Worried about her job

Athletes might seem to be impervious to (if not oblivious of) the difficult economy, but one who does understand the stakes and is taking nothing for granted is LPGA star Angela Stanford.

"I've never feared for my job until the last couple of years," she told Steve DiMeglio of USA Today. Some of my fear stems from the tour losing tournaments left and right. Some of it stems from the economy. I play golf for a living and my livelihood is in jeopardy."

Stanford, DiMeglio reports, paid nearly $1 million for a home outside Fort Worth in December of 2007, and, motivated by the uncertainty in the economy, is determined to pay it off.

The LPGA is down five tournaments from a year ago, and getting existing sponsors to extend contracts is problematic in this economy.

-- John Strege