WEST LM BEACH, Fla. Betsy King found a simple solution for her uncertainty off the tee: Birdies.

King birdied four of her final five holes for a 6-under-par 66 today and a share of the lead with Karrie Webb midway through The Office Depot, the third event on the 1999 LPGA Tour schedule.

"I wasn't exactly sure where to hit the ball on every hole,'' King said of her back-nine played on the Jack Nicklaus II-designed Heritage course at the Ibis Country Club. "But like most Nicklaus courses, the tees aren't always angled the way you want to aim your drive, but the Heritage is a little shorter (than the Legend), so maybe that helped.''

King and Webb, who had a 69 today, were tied at 136. Three golfers were tied for third at 137 -- Juli Inkster, Kelly Robbins and Nancy Scranton. Inkster shot a 70, Robbins a 69 and Scranton a 66 today.

Liselotte Neumann, Patty Sheehan and Michele Redman were another shot back at 138.

"I played the Legend course Monday and the front nine on the Heritage course Tuesday,'' King said. "I've played or practised for three weeks in a row and I didn't want to kill myself out there.''

After two rounds of pro-am play, the pros take over the last two days. The tournament ends Saturday to avoid conflict with the Super Bowl in Miami on Sunday.

After three birdies and a bogey over the first 12 holes, King scrambled to the top. She sank a 25-foot birdie putt at the 14th hole, a 3-footer at the 15th, holed a 60-foot chip shot from right of the green at the par-3 16th and made another 3-footer at the 18th.

Webb, the 1996 LPGA Rookie of the Year, might have been the sole leader, "but several putts rolled over the edge of the hole,'' the Australian said. "I hit the ball good and putted pretty well, but some days they just won't fall.''

She had four birdies, three on putts in the 12- to 15-foot range, then three-putted from 30 feet at No. 13 for her only bogey.

Robbins, the 1997 winner here, made seven birdies on the first 12 holes, including four in a row on the front nine of The Legend, moving to 11-under par.

But she found two traps along the way to bogey the par-4 14th hole, then made seven when she hit her drive out of bounds at the par-4 15th.

"You're going to make bogeys and once in a while a double bogey but triples are few and far between,'' Robbins said. "It was just one bad swing at the wrong time. Otherwise, I played great. I hit 68 other pretty good shots. There's still two days to go, so we move on and try to forget it. I had chances for birdies on the next two holes.''

Looking to rebound from a rough start, Se Ri Pak of Korea is 2-under 142, one stroke better than defending champion Helen Alfredsson of Sweden. Pak has yet to show the sensational form that enabled her to win Rookie of the Year honours last season, missing the cut at the Inaugural and finishing 12 shots back last week at the Naples LPGA Memorial.