Color Her Ready

By Ron Sirak
Photo By Nick Laham/Getty Images May 30, 2008

The second women's major of the season, the McDonald's LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock GC in Havre de Grace, Md., has more storylines than a Charles Dickens novel. Can Lorena Ochoa win her third consecutive major and move halfway to the calendar-year Grand Slam? How will Annika Sorenstam perform in her first major since announcing she will retire from competition at the end of the year? Is defending champ Suzann Pettersen, who had five LPGA victories in a breakout 2007, ready to fulfill that promise and get her first tour win of 2008? Or will Paula Creamer, the latest "best player without a major," shed that title?

Last year was unusual in that players who had never taken home a major trophy won all four. Besides Ochoa at the Ricoh Women's British Open and Pettersen at the McDonald's, there were Morgan Pressel (Kraft Nabisco Championship) and Cristie Kerr (U.S. Women's Open). With Ochoa and Kerr, especially, the victories left Creamer as the bearer of that double-edged label that simultaneously praises ("best") and damns ("without").

With two victories already this year, the 21-year-old Creamer has won six LPGA events and twice more overseas. The only active players with more LPGA wins than Creamer and without a major title -- Rachel Hetherington and Mi Hyun Kim with eight wins; Danielle Ammaccapane and Michelle McGann with seven -- are well below Creamer in the Rolex Rankings. Ranked fourth, Creamer trails only Ochoa, Sorenstam and Pettersen.

Ochoa (six wins), Sorenstam (three) and Creamer (two) combined to win 11 of the first 12 LPGA tournaments this year, and it is clear the youngest member of that rivalry is comfortable being in such fast company. "It is great that they are raising the bar week after week, and it feels really good to be a part of that," Creamer said about Ochoa and Sorenstam by telephone last week from the Corning Classic, where she finished T-15. "I want to play well this year, and I have put a lot of work into my game and that work is paying off."

When Creamer talks about having a good season she has set the bar very high. "A major," she says quickly when asked what constitutes a successful season. "A major would make it a good year. And I want to win five or six times because that shows that you have played well in all parts of the year."

Creamer has been rock-solid in the majors since turning professional in 2005. She has made the cut in all 13 she has played with nine top-20 finishes, her two best being a T-3 (2005) and T-6 (2007) at Bulle Rock. It is also where she had her worst finish in a major -- T-49 at the 2006 McDonald's.

Bulle Rock, a 6,596-yard layout with large greens and extremely wide fairways, has been host to the McDonald's since 2005 when it moved across the state line from DuPont CC in Wilmington, Del. The course does not reward Creamer's accuracy off the tee, negating her advantage over other players. Her success at Bulle Rock has been a result of her other strengths -- precise iron play and aggressive putting.

"The fairways [at Bulle Rock] are really wide, and that's too bad," says Creamer, who is fifth on tour in driving accuracy at 79 percent, but just No. 100 in driving distance at 247.9 yards. "You have to play for sections of the greens [Creamer ranks seventh in greens in regulation] and you have to be able to putt. If it comes down to a putting contest, I like my chances. That's what I do well." What she does extremely well is attack the hole with her putter, showing no fear of the four-footer she might face coming back.

The wide fairways at Bulle Rock provide, in fact, a perfect place for a bomber such as Ochoa, who can get a little wild off the tee. The three McDonald's winners at the course have been Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak and Pettersen, while the second-place finishers have been Karrie Webb (twice) and Michelle Wie -- all long hitters.