PINEHURST, N.C. - Take a long look at Juli Inkster. Admire her the way you might the Yankees' consummate contact hitter, Ichiro Suzuki, or any other favorite relic. She's easy to spot on the driving range, with her short hair and skirt so long the hem nearly reaches her knees. Better hurry, though, because Inkster's celebrated career is winding down.
After 35 starts, Inkster will play what is likely her final round in the United States Women's Open on Sunday. How remarkable is her longevity? In the field of 156, there were only 12 other players who have had 35 birthdays.
Inkster's departure from the scene carries no less historical import than the two-way player Chuck Bednarik's final game in the N.F.L. or Suzuki's final major league at-bat, whenever it takes place.
When Inkster pulls away from Pinehurst No. 2, a curtain will fall on the era of the women's professional golfer as the multiple-decades multitasker. Inkster, 53, won four of her seven major titles, including the 2002 United States Women's Open, after giving birth to the second of her two daughters with husband, Brian, a California club pro.
She served as the model for a generation of working mothers on the L.P.G.A. Tour. But moving forward, Inkster envisions the top players following the path of Mexico's Lorena Ochoa, who won two majors and reached No. 1 before retiring at 28 to become a full-time mother.
'Most of these girls are starting off really young playing, and by the time they get out here, they've played 10 years of competitive golf, and now you're asking them to play another 10 years or whatever,' Inkster said. 'It's just a lot of golf, a lot of wear and tear on your body.'
She added, 'I really don't see a lot of the girls playing into their 30s.'
Lucy Li, the 11-year-old who was the youngest to qualify for this tournament, has been playing since she was 7. Lydia Ko, the third-ranked woman in the world, won her first pro event at 14 and has already made 29 L.P.G.A. Tour starts. Michelle Wie, the 36-hole leader, is 24 and appearing in her 11th United States Women's Open.
Then there is Inkster, who did not take up the sport until she was 15. She was 18 when she made her national championship debut, at the Country Club of Indianapolis. She advanced through qualifying as one of 297 entrants, then a record. This year there were 1,702 participants, including a 9-year-old.
Inkster carded rounds of 80, 72, 72 and 75 to finish in a tie for 23rd. 'All I remember is they had brand-new Titleists on the range,' she said. 'And I'd hit one and I'd put one in my golf bag. I'm sure I was over the 50-pound limit flying home.'
Inkster went on to win three consecutive United States Women's Amateur titles and star at San Jose State. In 1984, her first full year on the tour, she became the first player to win two majors as a rookie.
In 1990, Inkster gave birth to her first child, Hayley. She delivered her second child, Cori, four years later. In 1999, she won her first United States Women's Open title. She remembers the 1990s as a blur of road trips from one tournament stop to the next in minivans stuffed with toys and luggage.
Wide-body jets have replaced the minivans as the mode of transportation for today's working mother on the tour. This year's schedule has more stops in East Asia than on the West Coast of the United States.
'I played through an era where I could have kids and travel domestically and bring my kids,' Inkster said. 'I think it's really tough to be a mom and play out here because you're going overseas so much. And I'm not sure that's the smartest thing to bring your kids overseas.'
Inkster's work-life balance, however tenuous, would be impossible for her to pull off today, she said, and not just because of the travel. Gone are the tournament breaks in the fall and the recovery Mondays, spent away from the course and considered sacrosanct by Inkster and her ilk.
'Now everybody's here on Sunday night and everybody is playing, practicing on Monday, and it's a grind,' Inkster said. 'Whether that's good or bad, I don't know, but I'm just glad I'm drinking with my kids instead of putting diapers on them.'
While Inkster has strived for a life enhanced by golf, not consumed by it, she can grind with the best of them, as she has demonstrated during this tournament.
'I still try really hard,' she said after opening with a 71. 'It's just in my DNA.'
Inkster carded a 75 on Friday to make the tournament cut for the 23rd time in 35 tries. Although she has played the weekend 65.7 percent of the time, she is not impressed.
'Two for 35,' she said at the start of the week, referring to her winning percentage in the event. 'I would still be sitting on the bench if I was a baseball player.'
Inkster finished her second round on the ninth hole and was shuttled by minivan to an area a few hundred yards from the clubhouse. She accepted an offer of a cart ride the rest of the way and passed one of her playing competitors, Cheyenne Woods, 23, who was on foot.
Looking over her shoulder at Woods, she laughed and said: 'If you're over 50, you can get a cart. You have a few more years.'
The list of players that Inkster, a native Californian, has mentored is long and includes Inbee Park, the defending Open champion from South Korea, and the 2010 winner, Paula Creamer, a fellow Californian.
'Growing up, I've just looked at her with such awe,' Creamer said. 'And I still do.'
Before the tournament began, the U.S.G.A. hosted a dinner for the past champions. Inkster was seated next to Creamer, 27, and near Meg Mallon, 51, and Karrie Webb, 39, but her reach extended all the way to the septuagenarians Sandra Palmer and Sandra Haynie, whom she competed against when she was starting out.
At the dinner were L.P.G.A. players old enough to remember competing on courses with rubber mats on the practice ranges and those playing Pinehurst No. 2 a week after the men. In the middle, at least figuratively, was Inkster, the link between the tour's past and its future.
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