Late Birdies Help Inkster Capture Win at Inaugural Land O' Lakes Legends Classic

August 7, 2021 | 5 min.

 
By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
 
 
  PRIOR LAKE, Minn. – Entering Saturday’s final round of the 2021 Land O’ Lakes Legends Classic one shot off the lead, World Golf Hall of Famer Juli Inkster rolled in a pair of birdies over the final three holes at The Meadows at Mystic Lake to card a one-stroke victory over Rosie Jones and Christa Johnson.
 
A final-round 67 Saturday helped the 61-year-old Inkster secure her 47th win as a professional, and sixth win on the LPGA Legends Tour.
 
“It’s good to get back and get the juices flowing,” said Inkster, who entered the week coming off a top-10 finish at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open last week. “Even though it’s [Legends Tour], you still get nervous. Just to know that you can pull some shots off when you need to is nice. My swing feels really good—if I can just get that putter going, it’ll be good.
 
“I played the par-5’s really well today and that kind of got me going. I played well the last two days and today coming in, made a couple putts for birdie. I made two bogeys in two days and one was a three-putt, so it was pretty consistent and had a lot of opportunities.”
 
An eagle jumpstarted Inkster’s opening round Friday, en route to a 4-under 68, and she would start the scoring during her second round by carding an eagle at the par-5 third hole Saturday to take the outright lead at 6-under for the tournament.
 
Inkster took advantage of the second par-5 on the front nine with a birdie at the sixth and would turn in 7-under before rolling in another birdie at the par-5 10th to take a firm grasp of the lead at minus eight.  
 
Coming up short of the 11th green led to Inkster’s second bogey of the week, dropping her to 8-under before she hit her approach to 10 feet at the 16th and converted her birdie chance to remain one shot clear of Jones.
 
Sticking her tee shot inside of four feet at the par-5 17th, Inkster rolled in her final birdie of the championship to move to 9-under and would hold off Johnson, who narrowly missed a birdie at the last to force a playoff, to claim her first professional win since 2019.
 
“The wind was swirling out there and it was a little hard to pick the clubs,” Inkster said of the changing conditions all week. “I played really conservative, trying to get the ball in the fairway because I knew even if I hit my 3-hybrid, I’d have a short iron in and have some opportunities.”
 
Following a 4-under 68 to begin the championship Friday, Inkster spent time on the putting green where she’s admittedly struggled in recent weeks.
 
“I don’t know if I found anything, but a couple of them went in,” Inkster joked after her win Saturday. “Don’t know if I was praying or what, but I putted last night, narrowed my stance and was a little more focused on the ball and not the results.”
 
A native of Santa Cruz, Calif., Inkster attended San Jose State University before joining the LPGA Tour in 1983, racked up 31 career victories, including seven major championships. She holds a 15-12-7 record during her nine Solheim Cup appearances and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000.
 
She collected her first Legends Tour win in 2015 at the Legends Championship, adding five more in the six years since.
 
Johnson, who won the Women’s PGA Championship in 1997 at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Del., credited her patience on the course to her back-to-back rounds of 68 this week, narrowly missing her sixth win on the Legends Tour since 2006.
 
“Today I didn’t start out really well, but I ended well, so that was similar to yesterday,” said Johnson, who birdied three of her final six holes Saturday. “I’m going to fine-tune some things—my putter really came through today, so I was really happy my play.”
 
Johnson turned in 1-under Saturday, moving to 5-under for the championship before back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th quickly moved her into contention at 7-under, and she would move to minus eight with a birdie at the par-3 17th. Left with 15 feet for birdie to force a playoff, Johnson’s birdie chance rolled right of the cup to give her a second-place finish at 136.
 
Claiming seven wins during her LPGA career, Johnson’s first win on the Legends Tour came in 2006. She would add three more over the next five seasons and notched her last win at the Janesville LPGA Senior Pro-Am in 2019.
 
Jones, a 13-time winner on the LPGA during her career dating back to 1982, fired 2-under 70 Friday before rattling off six birdies over her final 12 holes Saturday to finish in a tie for second with Johnson at 8-under 136. Jones and Johnson each earned a paycheck of more than $15,000 for their efforts this week.
 
Helped by an ace at the 146-yard 14th hole with her 7-iron, Cathy Johnston Forbes carded a final-round 67 to finish in fourth place at 6-under 138, while Edina, Minn., native Barb Moxness and former University of Minnesota women’s golf head coach Michele Redman finished in a tie for fifth with Kris Tschetter and 139.
 
Minnesota Golf Association Senior Four-Ball champions Brenda Williams and Claudia Pilot were responsible for multiple highlights this week as Williams finished with low-amateur honors by shooting 10-over 154, while Pilot notched her seventh-career hole-in-one Saturday, sinking her tee shot at the 14th with a 6-hybrid.
 
 
 
THE 2021 LAND O’ LAKES LEGENDS CLASSIC
THE MEADOWS AT MYSTIC LAKE
PRIOR LAKE, MINN.
5,874 YARDS, PAR 72
 
 
SATURDAY’S FINAL RESULTS
1. Juli Inkster, 68-67—135
T2. Rosie Jones, 70-66—136
T2. Christa Johnson, 68-68—136
4. Cathy Johnston Forbes, 71-67—138
T5. Barb Moxness, 72-67—139
T5. Kris Tschetter, 71-68—139
T5. Michelle McGann, 67-72—139
T8. Michele Redman, 70-70—140
T8. Susie Redman, 70-70—140
T10. Jackie Gallagher Smith, 71-71—142
T10. Leta Lindley, 70-72—142
 
 
For complete tournament results go to:  www.golfgenius.com/pages/7659236502664125336
 
 

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