Without ever once mentioning his name, Annika Sorenstam brushed off Vijay Singh’s comments about her playing in the Colonial, saying he was entitled to his opinion.
She also said she thinks she can win the tournament.
”I believe so, if all the stars are lined up right,” she said on Wednesday.
Speaking on a conference call to promote next month’s ShopRite Ladies Professional Golfers Association Classic, Sorenstam was surprised at the stir created by her decision to play in the Professional Golfers Association tour event.
”I think everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, and obviously they speak their minds, and that’s just where I want to leave it,” she said.
”I don’t hold anything against anybody.
”I was maybe a little naive when I didn’t think about this,” she said.
”I’m still amazed by all the attention, all the opinion, all the experts on my game. It’s really funny. I never expected anything like this.”
Singh said Sorenstam had no business playing in next week’s Colonial and said that on the odd chance he gets paired with her, he’d withdraw.
”I hope she misses the cut. Why? Because she doesn’t belong out here.”
”If I’m drawn with her, which I won’t be, I won’t play.”
Singh later said he was sorry if his comment came across as a personal attack.
Nick Price, the Colonial’s defending champion, has said Sorenstam’s appearance ”reeks of publicity”.
”The people that say that, they don’t know me,” she said.
”When I started playing golf many years ago, I was afraid of the limelight. My game has changed, but me personally has not changed.”
By accepting a sponsor’s exemption, Sorenstam will become the first woman in 58 years to compete on the PGA Tour. The last woman to do so was Babe Zaharias, who qualified for the 1945 Los Angeles Open.
Sorenstam won 13 times around the world last year, the most by a woman in nearly 40 years. She’s the only woman to shoot 59. She acknowledged she will be nervous playing the 7 080-yard (about 6448m), par-70 Colonial Country Club course, but thinks she can shoot par if the weather holds. She has played the course once but didn’t keep score.
”I’m doing this because I want to test myself. I’m coming to a stage that’s totally different than I’m used to: tougher course, tougher competitors, all the attention. It’s just going to be so different,” Sorenstam said.
”It’s just a test for me. I want to see what it’s all about, I want to see how good my game is. I’m sure I would perform better if I get more chances, but this is just a one-time opportunity,” she said.
Tiger Woods thinks it would be terrific if Sorenstam makes the cut.
”I would think it was a fantastic performance — no doubt about it,” he said in Alveslohe, Germany, where he’s playing in the PGA European Tour’s Deutsche Bank Open.
In Irving, Texas, where the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Championship starts on Thursday, some players admitted they were eager to find out how she’ll fare.
”Everyone is extremely curious to she how she’s going to play, and we really don’t know what’s going to come of it,” Ben Crane said.
”I’ll be very interested to see how she plays.”
David Toms, who won the Wachovia Championship last week, said: ”I hope she plays well for ladies’ golf and for her. But what is playing well? Nobody knows, nobody has anything to measure it against. I don’t have any hard feeling toward her at all. She thinks she can do it, I guess we’ll find out.”
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said critics of Sorenstam should ”just relax”. He also cautioned fans not to be ”too hard” on those who criticise her.
”It’s going to be very interesting,” he said, speaking in the Kansas City area.
”She wants to see how her game stacks up against the best players in the world, males, and I accept that.
”I think if a player criticises it, I don’t think you all should be too hard on that player, like Vijay,” Finchem said.
He noted a lot of players get upset about sponsor’s exemptions.
”Over the years, unrestricted sponsor’s exemptions have been controversial because if you give them to someone who’s really not trying to play the tour, arguably, they’re taking a spot from an individual,” he said.
”We’ve got a lot of good players. For a player to be frustrated is understandable. It’s not anything new. Guys have complained a lot about tournaments [granting exemptions] to local pros.
”In this case, it’s a woman. So it’s a bigger deal. I think we should relax a little bit about this. Let it happen. Let her play golf. See how she plays. If you’re a golfer and you love the game, it’s pretty interesting stuff,” he said.
Finchem said he wasn’t worried that Sorenstam might be treated rudely by her male counterparts.
”They’re going to treat her fine,” he said.
”These are all professionals. They have a great deal of respect for her. She’ll be treated like anybody else in the field. There won’t be any issues there.”
He also said he disagrees with those who say the women’s tour might be hurt if its No. 1 player turns out to be entirely noncompetitive.
”The only downside would be if the top 15 LPGA players came to the men’s tour and were successful,” he said.
”But that’s not going to happen.” – Sapa-AP