Posted on 05/15/2003 6:43:24 AM PDT by presidio9
Unfazed by critics, Annika Sorenstam said Wednesday that she believes she can win the Bank of America Colonial next week.
"I believe so, if all the stars are lined up right," she said Wednesday.
Speaking on a conference call to promote next month's ShopRite LPGA Classic, Sörenstam was surprised at the stir created by her decision to play in the PGA TOUR event and without mentioning his name, addressed Vijay Singh's controversial comments from earlier this week.
"I think everybody's entitled to their own opinion, and obviously they speak their minds, and that's just where I want to leave it," she said. "I don't hold anything against anybody.
"I was maybe a little naive when I didn't think about this," she said. "I'm still amazed by all the attention, all the opinion, all the experts on my game. It's really funny. I never expected anything like this."
By accepting a sponsor's exemption, Sörenstam will become the first woman in 58 years to compete on the PGA TOUR. The last woman to do so was Babe Zaharias, who qualified for the 1945 Los Angeles Open.
Sörenstam won 13 times around the world last year, the most by a woman in nearly 40 years. She's the only woman to shoot 59.
She acknowledged she will be nervous playing the 7,080-yard, par-70 Colonial Country Club course, but thinks she can shoot par if the weather holds. She has played the course once but didn't keep score.
"I'm doing this because I want to test myself. I'm coming to a stage that's totally different than I'm used to: tougher course, tougher competitors, all the attention. It's just going to be so different," Sörenstam said.
"It's just a test for me. I want to see what it's all about, I want to see how good my game is. I'm sure I would perform better if I get more chances, but this is just a one-time opportunity," she said.
Tiger Woods thinks it would be terrific if Sörenstam makes the cut.
"I would think it was a fantastic performance -- no doubt about it," he said in Alveslohe, Germany, where he's playing in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe.
In Irving, Texas, where the PGA TOUR's EDS Byron Nelson Championship starts Thursday, some players admitted they were eager to find out how she'll fare.
"Everyone is extremely curious to she how she's going to play," Ben Crane said. "We really don't know what's going to come of it. I'll be very interested to see how she plays."
David Toms, who won the Wachovia Championship last week, said: "I hope she plays well for ladies' golf and for her. But what is playing well? Nobody knows, nobody has anything to measure it against. I don't have any hard feeling toward her at all. She thinks she can do it, I guess we'll find out."
Singh told The Associated Press that Sörenstam had no business playing in next week's Colonial and said that on the odd chance he gets paired with her, he'd withdraw.
"I hope she misses the cut. Why? Because she doesn't belong out here," Singh told AP golf writer Doug Ferguson during an interview. "If I'm drawn with her, which I won't be, I won't play."
Singh later said he was sorry if his comment came across as a personal attack.
Nick Price, the Colonial's defending champion, has said Sörenstam's appearance "reeks of publicity."
"The people that say that, they don't know me," she said. "When I started playing golf many years ago, I was afraid of the limelight. My game has changed, but me personally has not changed."
1. Sorenstein has been allowed to compete in this tournament on a sponsor's exemption. If Vijay Singh and other golfers don't like it, they need to take it up with BofA (the sponsor), and not Sorenstein.
2. Sorenstein is going to lose and lose badly in this tournament; the gap between the best male and female golfers is that wide. But, what is going to happen to any male golfers (if any) who actually finish behind her?
if that's all she can count on then she ought not be goffing
Is she expecting Jack Nicholson to come there and heckle the other golfers?
She better be!
Agreed, but she did not need to accept the invitation. She is going to end up hurting women's golf by demonstrating the differences.
2. Sorenstein is going to lose and lose badly in this tournament; the gap between the best male and female golfers is that wide. But, what is going to happen to any male golfers (if any) who actually finish behind her?
Some players WILL finish behind her, but she will not make the cut. "The rub of the green" is a commonly used phrase in golf. Even the best player in the world can get unlucky. The fact that Woods made so many cuts in a row is remarkable, not the usual. If Sorenstam plays poorly, she will come in dead last. By a lot.
OOPS!
I always say this when I have a horse$hit round.
Yes, and I am pulling for her to do well. All this whining sounds like a bunch of liberals.
The case can be made that BofA (the sponsor) is the one who would hurt women's golf in this case, and not the golfer herself. They are the ones paying the freight.
And isn't it the goal of most professional athletes to get the opportunity to compete with the best in the world? Like I said, she will lose badly and I agree that she probably won't even make the cut. But hey, its a free country and lightning has struck before.
(You just have to imagine that the organizers of the Colonial and Bank of America are rubbing their hands together with glee. They couldn't get Tiger Woods to play, but they DO have a national story here, one that will translate into huge TV viewership numbers).
"I believe so, if all the stars are lined up right," she said Wednesday.
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Well here's what you do sweet pea. If you are that confident then get your ass in Qualifying School like the rest of the Men that are REQUIRED to go thru and make the cut to play instead of sneaking in the back door with a Exemption.
You aint Bull Shitting anyone dearie.
The same thing that happens to golfers who drive from the men's tees and don't hit it past the ladies tees.
They will find maxi-pads mysteriously placed in their lockers for years.
That should make for some entertaining TV viewing on a Sunday afternoon ...
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