Monday, May 03, 2004
ESPN.com - GOLF - Sirak: You'd better say Grace
By Ron Sirak
Golf World
Don't look now, but there is actually a race for LPGA Player-of-the-Year. For the last few seasons, by the time we've gotten to May, Annika Sorenstam had pretty much wrapped up the title. And what is even more startling is that for the last decade Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak have been just about the only contenders for the honor. Not so now. There's a new kid in town and her name is Grace Park.
Sure, it's early but Park is having the kind of breakthrough year we've been waiting for from her. The 25-year-old Korean by way of Arizona has the full package to be a star in the women's game -- talent, attitude and a stylish flare. Now she seems determined to put together the kind of record that that will move her from pretender to contender for the title of best female player.
“ I don't care if I'm chasing Annika Sorenstam or Joe Schmo. I'll play just as hard and feel I have a chance to win. ”
— Grace Park
With her T-2 Sunday in the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship, Park now has a first, two seconds, a third and 15th and a 17th this year. And that one victory came in the only major played so far -- the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Sorenstam, meanwhile, has two firsts, a 10th and a 13th in her four starts.
What that adds up to is this: As we swing into May, Park leads the Player-of-the-Year standings with 87.00 points to 60.25 by Sorenstam. Cristie Kerr is third with 53.00. In the scoring average race -- also owned by Sorenstam this century -- Annika leads with a 69.33 average, but Grace is just .03 behind at 69.36. Park, who averaged 276 off the tee at the Chick-fil-A to 279 for Sorenstam, smoked the Swede on the greens with 106 putts to 121 for Sorenstam.
Now if this were the men's tour instead of the LPGA and we were talking about Tiger Woods instead of Sorenstam, this would be about the time when we would start throwing around the S word - that word being slump. But whatever troubles Woods may be having, the only problem facing Sorenstam (and are you really having a problem if you have won twice in four LPGA starts and a third time overseas?) is that the putts aren't falling. But that has always been the only thing that keeps Sorenstam from being absolutely unbeatable.
The point here is not that Sorenstam is going back to the pack, but that someone in the pack is taking a step toward her -- and it is not who most were expecting: Pak or Webb. In Park, the LPGA seems to have found a new rival for Sorenstam. And Park not only has the game to make this rivalry interesting, she has the attitude to make it intense. "I don't care if I'm chasing Annika Sorenstam or Joe Schmo," Park said over the weekend at the Chick-fil-A. "I'll play just as hard and feel I have a chance to win."
Another indication that the LPGA is poised for a talent explosion is the race for Rookie of the Year. Leading the way is Aree Song with 319 points. In second place with 225 points is Shi Hyun Ahn. The fact that Song just turned 18 and that Ahn is 19 and won an LPGA event late last year is all the indication you need to know that Michelle Wie is not the only teenager on the horizon.
Speaking of Wie, she returns to the LPGA this week at the Michelob tournament at Kingsmill in the third of her six allowed sponsor exemptions. The record for the youngest to win in the LPGA is Marlene Hagge's 18 years, 14 days at the 1952 Sarasota Open. Song, who turned 18 on Saturday, has one more chance to break that record at Kingsmill. But it is a pretty safe bet that if Wie continues to use six sponsor exemptions a year -- and qualify for a seventh: The U.S. Open -- she'll win before she turns 18. She's that good.
Ahn, by the way, was 19 years, one month and 18 days when she won the CJ Nine Bridges Classic last fall, making her the youngest winner since Amy Alcott won the 1975 Orange Blossom Classic at the age of 19 years, one day.
As for the men's side, the Tiger Woods lock on the Player-of-the-Year title also appears to be under siege this year. With Phil Mickelson having already banked one major championship he appears ready to give Woods a run for his money. But if there is one thing we have learned about both Woods and Sorenstam, it is that they both love a challenge. Don't be surprised if Mickelson and Park aren't all that's needed to spur both onto big years.
By Ron Sirak
Golf World
Don't look now, but there is actually a race for LPGA Player-of-the-Year. For the last few seasons, by the time we've gotten to May, Annika Sorenstam had pretty much wrapped up the title. And what is even more startling is that for the last decade Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak have been just about the only contenders for the honor. Not so now. There's a new kid in town and her name is Grace Park.
Sure, it's early but Park is having the kind of breakthrough year we've been waiting for from her. The 25-year-old Korean by way of Arizona has the full package to be a star in the women's game -- talent, attitude and a stylish flare. Now she seems determined to put together the kind of record that that will move her from pretender to contender for the title of best female player.
“ I don't care if I'm chasing Annika Sorenstam or Joe Schmo. I'll play just as hard and feel I have a chance to win. ”
— Grace Park
With her T-2 Sunday in the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship, Park now has a first, two seconds, a third and 15th and a 17th this year. And that one victory came in the only major played so far -- the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Sorenstam, meanwhile, has two firsts, a 10th and a 13th in her four starts.
What that adds up to is this: As we swing into May, Park leads the Player-of-the-Year standings with 87.00 points to 60.25 by Sorenstam. Cristie Kerr is third with 53.00. In the scoring average race -- also owned by Sorenstam this century -- Annika leads with a 69.33 average, but Grace is just .03 behind at 69.36. Park, who averaged 276 off the tee at the Chick-fil-A to 279 for Sorenstam, smoked the Swede on the greens with 106 putts to 121 for Sorenstam.
Now if this were the men's tour instead of the LPGA and we were talking about Tiger Woods instead of Sorenstam, this would be about the time when we would start throwing around the S word - that word being slump. But whatever troubles Woods may be having, the only problem facing Sorenstam (and are you really having a problem if you have won twice in four LPGA starts and a third time overseas?) is that the putts aren't falling. But that has always been the only thing that keeps Sorenstam from being absolutely unbeatable.
The point here is not that Sorenstam is going back to the pack, but that someone in the pack is taking a step toward her -- and it is not who most were expecting: Pak or Webb. In Park, the LPGA seems to have found a new rival for Sorenstam. And Park not only has the game to make this rivalry interesting, she has the attitude to make it intense. "I don't care if I'm chasing Annika Sorenstam or Joe Schmo," Park said over the weekend at the Chick-fil-A. "I'll play just as hard and feel I have a chance to win."
Another indication that the LPGA is poised for a talent explosion is the race for Rookie of the Year. Leading the way is Aree Song with 319 points. In second place with 225 points is Shi Hyun Ahn. The fact that Song just turned 18 and that Ahn is 19 and won an LPGA event late last year is all the indication you need to know that Michelle Wie is not the only teenager on the horizon.
Speaking of Wie, she returns to the LPGA this week at the Michelob tournament at Kingsmill in the third of her six allowed sponsor exemptions. The record for the youngest to win in the LPGA is Marlene Hagge's 18 years, 14 days at the 1952 Sarasota Open. Song, who turned 18 on Saturday, has one more chance to break that record at Kingsmill. But it is a pretty safe bet that if Wie continues to use six sponsor exemptions a year -- and qualify for a seventh: The U.S. Open -- she'll win before she turns 18. She's that good.
Ahn, by the way, was 19 years, one month and 18 days when she won the CJ Nine Bridges Classic last fall, making her the youngest winner since Amy Alcott won the 1975 Orange Blossom Classic at the age of 19 years, one day.
As for the men's side, the Tiger Woods lock on the Player-of-the-Year title also appears to be under siege this year. With Phil Mickelson having already banked one major championship he appears ready to give Woods a run for his money. But if there is one thing we have learned about both Woods and Sorenstam, it is that they both love a challenge. Don't be surprised if Mickelson and Park aren't all that's needed to spur both onto big years.
