From Deseret News archives:
Fans flocking to see Annika
Top woman golfer is main attraction competing in Utah
She doesn't swing hard and she doesn't hit the kind of crushing drives that you see from the world's top men players. But she does hit it straight, and she usually hits the ball where's she's trying to hit it. And with nearly $20 million in career earnings, golf has been very good to her.
"I'm one of those players whose been very, very lucky," said Sorenstam, the top female golfer in the world for the past decade. "A lot of good things have happened to me."
But many say she's been just as good to golf. Interest in golf by women, inspired greatly by Sorenstam's accomplishments, is at an all-time high. More female golfers than ever before are taking up the game, more are watching women's golf and the LPGA Tour, and almost every female golfer is spending more time these days honing their skills.
"I think what she's done for the women's game is to really stretch it out and made them lengthen their stride, work out in the gym and do some of the things that Tiger is doing on the men's side," said television analyst and former PGA Tour star Johnny Miller.
Sorenstam's never competed in Utah before, but has still made an impression locally. At Monday's pro-am portion of the 9th Nokia Champions Challenge at Thanksgiving Point, she was the top attraction. There were many more women in the gallery than in years past and it was apparent that a lot of young girls had skipped school to spend a day spectating on the links with mom and dad. Plenty of men were there as well to see how their golf games match up with Sorenstam's.
"It's just a treat to have her here," said Miller, tournament host. "I hope every woman in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming will at least want to come if they're not here. If you're missing Annika, you're missing a big event."
Even though Sorenstam, still a bit quiet and shy despite her fame, won't call herself an ambassador to women's golf, others do.
"She's a great example to girls growing up and everyone growing up on how to be a true champion," said Dean Wilson, who played with Sorenstam when she received an exemption to the PGA Tour's Colonial Invitational three years ago. "It's fun to watch her go about her business."
The Champions Challenge is traditionally loaded with the legends and ambassadors of golf — like Jack Nicklaus, Billy Casper and Gary Player. Miller includes Sorenstam in that category. While Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright put the LPGA on the radar a decade or two ago, Sorenstam has made the blip flicker much brighter, Miller said.
She accepted Miller's invitation to play in the Champions Challenge for the opportunity to team with her sister, Charlotta, also an LPGA Tour member, in today's two-person scramble. The Sorenstams will be the first team out at 9:15 a.m., and promise they're not here just to add more pretty faces to the field.
"I always try to win. That's the goal when I come to any tournament," Sorenstam said.
E-mail: jimr@desnews.com
