Finally, Let Battle Be Joined in LPGA

RANCHO MIRAGE —  The ripples should have started as soon as Annika Sorenstam hit the water, diving headfirst into that murky pool at the 18th green at Mission Hills. Any way you look at it, Sorenstam’s victory plunge could not have happened at a better time for the LPGA.

Let’s face it, despite some of its best efforts, women’s professional golf has not exactly made much of an impression in the mind of the semi-casual fan or the people who feed us our sports news.

Last week, Sorenstam shot the first 59 in LPGA history and broadcast partner ESPN didn’t even show it live, signing off instead to show a men’s tennis match. This week’s LPGA tournament was up against the PGA Tour’s Players Championship, which had two things the $1.5-million Nabisco Championship didn’t: Tiger Woods and a $6-million purse.

What they did have at Mission Hills this week was something that has been missing for a while on the women’s circuit. Is it safe to say it? Would you believe an actual rivalry?

The top two players in the game are Sorenstam and Karrie Webb and there they were, running first and second in a sprint to the first major title of the year. Webb was done first, shooting a 69 Sunday when she knew she needed a 66.

As it turned out, that 66 would have forced a playoff with Sorenstam, who took the lead at the 11th hole and calmly finished one of the greatest stretches of golf in LPGA history . . . if anybody has really noticed.

Sorenstam has played five tournaments this year, winning her last three and finishing second in the first two. Besides setting back-to-back scoring records in her two previous tournaments and going a total of 50 under, she shoots a 59. Then she wins the first major of the year by three shots over a top field.

Back home in Sweden, they’d probably name a fiord after her. Here, she’s mostly a sporting afterthought.

There is a chance, however, that this might change, and it’s all because of the rivalry thing. The reason is simple. As good as Webb was last year when she won seven times, she needed a foil, a protagonist, a foe, someone for comparison’s sake.

Sorenstam might have filled that need, but she fell way short in the majors department. Until Sunday at Mission Hills, Sorenstam hadn’t won a major in five years and Webb had won three of the last five.

Now, Sorenstam has replaced Webb as the undisputed best player in women’s golf, which means it’s up to Webb to run down Sorenstam and get that title back.

Webb could do something really cool to rile up Sorenstam. Maybe tie her shoelaces together or tape a Pop Tart to her three-wood.

Hey, there aren’t any rules in this thing. At the same time, it is true that playing the rivalry game can be a little tricky, especially in golf.

This isn’t tennis, when you have players going head to head against each other. You just don’t see that often in golf, unless they are paired on the last day.

It’s also helpful for rivals to have interesting personalities. Say what you will about Woods, he has some snap. Webb and Sorenstam are certainly pleasant, but the next time they say something with some fizz in it will be the first.

Sorenstam and Webb must have personalities, we just don’t see them. The LPGA has one funny promotional spot it ran during the weekend on ABC, showing Webb and Sorenstam playing pranks on each other, but it was at least 2 years old.

They must have said something funny since then, or maybe they were just waiting for Sorenstam to win another major.

Of course, it’s just possible that not even a renewed rivalry between the two greatest players in women’s golf is enough. There have been suggestions that the LPGA market its sex appeal the way it did years ago with Jan Stephenson, among others. So who is the one who came up with this new marketing idea? Stephenson, of course.

It worked once, but then so did the rivalry scheme, which is a clear winner in golf marketing. On the men’s side, golf has given us such classic battles as Hogan-Nelson, Palmer-Nicklaus, Nicklaus-Watson and to a degree, even Woods-Duval.

How well Sorenstam-Webb plays remains to be seen, but at least it’s an idea. Now, you mix in somebody like Se Ri Pak and maybe they have something to work on at LPGA headquarters. It could work. And it’s probably a whole lot easier than having to wait for another 59 to get somebody’s attention.