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Winning sounds sweet to Gustafson
Posted: Monday May 01, 2000 05:29 PM
STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. -- After winning the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship, Sweden's Sophie Gustafson sat in the media room, with her right hand digging into her left arm and her left hand twiddling a piece of paper. Her nervousness was as obvious as the auburn dye job on her hair.
For Gustafson, who stutters, the press conference proved to be more nervewracking than the four-foot birdie putt she needed to make on the 54th hole to beat Amy Fruhwirth and Kelly Robbins by a shot. Gustafson has stuttered all of 26 years of her life. She doesn't do it as badly when she's speaking Swedish but it's worse when she's nervous. Gustafson, whose two brothers also stuttered until they were six, has tried working with a therapist, but without any success. Besides speaking to the media, the most difficulty she encounters is the weekly chore of traveling from tournament to tournament. Because of this, she rarely travels alone and her father has to help her make airline arrangements. But much to her credit, she never shies away from any interviews. "I want to talk to the media," Gustafson said. "That usually means I played well, which makes me feel good." Gustafson thinks her interrupted speech patterns are a combination of feeling uncomfortable and not being able to breathe. "When I am relaxed I am much better," said Gustafson, who played on the European Solheim Cup team in 1998. With her win, Gustafson, in her third year on the LPGA, silenced Karrie Webb, who finished two shots back in a tie for fourth. Webb is acquainted with Gustafson and knows how painful it can be for her to communicate. But last year, in a pub, while Webb was celebrating her victory at the Australian Masters, she learned what it takes to make Gustafson talk. "Sophie had had a few drinks and she came out and spoke fluently, without one stutter," Webb said. "And everyone was like, 'Have you spoken to Sophie? Go speak to Sophie because you'll find out stuff about her tonight because she is not stuttering.'" Gustafson offers a simple explanation for why she was so talkative at the bar: "Maybe I was drunk." But while she has a hard time talking, Gustafson, like country-and-western legend and fellow stutterer Mel Tillis, doesn't have any trouble belting out a tune. When asked if there was a song that would best describe her first victory, she didn't miss a beat of the hit You Wanted More by Tonic. "'Cause you wanted more/More than I could give/More than I could handle/In a life that I can't live," sang Gustafson perfectly on key. "You wanted more/More than I could bear/More than I could offer/For a love that isn't there." Surely on Sunday night, probably in the airport bar, everyone in the room could understand each word that she said. On this night, Gustafson had plenty to celebrate. Tom Hanson, a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section, caddies for Sara Sanders on the LPGA Tour. Click here to send him a question or comment. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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