Don't doubt Sorenstam

LPGA's most talented, driven player won't flop at Colonial

On Wednesday LPGA star Annika Sorenstam accepted a sponsor's exemption to play in the PGA Tour's Bank of America Colonial tournament in late May at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. SI.com talked to Sports Illustrated senior writer Alan Shipnuck about Sorenstam's decision and what impact her success or failure will have on the future of professional golf.

SI.com: Is the course at Colonial a good fit for her game?

Alan Shipnuck: Yeah, definitely. It's a ball-control course, which explains why Ben Hogan made it his home turf and won the tournament five times. Colonial is also the last place short-hitting Corey Pavin won on the PGA Tour. It's always favored players who can hit to a certain spot and who can shape the ball off the tee. That obviously suits Annika's game.

There are some long par-4s, especially on the front nine, and how she handles those -- hitting, say, a 5-wood into the green -- may determine whether or not she makes the cut. But overall it's a pretty good track for her game.

SI.com: Sorenstam says she just wants to see how she measures up against the men. Do you think there is any other underlying motivation behind this?

Shipnuck: Well, it's been a fantastic publicity stunt. It's no secret that the LPGA Tour and women golfers are largely ignored; Annika has been a more dominant force than Tiger Woods over the last few years, yet she has received 1 percent of his press coverage, including in the pages of Sports Illustrated. Surely her sponsors and agent are happy with all this publicity. At the same time, Annika always has been a great supporter of the LPGA, and this will clearly give the tour and women's golf in general a great boost. So I think it's one of those rare situations where everybody wins -- except perhaps for the poor, struggling PGA Tour journeyman who didn't get the exemption that Annika is taking.

SI.com: Will she make any special preparations in the weeks leading up to the tournament?

Shipnuck: I'm sure she'll start playing the back tees in her casual rounds, whether in Florida or California, where she keeps homes. She'll probably spend more time on the driving range with her long irons and fairway woods; they're going to get more of a workout. But golf is golf, and if you hit it straight and chip and putt pretty well, you're going to succeed regardless of the tournament. I think Annika is just going to keep doing what's gotten her this far.

SI.com: Will her play on the LPGA Tour suffer because of the increased fan and media attention this decision will bring, especially in the weeks just prior to Colonial?

Shipnuck: That's a good question. This is something of a risk for Annika in that she always has been the most focused player on the LPGA Tour; she sets very ambitious goals and is relentless in chasing them. This will be a distraction. It will get her out of her routine a little bit.

As many tournaments as she has won, she has consistently fallen short in the majors the last couple of years, and she has talked more and more about making them her focus. So perhaps in her mind this is a way to prepare for the U.S .Women's Open, which is always the longest, toughest setup she faces every year; that tournament will follow Colonial by six weeks. Maybe she has a master plan and this somehow fits into it. I do think it's going to put a certain amount of pressure on her that she's unaccustomed to. This may mean she only wins nine times on the LPGA Tour instead of 11 or 12, but she's still going to be the dominant force out there.

SI.com: How do you expect her to do?

Shipnuck: Annika has way too much pride and too much game to go out there and lay an egg. She's not going to embarrass herself. Maybe she'll miss the cut by a stroke, or maybe she'll make the cut by a stroke. But I think she's going to play pretty well. If she earns a tee time on the weekend, that will be a great victory. I don't think she has the length, obviously, or the short game to contend, but I think she can play out there, and I'm certainly looking forward to watching it unfold.

SI.com: What happens if she plays better than expected? Does it open up a Pandora's box for her or other women trying to get into PGA Tour events?

Shipnuck: The average purse on the PGA Tour is four to five times that on the LPGA Tour, so from an economic standpoint I'm sure the women would love to stick their finger in that pie. But practically speaking there is only a handful of women this is even a viable option for, and I think this is a novelty that will in some ways wear off. However, if she were to contend or to play exceptionally well, that would open the door for her to play more PGA tournaments. She can take up to seven sponsor's exemptions, and if she makes enough money in those seven she could earn her playing privileges on the tour. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that Annika could make regular appearances.

I've talked to some PGA Tour players, and almost universally they hate the idea of having to share their tour with women. But in light of everything Hootie Johnson has brought upon himself and the forces of political correctness, they're not going to come out and say it. But I think at some point the tour may behind the scenes quietly look into some sort of amendment to its bylaws, where the tour would become for men only, much like the LPGA Tour is specifically for women.

SI.com: What happens if she fails? Does it set the women's game back further?

Shipnuck: Annika has already flopped playing with the men, at the Battle of Bighorn. Both she and Karrie Webb played horribly in prime time, and I don't think that had any devastating effect for Annika or for the LPGA Tour. I think this is such a feel-good story that if she plays poorly, no one really is going to rip her for it. But I do think it would slow this flood of women trying to come onto the tour.

One thing that's interesting in all this is Michelle Wie, the supertalented 13-year-old in Hawaii. When she talks about her goals in golf, a lot of them pertain to the PGA Tour and not the LPGA. The little experiments with Annika and Suzy Whaley this year might have some effect on what opportunities may await exceptionally talented female players like Wie. I guarantee she'll be watching carefully.

 

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