Tee for Two

The champion wore a black cap, a cream-colored shirt, baby-blue shorts and white shoes.

The challenger wore a black cap, a black and white top, navy shorts, a white belt and watch, and black and white shoes.

In this corner, it’s Annika Sorenstam and in the other, Michelle Wie. Welcome to the heavyweight division.

With the desert sun shining like a spotlight Thursday on Bighorn Golf Club at Palm Desert, the 34-year-old top female player on the planet was paired with the precocious 15-year-old from Hawaii.

Sorenstam still has the edge, shooting a six-under 66 to Wie’s two-over 74 in the first round of the Samsung World Championship.

For the LPGA and the sport of women’s golf, it was a moment to remember, to distill, a moment that might even represent a turning point in history or at the very least, an opportune time to take a snapshot look at Sorenstam, the game’s top player and its very prominent present, and also Wie, the wunderkind, and its possible marquee future.

This is what the suits are saying at NBC, which is televising the 20-player event this weekend -- it’s a chance for more exposure for Sorenstam and Wie.

“They’re the ones that move the needle,” said Kevin Sullivan, a vice president at NBC. “Annika has been so good such a long time, and Michelle is kind of the next big thing. The combination makes good TV.”

There is another combination at work as well. Sorenstam-Wie is a story of power, money, television, star influence and, yes, golf. Sorenstam moved her celebrity to another level when she played the PGA event at Colonial last year, missing the cut, and Wie made a similar splash with her entry into the men’s pro game at the Sony Open in January, missing the cut by one shot.

While Sorenstam keeps dropping hints that she is not that far from the end of her career, Wie is still a high school sophomore with announced plans to attend college, continue to play a few LPGA events, maybe even shoot for the PGA Tour at some point.

If she turned pro today, how much could Wie get for a head-to-toe endorsement deal, including clubs, with Nike?

As much as $20 million for a four- or five-year deal, according to Bob Williams of Burns Sports & Celebrities, a company that helps match advertisers with celebrities.

“She has almost unlimited marketing potential, Tiger Woods-type,” Williams said.

There are a lot of dollars out there for both Wie and Sorenstam, although Wie as an amateur can’t cash in -- yet, anyway.

The USGA altered its rules regarding amateur status in 2002 to allow amateurs to play free equipment as long as their image isn’t used in advertising, if the equipment is available to all amateurs and if no special, personal logos are created.

For a hint of how Wie might be leaning, check out what she’s playing this week -- Nike forged blades and wedges, the new Nike One Black ball and a Nike staff bag. Wie’s driver is a TaylorMade R7.

Nike made contact with the Wie family last year to make introductions and to test any equipment she wanted, which is a departure from how some equipment manufacturers have done business in the past, by sending equipment unsolicited.

As for Sorenstam, her endorsement contract with her primary sponsor, Callaway Golf, is up for renewal and preliminary talks have already begun. Sorenstam has been under contract with Callaway since she turned pro in 1994.

“More than any other woman in the game since Nancy Lopez, Annika has raised the LPGA’s profile, and with it, she’s drawn a lot of attention to our brand,” said Larry Dorman, a vice president at Callaway Golf. “There are going to be plenty of people interested in Annika.”

Sorenstam’s other endorsements include Cutter & Buck clothing, Kraft, Mercedes-Benz, Oakley eyewear, Microsoft and Rolex watches.

With an estimated total endorsement income of almost $2 million, Sorenstam ranks in the top 10 of all female athletes, but far behind tennis players Serena and Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova.

Bob Williams urged caution regarding Wie’s earning potential, citing her youth.

“We’ve seen teenage phenoms before and they can burn out quickly, Ty Tryon most recently,” he said. “You have to be very careful what Michelle’s game plan is in the next four years. I think she’s going to be extraordinary, but that’s not assured.

“At some point there’s too much too soon. I’m sure the LPGA is interested, because she’s potentially their golden goose.”

To be sure, the LPGA is extremely interested in Wie’s progress. Ty Votaw, the LPGA commissioner, takes care to mention Wie in the context of eventually moving into a stable of new, young, would-be stars-in-waiting, such as Christina Kim, Paula Creamer, Lorena Ochoa and Aree Song.

Votaw too urges caution about heaping expectations on Wie, despite her obvious talent. Wie, who played her first LPGA event when she was 12, is playing her 18th pro event at the Samsung.

“You had this person who no one really saw before, how good she is at such a young age, her length and her image that has been captured, it’s layer upon layer upon layer,” he said.

“What I would hate to see happen, is someone burning her out. That’s why I tend to stay away from the issue of potential. When she’s 21, 28 or 30 and she’s just as excited about the game of golf as she is right now, that’s what we would like to see.

“She’s a breath of fresh air -- not that our air is polluted -- but people want to see what’s next, the next big thing.”

Sorenstam has been the big thing since 1995, her second season, when she won the U.S. Open. With 53 LPGA Tour victories and seven major championships, Sorenstam earned her place in the Hall of Fame in 2003.

Said Votaw: “Annika is very concerned about her legacy in golf and also with the future of the game.”

The record will show that Sorenstam’s legacy is safe, and although she might be concerned about the game’s future, she said she isn’t worried about it at all.

“I think the LPGA is in better shape now than when I got here,” she said. “In the last 10 years, the game has gotten better, the players are so much better. And if I left today, it’s better already.”

Sorenstam said the LPGA is heading in the right direction with the large number of potential stars, a group that should eventually include Wie, who can petition the LPGA to join and turn pro even now, but would still have to qualify. The LPGA rule is that players must be at least 18, but Votaw will entertain the merits of any early-entrant petitioner on a case-by-case basis. The only player who has turned pro after a petition was Song, who was 17.

Sorenstam expects a great deal of Wie.

“She’s impressive. She’s very talented. She hits the ball a long way,” she said. “She’s very mature on the golf course. I love her golf swing.

“The potential is there in the future. She’s so young, she has many years ahead of her that she’s going in the right direction and I think she’ll be good for the future of women’s golf.”

So this really is some sort of milestone that women’s golf is passing this weekend in the desert, where the present and the future of women’s golf crossed paths. For Sorenstam and Wie, it represented a significant moment, if not for each other, than for each of them individually.

Chances are, it won’t be the last time.

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Wie on Tour

How Michelle Wie has fared on the LPGA Tour:

*--* 2002 tournament Round scores Result LPGA Takefuji Classic 72-74 Missed cut by three Asahi Ryokuken 81-75 Missed cut by seven Wendy’s Championship 77-75 Missed cut by two 2003 tournament Round scores Result Kraft Nabisco 72-74-66-76 Tied for 9th Chick-fil-A 72-70-71 Tied for 33rd ShopRite LPGA 71-72-72 Tied for 52nd U.S. Women’s Open 73-73-76-76 Tied for 39th Jamie Farr Kroger 73-72 Missed cut by two Safeway Classic 69-72-73 Tied for 28th Nine Bridges 85-78-70 69th 2004 tournament Round scores Result Safeway International 72-67-70-77 Tied for 19th Kraft Nabisco 69-72-69-71 4th Michelob Ultra 72-67-73-72 Tied for 12th U.S. Women’s Open 71-70-71-73 Tied for 13th Evian Masters 71-71-76-69 Tied for 33rd Wendy’s Championship 73-69-71-69 Tied for 6th

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Notes: Wie shot 83 to Monday qualify at the 2002 Takefuji Classic at 12, the youngest to qualify for LPGA event. She shot 71 to Monday qualify at the 2002 Wendy’s Championship. Wie shot even par 72-68 and missed the cut by one shot at the 2004 Sony Open on the PGA Tour.