What’s New in Women’s Golf? It’s a Big Surprise

If there is one thing you have to give the LPGA credit for, it’s this sort of surprise-package mentality it keeps bringing to the party every two years, almost as though somebody’s checking the calendar or something.

This can no longer be surprising, not the way things have been going lately, so we probably should get used to it.

Four years ago, there was a gap-toothed, nearsighted, part-time computer nerd from Sweden who popped out of Stockholm by way of the University of Arizona named Annika Sorenstam.

Two years ago, a nervy, big-slugging Australian named Karrie Webb showed up, hailing from a tiny town called Ayr, where goats were a lot more popular than golf courses.

And this year, we got Se Ri Pak, straight from Daejeon, Korea, even straighter off the tee and going straight to the bank with nearly $900,000 in prize money in her rookie year.

Add them all up and what you’ve suddenly got on the LPGA tour is a fresh bunch of young superstars busting out all over the place and providing the women’s game with a pretty fair launching point for prominence into the next century.

That’s the game plan, at least.

Some of the same old problems exist--lack of large network TV exposure, small purses, soft sponsors--but there are indications that the LPGA is getting its act together just in time to take advantage of its newly discovered role as hatching place for young superstars.

“I think we’ve accomplished quite a bit this year,” LPGA Commissioner Jim Ritts said. “Our mandate was threefold: to increase playing opportunities, to improve playing conditions and increase the amount of money we’re playing for. We’ve accomplished all three.”

Ritts, in his third year as the chief officer of the LPGA, worked for 23 years in the communications and marketing/advertising industry, and he clearly had his work cut out for him with women’s professional golf.

There are signs that Ritts is succeeding. When he took over in 1996, there were 36 events. In 1998, there are 42 events with a record 34 on network and cable television and a total purse of $32.5 million. Next year, there will be 44 events, 36 of them on television, and 10 of the tournaments will have prize money of more than $1 million. In 1993, there were three events with at least $1 million in prize money.

And that’s progress, Ritts says.

“The great news is what has happened on the golf course, though,” he said. “The two dominant stories were Se Ri Pak and the Solheim Cup.”

Pak, who turned 21 last month, was a successful amateur player in Korea but little-known in the U.S. until she won the $1.3-million McDonald’s LPGA Championship in May and completed a nice double--her first victory and first major title.

Then in July, she won her second tournament--and second major--when she won the U.S. Open in a playoff. Pak also won the Jamie Farr Kroger the next week and the Giant Eagle two weeks after that to become the first LPGA player to win four times this year.

Ritts said Pak proved she was something special at the McDonald’s LPGA event.

“It was fascinating,” he said. “She was paired the first two days with [Hall of Famers] Nancy Lopez and JoAnne Carner and how she handled herself was so refreshing. . . . There was an energy being exchanged.

“And then at the U.S. Open, the world outside of golf discovered this phenomenon.”

Sorenstam, who turned 28 earlier this month, has been routinely phenomenal since she was rookie of the year in 1994 and player of the year in 1995. She won the U.S. Open in 1996 and ‘97, had the lowest scoring average on tour in 1996 and was player of the year again in 1997 when she also set a record with $1.24 million in earnings.

Although she spotted Pak a lead in the victory race, Sorenstam caught up in a hurry, winning four times in three months. Sorenstam now has 16 victories in five years on the LPGA tour.

Webb, 23, has won twice this year and nine times in three years. As a rookie in 1996, she was the first to pass $1 million in prize money and was the player of the year.

As for the Solheim Cup, the U.S. team won easily, but it has been off the course where some of the biggest LPGA victories may be found.

Ritts sold Lincoln-Mercury as the first umbrella television sponsor in LPGA history--a seven-tournament deal. There will be a four-event Mercury Series in 1999, all of them $1-million tournaments. There also will be four new tournaments next year--in Austin, Texas; Naples, Fla.; Boston and Columbus, Ohio.

“I think you would have to say we’re going in the right direction,” Ritts said.

In times past, that would be considered a surprise package in itself. But times appear to have changed. These days, the LPGA seems intent on making new superstars, not old news.