Well, she started off today with a fairway hit on her first drive.
Let’s hope she can get the putter working.
Anyone want to bet on whether she’ll be invited back next year?
Damnit! Now you’re going to get 90% of the posters on this thread trashing Annika. I can see the next thread now: “IS ANNIKA PART OF SHRUB’S GLOBAL DOMINATION PLANS?”
I’m starting to think she should be invited to more tourneys THIS year. She birdied 2 and bogeyed 5, so she’s even on the day. She still has a shot at making the cut. For her first PGA event, with half the sports media on earth hanging off her shirt, you can’t complain about that kind of performance.
You can bet the invitations are being fed ex’d as we speak.
I can’t predict golf to save my life. I was sure Annika would score better today. Did I say “birdies”? Eh.
I was afraid this would happen. The wheels came off only for a few holes, but that was death. And her putting was, if anything, worse today than yesterday. She sure looks a lot more relexed now that she knows she won’t be making the cut. During her “dark holes” she looked dejected and exhausted. I can relate!!
Drive for show, putt for dough.
Amen to that John, when the wheels came off, see ya…
A valiant effort, but one that I don’t think will be duplicated any time soon. However, if she take’s Tigers advice, we may be seeing this dog and pony show again. And any takers on her seeing any putting guru, say, within the next week? My SO was doggin’ Annika on her putting (and she won’t bet me on putts).
Oh yeah, she’ll have a new putting coach tomorrow morning. Maybe Dave Peltz.
When asked, she said she wouldn’t do it again. I don’t blame her. But she sure is a pioneer, and someone else will step and take the challenge.
It brought a tear to my eye when she made that par putt on the 18th today. No kidding.
Looks like my 144 prediction was close after all!!
That was in my first post. Do I win anything?
If nothing else, you gotta give her insane kudos for such a valiant effort. +5 isn’t bad at all considering the kind of pressure she was under.
I don’t think anyone has to worry about this becoming a regular thing. All right, first off, let me say that I’m thorougly convinced that Annika Sorenstam only has to improve her game slightly (putting would definitely have to be the place to start) to regularly finish in the money on the PGA Tour. The only question is if the money would be enough to justify sacrificing a lucrative and extremely successful LPGA Tour. I stress that unlike in tennis, where it’s possible to earn lunch money year after year given sufficient supplementary income (coughempress Annacough), a tour golfer has to make it happen on the course, or it’s back to qualifying school. I can’t imagine any of today’s LPGA stars making such a big jump. Maybe in a couple of generations, but certainly not now.
I think that the way everyone actually involved with this event handled it was downright impressive. Most of the golfers (I noticed that they were mostly 2nd-tierers, contenders, roster-fillers, and the like…nice to see them get the spotlight for a change) took it in stride and concentrated on their own games, like they should’ve. The gallery behaved admirably, with none of the knee-jerk sexist garbage I feared. The media coverage was a bit heavy-handed, but given how groundbreaking this event was, it’s easily forgivable.
It was a great experience, and I’m glad to see a phenomenal femal athlete prove that golf isn’t just crushing drives, monster sand blasts, and Sportscenter highlight chip-ins; the fundamentals and little things count for a lot. (In fact, since putting is what caused her to miss the cut, so that got emphasized even more.)
Well, I’m so psyched up about this, I’m going to keep watching to see who wins this thing. Without any clear favorite, it should be an exciting finish.
P.S.: When I heard the first press release about the impending Golf Channel, I scoffed at the very idea. Now it’s one of my regular viewing stops. Damn this CART/IRL split. 
I agree that Annika made a decent effort and can be proud of herself, but I don’t agree with your tennis comparison. Yes, if you look like Kournikova, you can make a bundle from endorsements in any sport. The majority of journeyman tennis players have it much harder than journyman golfers. To compare, the golfer in 100th place on the PGA Tour money list has made $280k so far this year. The tennis player in 100th place on the ATP tour has made $35k.
If a tennis player does not get results, his ranking drops. If you have a low ranking, you can’t get in to the big tournaments - you have to play qualifiers and challengers or satellites. If you don’t win, no pay.
The prize money on the PGA tour has skyrocketed in recent years. Wasn’t always that way. Tiger is partially responsible.
I think Annika would only play better with each PGA Tour event that she played in. It’s like–sorry–going from the minors to the majors. Perhaps the difference is even greater than the difference between AAA and the majors.
She is obviously capable of breaking par and making the cut. Her long game and course management skills are excellent. Her putting is not so bad that we can assume she doesn’t work on it. Knowing pros, I’m sure she does, probably for hours a day. It’s safe to say that she did not look at all comfortable on the greens. Well, duh. She was playing for a gender. That’s freaking pressure.
