Year of the Rookie

Bleary-eyed Kellee Booth approached the driving range three weeks ago in Naples, Fla., to warm up for her debut as a full-time LPGA Tour player.

As players are apt to do before tournaments, Booth stretched out, pulled a club and began hitting balls. Only it was a little tough to see where her shots were going.

Since it was still pitch dark at about 6 a.m., Booth was hitting under generator-driven spotlights.

“It was kind of funny,” said Booth, of Rancho Santa Margarita. “It was sort of similar to a soccer field you’d see lit up at night, but it was morning and we were practicing.

“I teed off at 7:29 that day and I think the sun rose at 7:15 or something. So we were out there. That’s what they seem to do, they put the rookies out there at 5 a.m.”

Welcome to the LPGA Tour, where rookies are treated like, well, rookies.

But be careful who you call rookies this year. Two of them, Booth and Grace Park, come with a wealth of LPGA experience. Two others, Dorothy Delasin and Jennifer Rosales, have made significant marks as amateurs.

All are playing this week in the Los Angeles Women’s Championship at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley. The preseason favorites for the rookie of the year award, they are the reasons why the class of 2000 is considered among the top rookie crops in tour history.

“These are players that we have been hearing about for a few years now,” said Catrin Nilsmark, defending champion of the Los Angeles Women’s championship. “The younger players are getting better and better all the way through the junior levels. It’s pretty amazing.”

LPGA rookies have made immediate impacts in three of the last four years. Mi Huyn Kim won twice as a first-year player last season, Se Ri Pak had four victories as a rookie in 1998 and Karrie Webb had four victories in 1996.

With three Junior World titles, two U.S. Girls’ Championships, four American Junior Golf Assn. player of the year awards, two NCAA individual championships and two U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships among Booth, Park, Rosales and Delasin, many expect the rookie class of 2000 to have a similar impact.

But these players aren’t concerned with the expectations.

“What [goals] we set for ourselves is pretty much what I think we need to live up to,” Booth said. “There are going to be some people that are going to expect [us] to win right away. Well, that’s not going to happen. It might, but I think it’s going to take some time.”

Time, they have plenty of. The average age of Booth, Park, Rosales and Delasin is 20.75. They earned full exemptions for the tour on their first attempts.

Park, 20, is the most experienced of the four. Winner of the 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 1999 NCAA titles, she played 15 LPGA events as an amateur.

In 1999, she finished eighth at the U.S. Women’s Open and, after turning pro, finished second in the Safeway LPGA Golf Championship.

She won five of 10 events on the SBC Futures Tour to earn an LPGA spot and can become the third consecutive Korean-born LPGA rookie of the year, following Kim and Pak.

Her experience, Park said, has given her the confidence to play in the spotlight.

“With all that experience I’m more familiar with a lot of the players and familiar with the surroundings and environment,” she said. “So I think that’s a little bit of an advantage as a rookie having played in a lot of LPGA tournaments in the past.”

Tour veterans realize they have more talented players to contend with each week, but a tournament is a tournament, they say.

“I’m always nervous,” Nilsmark said. “If I’m playing against Annika or Karrie or someone I never heard of, I still want to play the best I can.”

But Booth, who played 11 pro tournaments as an amateur, has an inkling the veterans know who they are dealing with this year.

“I think they know we’re good players and that we’re going to be in contention,” Booth said.

Fortunately, that hasn’t created the need for extra security.

“No Tonya Harding incidents yet,” Park said. “Actually, a lot of players are welcoming us and coming up to me and congratulating me for what I did last year, telling me that if I need any help I can always ask for help. They have been very supportive.”

Delasin, 19, is not quite as well known as Park and Booth. She decided to forego college and turned pro after winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur in August. She brings a youthful exuberance she hopes will ripple through the tour a la Sergio Garcia on the PGA Tour.

“When I was watching Sergio Garcia last year, I was like ‘That’s my sign, that’s my omen,’ ” Delasin said. “I want to create that kind of feeling on the LPGA Tour.”

Nervous about her LPGA debut last month, Delasin said her golf instincts quickly settled her down.

“When I got my card, I was like ‘My God, I’m going to play with people I watched on TV,’ ” she said. “Then, when I played the first event, it was like everything was even. I have 14 clubs and they have 14 clubs. Now let’s see who can get some putts to drop.”

With proven golf games, rookies seem to worry more about adjusting to the lifestyle of a pro than whether their game will cut it on tour.

“I think the toughest thing will be getting used to the touring, traveling and not being home,” Park said.

And then there is the matter of hotel reservations, car rentals, etc., etc.

“All the things that our parents used to take care of, we have to take care of now,” Booth said. “And you realize how expensive it is.”

But they have each other. Park and Booth played together for a year at Arizona State and have known each other for about eight years through junior golf.

Delasin also has been a fixture on the junior circuit and most rookies became acquainted playing at least part of last year on the Futures Tour.

“We’re all out there trying to win the rookie of the year award and so that’s pretty much our competition,” Booth said. “But I think we’re all rooting for each other. You know, we’d like to kind of stick around and all be out here the next 25 years if possible.”

She pauses, then laughs.

“Well, I don’t know if it’s going to be that long, but this is a really neat group of people.”

Rookies, however, are still rookies. And no matter the credentials or quality of play on the course, the veterans rule in the clubhouse.

“They still give us a hard time,” Booth said. “But that’s to be expected. I think they’re just watching out for us, you know.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WOOD RANCH GOLF CLUB / FAST FACT

L.A. Women’s Championship

Wood Ranch Golf Club

Simi Valley

Who: 130 LPGA players plus two sponsor exemptions

Purse: $750,000

($112,00 to winner)

Schedule: Today, pro-am; Thursday, pro-am; Friday, first round; Saturday, second round; Sunday, final round

TV: The Golf Channel will televise the 54-hole tournament live each day from 1-4 p.m PST.