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The Life


June 6, 2002
Grand Sorenstam
ESPN The Magazine

The golfer with the best chance of winning a Grand Slam this year wears a bra. And a wedding ring. And a pair of tasteful earrings to go along with a tasteful swing that breaks down less than a Maytag.

What Annika Sorenstam did at the Kellogg-Keebler Classic last Friday, Saturday and Sunday was Tiger-esque. The only thing missing was the final-round red shirt and her own video game. Nineteen of the top 20 LPGA money winners were at the Tom Fazio-designed Stonebridge Country Club in the western suburbs of Chicago ... and she still lapped the field. She dissected the layout as if it were a biology lab frog. Sorenstam could have shot a 75 instead of a 65 on the last day and still won by a stroke. And one more birdie and Sorenstam would have broken the tour's 54-hole record of 195.

Annika Sorenstam
It's in the hole!
But this will do, as will the trophy, the $108,000 winner's check (less than Chris Smith and Harrison Frazar got for finishing in seventh place at the Kemper Open this past weekend), and the mental booster shot she'll have entering this week's McDonald's LPGA Championship -- the second major of the tour's grand salami.

Sorenstam already owns the Kraft Nabisco Championship, just like Woods already has a green jacket. But after walking part of Sunday's round with Sorenstam's twosome at Stonebridge, after seeing how her putting and ball-striking have dovetailed at the perfect time, I can't help but think a Grand Slam is doable for her.

Sure, the first-year Kellogg-Keebler is no major, but the course had some baby teeth to it. Nancy Lopez, making her farewell tour this season, shot 71-85 to miss the cut. Kelli Kuehne squeezed a 75 between a 69 and 67. Karrie Webb could do no better than a final day 73. Meanwhile, Sorenstam flirted with sub-60 history again, shooting 29 on the front nine during Friday's round and 30 on the same nine during Saturday's round. She put together a breezy little 31 on the back nine Sunday. How good is that?

The LPGA could use a Slam run for lots of reason: attention, TV ratings, identity. And no one, including Tiger, is playing better than Sorenstam these days. She's the most dependable thing out of Sweden since the Volvo. She almost never gets flustered. She's the John Nash of course management. Her game features distance, touch and an understated passion -- exactly what you need to go 4-0 in the majors.

Sorenstam isn't big on press room quips. I followed her for an entire week during the U.S. Open and my pen never moved across notebook paper. Then again, Tiger isn't exactly Chris Rock, either. They are there to play golf, to create championship legacies. The rest is gravy.

If anybody can win the four majors in one season, it is Sorenstam. With all due respect to the LPGA pros, they don't have the PGA Tour's depth of talent. Sorenstam has, what, maybe 5-10 legitimate challengers? Tiger has at least double, probably triple and maybe quadruple that number, especially during an event like the U.S. Open.

I'm rooting for Sorenstam to win the three remaining biggies -- the LPGA Championship, the U.S. Open in July and the British Open in August. She already has her 59, so a foursome of major trophies would go nicely with that historic scorecard.

Can she do it? I like her chances better than Tiger's. Then again, I've always been a sucker for tasteful earrings.

Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com.



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