Annika Sorenstam did everything right during Round 1, but without power, there's only so much she can do.
By BOB HARIG
Published May 23, 2003
FORT WORTH, Texas - You really could not ask for much more out of Annika Sorenstam on Thursday during the first round of the Colonial.
She hit 13 of 14 fairways, 14 of 18 greens. She never had to hit a chip shot. The way she hit the ball, a big number was all but out of the question.
But as well as Sorenstam played at Colonial Country Club, her 1-over-par 71 highlighted the struggles of even the best female golfer in the world when competing against male professionals on the PGA Tour.
"The biggest problem for her is the inability to spin the ball," said her coach, Henri Reis, who traveled from Sweden to watch Sorenstam become the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour. "That is more important than distance."
"The biggest difference," said PGA Tour rookie Dean Wilson, who played with Sorenstam, "is that some of these guys, they're so powerful, they're launching (the ball) at such a high angle they can stop so well and attack the pins. But I'm impressed with how she plays and what she does with her game. It's fantastic."
PGA Tour players routinely hit towering iron shots that spin. It takes strength and force to make a ball do that. In essence, the club face hits the ball before the ground and causes the ball to fly through the air while rotating backward. That keeps it from jumping forward after it hits the green.
And the farther away a player is from the green, the longer the iron (or wood) and more difficult it becomes to control the ball in that fashion.
Sorenstam, who was on the green or the fringe all day, had just four birdie chances inside 15 feet and only one inside 10.
"That's why she talked so much about the fact that 90 percent of the courses out here (on the PGA Tour) would not suit her," said Kay Cockerill, a former LPGA Tour player who is an analyst for the Golf Channel. "This course suits her, it's a position course. The fairways were so wet, so she didn't get a lot of roll off the tees. If it were drier, she might have one or two clubs less into those holes. She can put a fair amount of spin on her short irons."
But Sorenstam rarely got to use them. That's because she was playing a 7,080-yard, par-70 course. Typically, she plays courses that are in the 6,300 to 6,400-yard range. This week's LPGA event, the Corning Classic, is being played on a course that is barely more than 6,000 yards.
"There's a misconception about (female) golfers," said Dave Pelz, a noted golf instructor and short-game instructor. "It's that their short games are so good. That's really not the case. I think it has to do with the fact that they don't work on it as much (as PGA Tour players). They are concerned about hitting the ball farther, about working on their long games.'
"You don't see the versatility in the short game with the women," instructor David Leadbetter said. "The touch and feel these guys develop is amazing. There is a certain strength factor to swinging a club softly."
Sorenstam never even had to hit one of those delicate shots, except with a putter, which shows even more the difficulty of the task she faces.
