So she worked hard during the off-season and lost weight. Not David Duval-like maybe, but close.

"I've always been competitive," King said. So she put her mind to it and gave 2000 a good, hard try. She plans on playing a full schedule, around 27 to 28 tournaments.

King's hoping that this will be a "rebirth, a third career " for her.

If it's anything like her second career, watch out.

"Betsy is a true champion," said Brandie Burton, who finished second to King. "Her competitiveness is beyond belief."