BEAVERCREEK, Ohio -- One of the most frustrating rounds of Juli Inkster's LPGA career occurred at the Country Club of the North in this Dayton suburb.
She gets a chance this weekend to erase the bad memories in the LPGA Firstar Classic.
Inkster, winner of 17 LPGA events, can go into the Hall of Fame with one more victory. She gets her next chance in the three-day tournament beginning Friday at the par-72 course designed by Jack Nicklaus.
If she's anxious to enter the Hall, Inkster doesn't show it. She hasn't played since finishing third in the du Maurier Classic on Aug. 1.
"I took two weeks off and we went on vacation," said the 39-year-old mother of two.
Inkster was on a roll before the break. She has won five times this season, including two majors -- the U.S. Women's Open and the LPGA Championship. She fell just shy of winning her third straight major with a 280 in the du Maurier, three strokes back of winner Karrie Webb.
"The swing feels good. The game feels good. It's been an unbelievable year," Inkster said. "I think at my age, I appreciate it more."
Inkster has an impressive record in this tournament, with three top-five finishes in five starts at the Country Club of the North. She has won a record $117,422 at the course. But it is also where Inkster had one of the most frustrating days in her career.
Four years ago, with victory in her grasp, she bogeyed two of the last three holes to hand the title to Chris Johnson.
Under the current system, Inkster needs just one point to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. A win this weekend would do it. That would mean topping the other 143 members of the field, which
includes defending champion Meg Mallon, a two-time winner on the tour this year.
Mallon beat Dottie Pepper on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win last year's tournament, when it was the Star Bank Classic.
Mallon has earned $544,286 in prize money this year, good for fourth position on the LPGA list. Webb, Inkster and Lorie Kane are 1-2-3.
The field includes five of the top 10 current money leaders -- Inkster, Se Ri Pak, Mallon, Pepper and Rachel Hetherington.
Of the 15 tournament winners this year, seven are entered: Inkster (4), Pak (2), Hetherington (2), Mallon (2), Pepper (1), Akiko Fukushima (1) and Jackie Gallagher-Smith (1). Hall of Famers Pat Bradley, Betsy King and Beth Daniel will represent the old guard along with Sally Little, Hollis Stacy and Jan Stephenson, who finished second a week ago in Sutton, Mass.