The chances of the best putter in the world making a 10 foot birdie putt on unfamiliar greens in tournament conditions are not as great as some people think. I’ll bet Loren Roberts barely makes half of them. If that. Once your push the distances out past 15 feet the chances go down even more.
FWIW, I watched her round. Her three birdie putts “within 10 feet” were between 7 feet and 9 feet 11 inches. Truth be known, only inside of six feet can a golfer control his or her own destiny.* Mostly people (experienced golfers included) think putting is a lot easier than it is, and assume that the best putters make a lot more long putts than they do.
Annika, given her driving accuracy, might want to consider a US Open for her next appearance. :: Cue circus music, dancing girls, jet fighter low altitude overflight, and spotlights sweeping the sky. ::
*Statistically. We all have Chevy Chase “na…na…na…na…” days.
I’m happy. Course I’d be happier if she were playing today but…
She played well. As has been said, she showed that golf is about a lot more than whacking the ball a zillion yards. A zillion yards isn’t good if you keep putting it in the trees.
She played. A woman played a PGA tour event and the world didn’t implode. The media did make it into a circus, but next time a woman plays there should be less circus, more golf. I do maintain that women playing PGA events will remain rare enough that there will aways be some circus.
She played with class.
There’s putting for birdies, which as you said, is harder than it looks. But there’s also knowing how to lag putt, and that’s where she fell apart. You just can’t 3-putt and contend.
Hey, that’s the only thing keeping me off the tour!
Danger: She sure did play with class! Sportsman of the year??
Well, the results were almost exactly what I predicted in my first post on this subject (to recap: I said she’d play solidly, but that her short game would cost her dearly, and that she’d miss the cut but finish ahead of 15 or 20 guys).
No, that doesn’t make me a genius! Plenty of other people said essentially the same thing. The only people who should be embarrassed are
-
Those who said she’d fall on her face and shoot in the eighties.
-
Annika herself, for saying she could win the tournament, if the stars were aligned correctly.
So, did Annika “prove” anything? Only that the best woman golfer of all time, playing on a hand-picked course against slightly-less-than-top-notch competition , is capable of playing like a journeyman male pro. There’s absolutely no disgrace in that, but there’s no great honor either. Hey, tournaments regularly give exemptions to local club pros or promising local teenage golfers, and every so often, those guys put together a solid round or two, and manage to beat out some big-name golfers. So… if a teenager with an exemption shoots two decent rounds at a minor PGA tournament and misses the cut by 5, would you tell him “Fantastic! You should leave school and go pro now”? I doubt it. You’d see the kid’s accomplishment for what it was: a game effort, something to take some pride in, but NOT (in all likelihood) a sign of better things to come.
Now, Annika is a smart woman who knows what side her bread is buttered on, so she’ll go back to her REAL “job” on the LPGA tour.
But she’ll undoubtedly get offers of exemptions or even hefty appearance fees from other PGA tournaments. That could be VERY hard to turn down. But turn them down she should.
I say that because I DON’T buy the argument that, with this experience under her belt, she’s SURE to do better next time. I suspect that, for Annika, this tournament is ABOUT as good as it would ever get on the PGA circuit. If she chipped and putted this badly on a wet surface, I can only imagine how badly she’d have done on a fast surface.
And, to those who are saying, “hey, all she has to do is work on her putting, and she’ll be a contender,” I can only laugh. Putting better is “all she has to do”? That’s like saying “all Astorian has to do to win the Olympic 100 meter dash is run faster.” It’s NOT a small thing, and it’s NOT an easy thing to master, even if you practice night and day.
Aastorian:
Pretty much agree with your assessment. I’ll take her at her word that she won’t do this again. If she tried a repeat it’d be too much of a contrived stunt and I think she has too much class for that. We’ll see other women try, I’m sure.
But if you want to see how good Annika is, check out Whaley when she plays the Hartford open. I’ll be puting money on her leaving on Friday with a score of 160 or higher, dead last. Not to slight her in any way, but she is truely in over her head.
Oh, yeah, Whaley is over her head. Teaching pros in general are over their heads.
But I’m glad she decided to play. Takes spunk. Every year there are a couple of amatuers that show up in pro events - and most of them are just as over their heads.
BTW, I’d have had her qualifying from the guys tees. If you are going to play with the guys without a handicap, you need to play by their rules. Otherwise, me and my “too high to count” handicap will just mosey on over. Now, you guys don’t want me playing from anything but the reds in a casual game, I’d slow down play way too much. For that matter, I know many, many male golfers who shouldn’t ever play another behind the reds - but they do (apparently, a guy playing from the reds results in an instant impact to virility and general manliness.)
You know, at least part of my issue with this whole thing is that some of the negative comments from the PGA tour players have sounded way too much like excuses for “we don’t want to get beaten by a girl.”
Well, playing from the reds would certainly remove the danger of the most embarrassing penalty in men’s golf.