The Other Sorenstam Comes Out of the Darkness as Rookie

While Annika Sorenstam continued to burn up the course at the Los Angeles Women’s Championship on Saturday, her little sister Charlotta was burning the candle at both ends.

The younger Sorenstam, a 23-year-old rookie on the LPGA Tour, had to be at Oakmont Country Club by 7 a.m. after finishing first-round play in darkness the night before.

Her second-round 74 gave her a two-round total of 149, enough to make the cut by one stroke. Almost as important, she learned a valuable lesson about pacing herself on the long, hard professional tour.

“I didn’t do anything after I played [Friday],” she said. “I ate some food and then I went to bed. I got my nine hours sleep.”

Having entered only 13 tournaments on the European Tour last year, Sorenstam faces a comparatively grueling season of 27 LPGA events.

A little taller than Annika, and every bit as quiet, the former University of Texas All-American finished 31st in Orlando, Fla., last month. Oakmont is her second tournament of the year.

Charlotta drew a late tee time Friday, playing with the last threesome of the day. They waited 20 minutes at the first tee, finally starting at 1:30 p.m., then waited half an hour at No. 3 when the course was log-jammed ahead of them.

“That’s because of the difficulty of the greens here,” Sorenstam said. “It takes more time reading the putts.”

Another lesson to be learned. Sorenstam might have been a little impatient when she double-bogeyed No. 8.

By the time her threesome reached the 17th green, just after 6 p.m., it was dark.

“Plenty dark,” said Jody Anschutz, who also played in the threesome. “We probably should have quit a hole earlier, but I was playing so bad that it wouldn’t have mattered.”

It’s up to the players to decide whether to continue or quit and finish up early the next morning. Anschutz, at 12 over par, and Kristal Parker-Gregory, at nine over, deferred to Sorenstam, who was three over.

“We didn’t care,” Anschutz said. “She wanted to keep going, so we kept going.”

Said Sorenstam: “I didn’t want to get up early and play just one hole, then start over again.”

On No. 18, the caddies ran ahead to track the flight of the ball through the night sky as the players came in, guided by the clubhouse lights. Miraculously, all three parred the 440-yard hole.

Then they huddled beneath an outside lamp. “We couldn’t even see our scorecards,” Sorenstam said.

On Saturday, tour officials took the precaution of moving tee times up 10 minutes.

Sorenstam was unfazed when she drew an 8:11 a.m. spot. But the effects of her relatively late evening might have carried over. She four-putted the first hole for a double-bogey, then bogeyed again on No. 5 and No. 6.

“It’s just a matter of getting into a rhythm,” she said. “I felt like something was missing.”

Eventually, Sorenstam rebounded with birdies on the eighth, 10th and 18th holes. A few hours later, just before 6 p.m., her sister finished with Saturday’s last threesome.

“The last two holes were just too dark to play, especially reading the greens,” Annika complained.

Perhaps Charlotta could have given Annika the benefit of her newfound experience, except that the sisters don’t say much to each other before tournaments.

“Just ‘good luck and play well,’ ” Charlotta said.

Now they can add, “Be in by dark.”