Inkster, Juli (Simpson)
Golf
b. June 24, 1960, Santa Cruz, CA
Inkster won the U. S. Women's Amateur three years in a row, from 1980 through 1982. She is one of only three golfers to accomplish that. The others were Glenna Collet Vare and Virginia Van Wie.
She joined the LPGA tour late in 1983, winning one of the eight tournaments she entered. The following year, Inkster beat Pat Bradley on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the Nabisco Dinah Shore, and she shot a 67 on the last round to win the duMaurier Classic by one shot. The only rookie ever to win two major tournaments, she earned $186,501 and was named the tour's Rookie of the Year.
Inkster won the Nabisco Dinah Shore again in 1989. She missed most of the 1990 season after having her first child, Hayley Carole, in February. In 1992, Inkster tied for the lead in two major championships, but lost both playoffs, to Dottie Mochrie in the Nabisco Dinah Shore and to Patty Sheehan in the U.S. Women's Open.
Then her career stagnated for several years. Inkster reportedly even thought about retiring after the birth of her second daughter in 1994.
But she went over $3 million in career earnings by winning the 1997 Samsung World Championship in a three-way playoff, her first victory since 1991. Inkster defended her Samsung title the following year and then had a sensational 1999 season, winning five titles, including two majors, the U.S. Women's Open and the LPGA Championship.
Her score of 272, 16 under par, was a record for the Open, breaking Annika Sorenstam's 1995 mark by two strokes.
Inkster won three more championships in 2000, including a repeat victory in the LPGA, becoming only the third player to win that title in consecutive years. She also passed the $6 million mark in career earnings and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame that year.
In 2002, Inkster won her second U. S. Women's Open title by shooting a 66 in the final round to overcome Annika Sorenstam's two-stroke lead. She was the second oldest LPGA player, after Babe Didrikson Zaharias, to win a major championship, and she joined Zaharias as one of only two women to win two major championships after turning 40.