Alcott retires 20 years after taking the plunge

Amy Alcott played her 34th and final Kraft Nabisco Championship and said after her round Friday she was through playing on the LPGA Tour.

“I pretty much see this as closing the door,” said Alcott, 52, a five-time major winner and the first three-time winner of the Kraft Nabisco. “I just feel it’s time.”

Alcott shot rounds of 79-77 and tied for 103rd.

It was Alcott who began the tradition of the champion jumping into the pond beside the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club when she won in 1988.

“I’m thinking that 20 years later, that’s a nice round number to end on,” Alcott said.

The event was called the Nabisco Dinah Shore when Alcott won in 1991, and convinced Shore to join her in the pond.

Alcott began her round Friday at the 10th hole, so the par-five 18th was not her finishing hole. But she received a warm greeting as she walked across the bridge to the island green.

Alcott broke into tears when she left the green. “I tried to cover it up,” she said, “but it wasn’t easy.”

She made par as she played the 18th for the last time.

“This is not an easy thing to do, because so much of my personal golf history is tied into this event,” Alcott said.

A 29-time winner on the LPGA Tour, Alcott made it into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

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-- Thomas Bonk