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 Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel are launching flaming Titleists at the walls of the castle that Annika Sorenstam built. Two of these three teens needed a hall pass to go to the bathroom a few months ago, and the other drives a golf ball a long way but can’t drive a car until she gets a license. It’s mind-boggling how good these kids are. What were you doing when you were 17? Pressel nearly won the U.S. Women’s Open and is petitioning the LPGA Tour to drop its age limit so she can play for keeps. Wie, 15, has not only been impressive on the LPGA Tour, but she seems poised to be the first woman in more than 60 years to make a cut in a PGA Tour event. Creamer, who at 18 became the youngest winner of a 72-hole event in LPGA Tour history, has already amassed five top-10 finishes, earned close to $1 million and gained exempt status on the tour. The LPGA Tour is beginning to look like women’s professional tennis — without all the grunting. Is this good for golf? Yes. People are actually talking about women’s golf without mentioning Sorenstam in the first breath. Is it healthy for these kids? That’s tough to say. The talent in this trio is obvious, but there’ll be others who want to take the same route and won’t be as successful. The NBA has realized this and now wants teen phenoms to get another year of maturity before stepping into the glaring spotlight. Whatever happened to amateur golf? To be an amateur used to be a noble venture. But it doesn’t pay. At least not like the professional tours and the endorsements that come with them. If this trend continues, college golf and amateur golf will lose more good players who seek fame and fortune in the big show. Pauma Valley is a laid-back town in the foothills of north San Diego County. It’s the home of Anne Quast Sander, one of the greatest amateur golfers of all time. She won three U.S. Women’s Amateur championships (1958, ’61 and ’63), with her 14 and 13 triumph over Phyllis Preuss in 1961 still standing as the largest margin of victory in the championship final. She also claimed four U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur titles (1987, ’89, ’90 and ’93) and is the only golfer, other than Jack Nicklaus, to win a major championship in every decade of her career. Turning professional would have seemed to be the likely next step in her playing evolution, but it was was never given serious consideration. “I’ve always loved competition, but I love it in very small doses,” said Sander as she shared the stories of her youth. “I never played very much. I probably play more now than at any other time. I always had other interests. When you are a professional, you have to do certain things and I could never make that commitment.” Women’s golf was nearly non-existent in the 1940s — no junior programs, women’s college teams or the LPGA. The first Women’s U.S. Open wasn’t even staged until 1946. “When I played in my first U.S. Open, there wasn’t even a qualifying event,” Sander said. “If you were good enough, you were allowed to play.” Sander was also part of one of the more amazing runs in women’s golf. In a seven-year-span from 1957-63, she and JoAnn (Gunderson) Carner captured six of the seven U.S. Amateur titles. It’s a feat that, with the defection of the game’s best amateurs to the professional ranks, will likely never be duplicated. “That Michelle Wie, she’s so strong and so smooth; so athletic,” Sander said. “I never dreamed of having that kind of athletic ability. In fact, I had no athletic ability outside of golf. I used to get C’s in gym class.” While Sander, at 67, is a throwback to another era, she’s hardly finished with the game. She still works diligently on her swing and spends many days at the Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed Pauma Valley Country Club. “They have such a wonderful facility here to play and practice and I love to practice,” said Sander, who had her lifetime exemption to the U.S. Women’s Amateur revoked by the USGA in 2004 despite the fact that she is still a competitive player. Undeterred, she continues to go to the range and the course at a time when other people her age are content to slow down. “I love to get better,” she said. “I have age-old problems with my swing that I continue to work on. I don’t think I can win again, but you never know.” N ANNE QUAST SANDER’S GOLF ACCOMPLISHMENTS • U.S. Women’s Amateur champion: 1958, 1961 and 1963; finalist: 1965, 1968 and 1973. • U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion: 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1993. • U.S. Girls’ Junior semifinalist and medalist: 1952. • British Women’s Amateur champion: 1980. • Women’s Western Amateur champion: 1956, 1961 and 1988; finalist: 1955. • Women’s Western Junior Girls’ champion: 1954; finalist: 1955. • North and South Women’s Amateur Champion: 1982 and 1983; finalist: 1987. • Women’s South Atlantic Golf champion: 1956. • Helen Lee Doherty Invitational champion: 1957. • Hollywood Women’s Invitational Four-Ball champion (with Ruth Jessen): 1956. • Washington State Women’s Golf Association champion: 1955 and 1956. • Washington State Junior Girls’ champion: 1952, 1954 and 1955. • Curtis Cup team member: 1958, 1960, 1962, 1968, 1974, 1984 and 1990. • World Amateur team member: 1966, 1968 and 1988. |
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