When Juli Inkster made yet another big putt, on 15, she drove a dagger into Annika Sorenstam, who saw it all happen from the tee

Courtesy of NBC

By Mike Lopuszynski
One of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers

Pro golfers aren't supposed to talk smack, but they can make plenty of noise with their clubs. Juli Inkster won the U.S. Open by speaking loud and clear with her flat stick, taking only 105 putts over four rounds and one-putting 37 times. The highlight of Inkster's in-your-face putting clinic came on Sunday at the par-3 15th hole. Faced with a twisty 18-footer for par to maintain her one-shot lead over Annika Sorenstam, who was watching from the tee while munching on a banana (above), Inkster surveyed the putt for about two minutes. After a final word of advice from caddie Greg Johnston, Inkster holed the putt and gave a triumphant fist-pump, as if she were screaming, "The game's on, Annika. The trophy's mine, unless you can answer that." Inkster's theatrics appeared to unnerve Sorenstam, who replied, shockingly, with bogeys at 15 and 16.

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ONLY PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Thanks largely to Sorenstam's torrid play in 2002, I've had several club members turn to the unusual-looking Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball putter to improve their strokes, and Inkster's use of the 2-Ball at the Open will surely bring more desperate yippers into our pro shop. I guess golfers will never fess up to the cold truth of putting's oldest maxim: A shooter improves with more practice, not with new arrows.

REALITY BITESI felt as bad as anybody for my friend Davis Love III on Sunday when he was heckled by unruly spectators down the stretch at the Western Open, but Davis needs to face the facts: The PGA Tour is now a major sporting enterprise and, like it or not, things on Tour are going to get louder, not quieter -- especially at this September's Ryder Cup in England, where Davis will play for the U.S. Even if Davis is bothered by the goading, he'd be better off not showing it. I was one of the Cameron Crazies (Duke's loud-mouthed hoops fans) during my years as a Blue Devil in the 1980s, and when opposing players reacted to us, it just added fuel to our fire. Tour players like Davis have a choice: They can stay home and listen to the birds chirp while playing $5 Nassaus, or they can learn to cope with occasionally rowdy galleries while battling for $5 million purses.

TIGER RULES Tiger Woods is so much better than his peers that the Tour should keep stats for two categories of victory -- one for events in which Woods plays and another for ones he doesn't. (Since Woods turned pro in 1996, Phil Mickelson has a Tour-high six victories in events with Woods and six in events without him.) Also, young players looking to make a name should tailor their schedules to include every event Woods doesn't enter. Do you think Jerry Kelly would've shot a final-round 65 at the Western Open to earn his second Tour victory had he been paired with Woods in the final group?

Mike Lopuszynski is the teaching pro at Hudson National Golf Club in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., and one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 teachers.

Issue date: July 15, 2002