She May Keep Coming Out to Play

Rosie Jones, whose revelation she is gay was timed so she could become a spokeswoman for a gay and lesbian travel company, said she may extend her career into 2005, during which she will turn 46.

Jones signed a one-year deal with options with Olivia and will wear the company logo on her headgear and her shirt. Jones, who had said she probably would retire at the end of this year, is having second-thoughts now.

She has won 13 times on the LPGA Tour, including the Asahi Ryokuken International last year.

Jones said she isn’t sure if her decision to come out would influence others on the LPGA Tour to do the same.

“This is personal. This is for me,” she said. “I can’t speak for anybody else.”

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The number of international players on the tour has doubled in the last 10 years, to 44 in 2004.

“The face of the LPGA has changed,” Commissioner Ty Votaw said. “The international players make us a true world tour. We’re never going back to the day when our players looked, acted, talked or looked the same.”

Case in point: In the first 28 years of the Kraft Nabisco, only three winners were foreign-born -- Sandra Post of Canada in 1978-79; Sally Little of South Africa in 1982; Helen Alfredsson of Sweden in 1993.

The last four winners were foreign-born -- Annika Sorenstam (twice), Karrie Webb and Patricia Meunier-Lebouc.

Votaw said the LPGA has seen interest from companies in Hawaii that are considering sponsoring an LPGA tour event to surf the popularity of 14-year-old Michelle Wie. The LPGA hasn’t staged an event in Hawaii in two years.

As for Wie, Votaw reaffirmed the LPGA rule that limits participation to players who are at least 18. However, there is a long-standing process in which a player 15-18 can petition Votaw for admittance on the basis of performance skills, maturity, education and support of family.

There would be precedence for Wie, if she chose to follow that route. Aree Song was 17 when Votaw granted her an age exemption last October.

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Lorena Ochoa on Wie’s playing LPGA events: “I just hope she enjoys her time as a girl.”

Ochoa, who turned pro last year at 21, played the Kraft Nabisco when she was 19.

Ochoa says she is ready to win a major, but then she is used to taking on big assignments. One of her hobbies is mountain climbing. The tallest peak she has climbed, along with her older brother Alejandro, is Ixtaccyhuatl, a 17,343-foot mountain near Mexico City. She said there’s nothing in her endorsement contracts to prevent her from mountain climbing.

“And don’t tell anyone I’m doing it,” she said.

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Votaw said “no one is bigger than the game” and that the LPGA would continue to do well even if Sorenstam decided to retire, which she said she could see doing if she won all four majors this year.

“If she were to decide next year to retire and start a family, I think there would be players who would [step in],” he said. “New story lines and new dominance and new charisma would be on the forefront. She’ll make a decision that’s best for her, but we’ll be just fine.”

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U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk had surgery on his left wrist and will be out for at least three months, making it unlikely he will defend his title and raising questions about playing in the Ryder Cup.

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From Pia Nilsson, Sorenstam’s golf mentor, on whether she agreed with Sorenstam’s setting a goal of winning all four majors this year: “These days, Annika is her own best coach.”

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Associated Press contributed to this report.