The Week: Worth Celebrating

A charmed year for women's golf continues at the Open

By Alan Shipnuck

The LPGA last enjoyed this kind of buzz in '78, Lopez's rookie year. Harry Benson GOLF PLUS EXTRA Big Play: Mitchell Spearman Rookie on Tour: Patience can be a drag TRUST ME The decline of the European tour can be summed up in two words: Philip Golding. The 16-time Q schooler won the French Open. No wonder Michael Campbell is returning to get his groove back. NEXT UP PGA Tour: Western Open LPGA Tour: U.S. Women's Open PGA European Tour: Smurfit European Open INSTANT POLL Which 2003 major was the best? The Masters The U.S. Open The British Open The PGA View Results

The most important tournament in women's golf, the U.S. Women's Open, will be played this week, but forgive us for feeling a tad underwhelmed. The Open is usually a lone jolt of excitement in a summer otherwise dominated by uneventful events named after various supermarket chains and fast-food franchises, but this year the LPGA has provided almost unrelenting intrigue. The national championship is just another big week on what has become golf's magical mystery tour. A playoff between Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie probably will not happen, but the way things are going, would it really be such a shock?

A few years ago the LPGA made a big deal of celebrating its 50th anniversary, but the sharpies in Daytona Beach should be trumpeting a different milestone this season. It was 25 years ago that a spunky, supremely talented 21-year-old rookie named Nancy Lopez introduced the LPGA to casual sports fans. Now women's golf is on the front page of The New York Times; a story about Wie accompanied by a color photo appeared in last Saturday's edition. She was competing at the ShopRite Classic, outside Atlantic City, where she shared top billing with Sorenstam, who this year has emerged as unquestionably the second-biggest star in golf. (Tiger Woods remains the top draw, for now.) So many fans wanted to catch a glimpse of the LPGA's present and future star that delighted ShopRite tournament officials had to hastily print more tickets. In the end, Angela Stanford, 25, was the story, as she won the first tournament of what looks to be a standout career.

It will likely be at least five more years before Wie begins playing the LPGA full-time, and Sorenstam may leave the tour within a couple of years to start a family. But worry not for the future of the women's tour, because those two players, however charismatic, are only part of the show. Lopez has said that the ideal LPGA ambassador looks like a woman but swings like a man, and we are entering a golden era that features such young talent.

Many golf fans we know would rather watch a slow-motion replay of Grace Park or Beth Bauer or Natalie Gulbis or Lorena Ochoa making bogey than have to sit through yet another David Toms birdie. Park, 24, has enjoyed a breakout season, winning a thriller at Kingsmill with a long putt on the final hole and pushing Sorenstam to a playoff at the LPGA Championship, while Ochoa, a 21 year-old rookie, has dazzled with her pyrotechnics.

The last hurdle for these youngsters is to break through in a major championship, but that isn't likely to happen this week. Seventeen of the last 21 majors have been won by the fearsome foursome of Sorenstam (three), Juli Inkster (four), Se Ri Pak (four) and Karrie Webb (six). That's another sign of the LPGA's good health -- what more can a tour ask for than to have its best players shine in the most important tournaments?

These days every women's tournament comes with a host of subplots, and so it is with the Open, which returns to Pumpkin Ridge, in North Plains, Ore., site of an epic national championship six years ago. That was Lopez's last hurrah, during which she just missed winning the one big title that eluded her. Sorenstam missed the cut in 1997, when she was straining to become the first woman to win three straight Opens. Back then she was still mousey and camera-shy, and her poor play was in part the result of having been overwhelmed by the three-peat buildup. Sorenstam's public persona has blossomed along with her game, and these days she is golf's most enjoyable superstar, as Woods's mood has been soured by a shaky knee, a suspect putter and conspiracy theories to explain his weak driving.

Woods will try to find his form this week at the 100th Western Open, where six other players in the top 10 of the World Ranking will also be competing. It should be a great tournament. Hopefully it won't be too overshadowed by the Women's Open.

O.B.: Justin's New Guru (Again)