Associated Press
Wednesday, July 12

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. -- It was just three weeks ago that Juli Inkster successfully defended her title in the LPGA Championship. Next week, she will be the defending champion in the U.S. Women's Open.

This weekend, she'll be trying to improve upon last year's third-place finish in the JAL Big Apple Classic at Wykagyl Country Club, and having a blast as a working mom.

Inkster, a 40-year-old mother of two, has quite a schedule to follow the short time she's in the New York area.

"Last year we visited the Statue of Liberty, took a double-decker bus ride and saw 'The Lion King.' This year we're going to see `Swing' and drive around the city and take a ride to Connecticut," Inkster said Wednesday in setting the itinerary for herself, 10-year-old Hayley and 6-year-old Cori.

Even next week's Open at the Merit Club in Libertyville, Ill., won't get in the way of family fun.

"We're going to Wrigley Field next week and then they're coming with me to the British Open and the Swedish Open," she said. "I'm playing in tournaments I want to play in, not that I have to play in, and it's like traveling with your best friends."

Inkster says it's hectic but fun.

"I love being a role model," she said. "Hopefully I've brought a little fun to my game. I want people to know I can do both. I want my kids to know that you can have a career and still raise a family."

Inkster, who won this tournament in 1992, considers 72 holes at Wykagyl a great prep for next week's Open.

"You want to build confidence going into the Open, but a win is a win," she said. "This is the right type of golf course to get ready for the Open on because of the way the greens undulate and they're small. You have to use your imagination. Sometimes it's better to be 25 feet below the hole than 5 feet above it. In the U.S. Open, it's hitting the ball in the fairway."

The two women above Inkster on this year's money list -- Karrie Webb and Annika Sorenstam -- are both in the field for the Big Apple Classic.

Sorenstam's victory last week at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic was her fourth of the year and tied her with Webb for the tour lead.

"I love this golf course. It's one of the top three we play all year, I think," said Sorenstam, who was second here in 1997 and won it the next year but slipped to 26th last year as Sherri Stenhauer won in a five-hole playoff with Lorie Kane. "It demands good driving and good approaches, and the greens are smooth and very fast. It's really fair."

Sorenstam also considers Wykagyl a good course to prepare for next week, but that won't be in her mind starting Thursday.

"Once I tee off, this is the only thing that matters," she said.

Webb has finished second, fourth and sixth in her only appearances in the Big Apple Classic.

"It is really great the way that my schedule is set up this year so that I can play here, and I think it's a great warmup for me for the Open," said Webb, who won the year's first major, the Nabisco Championship in March, and who will be defending champion in the last, the du Maurier in August.

Webb said the results of the U.S. Golf Association's first two national championships this year may affect the women next week in terms of scoring.

"With the way the Senior Open played under par and the way Tiger tore up the course (at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach), I think they are going to make it a little harder so they don't have to see so many red numbers," she said.