Sorenstam home but only just

BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2002 Safeway Classic | Wrap | 16 Sep 2002

It appeared, at the start of the day, to be a walk in the park for Annika Sorenstam to secure her eighth win of the season on the LPGA Tour. After all seven wins for the year and a three shot lead going into the final round over Karen Stupples and four over Kate Golden, not exactly in-form players at present. Golden forgot to read the script however. She challenged Sorenstam throughout round three and when Annika bogeyed the fifteenth, Golden had closed to within one shot and it was well and truly on.

Both players birdied the eighteenth allowing the Swede to win for the eighth time this year and take her earnings for the season ($US2,211,000) past her record year last year. She is a phenomenon, dominating the ladies game to a much greater extent than Tiger is the men. If there is a chink in her armour, it is that she has not won the ones that matter to the extent (only four majors in 33 starts compared to Tiger’s eight in thirty starts) that Tiger has but she is as clinical, if not more so, in her domination of the ladies than Woods is on the men’s tour. Like Tiger she has the field worried as soon as her name appears on the leaderboard although it did take her a while to get on it this week.

Opening with an ordinary first round 69, Sorenstam found her feet midway through round two, which she went on to complete in 62, and from there on only Golden was prepared or capable of taking it to the Swede. When you consider that this has been an ordinary year so far for Golden this was a remarkable performance. Only the one top ten so far and with just the one tour win to her name (2001) she threw down the gauntlet to her more fancied rival and nearly produced an upset.

Rosie Jones and Karen Stupples were third but four behind Golden, with Michelle Redman and Emilee Klein tied in fifth. Catrin Nilsmark’s remark last week, in a pre Solheim Cup rev up, that Redman was a player of no talent gets more and more ridiculous.

For what it is worth the US team appears to have gained an edge leading into this coming week’s Solheim Cup at Interlachen. Admittedly Sorenstam sets the standard for the Europeans but with Rosie Jones finishing third, Redman fifth, Emilee Klein seventh and Kelly Robbins thirteenth and no Europeans other than Sorenstam inside the top thirteen then the US team is arguably the form side leading into the event. Davies and Gustafson were eighteenth but with Pettersen, Koch, Alfredsson and Icher all well back and Hjorth and McKay failing to make the cut it would seem a major reversal will be needed by the Europeans in order that they successfully defend. On a positive note for the Europeans is that Paula Marti comfortably won stage one qualifying in California last week with Raquel Carriedo also getting through.

The battle for Rookie of the Year has been decided and if it wasn’t already fait accompli then Beth Bauer’s 18th place here compared to her closet rival Natalie Gulbis’s 34th has effectively sealed the deal.

Karrie Webb was 7th, Michelle Ellis 12th, Rachel Teske and Joanne Mills 18th, Karen Pearce 41st, Shani Waugh 47th and Fiona Pike 83rd.

Final Round – Australasian Scores
T7 -8 Karrie Webb
12 -7 Michelle Ellis
T18 -5 Rachel Teske
T18 -5 Joanne Mills
T41 -2 Karen Pearce
T47 -1 Shani Waugh
T83 5 Fiona Pike

• Missed Cut ****
  Wendy Doolan
  Mardi Lunn
  Carmen Hajjar
  Tamie Durdin
  Jan Stephenson