Bidding farewell to a pioneering legend

The game of golf bids farewell to one of its greats this week.

A professional in every manner of the word, who elevated the sport to a new level with a period of dominance unmatched by rivals.

A player who transcended boundaries, but who always had the utmost respect to the regular paymasters on a Tour she made her own over the past decade.

Women’s golf will be forever indebted to Annika Sorenstam who retires at the end of season. She departs the major scene in which she triumphed 10 times, at the Ricoh’s Women’s British Open at Sunningdale this week.

The 37-year-old is leaving golf for a career in business and to spend more time with her family.

No doubt she will be successful in both, having been a dedicated, determined and pioneering golfer on the course.

Born in Stockholm in 1970, the blonde-haired Swede had a similar impact on the women’s Tour to that of Tiger on the men’s tour.

She elevated women’s golf from poor relation to respected equal.

Her dominance of the sport for more than a decade enhanced the quality of golf on show. She raised the bar that others since have tried to reach.

A graduate of the University of Arizona, Sorenstam split her time between playing in America and forging the reputation of the Ladies European Tour on her home continent.

In 1995 she gave notice of her intentions with victory in the US Women’s Open.

It was the first of 10 major titles, including the career grand slam which she completed in 2003 with the McDonald’s LPGA Championship and the Weetabix Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham, her only triumph in Britain’s main event.

Sorenstam won three LPGA Championships in a row and helped cement the Kraft Nabisco Championship as the womens game’s fourth major with another trio of titles in 2001, 2002 and 2005.

Her major-winning career came full circle in 2006 when she won the US Open at Newport for a third time, making it a grand 10 to her name.

With that victory she tied her great friend Tiger Woods on 10 major championship wins. Woods has since gone on to add four more titles, while Sorenstam slid down the rankings, overtaken by the new crop of American players like Morgan Pressel, the influx of players from the Far East and the growing dominance of Mexican Lorena Ochoa, who has strode out from the long shadow cast by Sorenstam, to dominate the sport in a similar fashion.

For years pundits drew hypothetical parallels as to who was the greatest golfer, Tiger or Annika?

In 2003, she got her chance to put that theory into practice.

In a landmark for women’s golf, Sorenstam became the first LPGA player to compete on the men’s tour at the Colonial tournament in Texas. Her inclusion in the field polarised locker room opinion, Vijay Singh the loudest voice calling for her to stick to her own tour.

Sorenstam missed the cut, largely due to her lack of length off the tee and from the fairway when measured against the men.

But when it came to her short game she was than a match for her temporary peers, and at the end of two emotionally-draining days she broke down in tears, showing a human side that tugged on the heart strings.

There may be tears at Sunningdale again this weekend, whether she crowns her career with another title, or whether she fades into the field and makes the walk up the 18th fairway out of contention.

One thing is for sure, women’s golf has lost its greatest player and its greatest ambassador.

Birkdale wind separates men from the boys

Watching Greg Norman roll back the years yesterday afternoon was the highlight of the opening day at Royal Birkdale.

Having set off from home at 5am, and then got drenched following Simon Dyson for four hours, getting the chance to witness a legend like Norman complete his round and then entertain the media, made it all worthwhile.

The two-time Open champion spoke of his appreciation of the course, giving the under-fire R&A a perfect ally in the battle against those who doubted the set-up of some of the par fours. Men like Sandy Lyle, a legend in his own right, who gave up halfway round.

Admittedly, Norman got the better of the conditions, with Lyle, Dyson and the rest of the morning starters playing in weather akin to the storms and gales of the third day at Muirfield six years ago.

My over-riding memory of that Saturday in 2002 was Ernie Els.

While everyone was cowering for cover and being blown off course – Tiger Woods shot a major-worst 81 – the big South African gritted his teeth and marched into the eye of the storm, producing a solid effort that effectively sealed his first Claret Jug the following day.

Typical links weather really does separate the men from the boys. The wind whips in off the course, buffets off the sand dunes and swirls around the tee boxes.

Common occurrences at an Open Championship is a player hitting a drive, watching it sail off into the deep rough, and then turning to his caddy with a shrug of the shoulders before ripping up a clump of grass and throwing it in the air.

More often than not, that wind has changed direction in a matter of seconds.

With the weather on this Friday morning in West Lancashire being similar to yesterday, if not as
severe, it is going to be another day when the men rise above the boys.

The wind is already howling, bringing with it a damp sea mist off the North Sea.

Scores will be high again today. Anything around 72/73 will be a good effort.

An Open Champion does not only have to prove he can master a championship course, but that he has the measure of the weather as well.

Open excitement

Having spoken to Yorkshire golfers Simon Dyson and Richard Finch over the past few days to find out how much they’re looking forward to the Open Championship next week, I find myself desperate for someone to ask me the same question.

