WROOOOOOONNNNGGGG! Misunderstood, totally misread and totally misunderstood. Did I say its because SHE THINKS she'll bring curiosity and coverage and Ca-Chin-ching to her? Nope! ITs you guys who are using the "I think she..." lines NOT me. QUOTE me on that. FIND IT, its not here, not me. Not I. No. *Sorry my bad, it shoulda read: The only reason she's out there is because of her sponsors exemption gladly given to her because: of the idea and curiosity it brings and of course the coverage it'll bring the tournee not to mention the $$$Ca-ching-ching it'll generate above and beyond a normal PGA tournee with only men beause of this oddity of a woman playing in a mens tournee. IMHO, all the wrong reasons.
If my company spends $6 million to sponsor a tournament and hand out all the prize money, you can damn sure bet that: a. I want as much coverage as humanly possible. b. I will do whatever is necessary to increase that coverage. c. No one is going to tell me who I can or cannot give that exemption to. d. I would be peeing in my pants seeing the response that this middle-of-the-road tournament is getting because of Annika. The fact is that this is compelling sports drama - the pressure, the competition, the controversy. It is everything any fan could want from a televised sporting event. Just like Tiger making the long walk at Augusta, Annika is getting people to tune in and, maybe more importantly, talk about it. That is the name of the game.
This is great. I had a strong feeling Annika would play well, and make no mistake about it, I expect her to be around for the weekend. Mr Oily, Why is it such a big deal that she got a sponsor's exemption? No offense, but most of those go to washed up stars, or top notch young rookies. And even so, if you asked her to qualify, she would still be in this tournament in my opinion. Btw, Annika's only intention was to test herself, everytime she's been asked the expected "is this for equality for women" question, she has said all she wanted was to challenge herself. Bottom line: Annika has handled herself superbly and I think this is great for golf period. And props to the Colonial for going through it, though it wasn't that tough a decision.
I hope she can putt better tomorrow. Today she could've REALLY been in a good spot, but she's averaging 2.055 putts per hole. If she could get that down to something like 1.4 or 1.5, she'd be much closer to the leaders because she had a birdie putt on every single hole but 9. She just couldn't make them.
Mr. Oily, what are the right reasons for using a sponsors exemption? Who do they usually go to? The bottom rung players who didn't get into the tourney? Don't they usually go to local amatures or aging former greats. How did Jack Nicklaus get into the US open? Why would they let him play? He wasn't gonna do well.
She'll also need to be more agressive with her irons. Her average putt for birdie was 26 feet. That's way too much. She needs to get some opportunities inside of 10 feet. She said it herself. She was tentative. She played conservatively and didn't take any risks. She just gets a few more birdie opportunities within 10 feet and she should easily make the cut which, at this point, is looking like +3 or +4.
She birdied 2 and is at -1 for the day after 4 holes. She is even for the tournament. The projected cut is 1 over par.
good for her! i love underdog stories! love it when people say, "no you can't do that..." only to be proven wrong by hard work, talent and determination. fantastic! God bless America!!!
That was a heck of a good effort from Annika, and a great marketing ploy from the PGA. Good show all around.
Shoot, another bogey E -1 -1 -1 E +1 +1 +2 +3 Hole 1: 565 yards, par-5 Pulled her first drive a little, but it stayed in the fairway. She layed up with her second shot, and her third -- a 135-yard 9-iron -- landed in the bunker to the right of the green. It was the first bunker she hit this week. Her sand shot landed within 5 feet of the cup. She hit the 4-footer for the sand save and a PAR. Hole 2: 400 yards, par-4 In the fairway again off the tee, Sorenstam hit her second shot -- a 9-iron from 148 yards -- to within 7 feet of the cup. She hit the putt for her second BIRDIE of the week. Hole 3: 476 yards, par-4 On the first leg of the "Horrible Hosrshoe" -- and hardest hole on the course -- Sorenstam was in the fairway off the tee. Going for the flag on the back-right of the green, she came up short again, finding her second bunker of the day on the right side of the putting surface. She made another nice sand shot, getting it to within 3 feet and hitting the putt for another PAR. Hole 4: 246 yards, par-3 Taking aim at the flag again with a 7-wood, Sorenstam hit the green on the course's longest par-3. The ball passed within inches of the hole, and rolled about 12 feet beyond it. She just missed the birdie putt and settled for PAR. Hole 5: 470 yards, par-4 Sorenstam missed the fairway badly on the right, but appeared to catch a break when her ball settled away from the trees. She punched out, and her third shot -- 167 yards away from the green -- hit the putting surface but rolled off the back. Her chip fell about 8 feet short of the hole, and she holed that putt for BOGEY. She also bogeyed the hole on Thursday. Hole 6: 393 yards, par-4 She found another fairway, but was short of the green on her second shot. She chipped onto the green with her third, but the ball settled about 12 feet short of the hole. She missed the putt for par and made her second BOGEY of the day. Hole 7: 427 yards, par-4 In the fairway off the tee, her 178-yard approach shot landed just to the right of the green in the rough. Her chip skidded just past the hole and settled about 6 feet from the hole. She drained the putt for a PAR. Hole 8: 192 yards, par-3 She hit the green off the tee, but left her first putt around 10 feet short. She missed her next one as well, three-putting for another BOGEY
Fatty, does that mean it will also be 25 years before the following guys also get to play again Jonathan Byrd Ian Leggatt Rodney Pampling J.J. Henry Cameron Beckman Paul Goydos Tom Lehman Tom Pernice Jr Matt Gogel John Rollins Peter Lonard Sergio Garcia Chris Smith Stuart Appleby Skip Kendall David Peoples Scott Simpson Robert Gamez Per-Ulrik Johansson Heath Slocum Arron Oberholser Tim Clark Carl Paulson Aaron Barber Mark Brooks Joel Edwards Geoff Ogilvy Bob Estes Dan Pohl James H McLean Kevin Sutherland Craig Perks Scott McCarron Rod Curl Pat Perez Keith Clearwater they all also missed the cut!!!!!
Smeg: No I don't. I mean that the reason they do this every couple of decades is for publicity. I would not have minded at all if Annika had faired well. But in the end she didn't. And We don't want or need a female hopeful in every golf Tourney. And it won't happen, because people will lose interest. The battle of the sexes thing is fun, and watchable. But only from time to time. Hell, I'm fine with one of these showdowns once every couple of years, but I'm in the minority.
