Sirak says: And the winner is...

Will it be the new guard or the old guard at this year's women's U.S. Open?

By Ron Sirak

Jun 25, 2007

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. The last time the U.S. Women's Open was played at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club the LPGA was embarking on a transition from the Big Four Era to the Annika Era. But no one who watched Karrie Webb defeat Se Ri Pak by eight strokes at Pine Needles in 2001 could have imagined the five-year run of greatness Sorenstam was about to lay on the LPGA. This year's tournament at the venerable Donald Ross design also comes at what could be a turning point for women's golf, certainly at a time packed with compelling questions about an impressive array of golfers.

Is Lorena Ochoa, No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, ready to add a major championship to the 12 LPGA events she has won in her brief career? What about Cristie Kerr, who has nine career wins, or Paula Creamer, who is jockeying with Kerr for the title of Best American? Will 18-year-old Morgan Pressel make her second LPGA victory her second major? And is Annika Sorenstam recovered enough from the neck injury to extend her run of consecutive years with a major title to seven? And that's just part of the story.

Will Suzann Pettersen, who finished second to Pressel in the Kraft Nabisco Championship and then won the McDonald's LPGA Championship, build on a potential Player-of-the-Year season with a victory in the U.S. Open? Will Webb and Pak win a major for the second consecutive year after a three-year stretch of being shut out? Can Laura Davies win a major and get the final two points she needs to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame? And what about Michelle Wie? The last time we saw the 17-year-old she was a physical, technical and emotional mess in finishing 10 strokes out of next-to-the-last place at the McDonald's.

Want more? Is Brittany Lincicome, a two-time winner on tour at the age of 21, ready to prove she can contend consistently in the big events? And what about Natalie Gulbis, who is still only 24 but facing some serious questions? Is her bad back healthy enough to let her tee it up at Pine Needles, and is she ready to snap a career non-winning streak that currently stands at 149 LPGA events? Can Juli Inkster, who just turned, become the oldest to win an LPGA major?

Who among the tough, young crew of lesser-known but talented Americans Nicole Castrale, Meaghan Francella and Angela Stanford among them can win their country's national title? And most importantly, who this week will be best able to hit the devilish Ross greens that repel approach shots into bogey-making collection areas?

There may be no one who is more closely watched at Pine Needles than Wie. Fighting injury, a loss of tempo in her swing and confidence that has been eroded by a series of tournaments in which she has not broken par since the final round of the Evian Master last July, Wie rolls into Pine Needles having withdrawn from the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour, admitting that her game as it now stands is not ready for a men's professional course.

Wie also comes into the Open at a low point in her relationship with LPGA players. Already resentful that Wie has shown no interest in joining the tour, the players were especially miffed when she withdrew from the Ginn Tribute after 16 holes on Thursday, saying she was too injured to play two more holes, then showed up at Bulle Rock Golf Course on Saturday site of the McDonald's LPGA Championship the following week to practice.

Things got worse when Sorenstam said Wie's actions lack respect and class and Wie said she felt she had nothing to apologize for. Wie enters this Open trying to re-establish herself both competitively and in the eyes of the public. Her dilemma is compounded by the fact that on October 11 she turns 18 and other 18 years olds are winning on tour, even winning majors. The one-time 14-year-old can't-miss-kid is now ready to head off to Stanford University in September as tangled in doubt and questions as any teenager embarking on college.