BC Golf News and Canadians On Tour

She came. She saw. She missed the cut.

But she gained a legion of new fans, won respect from her counterparts on the PGA TOUR and now is anxious to return to competition on the LPGA TOUR.

Annika Sorenstam wanted to test herself and her game against some of the best male golfers on the PGA TOUR. And after two rounds of 71-74 5-over par at the Bank of America tournament on the Colonial course in Texas made famous by legendary Ben Hogan the best female golfer in the world sums up her experience this way:

“I really tested myself from start to finish and that’s why I was here. It’s far from making the cut, I know that, but this is my first chance and sometimes you’ve got to do things over and over again to get good at it.”

“If a lady is good enough to get an invite or she qualifies, she should have every right to come here. This is the Tour for the best players in the world. In my case, this is not something I want to keep pushing. I know where I want to play.”

“It was a great week but I’ve got to go back to my tour, where I belong. I’m glad I did it, but this is way over my head.”

PGA TOUR
After all the hype of Annika being the first in 58 years and only the second female ever to compete with men in a PGA TOUR sanctioned event, the story of Colonial Sunday, May 25 boiled down to two male golfers - - Kenny Perry, the winner by six shots with his record shattering tournament total of (68-64-61-68—261) 19-under par and Justin Leonard, for his gallant effort to become only the fourth player in PGA TOUR history to register a score of 59. Perry won $900,000 for his fifth career win in 17 years. Leonard, who finished second, saw his chance for a 59 evaporate on the final hole when he selected a 9-iron, came up short and sent his birdie attempt scooting 10-feet past the hole on 18, then missed getting his par for a 60, ending instead with a 61 to tie Perry’s 18-hole record scored a day earlier.

Calgary resident Stephen Ames, although not so hot during the middle rounds, managed to T45 at (67-72-74-66—279) 1-under to earn a cheque for $14,014 ($502,281--64). Ian Leggatt of Cambridge, ON missed the cut by one shot.

NATIONWIDE TOUR
The wet and rainy conditions may not have been ideal for a tournament but after playing 72 holes in stop and start fashion over three days David Morland IV has no complaints. “This might have been the longest 72-hole tournament I’ve been in, “ said the 34-year-old from North Bay, ON after emerging as the winner of the SAS Carolina Classic. Morland, who has been putting in extra hours strengthening his body in order to create more stamina, put it all to good use by scoring a (66-68-66-68—268) 16-under par total, just one shot ahead of Rob Bradley, who finished strongly with a course-record 62. This was Morland’s second Nationwide career victory, winning the Hibernia Southern Open in 2002. Morland’s cheque for $90,000 vaults him into third place on the money-winning list.

LPGA TOUR
Perhaps only someone who has already won 28 times could get away with such bravado but veteran Juli Inkster put added pressure on herself after three rounds in the Corning Classic when she predicted to her friend Lorie Kane of Charlottetown, PEI that Kane would be putting for second spot the next day despite being ahead of Inkster by one shot at the time. To accomplish her promise Inkster then proceeded to shoot 10-under par with 11 birdies and a bogey -- the lowest final round by a winner in LPGA history -- and won by four shots over Kane who finished second. Inkster finished at (68-66-68-62—264) 24-under and won $150,000.

Kane recorded one of her strongest performances of the season at (67-65-69-67—268) 20-under and received $90,090 ($224,657), saying later, “It’s been a very positive week, to play the weekend with no bogeys is something I’m going to carry with me for the rest of the season and build from there.” Nancy Harvey of Swift Current, SK., T11th and finished (71-66-69-68—274) 14-under par, more than tripling her season earnings with a $17,881 ($22,909) payday. Dawn Coe-Jones, A.J. Eathorne and Gail Graham were cut.

CHAMPIONS TOUR
Playing bogey-free golf for 54 holes and finishing with eight consecutive pars, in particular a clutch 4-footer on the final hole, earned Morris Hatalksy $225,000 and the Columbus Southern Open. Hatalsky drained a number of par-saving 20 and 25-foot putts to close with a (66-65-67—198) 12-under par one-shot victory over Allen Doyle.

