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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Annika chooses
classificationTHE Great Annika Adventure of 2003 showed us that a woman can, indeed, compete on the PGA Tour.
It also showed us that she really doesn't want to.
And should football classification gain approval next month, Hawaii's high school football scene might be filled with Annika Sorenstams, all with similar decisions to make.
Stay with me on this one.
HER FIRST DAY was magic. Great fun. Inspirational, revelational you-go-girl euphoria and everyone loved it.
And still, she was about average.
The next day the wheels came off, as wheels do in golf.
And we saw at the end of it that on the men's tour the greatest woman in golf was just another guy fighting to make the cut.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
No, not at all. It proved that she could, indeed, compete on the PGA Tour. She could qualify, fight for the cut, cash a few checks sometime down the line. It wouldn't have been easy. But she was good enough. She could compete.
Instead, in the end, Sorenstam proclaimed herself a big fan of classification. And even after it had been proven she could hack it with the big boys, she opted to send herself back down.
"I want to win tournaments," she told the assembled reporters after her final round. "I want to set records."
The experience helped her see what she wanted in life. In the LPGA she was a champion. Against men, she'd be hoofing it from tournament to tournament, scratching out a low-end PGA salary and occasionally making a run. Maybe even winning, a time or two. Maybe. The dreams of a regular pro.
She could compete. But she declared herself a "small school" instead.
Why compete when you can dominate?
That's the thing. Because dominate she does. On the women's circuit she's winning everything, killing them all. They call her the Tiger of the LPGA.
She's made more than $11 million.
That sure beats just making the cut.
Suddenly classification didn't seem so bad. So much for the challenge of competing with the world's best.
Now the state's athletic directors will be talking classification next month. And the field is full of Annikas, who haven't tasted LPGA riches, who've been playing at the Colonial for the past 20 years.
It was interesting to watch the real Annika's decision. We can only wonder how each school would lean, were it to get a chance to be in her place.
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Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com