Notebook: A Pairings Dilemma

By Rhonda Glenn and Ken Klavon, USGA

North Plains, Ore. -- The United States Golf Association is known for its championship pairings, a sometimes exercise in whimsy. Let this layman try to figure out the relationship of competitors paired together in the first two rounds. If nothing else, the field is full of past USGA champions. Thirty-one to be precise.

This year, it seems there is a theme of pairing national champions, past and present, together.

The traditional pairing of the U.S. Women’s Open, Women’s British Open and U.S. Women’s Amateur champions is a given, so last year’s U.S. Open winner Juli Inkster will be playing with Karrie Webb (British Open) and 22-year-old amateur champion Becky Lucidi.

In the young-ins category, Natalie Gulbis at the age of 20 is the oldest player in her pairing. She goes off the first tee Thursday at 9:05 a.m. with Aree Song, 17, and Christina Kim, 19.

The 13-year-old phenom, Michelle Wie, who recently won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, is paired with two other Women’s Amateur Public Links champs, Danielle Ammaccapane (1985) and Tracy Hanson (1991).

There’s more. Past WAPL winners are represented well this week. The 2002 WAPL champion, Annie Thurman, is paired with past WAPL winners Candy Kung (2001) and Cindy Schreyer (1986).

Interestingly enough, the Girls’ Junior also has a lot of representation this week.

Brandie Burton, Dorothy Delasin and Pat Hurst are all in the field and winners of the U.S. Girls’ Junior. Hurst won in 1986, Burton in 1989 and Delasin in 1996. Delasin and Hurst also won the Women’s Amateur, but Burton lost in the final in 1989.

Then there is the past champions category for the Women’s Open.

Women’s Open champions’ pairings include Laura Davies (1988), Annika Sorenstam (1995 and ’96) and Se Ri Pak (1998).

Beth Daniel, Liselotte Neumann and Betsy King are also past USGA champions, with Daniel winning the Women’s Amateur in 1975 and 1977, Neumann capturing the 1988 Women’s Open and King taking the Women’s Open in 1989 and 1990.

Jill McGill (1993) and Wendy Ward (1994) are past Women’s Amateur champions, while their fellow competitor off the first tee at 8:54 a.m. Thursday is Beth Bauer, who won the U.S. Girls’ Junior in 1997.

Another two-time Women’s Amateur winner, Vicki Goetze-Ackerman (1989 and 1992), is paired with Kelli Kuehne (1994 Girls’ Junior, 1995 and 1996 Women’s Amateur) and Emilee Klein, who won the 1991 Girls’ Junior.

Finally, one pairing features the ‘almost’ group.

Virada Nirapathpongporn (this year’s runner-up at the WAPL), Brandi Jackson (2002 U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up) and Jimin Kang (1999 Women’s Amateur runner-up) have a date together.

First And Last

The last, and only, amateur to win the Women’s Open was Catherine Lacoste in 1967 at Virginia Hot Springs (Cascades Course) Golf and Tennis Club in Hot Springs, Va.

After Lacoste, three other amateurs came close to winning. In 1950, Betsy Rawls lost in a playoff to Babe Didrikson Zaharias at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wichita, Kan. Barbara McIntire (1956) also lost in a playoff, at Northland Country Club in Duluth, Minn., to Kathy Cornelius. And Jenny Chuasiriporn in 1998 fell to Se Ri Pak at Blackwolf Run Golf Club in Kohler, Wis., in yet another playoff.

So why are amateurs 1 for 57? A couple of them took a guess.

"Obviously there is some luck involved," said 2002 Girls’ Junior quarterfinalist Jane Park.

Park, 16, admitted it takes more than luck, citing the contingent of professionals in the field that boasts top-notch talent. From her perspective, intimidation wasn’t a factor only because she’s gotten to know some of the players over the past two years.

"Not really," she said. "I really have got nothing to lose."

Another amateur, 22-year-old Brandi Jackson, took a different approach. Last year’s runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Amateur said it wouldn’t surprise her if an amateur broke through this year because of a growing number of talented players. However, she had her reasons for the drought.

"It’s somewhat intimidating," she said. "A lot of these players I’ve watched on TV and they’ve been playing week after week, and playing for money."

Kid’s Game

Making an impression at this year’s event are all the young players in the field. Officially speaking, there are 14 teenagers participating.

Thirteen-year-old Sydney Burlison of Salinas, Calif., is the youngest competitor. Burlison, runner-up in the California State Championship the last two years, started playing golf three years ago. She barely edged 13-year-old Michelle Wie by 10 days as the youngest player.

"I’m really nervous," said Burlison. "It’s the biggest tournament by far that I’ve ever played in. And I just hope to have fun, and maybe learn a couple of things from some of the better players."

Remembering When

The last time the Women’s Open was at Pumpkin Ridge, Annika Sorenstam was coming off back-to-back Open wins, eying the three-peat. That was 1997.

Not only did Sorenstam fail to three-peat, she missed the cut altogether. No player has ever won the event three times in a row. Now she figures it’s payback for the Witch Hollow course.

"My experience here in ’97 was a short one, not the one that I would like to remember," she said Tuesday. "I think coming here I just couldn’t handle the pressure."

If she had her druthers, she’d like to forget it completely. A 77-73 sent her packing that year. The ninth hole, a par-4 dogleg left, in the first round was a huge cause for frustration. It was there that she carded a triple bogey when she took four strokes to find the green, followed by a three-putt.

She has played two practice rounds this week – 18 on Monday, nine on Tuesday – confronting the hole that haunted her for some time. She hit the green in two on Tuesday.

Since then, last year’s runner-up to Open winner Juli Inkster said she’s matured as a player and won’t get caught up in the hype of trying to win a major before its played.

"I’ve experienced a lot since then," she said. "And I think if I was three-peating this year, I think I would do better."

Quick Hit

This year’s length of 6,550 at Witch Hollow will surpass The Merit Club in Gurnee, Ill., in 2000 as the longest course in Women’s Open history.