Whaley Lower on Novelty List

Suzy Whaley tees off today in the Greater Hartford Open, a PGA Tour event.

Remember Suzy Whaley?

She’s the club professional who earned a spot in the Hartford event by winning a Connecticut PGA section qualifying event last year. She is the first woman to qualify for a PGA Tour event since Babe Didrickson Zaharias in 1945 and was supposed to be the first woman to play on the PGA Tour since then.

Annika Sorenstam cut Whaley’s 15 minutes of fame a bit short by accepting a sponsor’s exemption into the Colonial in May. Whaley, however, isn’t concerned. Her theory is that both appearances by women on the PGA Tour are good for the game.

“I have a goal that I would like to inspire a lot of people to get on the golf course,” she said. “I am a club professional. I’m a member of the PGA of America. I’m a member of the LPGA Teaching Club Professional division. My job is to grow the game of golf, and I take that very seriously.”

The media attention this week is nowhere close to what Sorenstam drew at the Colonial, and USA Network will not broadcast Whaley start to finish as it did Sorenstam. Then again, Sorenstam is the No. 1 woman in the world. Whaley, who played shorter tees than men during qualifying, is a full-time club professional, and expectations for her performance this week at the TPC at River Highlands are not very high.

“The people that have qualified -- that have won the qualifying spot that she won, they have always had trouble making the cut,” Phil Mickelson, the defending champion, said this week. “So let’s not put any expectations. I don’t think that we should worry about how she plays, or what her score is. I think that we should just cherish the fact that she qualified and enjoy the fact that this is a unique circumstance on tour.”

Sorenstam’s results at the Colonial were applauded by many, but her 71-74 was good only for a 96th place and a missed cut. Whaley might have a hard time breaking 80.

It has been raining in Hartford all week, making the course play longer than its 6,820 yards. Whaley, who has averaged 254 yards off the tee in four LPGA starts this year, will have to hit a lot of fairway woods into par-four holes.

In four LPGA tournaments this year, Whaley has hit only 62% of the greens in regulation. That ranks 93rd on the tour. Her putting also leaves a little to be desired. Averaging 31.5 putts per round, Whaley ranks 152nd on the LPGA Tour.

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Whaley said she has received a warm reception from the PGA Tour players this week. One player in particular was happy to see a woman in the field: Kenny Perry, who won the Colonial when Sorenstam played.

“I won Annika’s tournament,” Perry said. “Maybe it will bring luck to me over here in this tournament.”

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Speaking of Sorenstam, she is playing this week at the Evian Masters in France and shot an opening-round 72. That’s much better than her last start, when she withdrew after six holes at the Canadian Open because of flu symptoms and exhaustion.

“I had 10 days to rest, which was very important,” Sorenstam said. “I think I just hit a really low point in Canada where I was exhausted. I think the last four months have caught up with me, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. I felt it physically. I felt it mentally. I just needed a break.”

Sorenstam said she was “a couch potato” during her time off and rented several movies. She said playing the Colonial, the buildup and the aftermath drained her.

“I prepared so much emotionally and physically,” she said. “Then afterward, it never really ended for four months. I was on a high. It was just all the attention and the pressure, and I paid a price.”

After the Colonial, Sorenstam played three consecutive weeks on the LPGA Tour, took a week off, played two more, then pulled out of the Canada event.

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While talk of a Tiger Woods slump may be silly, it might not be a stretch to describe this week’s defending champion as slumping.

Mickelson hasn’t won since the Greater Hartford Open last June -- a span of 56 weeks. This year, he has only one top-20 finish since a third at the Masters and has dropped from No. 2 to No. 10 in the World Rankings.

But Mickelson, who went two years without a win from February 1998 to February 2000, isn’t getting worried just yet.

“I don’t feel like there is pressure to get a win right away,” Mickelson said. “What I feel is I want to get in contention more. I really haven’t put myself in contention this year. I want to just start playing better as opposed to worrying about the result.”

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The Jane Merlo Memorial tournament is Aug. 2 at Sunset Ridge Golf Course in Santa Maria. The tournament benefits junior golf. Cost is $40. Details: (805) 347-1070.... Willie Gault, Don Ford, Toi Cook, Mike Lansford, Carlos Palomino, Olivia Brown, Joanna Pacula and George Lazenby are some of the 50 celebrities who will play in the Local 770 Tournament on Aug. 11 at Robinson Ranch in Santa Clarita. The event benefits the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society. Details: (760) 632-7770.... Bill Russell, Reggie Barry, John D’Aquino, James MacArthur, Brian Goodell, Ed Ratleff, Wil Shriner, Frank Bonner and Patrika Drabo are among those entered in the San Clemente Sunrise Rotary Club Tournament on Aug. 25 at Talega Golf Club in San Clemente. The event befits Laura’s House, a shelter of victims of domestic violence. Details: (760) 632-7770.

Thomas Bonk is on vacation.