Jumping Out of Character : Betsy King Wins Quietly . . . Most of the Time

SAN DIEGO —  Just because of one big jump, don’t jump to the conclusion that Betsy King is undergoing a personality transformation.

In the final round of the Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament Sunday, the normally reserved King surprised everyone--including herself--when she jumped in the bunker after making a 45-foot shot on the 16th hole.

“That’s the most emotion anyone has ever seen out of her,” said Jim Gilmore, King’s caddy. “I had to do a lot of raking when she was done dancing, but it was good to see.”

King, who has earned $143,932 this year, is the leading money-winner on the LPGA Tour heading into the $200,000 Kyocera Inamori Golf Classic at Bernardo Heights County Club, which begins at 7:30 a.m. today. She defeated Patty Sheehan in a playoff at the Dinah Shore.

It was King’s first victory in a major championship and her second victory in the last three weeks--she also won March 22 in Tucson, Ariz.--but it’s the jump that has attracted the most attention.

“It was the most excited I’ve ever been on a golf course,” said King, 31, who has been playing on the tour 11 years.

“It was a shot that was crucial at the time, and that was basically my reaction. Most times I try to stay in controlled excitement. I’m accused of being unemotional and machine-like. But I have emotions inside.”

“We were watching in the locker room,” said Shelley Hamlin, “and everybody couldn’t believe it. She did a great job of showing emotion, considering she had no experience.”

“I don’t think because I play good golf I have to be someone I’m not,” King said. “That’s not being honest. . . . It seems like a silly thing to get criticized when you don’t go off the deep end when you play poorly or you don’t jump up and down when you hit a good shot. I don’t think that’s what life is about. That’s not healthy.”

King said she believes that a job should not be the most important thing in a person’s life.

She credits becoming an active member in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes seven years ago with helping determine her priorities.

“It made a change in my life,” King said. “I always was a perfectionist, but I changed the way I looked at goals and desires.

“I concentrated on developing the talent that was given me the best I could. That took me away from comparing myself to other players. I’m better off being concerned with my own game instead of worrying about what other people do and how they play.”

King--a member of Furman’s 1976 national collegiate championship team--improved her LPGA ranking from No. 83 in 1977 to No. 14 in 1983. In 1984, she earned a tour-leading $266,771. She was the sixth-leading money winner in 1985 and placed second to Pat Bradley last season.

“Betsy is a very, very hard worker,” Hamlin said. “She’s a dedicated person who works on her game. When she came on the tour she had talent, but she had faults in her game.”

And now . . .

“Her swing is mechanically so sound now,” Alice Miller said. “She hasn’t had anything to really work on the past couple of years.”

When she is not playing or practicing, King devotes most of her time to the LPGA Christian Fellowship and to religious study.

“I guess I’m pretty boring,” she said. “I can have inner peace that maybe isn’t always apparent to other people.”

“She’ll smile to let you know she’s pleased with what she’s doing,” Gilmore said. “She’ll get down on herself a little, but she tries to maintain a level of emotion.”

That maintenance took a vacation during a memorable moment Sunday.