LPGA Tournament at Mesa Verde : Baugh, Searching for First Win, Leads by 4 Strokes

Just a thought, but after three rounds of the Uniden LPGA Invitational golf tournament, maybe Laura Baugh should consider the following:

--Purchasing the champagne she promised for the press in case of victory.

--Clearing a space in her trophy case for something that, for a change, says ‘first place’ on it.

All right, perhaps it’s too early for such talk. Or is it? She leads the $330,000 event by four strokes, enough to think that the infamous Curse of Baugh finally may come to an end today after 13 winless seasons on the LPGA Tour.

Then again, Baugh has led tournaments before, only to finish second, something she has done seven times.

“I want to shoot as low as I can (today) because I don’t trust these girls,” Baugh said. “I need at least (four strokes). I think that if I have about 20 shots, I might be able to get in.”

Baugh shot a four-under-par 68 on a chilly, windless day.At this pace, she could break Bonnie Lauer’s 1985 tournament scoring record of 11 under par, as well as earn the $49,500 first prize, about $200 more than she’s made in her best season. Last week at Phoenix, Baugh finished in a tie for 65th place, which was good for $349 and a lot of laughs.

Saturday, it was Baugh who did most of the chortling. Her three-day total of 10-under-par 206 gave her a comfortable margin over Mary Beth Zimmerman, who shot a 70 Saturday and is Baugh’s nearest competitor at 210. Patty Sheehan is next at 211 after a round of 70.

Said Sheehan of Baugh’s play: “It’s awesome, it’s really good. In the past, we’ve been lucky to be under par at all (at Mesa Verde). She’s not going to come back to us, not the way she’s way playing right now, but anything can happen.”

Sure, Baugh could oversleep and miss her tee-off time. Kidnaping is a possibility.

“I think Laura is playing real well,” Zimmerman said. “Four shots is a lot to make up, but you never know.”

When pressed on her chances of overcoming Baugh, though, Zimmerman was less optimistic. “They’re kind of slim.”

Said Baugh: “I’ve been here a million times. No one expects me to win.”

Meanwhile, Muffin Spencer-Devlin, who said earlier she enjoys coming from behind to win a tournament, received half of her wish during Saturday’s round when she shot a four-over-par 76, which included a two-stroke penalty for slow play.

Spencer-Devlin began the day one stroke behind Baugh. Just the way she liked it, Spencer-Devlin said.

The round was going well enough--she birdied No. 9 and No. 10 to go seven under par and stay close to Baugh, who had moved to eight under par.

But then she double-bogeyed the par-five No. 11 after finding one of her shots nestled behind a tree. She parred No. 12, a par-three, but bogeyed the par-five No. 13.

That’s when the fun started. At the completion of the 13th hole, Suzanne Jackson, the LPGA tournament director, informed Spencer-Devlin a two-stroke penalty for slow play was being assessed.

“You didn’t warn us,” Spencer-Devlin reportedly said.

Jackson said she then explained that LPGA rules don’t call for such an explanation. “She was actually quite pleasant,” Jackson said.

And two strokes poorer, which, along with the bogey, dropped her to one under par.

According to Jackson, Spencer-Devlin took 38 seconds to hit her tee shot, 80 seconds for her second shot, 51 seconds for a bunker shot, 54 seconds for her first putt and several more seconds for a tap-in. In all, Spencer-Devlin used 73 seconds more time than allotted for that particular hole.

“I wasn’t watching Suzanne. On the hole I was timed on, I was in trouble, so I was taking some extra time over the shots,” Spencer-Devlin said. “I’m very deliberate and very methodical because I have a tendency to be quick. I found that the more deliberate I can be in my pre-shot routine, the better chance I have of making a slow swing.”

So upset was Baugh with the penalty, that she spent several minutes in the scoring tent following the round trying to convince officials to rescind the two strokes. Baugh, Zimmerman and Spencer-Devlin were in the same threesome.

“I was pretty mad,” Baugh said. “I didn’t think it was right.”

No matter. Spencer-Devlin stayed at one under par, and it could have been worse. An 18-foot sidehill putt on No. 18 saved par and prevented any more trouble for the day.

Other names disappearing from the leader board included Jan Stephenson, who shot a 74 and dropped to one under par after three rounds. Barbra Mizrahie was three strokes back when she started but had a 75 in a round that saw her seriously challenge for the lead and then drop quickly out of sight with a 40 on the back nine.

Pat Bradley, Val Skinner, Alice Ritzman and Beth Daniel were more fortunate. They occupied the three-under-par (213) position. Donna Caponi was at 214.

Baugh again did most of her damage on the par-threes. She birdied two of the five par-three holes at Mesa Verde, which has generally been her pattern since Thursday. “I like these par-threes,” she said.

She sank a 20-footer on No. 7 to move back to seven under par, and a 25-footer on No. 16 to go 10 under par.

Baugh had just one bogey for the day.

“I play this well all the time,” she said, “but normally I’m (back) with my friends.”

Asked to predict what it will take to beat her today, Baugh’s smile became something of a grimace.

“Real low, real low,” she said. “That’s their problem. I’ve got my hands full.”

If everything goes as expected, full of a first-place check and trophy.