Wednesday, August 1, 2001
An opportunity that got away
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) — The reason they played a mixed-team
match in the Battle of Bighorn was so the women wouldn't get embarrassed.
So much for those plans.
Tiger Woods and David Duval hit their share of shaky shots in
the latest episode of Monday Night Golf.
Still, one of the lasting images from the California desert was
Karrie Webb staring in shock as her 20-foot birdie putt from the
fringe on No. 2 missed the cup 3 feet to the left and only got
worse. When it finally stopped rolling, she left Duval with a
routine par putt 60 feet from the hole.
Annika Sorenstam, a member at Bighorn, wasn't much better.
She had a 25-foot birdie putt to win the 14th hole and give her
and Woods a 1-up lead. Instead, the big bender from left to right
swung wide of the cup and gathered enough steam to roll 30 yards
down the fairway.
At least she left it below the hole.
“I had a nice uphill pitch,” Woods said with a smile.
It only got worse at the end.
Neither of them could find the fairway on No. 18 with the match
on the line, although Sorenstam redeemed herself by making a do-or-die
birdie putt from 10 feet to extend the match. Back on the same
tee 20 minutes later, they got the same results.
Sorenstam went left into the rough. Webb went left into the bunker.
The 41/2-hour ordeal finally ended when Woods hit another good
recovery shot to the fringe for a two-putt par, while Duval caught
too much sand from a downhill lie in the bunker and came up 30
yards short of the green.
Webb removed her sunglasses over the last four holes that were
played under the lights, revealing the flustered eyes of a Grand
Slam champion. She managed to keep it in perspective and was not
worried that this was any indication of how she would play Thursday
at the Women's British Open.
“I hit enough bad shots today, I don't have any left for
the rest of the week,” Webb said. “So, I should be all
right.”
At least Sorenstam could shrug off her performance. Her name wound
up on the trophy, and she got half of the $1.2 million winner's
share.
“I didn't play as well as I would have liked, but that's
the way it goes,” she said.
Still, this was not the best time for it to go that way.
The latest edition of the made-for-TV event was a rare opportunity
for the women. LPGA Tour commissioner Ty Votaw said so himself
a few hours before the match, when he considered how many viewers
would tune in — in part out of curiosity, in part to see
Woods.
“This is one of the biggest days in LPGA history, if not
the biggest day, based on the number of eyeballs that are going
to be on our product,” he said.
Those eyes could have used Webb's wraparound shades.
No one wanted a “Battle of the Sexes” because it doesn't
work in golf. It is virtually impossible to set up the course
in a way that would account for the difference in power between
the men and women, which is vast.
That's why the mixed-team format seemed like the right idea.
“You didn't have to worry about who was hitting the farthest,”
Sorenstam said. “It was just a matter of playing good golf.”
One night in the desert shouldn't prove anything, especially this
year. The foursome of major championship winners was in trouble
the minute a wicked wind started howling about 15 minutes before
they teed off.
And not just any wind.
This was the worst kind, hot and swirling, gusting to 30 mph at
times and blowing across the fairway on most holes.
“The balls would go out there for a while without being affected,
and all of a sudden get slammed by the wind,” Woods said.
“And it would just drift for a longer period of time because
of the elevation.”
Woods hit one drive so far left that it nestled in a desert bush
about 2 feet off the ground. Sorenstam had no choice but to whack
it out left-handed by inverting the face of her wedge.
Duval tried to reach the 341-yard fifth hole with driver and missed
the green so far to the right that Webb had to declare it unplayable.
Still, perception is everything.
Women's golf rarely gets ratings over 1.5, and Monday night figured
to be six times greater than what the LPGA normally gets.
Traditional golf fans see enough of Woods, Duval and the rest
of the PGA Tour stars to realize they can play better. For so
many others, this might have been their first chance to watch
the women play.
So much for making a good impression.
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