Sorenstam runs her streak to four
By Ron Sirak
GolfDigest.com exclusive
Golf World Executive Editor Ron Sirak writes a weekly wrap-up of the tournament action for GolfDigest.com
It was in "Twelfth Night" that William Shakespeare wrote: "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." Willy obviously was not a golfer or he might have added: "And yet others have greatness handed to them when the player they are chasing bogeys six of the final 10 holes -- including a three-putt from five feet."
That was the case for Annika Sorenstam. Make no mistake about it, she has won four consecutive LPGA events, and that is to be commended. Make no mistake about it, she closed with a fine 66 in the Saturday finish at The Office Depot on Wilshire Country Club to erase a record 10-stroke deficit. And make no mistake about it, she then defeated Mi Hyun Kim on the first playoff hole. But, truth be told, this victory wasn't so much a rally by Sorenstam as it was a shockingly total collapse by Pat Hurst. If Nick Faldo's final-round 67 in the 1996 Masters is a forgotten footnote to the 78 posted that day at Augusta National by Greg Norman on his way to squandering a six-stroke lead, then Sorenstam's sensational Saturday should be remembered more as the Hurst Hurt.
Yes, Sorenstam birdied four of the final nine holes, but none of that would have mattered if Hurst had not made bogeys on Nos. 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18, including the three-putt from five feet on the 16th. The bogey on No.17 dropped her into a three-way tie for the lead. Hurst still had a chance to win with a birdie on the final hole, but she bunkered her tee shot on the par-3, blasted to 15 feet and missed the putt to miss even making the playoff with a closing round 77 for a 211 total and third place.
Not since Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth in 1969 has anyone won four consecutive scheduled LPGA events. Mickey Wright, another Hall of Famer, accomplished the feat in 1962 and again in '63. The LPGA record of five is held by Nancy Lopez, who won three in a row, took a week off and won two more in 1978. Sorenstam -- who had two weeks off between No. 3 and No. 4 because there were no LPGA events scheduled -- will try to tie that mark this week in Sacramento.
Sorenstam now has four victories and two second-place finishes in six starts this season. And if there is a reason she has replaced Karrie Webb as the best female player in the world you need look no farther than her putter. The Swede had the yips so badly that at the U.S. Women's Open at Old Waverly two years ago it was painful to watch her stand over a three-footer. No more. After a bogey on No. 17, she hit a 7-iron to 12 feet on the final hole and rolled it in for a birdie. "Last year, I would not have made that putt on 18 in regulation, and this year I made it," she said. "It's just being confident with my putter. I've practiced a lot."
By the way, the Hurst collapse meant that an American has still yet to win an LPGA event this year with Se Ri Pak (Korea), Grace Park (Korea), Sophie Gustafson (Sweden), Lorie Kane (Canada) and Catriona Matthew (Scotland) winning before Sorenstam went on her tear.
Sorenstam's 18 victories were more than any LPGA player in the 1990s. Already she's off to an impressive start this decade with five wins last year and four this year.
Sorenstam's comeback was the biggest in LPGA history, bettering the eight shots Muffin Spencer-Devlin erased to win the 1985 MasterCard International Pro-Am.
Somehow it made sense that the WorldCom Classic at the Harbour Town Golf Links was ended by darkness on Sunday with no one winning. For the longest of time it seemed like no one wanted to win.
Jose Coceres got to 14 under par through five holes at Harbour Town Golf Links in the final round, then made bogeys on four of the next six holes. Billy Mayfair took control of the tournament briefly, then hit a ball out of bounds on No. 11 for a double bogey, and then bogeyed the 14th hole. Still, the two were tied after the lightning-delayed finish at 11-under-par 273. Two playoff holes failed to resolve things and they resumed play Monday at 8 a.m, with Coceres parring the fifth extra hole to become just the second player from Argentina to win on the PGA Tour. Four players missed the playoff by one stroke, including Vijay Singh, who let the tournament get away from him with a closing 74. He joined Scott Verplank, Bernhard Langer and Carl Paulson at 274.
The Senior PGA Tour's first major of the year was a major disappointment. Doug Tewell smoked the field in the Countrywide Tradition at the Desert Mountain Cochise Course in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 23-under-par 265 to win by nine strokes over Mike McCullough and by 10 over Hale Irwin. Tewell closed with a final-round 62. You have to wonder how many more majors Jack Nicklaus will play even on the Senior tour if he continues to turn in efforts like he did at the Tradition where he finished 22 strokes back at 287.
The European Tour was in Africa this week and Ian Poulter shot a three-under-par 70 in the final round to win the Moroccan Open by two strokes over fellow Great Britain David Lynn and by three over Australia's Peter Lonard. Poulter played the Dar-es-Salam Red Course in 15-under-par 277.
