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Awards time Posted: Monday December 03, 2001 2:18 PM
We don't have actual trophies or plaques yet, but here are CNNSI.com's Third Annual Inside the LPGA Awards. Best Player: Annika Sorenstam. She only won nine times this year, including four tournaments in a row. She set a new scoring record. And she became the first woman to win $2 million in a season. No wonder many are calling this the best performance in the history of women's golf. Best Caddie: Terry MacNamara. Some might think anyone could have caddied for Sorenstam this year. That's not so true. Two years ago the easy-going veteran started working for Sorenstam, and since then I have never seen her smile so much. While he may seem laid-back, MacNamara is a consummate strategist who has helped Sorenstam regain the No. 1 spot. Comeback Player: Se Ri Pak. After going winless in 2000, Pak hired a new coach ( Tom Creavey ) and a new caddie ( Colin Cann ), and worked hard in the offseason (two-a-day practices). It all paid off. Pak captured the season-opening YourLife Vitamins LPGA Classic, the first time in her career she had won before May 1. She then added three more victories, including another major championship (Weetabix Women's British Open). Biggest Disappointment: The Rookie of the Year race. For the first time in five seasons a rookie didn't win a tournament. Do you even know who won the official LPGA award? Hee-Won Han. Runner-up: Meg Mallon. She was consistent, but her best finish this year was a tie for fifth. Miles Byrnes Award: Sophie Gustafason's caddie, Chuck Hoersch, wins this dubious distinction, named after the caddie who didn't count Ian Woosnam's clubs at the 2001 British Open. After saying in a newspaper article earlier in the year that he never makes a mistake, Hoersch jumped on a cart after his boss had forced Laura Davies to extra holes in the semifinals of the European Match Play Championship. The ride cost her the match and earned him a new nickname: "Cartman." Biggest Surprise: August. Maybe it was the heat and the humidity, but the month raised a few eyebrows when it jumpstarted four consecutive first-time winners. Heather Daly-Donofrio took the First Union Betsy King Classic, then Kate Golden broke through at the State Farm Rail. Once September rolled around, Gloria Park joined in the battle of can-you-top-this at the new Williams Championship, then Tina Fischer finished the high-paying superfecta with a win at the Asahi Ryokuken International Championship. Before 2001, this group had only six top-10s (five by Golden) in a combined 16 years on tour. Most Improved: Marisa Baena. The Colombia native quietly moved up the money list to No. 33 this season. Baena, who learned to play golf from a book, started taking lessons with new teacher, and her swing looks dramatically different -- shorter and much closer to textbook. Best Candidate for Commissioner: Laura Diaz. The Wake Forest graduate not only became a force on the course, finishing in the top 10 on the money list, but she also made waves in the political arena. Diaz started a controversy when she blasted the LPGA ad campaign Thank Heaven for Little Girls for missing the target audience. Her idea for selling the tour is sex appeal, which she endorsed by taking an inch off her shorts. Best Tournament: Standard Register PING. Not only did Sorenstam shoot a 59 in Phoenix, but Pak then gave her a run for her money. Sorenstam held an eight-shot lead at one point, but with three holes remaining Pak pulled even, only to fall short. Runner-up: U.S. Women's Open in Pinehurst, N.C. -- but only because I got to play golf every day at some of the greatest courses in the world. Worst Tournament: Battle at Bighorn, a k a Battle at Big Bore. With Webb and Sorenstam paired with David Duval and Tiger Woods, the LPGA finally was going to have its chance to shine. But in the end the play was so poor, on both ends, that they should have turned out the lights. Runner-up: Weetabix Women's British Open. Players complained that it lacked the amenities and the ambiance a major championship needs. Most Improved Tournament: Williams Championship. This was a first-year event, so the tournament itself had nowhere to come from. But the setup, the course and the hospitality was a major improvement from the standard LPGA fare. Best Interviewee: Laura Davies. For the third straight year, the walking quote machine grabs this award. At the Rochester International, she told her brother Tony not to waste his money wagering on her, even though her odds starting the week were a hefty 65-1. Davies would win the tournament and keep all of the reporters laughing. Worst Interviewee: Dorothy Delasin. She backed up a solid Rookie of the Year campaign with two wins, but she needs to conquer her shyness in the press room. During practice rounds and off the course, I know Delasin as a funny and vivacious young woman. Unfortunately, put her in front of a microphone (other than at a karaoke bar) and she clams up. Best Quote: "I don't think she likes me much." Pak, at the Standard Register PING, after overcoming an eight-stroke deficit during the final round to tie Sorenstam. Worst Quote: "Whatever." Morgan Pressel, at the eighth hole during the second round of the U.S. Women's Open, after Daly-Donofrio told the 13-year-old she shouldn't jump over the cup. Best Practical Joke: After Daly-Donofrio won the Betsy King, some caddies slipped a card in her locker at the next event: Congratulations on your win, but you are still the biggest b----. Morgan Pressel. For the record, Daly-Donofrio, who at first thought the card was real, is anything but. Best Shot(s): It's difficult to pinpoint just one shot from her March 16 performance, so we give the award 59 times to Sorenstam. Worst Shot: Grace Park. The 22-year-old set an unofficial record this season for most shots hit out of bounds. Just three months after winning the Office Depot in Miami, she hit so many balls "Oscar Brown" (the caddie term for OB) at the Office Depot in L.A. that she almost R.O.B. -- ran out of balls. Most Memorable Moment: The buzz at the Standard Register PING while Sorenstam was attempting to become the first woman to break 60. Players warming up on the range were caught watching the leaderboard instead of getting ready. When Sorenstam finished the remarkable round, the ninth green (she played the back nine first) was ringed with her fellow competitors -- a great tribute for a great feat. Tom Hanson, a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section, is a longtime caddie on the LPGA Tour. Click here to send him a question or comment.
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