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Published on 09/29/1999 All articles from this issue

Inkster's latest win worth $120,000 and a trip to the Hall of Fame

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Town Crier Staff Report

The door to the Ladies Professional Golf Association Hall of Fame is now open for Juli Inkster.

The Los Altos resident qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame last Sunday by winning the Safeway LPGA Championship in Portland, Ore.

The win, Inkster's fifth this year, gave her 27 points - the number needed to enter the Hall under new, less-stringent requirements adapted earlier this year. Each tour win is worth a point, and majors are good for two points. Inkster has 22 career wins, including five majors.

"I couldn't have drawn a better script. I have my family here and my friends," Inkster said in a press conference after Sunday's win. "It's great to have your peers there. I had a lot of people saying good luck to me today. I had a lot of people pulling for me."

The 39-year-old Inkster becomes only the 17th player to make the LPGA Hall of Fame and the first new member since Betsy King in 1995.

Inkster qualified by dominating the three-day Safeway LPGA Championship last weekend. She won the tournament by six strokes over runners-up Tina Barrett and Grace Park, shooting a 9-under 207. The win was worth $120,000.

Inkster also became only the seventh player in LPGA history to cross the $5 million mark in career earnings. Inkster this season has earned a career-best $1,263,703 and now ranks seventh on the all-time money list.

Earlier this year, Inkster won two majors: the U.S. Women's Open and the McDonald's LPGA Championship.