Because I’m unbelievably excited.

I’ve been to Opens before, as a spectator from 2001 to 2006, but this will be my first as a working journalist.

I’m only doing a day or two to follow Finch and Dyson’s fortunes in the early rounds, and then I’m back there on the Saturday as a fan, but I find myself giddy with excitement.

Having missed last year’s dramatic finale at Carnoustie due to funding issues, it feels like I’ve been away for far too long.

I’m so excited I’m even enjoying the working build-up to the Open; talking to the golfers, writing the previews, planning the coverage, finding the quickest route from home.

It’ll be my first Open in the media tent as well. I was fortunate enough to cover the Ryder Cup at the K Club two years ago, and the goody bag was awesome.

Free document wallet, free tie, free baseball cap, even a free mouse mat that has followed me to the Yorkshire Post.

Wearing my media credentials around the house for two weeks after returning home from Ireland was perhaps a bit too much, but you get the picture.

I’ve covered a few other smaller scale European Tour events from the Celtic Manor Wales Open to the British Masters.

At Celtic Manor the media room is in the same main building as the players’ locker rooms, so members of the press and players waiting for their tee times can mingle in the same space.

I guess it’s like that at a lot of other Tour events, giving journalists instant access to the players.

I doubt it will be the same next week, nor for that matter in two years time when Celtic Manor hosts the 2010 Ryder Cup.

Can’t imagine Colin Montgomerie reacting too cheerily to a group of hacks as he unlaces his Footjoys, shortly after duck-hooking the ball into the water on the 18th to lose a half.

Next week will be the same, the players ushered in and out of press conferences.

No matter. It’s not going to diminish my enthusiasm for the week ahead.

There’s nothing like an Open Championship as a spectator.

Stalking up and down the undulating fairways, matching players like Ernie Els stride for stride on the back nine on a Sunday, paying over the odds for a burger and chips but going back to the same catering van day after day because it’s the Open Championship and eating bad food is part of the week. Well it is for me anyway.

The Open Championship is a special occassion, one of British sport’s crown jewels, whether you’re playing, working or spectating.

And I for one, cannot wait.

Yorkshire rich with golfing success

Yorkshire golf is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance at present with some illustrious tournaments being won by professionals and amateurs.

We’ve had Hull professional Richard Finch winning the prestigious Irish Open, Rebecca Hudson of Doncaster prevailing in a play-off to win the Ladies Tenerife Open and Steve Uzzell clinching the second biggest prize in amateur golf, the Brabazon Trophy.

Danny Willett has turned from highly successful amateur into European Tour rookie but has shown no signs of slowing down with three top 20 finishes in four starts.

Rachel Bell has made a similarly impressive start to her new life on the Ladies European Tour whilst Georgina Simpson continues knocking at the door of a maiden win.

Iain Pyman teed off in the European Open at the London Golf Club in Kent today, the Challenge Tour stalwart - one of four Yorkshiremen in the tournament - making a fifth successive appearance on the main tour thanks to a third-place finish in the Austrian Open.

Simon Dyson is also returning to form after his two sterling rounds at Sunningdale clinched a spot in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale later this month.

Uzzell’s win in the Brabazon Trophy has elevated his amateur status, earning him a pair of England caps. He is currently in Italy representing his country in the World Team Championships.

A new star emerged at the Yorkshire Amateur Championship at Alwoodley Golf Club last week in the shape of 18-year-old Low Laithes golfer Richard Law.

The teenager showed great maturity to prevail against 165 players, over two rounds of strokeplay and four rounds of matchplay before eventually crushing Nigel Sweet of Moortown 10&8.

On the ladies amateur scene, Naomi Edwards, Emma Brown and Jodi Ewart continue to set records and defeat all before them both in individual competitions and whilst representing Yorkshire.

It is a wonderful tonic for Yorkshire golf to have all these shining lights raising the profile of the sport in the county through their achievements.

And long may it continue.

Finch, following breakthrough victories in the New Zealand and Irish opens, stands on the verge of a first appearance in a Ryder Cup. Another win over the next two months will guarantee him a seat on the plane to Kentucky, USA.

He makes his Open Championship debut later this month as a multiple winner on the European Tour.

Hudson finally ended her quest for a second title in Tenerife two weeks ago, rocketing up the Money List to seventh.

While the men tee off at the London Golf Club for the European Open today, Hudson begins her challenge for the English Ladies Open at the Oxfordshire Golf Club tomorrow as one of the favourites for the title.

She said: “The British love their sport and playing on home soil is always a highlight. I think there are a lot of new and established players who have a chance this week.”

Yorkshire golf fans also love their sport, and there are plenty of new and established players doing their bit to raise the standard.