Annika's Chances
The skepticism of Annika Sorenstam's chances at the Colonial is spreading. From the AP: Cracks show in Sorenstam's game.
Sörenstam may be the dominant player in women's golf, but the simple truth is she routinely makes the kind of short game mistakes that force PGA TOUR players to spruce up their resumes and look for jobs as club pros. She leaves long putts 20 feet short, flubs chips from the rough and doesn't seem to be able to master the flop shot. Under pressure, she's jumpy. When the wind blows, she's erratic. And when she needed to pump a long drive to get home in two on the 18th hole of the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Sunday, she swung as hard as she could only to hit it weakly into a bunker well right of the fairway.
Even some LPGA players are having serious doubts: "If she misses the cut, then people will decide that the only reason she dominates our tour is because the rest of us stink," Stanford said.
That is the ugly truth. LPGA golfers do stink ... compared to PGA golfers. Golf fans have been quite content for 58 years to not make serious comparisons of talent between the two tours - Annika crossing over will change all that. The result of that comparison may just drive the LPGA into further obscurity.
Sörenstam may be the dominant player in women's golf, but the simple truth is she routinely makes the kind of short game mistakes that force PGA TOUR players to spruce up their resumes and look for jobs as club pros. She leaves long putts 20 feet short, flubs chips from the rough and doesn't seem to be able to master the flop shot. Under pressure, she's jumpy. When the wind blows, she's erratic. And when she needed to pump a long drive to get home in two on the 18th hole of the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Sunday, she swung as hard as she could only to hit it weakly into a bunker well right of the fairway.
Even some LPGA players are having serious doubts: "If she misses the cut, then people will decide that the only reason she dominates our tour is because the rest of us stink," Stanford said.
That is the ugly truth. LPGA golfers do stink ... compared to PGA golfers. Golf fans have been quite content for 58 years to not make serious comparisons of talent between the two tours - Annika crossing over will change all that. The result of that comparison may just drive the LPGA into further obscurity.
# | March 31, 2003