Annika’s a Cut Above

Jeffrey Trimmer is now a fan of Annika Sorenstam. Jeffrey is 9 years old and had never seen a woman play in a golf tournament until Friday afternoon when he leaned against the ropes at the ninth hole at Colonial Country Club, straining to catch a glimpse of the best female player in the world.

It didn’t matter much to Jeffrey that Sorenstam was the first woman in nearly six decades to be playing in a PGA Tour event. It didn’t matter much to Jeffrey what many others saw, a male-female thing. What mattered to Jeffrey, the thing that he was thinking about, was golf.

Jeffrey sure did like Sorenstam.

“Because she can drive it far,” he explained.

It’s hard to argue with a 9-year-old, especially in this case, because Jeffrey is correct. For what amounted to a two-day trip at the Bank of America Colonial tournament, Sorenstam drove a long way.

Six months ago, despite her 42 victories on the LPGA Tour and the place waiting for her in the Hall of Fame, Sorenstam wasn’t exactly a household name in a lot of places other than her native Stockholm.

But by the time she left town Friday night, after 36 holes and 145 shots at Colonial, Sorenstam is the hottest story in golf, and maybe a few other places as well.

Yes, she missed the cut, and no, she didn’t play as well as she expected, but that’s missing the point.

What Sorenstam accomplished cannot be defined by a number written on a scorecard or the fact that she was tied for 96th after two rounds.

The sum of what Sorenstam managed to do could be seen on the face of Jeffrey Trimmer and the thousands of others who wore “Go Annika” buttons or begged for her autograph or greeted her like some kind of rock star when her name was announced at the first tee.

This was a happening. What Sorenstam did was put the women’s tour back on the map, something she couldn’t do despite dominating the LPGA Tour.

No one in golf has seen anything like this since, well, can we mention Tiger Woods?

Ty Votaw, the commissioner of the LPGA, should send a private jet for Sorenstam to make sure she shows up at every women’s tournament the rest of the year and next year too.

The reason is simple. Just as Woods makes every event in which he plays more relevant than any other, the same may hold true for Sorenstam on the LPGA Tour.

There are Sorenstam tournaments and there are the rest. Now, that’s power.

It may be no accident that the agent who represents Tiger also deals the cards in Sorenstam’s behalf, which makes Mark Steinberg of IMG either the most fortunate agent in recent sports history or the most prescient.

Chances are, for client and agent, it’s all a matter of good timing. Sorenstam’s innovative and bold entry into the chauvinistic realm of men’s golf satisfied not only the standards of consumption by the mainstream public, but it also touched a nerve in sports fans as well.

It was viewed as a good time, a spirited adventure, at least by most of Sorenstam’s male peers and nearly everyone else. It was also a welcome departure from the negative tone associated with golf’s most recent gender-bending experience that was played out at the Masters amid police, protesters and press.

Sorenstam herself was most responsible for constructing that impression. She was unfailingly gracious, polite and charming, which are qualities some on the PGA Tour could use on occasion.

On the course, Sorenstam smiled. She swooned playfully. She traded high-fives from her playing partners. One time, when she watched her ball carom off a bank at the green and bounce toward the hole, she mouthed the words, “How lucky can I get?”

The truth is, Sorenstam made her own luck, through dedication to her craft, hard work and guts. She risked much and won it all back. When she knew she had missed the cut, Sorenstam was still on top of her game, revealing more of herself than many knew even existed.

She thanked the fans. She thanked the players on the PGA Tour and said she held no grudges against anyone who deemed her out of place. She said she hoped she had been a role model for young girls and boys who had dreams to follow.

Sorenstam said she was grateful for the chance to play on the men’s tour, and even though she said she wouldn’t do it again, she felt privileged nonetheless.

The reason her short game wasn’t so great Friday was because she lost the feeling in her hands. Sorenstam said that’s always what happens when she gets nervous.

Next time, she said, she’ll do a lot better.

Jeffrey Trimmer and his friends will be waiting.

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Sorenstam’s Stats

How Annika Sorenstam fared through her two rounds in the Colonial. Sorenstam finished five over for the tournament. The cut line was one over:

36 HOLES

Number of Birdies -- 2

Number of Pars -- 27

Number of Bogeys -- 7

Other scores -- 0

SCORING

Par 3s -- Even

Par 5s -- Even

Par 4s -- 5 over

FAIRWAYS -- 85.7%

24 of 28 Tied for 3rd in field

ON THE GREENS -- 66.7%

24 of 36 Tied for 53rd in field

One-putts -- 10

Three-putts -- 4

PUTTS MADE

Less than 5 feet -- 96.5% (28/29)

5-10 feet -- 55.5% (5/9)

10-15 feet -- 50% (2/4)

Beyond 15 feet -- 0% (0/22)

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SORENSTAM SHOT BY SHOT

* HOLE 1, 565 yards, par 5: Sorenstam pulled her first drive a little, but it stayed in the fairway. She laid up with her second shot, and her third -- a 135-yard nine-iron -- landed in the bunker to the right of the green. Her sand shot wound up five feet from the cup and she made the putt for par.