Dave Barr, Kelowna, BC was 2-over through his opening four holes but once he warmed up played flawlessly the rest of the way, adding 11 birdies and coming in (70-65-66—201) 9-under par to T7th for his 3rd top 10 finish of the season, worth $48,000 ($476,167—14th). Barr’s scoring equaled the 9-under par he shot in his first event of the season when he won the Royal Caribbean Golf Classic in February.

FUTURES TOUR
In the game of golf, perhaps more so than any other sport, there’s often a phenomenal story to be told about the champion. Take the case of young Reilley Rankin, a determined individual who just won her first professional tournament at the Northwest Indiana FUTURES Golf Classic on the second hole of a playoff. Nearly four years ago Rankin took a summertime plunge into a lake from atop a 67-foot-high precipice, suffered broken vertebrae and bruised internal organs, was pulled from the water by two friends and later told she might never play golf again. Sunday, Rankin received her winning trophy, her two life-saving friends, also members of the FUTURES TOUR, standing nearby. It was an emotional moment for all three since Rankin’s victory comes one week shy of four years to the day she was told she’d never play golf again. With a $9,100 winner’s cheque Rankin jumped into fourth spot on the money list. Soo Young Moon lost the playoff but collected $6,500. Alone in 4th place was Quebec native Isabelle Beisiegel who won $3,900 for finishing two shots back of Rankin at (70-68-75—213) 3-under par.

Other Canadian money-winners included Calgary’s Susan Lippitt, Calgary (T18, 219, $905); Lanie Cahill, Brockville, ON (T22, 220, $747); Kimberly Adams, Fredericton, NB, Salimah Mussani, Burlington, ON, Kareen Qually, Olds, AB and Jennifer Greggain, Calgary (T27, 221, $548); Jan Dowling, Bradford, ON (T34, 222, $400); Louise Zylstra, Toronto (T44, 224, $276); Chris Greatrex, Vancouver (T52, 225, $234) and Corina Kelepouris, Drayton Valley, AB (T57, 226, $117).

EUROPEAN TOUR
At the first extra hole of a sudden death playoff Ignacio Garrido of Spain captured the 2003 Volvo PGA Championship in Surrey, England defeating Trevor Immelman, winning 414,555 pounds and a five-year exemption to the European Tour International.

American Hank Woodrome claimed his first European Seniors Tour title, defeating Northern Ireland’s Eddie Polland in a one-hole playoff. Canadians John Irwin and Bill Hardwick finished among the top 50.

FROM THE SIDELINES: . . . those two Canadian Tour grads, Dean Wilson and Aaron Barber, rookies on the PGA TOUR last year and randomly selected as Sorenstam’s playing partners during those first two hectic rounds, may have enjoyed parts of that media frenzy but in the end had mixed results. Wilson T25 at (71-67-69-68—275) 5-under and went home with $48,357 but Barber finished early at (72-74—146) 6-over, one more than Sorenstam . . . . the PGA TOUR’s top five money winners will tee it up this week at the Memorial. Davis Love III ($3,787,7112), Mike Weir ($3,365,025), Tiger Woods ($3,067,250), Vijay Singh ($2,929,642) and Jim Furyk ($2,278,241) . . . .after just 21 events on TOUR this season there are 28 players who have won more than one million dollars.

WE HAVE SCHOOLS: . . . . while some 77 young men from 10 different countries are attending the Canadian Tour’s Spring Qualifying School at the Dunes in Kamloops, BC this week there is a 13-year-old girl attending junior high school in Hawaii who is preparing to play golf against some of these same Q-School graduates in a Canadian Tour event in August. Amateur Michelle Wie has accepted a sponsor’s exemption extended to her by The Golf Channel to play in the Bay Mills Open Players’ Championship in Brimley, Michigan. According to Canadian Tour Commissioner Ian Mansfield, “One of our objectives at the Canadian Tour is to promote Amateur golf in Canada and the United States . . .” and it would apear he thinks the way to do that is to offer a spot in a professional Canadian Tour event to an American girl half the age of most members of the Canadian Tour. Remarkably, Miss Wie is a golfing phenom and The Golf Channel is hoping her appearance during that particular week will help capture some viewers who might otherwise be watching another channel showing the best male golfers in the world competing in the World Golf Championship NEC Invitational in Akron, Ohio.