Inkster knocking on Hall of Fame

Juli Inkster has had such a terrific year, she doesn't want to push her luck by even thinking about the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Inkster, needing one more victory to qualify for the Hall, shot a 5-under 67 today to grab a share of the first-round lead in the $800,000 Safeway LPGA Golf Championship.

"Anything I do for the rest of the year is just a bonus," said Inkster, who won the U.S. Open and LPGA Championship and is battling Karrie Webb for Player of the Year honors. "I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing, and hopefully I can sneak a win in."

Minutes after Inkster finished her round on the 6,307-yard Columbia-Edgewater Country Club course, Rosie Jones birdied No. 17 to pull into a tie for the lead.

"She's a good friend of mine, and I have a lot of respect for her and what she's accomplished this year," Jones said. "If we're coming down the fairway on that last hole, I love her to death, but I'm not going to give her that last putt."

Asked whether it would be special to make the Hall in Portland, where she has never won, Inkster said, "Oh yeah, but that's like a storybook. I can't even think about it."

She is trying to become the 17th player to qualify for the Hall of Fame. She needs one more point to reach the required 27, and a tournament victory would do it, as would winning Player of the Year or the Vare Trophy, awarded to the player with the lowest scoring average.

Inkster would join Beth Daniel and Amy Alcott as players to make the Hall this season.

"That's what's so hard about the Hall of Fame. It puts so much emphasis on your last tournament," Inkster said. "You either had a great career, or you didn't have a great career."

Tina Barrett, looking for her first victory since her rookie year of 1989, bogeyed her final hole and settled for a 68, tied with Tracy Hanson, Pat Hurst and Laurie Rinker-Graham.

Nancy Lopez, still fighting pain in her right knee after having arthroscopic surgery in June to repair torn cartilage, joined two other players at 3-under 69.

Lopez, who has won this tournament three times and won the U.S. Junior title on this course 25 years ago, bogeyed her first hole but finished strong. Wearing a brace on her knee, she made four birdies on the back nine to go with a bogey on 17.

"My really bad knee is really feeling good," Lopez said of her left knee, which has been arthritic for months, causing her to favor the right knee. "But the one I had surgery on isn't feeling as well. It's taken me a long time to get back. My game is there. I want to make sure my mind is."

Inkster, starting on the back nine, didn't get her first birdie until her eighth hole, but she made up for that with birdies on Nos. 10, 13, 14 and 15.

Barrett was on the verge of taking the lead throughout the day, but kept giving away strokes. She made a 45-foot birdie putt from the fringe on No. 17, but then missed a 20-footer for par on 18.

Webb, who has won six tournaments this year and leads the money list at $1.4 million, was 5 over on the back nine and struggled to a 2-over 74.