* HOLE 2, 400 yards, par 4: In the fairway again off the tee, Sorenstam hit her second shot -- a nine-iron from 148 yards -- to within seven feet of the cup. She made the putt for a birdie.

* HOLE 3, 476 yards, par 4: Sorenstam was in the fairway off the tee. Her approach shot found the bunker for the second time in three holes, but she made another nice sand shot, getting it to within three feet and making the putt for par.

* HOLE 4, 246 yards, par 3: Sorenstam hit the green with a seven-wood, the ball passing within inches of the hole, and rolling about 12 feet beyond it. She just missed the birdie putt and settled for par.

* HOLE 5, 470 yards, par 4: She missed the fairway badly on the right, but appeared to catch a break when her ball settled away from the trees. She punched out, and her third shot -- from 167 yards -- rolled off the back. Her chip fell about 10 feet short of the hole, and she holed that putt for bogey.

* HOLE 6, 393 yards, par 4 : She found another fairway but was short of the green on her second shot. She chipped onto the green, but came up about 12 feet short of the hole. She missed the putt for par and made bogey.

* HOLE 7, 427 yards, par 4: In the fairway off the tee, her 178-yard approach shot landed just to the right of the green in the rough. Her chip skidded just past the hole and settled about six feet from the hole. She made the putt for a par.

* HOLE 8, 192 yards, par 3: She hit the green, but was about 70 feet short. She three-putted for a bogey.

* HOLE 9, 402 yards, par 4: Sorenstam found the fairway off the tee and avoided trouble with the water that fronts the green by finding the center of the putting surface with her second shot. She two-putted for par.

* HOLE 10, 404 yards, par 4: She was on the green in regulation, finding the fairway off the tee and hitting her second shot to within about 35 feet. Her first putt was five feet short, and she missed that, settling for bogey.

* HOLE 11, 609 yards, par 5: In the fairway again off the tee, she badly mis-hit her second shot, which ended up near the trees to the right. Her third shot ran up the fairway a few yards short of the green. She chipped onto the putting surface a few feet short of the hole, and made the putt for par.

* HOLE 12, 433 yards, par 4: Using driver on this dogleg, Sorenstam found the fairway again off the tee. Her second shot landed on the back portion of the green, far from the hole. She hit her first putt to within five feet and missed her second from there, three-putting again for bogey.

* HOLE 13, 178 yards, par 3: Sorenstam landed her tee shot to within about 20 feet of the cup. She left the birdie putt just short and made a par.

* HOLE 14, 457 yards, par 4: In the fairway off the tee, Sorenstam found the green in two. She two-putted from there for a second consecutive par.

* HOLE 15, 430 yards, par 4: She landed in the left rough off the tee, and put her second shot into the rough just to the right of the green. She chipped it just past the cup, and made the comebacker for another par.

* HOLE 16, 188 yards, par 3: She hit the green off the tee, and left her birdie putt from about 25 feet a few feet short. She made the putt for her fourth par in a row.

* HOLE 17, 383 yards, par 4: In the fairway again off the tee, she hit a nine-iron from 135 yards and landed it about 25 feet past the hole. She missed her second birdie of the day by inches, and tapped in for a fifth consecutive par.

* HOLE 18, 427 yards, par 4: On her final tee shot of the week, Sorenstam badly missed the fairway, landing her drive under some trees to the left. She hit 11 of 14 fairways Friday, bringing her two-day total to 24 of 28. She hit the ball over the trees on her second shot, landing about 50 yards from the green. She pitched from there to the front of the green, about 14 feet from the hole. She made the putt and finished with another par for a 74.

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*--* Sorenstam Statistics CATEGORY Round 2 Rank EAGLES -- -- BIRDIES 1 T109 PARS 12 T11 BOGEYS 5 T17 DOUBLE BOGEYS -- -- OTHER -- -- DRIVING ACCURACY 79% T3 DRIVING DISTANCE 267 100 PUTTS PER ROUND 31 T106 PUTTS PER GIR 2.200 111 GREENS IN REG 56% T53 SAND SAVES 100% T1

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