Annika Sorenstam's PGA run is cut short as she misses the cut by four.
By BOB HARIG
Published May 24, 2003
[AP photo]
Annika Sorenstam applauds the crowd after receiving a standing ovation.
FORT WORTH, Texas - The magic was replaced by mediocrity, the excitement turned to emptiness. A day after turning Colonial Country Club into her personal playground, Annika Sorenstam saw the circus tent that enveloped this PGA Tour event slowly crumble around her.
Playing again before huge, adoring crowds that cheered her every step, the top female golfer in the world was unable Friday to deliver the round of golf necessary to make the 36-hole cut at the Colonial and earn a spot among the men on the weekend.
Sorenstam, 32, the winner of 43 LPGA Tour events, missed the cut by four strokes, shooting 4-over 74. Coupled with her impressive opening score of 71, Sorenstam finished 5-over 145.
After holing a 14-foot par putt on the final green, Sorenstam received a loud, standing ovation, acknowledged the cheers, tossed her Callaway golf ball into the crowd, then paused to wipe away a few tears.
The grand experiment to test herself against the best players in the world had come to an exhausting end.
"To be part of this is something that I will never forget," said Sorenstam, who became the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event since Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1945. "I got so much support from my tour and all these people out here and I wish I played a little better and we could continue the next two days. But it's been wonderful."
Sorenstam, a native of Sweden who lives in Orlando with husband David Esch, finished tied for 96th, 13 strokes behind co-leaders Dan Forsman and Kenny Perry, and was ahead of 11 players. The 36-hole cut came at 1-over 141. On the LPGA Tour, Sorenstam has missed eight cuts in her career, four since her rookie year in 1994.
But the 7,080-yard Colonial course, speed of the greens, competition and surroundings were too much for a player who has won 20 times over the past three seasons.
"I was in over my head," she said. "First of all, the attention is much more than I expected. The course being a little longer, even though I think the length wasn't a problem, it was everything around it. Being under the microscope, and then I didn't really perform as well as I think I can. I'm emotionally drained right now because I've given it all I had. And with all the preparation I've done the last few months, it's been wearing on me. But that's what I had to do to come here and perform my best."
It looked like it might be Sorenstam's day when she sandwiched bunker saves for par at the first and third holes around an 8-foot birdie putt at the second that got her to par for the tournament. But after she left a 20-foot birdie putt two rolls short on the fourth hole, not much else went right.
Sorenstam scrambled to make bogey at the fifth, made bogey at the sixth after a poor chip shot, then three-putted from 70 feet at the eighth for bogey. Sorenstam shot a front-nine 37 and was 3 over on the front nine for the tournament.
Any hope of making the cut evaporated at the par-4 10th, where she three-putted from 30 feet, unable to get her approach closer to the pin from 164 yards.
In the end, Sorenstam was doomed by her inability to hit the ball close to the hole. She was 109th in the 113-player field in proximity to the hole, with her average approach coming to rest 28 feet from the cup. Then she struggled with her putter, making two birdies in two days and averaging 32 putts per round.
Overall, Sorenstam was last in the field in driving distance and putting average.
Sorenstam said her reason for attempting to play the PGA Tour was to test herself and to learn from it. And she contended this would be a one-time challenge.
"I won't reconsider," said Sorenstam, who next week will defend an LPGA title near Chicago. "I'm very thankful and honored to have been here, but I know where I belong. I'm going to go back with all the experience that I learned this week and I want to win tournaments, I want to set records and this week is going to help me do that."
Despite her appearance here causing controversy on the PGA and LPGA tours, Sorenstam received praise all around. President Bush weighed in with words of encouragement from his ranch in Crawford, Texas. She fielded calls from commissioners Tim Finchem and Ty Votaw of the PGA and LPGA tours, respectively. Tiger Woods called her Friday morning.
"She did well for herself and everything she stood for this week," said Dean Wilson, who played with Sorenstam and made the cut, shooting 67 Friday. "Her golf game was phenomenal. You saw it the first day when she got in a groove. (Friday) we had double the pressure, double the people out there. Everybody's yelling at every corner she turned. It's just too much pressure, too much for anyone. I'm just proud of her. She did great."
"It's kind of a sad ending, I suppose," Forsman said. "I want to see the rest of the story. I thought it was a historic occasion."
During her postround news conference, Sorenstam laughed and cried. She praised her playing partners, Wilson and Aaron Barber, and joked about getting their phone numbers.
