Golf

Sorenstam chasing history

Arnold Palmer charged with a whopping drive in 1960 on the course where the No. 1 woman now chases a Slam.

By BOB HARIG
Published June 23, 2005

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. - Call it a coincidence, but it is historic nonetheless. Annika Sorenstam begins pursuit this morning of the third leg of the LPGA Tour's Grand Slam at the U.S. Women's Open, having already captured the first two major championships in dominating fashion.

That she will do so at Cherry Hills Country Club is the stuff of beautiful irony.

It was at this venue outside Denver in 1960 where Arnold Palmer won his only U.S. Open, driving the par-4 first hole and shooting a 65 in the final round to charge from seven strokes back of Mike Souchak.

Left in his wake were the young and the old, a 20-year-old amateur named Jack Nicklaus and a veteran named Ben Hogan.

It was soon after that triumph that Palmer all but invented the modern Grand Slam. Amateur Bobby Jones had won the four biggest tournaments of his time, the Opens and Amateurs of both the United States and Britain, in 1930, then retired.

But nobody afterward talked in terms of winning four major championships in a row as a professional and calling it a Grand Slam.

Until Palmer.

He had won the Masters in 1960, then captured the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. For the first time he would play in the British Open that year at St. Andrews. And while traveling to Scotland with writer Bob Drum, the idea was born.

"I thought wouldn't it be great if I could win the British Open and the PGA," Palmer said. "And Drum said, "Yeah, it would be perfect. It would be the Grand Slam. If (Bobby) Jones could do it and call it the Grand Slam, so could you.'

"One thing led to another. He got me excited about it. I said there is no reason in the world it shouldn't happen."

Drum wrote about the "Grand Slam" and the British media picked up on it. Palmer went on to lose the tournament by a stroke.

None of it is lost on Sorenstam, who, like Palmer, will have the young (Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer) and the old (Meg Mallon, Juli Inkster) to contend with.

"I do know a little bit about the history of the game,," she said, "and I know that this course has been part of it, and that's why I think it's really kind of neat that we're here this year to play and for me to come here with my goal in mind. But I also think it's neat for us to get to play a course like this with so much history."

Only Nicklaus ('72) and Tiger Woods ('02) have won the first two majors in a year since Palmer on the PGA Tour. (Woods won four straight from the 2000 U.S. Open through the '01 Masters.)

Three players have done it since 1960 on the LPGA Tour. Mickey Wright won the Titleholders Championship and the Women's Western Open in 1962 before tying for 18th at the Open and tying for eighth at the LPGA. In 1974, Sandra Haynie won the LPGA and the Women's Open, but they were the only majors played.

In 1986, Pat Bradley won the Kraft Nabisco and LPGA Championship and was the last player to win the first two on the LPGA Tour. She admits the pressure was intense when she got to the U.S. Women's Open at NCR Country Club in Dayton, Ohio. The LPGA Hall of Famer shot an opening 76 and missed a playoff by two, tying for fifth. She went on to win the du Maurier, then an LPGA major, to capture three of the four.

"I don't think anybody is going to stop her," Bradley said of Sorenstam. "I believe in my heart that Annika is the only one who can do this."

Sorenstam, 34, has an incredible combination of length and accuracy. She leads the tour in driving distance (274 yards) and in greens in regulation (.753). She is also second in putts per green in regulation (1.72).

She is coming off a victory at the LPGA Championship, her third straight in that tournament, which was her ninth major title and 62nd career victory on the LPGA Tour.

Since the start of last year, she has won 14 of 26 times. And since her historic appearance at the 2003 Colonial on the PGA Tour, Sorenstam has won 19 of 38 starts.

It is a long way from her first victory 10 years ago at the U.S. Women's Open, also in Colorado at the Broadmoor.

"Annika came out of nowhere to win, a little waif of a gal who hit a rainbow of a draw shot with no power," recalled NBC analyst Johnny Miller. "To see where she has come in the game of golf, it's been fun following that."

Sorenstam won the Women's Open the next year at Pine Needles, but hasn't won one since. In going for three in a row in 1997, Sorenstam was so overcome by the pressure she missed the cut.

But, like her overall game and appearance, much has changed. Sorenstam challenged herself against the men at the Colonial. She has put herself in pressure situations so that days like the next four are manageable.

"Being under the microscope is something I have learned from," she said. "I have taken notes from it all and I am going to need it all. I am going to need all the experience I have gotten the last 10, 12 years on tour. But that's why I do this."

[Last modified June 23, 2005, 00:45:20]