WILMINGTON, Del. - Se Ri Pak was 12 years old the last time Beth Daniel won an LPGA major.
Pak, a native of South Korea, hadn't yet joined the tour when Daniel, one of the 19 members of the LPGA Hall of Fame, won her last tournament in 1995.
"I knew about her, that she won a lot," Pak said of her knowledge of Daniel before her move to America. "But that was such a long time ago."
So it's both fitting and surprising that Daniel, 45, and Pak, 24, will make up the last pairing for today's final round of the LPGA Championship at DuPont Country Club, the tour's second major of the season.
Daniel, who has led the tournament from the start, shot a 3-under 68 on the par-71 layout yesterday to move to 8-under and extend her lead to four shots over Pak, who also shot 68. Daniel used a hot putter and wedge to run away from the field - except for Pak.
Even though Daniel got up and down from the thick DuPont rough several times and birdied six holes, the best number on her card might have been a bogey-5 at the 10th hole.
She drove the ball into the rough left of the fairway, where she put her approach in a rather precarious position - about 15 yards left of the green in some of the deepest rough on the course. Oh, and the green, hardened by the sun, ran straight downhill and away from her.
Daniel left her third shot in the rough, hacked her fourth to 5 feet and knocked her bogey putt in to escape a situation that could have been a lot worse.
"That might be the best bogey I have ever made in my life," said Daniel, the 23-year tour veteran who won this tournament in 1990 for her sole major win. "That rough will surprise you and really turn your club over sometimes."
Karrie Webb, who was playing with Daniel, was within three of the lead on the back nine before she, too, fell victim to the tall grass. Webb's drives on holes 14 and 15 bogged in the rough, forcing her to pitch out into the fairway each time, essentially laying up on par-4s. The defending champion bogeyed the 14th and saved par on 15, but by then she was five behind Daniel. Webb (72) and Japan's Kim Saiki (69) are 2-under and will play together today in the penultimate pairing.
The final two groups have the only golfers in red figures.
One player who was expected to be under par, but isn't, is Annika Sorenstam, who won last week's tour event by 11 strokes and claimed the Nabisco Championship, the year's first major. Sorenstam's bid to claim a Grand Slam is all but over after she shot a 2-over 73 in the third round, dropping to 6 over for the tournament, 14 shots behind Daniel.
Favorites aside, no one was picking Daniel to be even a contender.
Daniel joked Friday that she wanted to be known as just "Beth Daniel," not "45-year-old Beth Daniel," as people gave her a hard time about her age. She softened a bit after opening herself to the idea of becoming the oldest golfer to win a major championship in LPGA history.
"You know," she said, "I think it would be a great story."