Tiger's influence hinders, helps LPGA
By RON SIRAK / AP Golf Writer
SOMERS POINT, N.J. (AP) - Peaking from beneath the shadow of
a Tiger stuffed with dollar signs and surrounded by hype and hyperbole
is the most dominant golfer in the world.
With many fans locked in tunnel vision focused only on Woods,
Annika Sorenstam has quietly put up the best record in golf the
last two years - winning 15 times since 1995, including two U.S.
Opens.
And Sorenstam is just one of the many great stories on the
LPGA tour lost in Tigermania.
In fact, while women's golf may benefit down the road from
the Tiger-generated boost the game has received, right now it
may be the greatest victim of the single-minded fixation on Woods.
The LPGA has its deepest pool of young talent ever - combined
with some compelling veterans - yet it was swallowed in Tigermania.
"Over the last 18 months, Annika Sorenstam has been the
best player in golf and that story has been somewhat lost,"
commissioner Jim Ritts said this week as the tour stopped at the
Great Bay Resort & Country Club for the Shoprite LPGA Classic.
"Long term, though, what the Tiger phenomena has meant
is that the marginal sports fan has heightened interest in the
game of golf," Ritts said. "And you add that into the
growth already in the women's game and it can only help. Eventually,
people will see that there is more to golf than Tiger Woods."
While Woods has captured the headlines, Sorenstam has put together
the kind of year that just might end up capturing a page in the
history books.
Sorenstam, who plays this week at the Shoprite tournament,
has already won four of the 12 events she's played on the LPGA
tour this year and finished second twice and third two other times.
She has eight top-three finishes in a dozen starts.
In two weeks, she has a chance to duplicate a feat accomplished
only once in golf - male or female - when she tries to win her
third consecutive U.S. Open. The only person to do that was Willie
Anderson in 1903-05.
And Sorenstam's domination has come at a time when women's
golf is at its strongest, in part because of its tremendous growth
around the world. The 26-year-old Swede is walking proof of that.
"There is absolutely no doubt that the depth of the talent
pool in the LPGA has never been greater than it is today,"
Ritts said.
He points to Title IX, the federal law requiring equal opportunities
for women's sports at schools receiving government money, as well
as the growth of junior golf and international programs.
The top three money winners on the LPGA this year - Sorenstam
(26), Karrie Webb (22) and Kelly Robbins (27) - are all in their
20s and come from Sweden, Australia and the United States. Two
other youngsters - Michelle McGann (27) and Pat Hurst (28) - have
also won this year.
Mixed with the new wave are established stars Betsy King and
a resurgent Nancy Lopez, who won this year for the first time
since 1993.
There is also Laura Davies, the long-hitter who at age 33 is
at the peak of her game, and waiting in the wings is Kelli Kuehne,
the 20-year-old two-time U.S. Amateur champion easing onto tour
with four events this year.
Suddenly, with a full schedule of events and purses that increased
nearly 20 percent this year, women's golf is attracting some of
the most talented female athletes.
"When you have the chance to play for $31 million, it
gets attention," Ritts said. "There are 150 women out
there making a living on the LPGA tour. It is a viable and lucrative
professional opportunity."
Last year, Webb became the first female golfer to win more
than $1 million in a season. Outside tennis, there is no other
sport where women athletes can make that kind of money.
Ritts hopes to ride the wave to even richer purses, more TV
exposure and a developmental tour. Key to the growth will be increased
junior programs, such as those the LPGA already has with the USGA
and the Girl Scouts of America.
"We've got to convert the groundswell of interest into
longer-term players and fans," Ritts said.
A first step will be to get fans to realize that Sorenstam
has out-Tigered Tiger.
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