Will the season ever get started?

Can you believe that it's already mid-February and the best female professional golfers have yet to peg a tee in the ground?

The start of the LPGA season is still two weeks away and already Annika Sorenstam has a leg up in bragging rights. Sorenstam, the No. 1-ranked player on tour, bought a new house this winter with some of the $2 million in prize money she earned in 2001.

THE SHAG BAG Babies and weddings headline some of the offseason news ... Pat Hurst gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Reilly, on Jan. 15. And, no, Hurst and her husband Jeff Heitt, the tour's Ping rep, didn't name their child after former Georgia standout Reilly Rankin ... Cathy Johnston-Forbes became a first-time mother in November, giving birth to daughter Ashley Elizabeth ... On Dec. 30, Nancy Scranton went all the way to New Zealand to marry her caddie, Mark Williams . The couple honeymooned in New Zealand and even purchased a house ... Patty Sheehan had the privilege of carrying the Olympic torch through her hometown of Reno, Nev., on Jan. 21 ... Se Ri Pak spent most of the winter attending to her ailing father in Korea. But she did find time to fire her swing coach, Tom Creavy ... Jane Geddes is taking advantage of the limited schedule and going back to school full-time at the University of South Florida. While it's not the same as Florida State, where she went 20 years ago, she hopes to head back to Tallahassee for law school ... Finally, Marlene Hagge has been nominated for consideration for the LPGA Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. While the players will still need to vote on her candidacy, I don't think Hagge, who had 26 wins in 40 seasons, was the next natural choice to go into the exclusive Hall. If I had a vote, Marilynn Smith or Jane Blalock would have been my choice.

In more ways than one, Emilee Klein is dying to get the season started. Sure, she'd like to take a run at the sweet-swinging Swede but she'd also like something to occupy her thoughts other than her would-be dreamhouse.

"I'm itching to get back," Klein said "My husband keeps joking that I need to get back to work so I stop spending money and start earning some. When I'm bored I go to the real estate office. I know I'm driving them nuts. I haven't bought anything because, first of all, I haven't found anything I liked, and I don't know if I want to put out that kind of money at this time."

Actually, Klein hasn't spent much of the $649,380 she earned last year, her best showing in seven seasons on tour. Part of the reason she hasn't spoiled herself is the uncertainty of the LPGA schedule. Klein's apprehension is partly due to the tour losing seven events, a number that may grow to nine. Meanwhile, only one new event was added to this season's schedule.

Caught in an economic crunch, commissioner Ty Votaw decided that fewer million-dollar purse tournaments were better than a bunch of less attractive events. Sorenstam agrees. "I like to see more quality instead of quantity," Sorenstam said. That's the way I think we need to grow, and that's what we're seeing. Like our commissioner says, 'Less is more.' I agree with him on that point, but we'll see if that is the right solution. I really believe it is."

Of course, Sorenstam didn't regularly participate in the tour's January Florida swing, so the four-time Player of the Year brings a different perspective about the LPGA's enforced break in play. Klein, on the other hand, is frustrated not playing and has been traveling with her husband, Kenny, who caddies for Hale Irwin on the Senior PGA Tour.

"It's really hard to sit around and not play when the men have been playing since the first of the year," said Klein, who was in Naples, Fla., last week, where Irwin won his record 33rd senior event. "I like the reduced schedule but there is no reason that we can't be playing in January."

Klein is a supporter of the calendar changes, but would like to see the events spread out more. She feels that by bunching weeks together, tournaments like Corning, Toledo, Sacramento, the new Chicago event and Atlantic City are going to suffer. Her theory is a simple one. Neither she nor Sorenstam can play every week so why schedule a tournament every week?

"We need to have natural breaks in the schedule --forced off-weeks," Klein said. "The same tournaments are going to get hurt with weak fields because players just can't play every week. If we played three weeks and took two weeks off, people like Annika and Karrie Webb would play 26 weeks but now they will be lucky to get 20 tournaments in."

For Klein, the saddest part in the schedule changes is losing the chance to defend her one victory last year, the Michelob Light Classic. Oddly enough, Klein didn't get to defend one of her other two wins, either, the 1996 Ping's Welch Championship. "I have this joke that every time I win a tournament it seems to disappear," said Klein.

With that in mind, the LPGA might not want Klein to challenge for the tour's No. 1 spot. If she did, the following season might not start until May.

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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