Sorenstam, Webb Linked To Opens, To Each Other
By Ken Klavon, USGA
North Plains, Ore. – In terms of rivals in women’s golf, Petty
Berg had Louise Suggs. Suggs then battled Babe Didrikson Zaharias
for a while until Mickey Wright took the upper hand on Kathy Whitworth.
And who could forget Nancy Lopez versus, well, the entire field?
Now there is Sorenstam and Webb.
With apologies to Juli Inkster and Se Ri Pak, Sorenstam and Webb
have
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| Karrie Webb addresses the media Tuesday, saying
that she’s confident her game is coming around. (John Mummert/USGA) |
dominated the sport in spurts over the past nine years.
Sorenstam, 32, has won 45 LPGA events to go along with five majors.
Conversely, the 28-year-old Webb has captured 28 LPGA tournaments
and six majors. Both are eligible for the LPGA Hall of Fame but
haven’t played the required 10 years on the tour.
Over the years they have admitted they push each other. In a tit-for-tat
comparison, both have used that motivation to make their marks.
Last season, Sorenstam joined Wright as the only player to win
11 events in a season. It was a year to remember as she set or tied
20 LPGA records. The most impressive one may have been her 68.70
scoring average, becoming the only player in women’s history to
break 69.
This year, Sorenstam was elevated into the national spotlight when
she was the first woman in 58 years to play a PGA event, the Colonial
in May. She ultimately failed to make the cut, carding a 71-74-145,
but her prominence grew by leaps and bounds.
"A lot of people recognize me more," said Sorenstam
on Tuesday. "Especially if I leave the golf course, and maybe
go to the grocery store or restaurants or so forth."
In a similar vein, Webb made a name for herself by becoming the
second-youngest player to win six majors behind Wright. Even though
she hasn’t tallied a tournament victory this year, she has won at
least one major in the past four seasons, the last being the Women’s
British Open – something Sorenstam hasn’t done, by the way – which
was one of two victories of the 2002 season.
Like Sorenstam, Webb has also made headlines. But more for a more
dubious distinction -- namely not winning anymore.
"I think what I’ve realized, especially this year, is that
when I was on top of the money list, I think a bad week was finishing
12th or making bogey on the last day to finish outside
the top five or something," said Webb, admitting that she hasn’t
been putting well.
"People might think from my results I’ve been slacking off,"
added Webb. "But I’m actually working harder than I ever have
been."
This week presents Webb a chance to close the critics’ mouths.
She has been in this position before. Two years ago at Pine Needles
for the 2001 Women’s Open, Webb, the defending champion, was queried
at length as to what was wrong. Leading up to the championship,
she wasn’t playing particularly well and took two months off to
work on her swing and clear her head.
All she did was go out and successfully defend the title while
being the only player to finish under par.
Last year, though, the pressure to three-peat became unbearable.
Webb missed the cut. Ironically, she erased Sorenstam’s name from
the USGA media guide as the last defending winner to accomplish
the feat.
"I think I tried to put it in the back of my mind, but obviously
I knew what it meant if I won last year," said Webb of the
first time in 58 events she failed to make a cut.
At stake was the chance to become the first player to ever win
three Opens in a row.
Sorenstam knows the feeling. In 1997 at Pumpkin Ridge, she was
coming off consecutive Women’s Open titles. The first round should
have been an ominous sign that it wouldn’t be her week.
A triple bogey on the ninth hole led to rounds of 77-73. She packed
up and left after that Friday, missing the cut for the first time
in 62 tournaments and three years.
Again, the dastardly ‘P’ word came out.
"I think coming here, I just couldn’t handle the pressure,"
said Sorenstam. "And it was early in my career."
So here they are together again trying to scratch closer to Mickey
Wright and Betsy Rawls’ Open record of four victories. Although
they aren’t the best of friends off the course, they are respectful
of each other’s accomplishments.
Case in point: Sorenstam received an abundance of attention for
the Colonial. It helped put her on the golfing map, so to speak,
albeit in the crosshairs of criticism and praise. Either way, it
became a win-win proposition no matter how she fared.
"As far as I think, Annika deserves the attention," said
Webb. "I’m not particularly worried about it. If I was in Annika’s
position and no one was talking about the way I’d been playing,
then maybe I’d be a little shocked."
Sorenstam maintains that the experience at the Colonial was a singular
one, a stepping-stone to learn more about herself and her game.
She indicated that she doesn’t have any immediate plans to try the
men’s tour again.
"The pressure that I felt on that tee, the 10th,
which was my first tee that day, it was incredible," said Sorenstam.
"And how I was able to take the club back, I don’t know.
"I never thought it would be bad for the [LPGA] Tour, but
looking back at it I thought it was great for the tour. I thought
it was great for women’s golf, and even golf in general. It seemed
like a lot of people [who] didn’t even play golf were watching,
because they were wondering who this player was, and what she was
doing."
For now, the goals are the same as they’ve always been: win this
week, win next week and keep it rolling. Last year Sorenstam came
close at the Open, losing on the final day. She entered Sunday leading
Juli Inkster by two strokes until Inkster’s lights-out 4-under 66.
All she’ll say about it now is that Inkster outplayed her.
In Sorestam’s opinion, the Open is still top banana.
''This is a tournament that people know all around the world,''
she said. ''As a little kid, I would practice putting at home and
I would always say, 'This is to win the U.S. Open.' I never said
(that) for another tournament. It was the U.S. Open that came to
mind.''
Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him at kklavon@usga.org
with questions and comments.
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