Sorenstam Lets Them Eat Dusk at Oakmont

By THOMAS BONK

Feb. 16, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Now we know the real weakness in Annika Sorenstam’s golf game. She can’t play in the dark.

Sorenstam played the last two holes with the sky the color of bathtub ring, failed to birdie either of the par-five holes and was not at all happy about it.

At least she had a good reason.

“I find it hard to see in the dark,” Sorenstam said. “We wound up in a bad situation.”

That situation is called nightfall and although it happens once a day, it happened at a bad time Saturday at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale. Even though Sorenstam shot a 69 and kept the 36-hole lead of the Los Angeles Women’s Championship by three shots, she knew it could have been more.

Ellie Gibson shot her second 69 and trails Sorenstam’s 135 total by three strokes when today’s final round begins, but she couldn’t see the ball for her approach to the last hole.

“I thought, ‘Gosh, if I just make contact I’ll be happy,’ ” Gibson said.

She saw it well enough to make birdie, even though she hit her approach into the bunker.

After Gibson, the only other player within four shots of Sorenstam is Leta Lindley, who matched Terry-Jo Myers’ 66 for the day’s low round.

Myers is five shots behind at four-under 140. Emilee Klein could have been there too, but she double bogeyed the 17th when she found the greenside bunker, needed two shots to get out and is tied for 11th at two-under 142.

Sorenstam’s round might have been light-impaired, but it was generally solid, as usual. In fact, her last five rounds look this way: 66, 68, 66, 66, 69. If this continues, she may reconsider her stand and start asking for 3 p.m. tee times.

Actually, there’s not much of a chance of that.

Sorenstam didn’t begin her second round until 12:49 p.m., which is nice for lunch, but not a very good time to start playing 18 holes of golf for the day.

Sorenstam, who finished in the dusk at 5:50 p.m., said she considered asking for play to be suspended.

“Either you continue or you quit and you play tomorrow,” she said. “The tee time for the lead group shouldn’t be so late. This isn’t very good. You should be able to go out and finish.

“But play was so slow. I don’t know why. Then it is bad.”

Most of the time, Sorenstam was very good. She knocked her irons to within the shadow of the flagstick four times on the first 11 holes for birdies, which provided her with a game plan for today.

“I’m going to try to just keep doing what I’m doing,” she said.

It looked like the Swedish Open for a while. At one point, Catrin Nilsmark was only three shots off the lead, Liselotte Neumann had a hole in one and Sorenstam continued her hot play.

“I just really have a positive feeling,” she said.

Neumann wasn’t the only player who figured out how to put the ball in the hole with one swing.

There were three holes in one, an avalanche of aces for one round. Sue Thomas and Luciana Bemvenuti joined Neumann in the hole-in-one gang.

Bemvenuti aced the 155-yard 14th hole and won a pearl necklace as a prize. Thomas and Neumann aced the 144-yard No. 3 and won nothing, obviously choosing the wrong hole.

Lindley, who started on No. 10, knew she might be on to something when she hit the flagstick on the 14th. She also made par on No. 5 even though she drove it in the trees, then skipped her golf ball over a bunker and made par on No. 7.

It already looked like a charmed life. By the time she had played nine holes, the 5-foot-4 Lindley had six birdies and seemed to be towering over her 49-inch driver.

Gibson said no matter how solid Sorenstam continues to play, it’s not a surprise and won’t affect her game plan.

“I mean, she plays well all the time,” Gibson said. “It’s not like she’s playing any better now than she ever does. It’s not like I’m going to try to catch her. I’m just going to play my game.”

She has never won a tournament, but if she does, Gibson probably is going to let everybody know how she feels. She won’t keep everybody in the dark.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Leaders

LOS ANGELES WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

(at Oakmont Country Club--Par 72)

Annika Sorenstam: 66-69--135 -9

Ellie Gibson: 69-69--138 -6

Leta Lindley: 73-66--139 -5

Terry-Jo Myers: 74-66--140 -4

Luciana Bemvenuti: 73-68--141 -3

Stephanie Maynor: 72-69--141 -3

Liselotte Neumann: 71-70--141 -3