The year in review Women's professional tour
Annika Sorenstam had a dream, one which was fulfilled during the summer when she teed it up at Colonial Country Club, Forth Worth, Texas.
The doyenne of ladies' golf, 18 career victories on the LPGA tour and 47 worldwide in her 10 year career since turning professional, wanted to scratch an itch.
The 33-year-old from Stockholm, Sweden, was curious to see how she'd fare if pitted against the men and her opportunity arose when her entry for the Bank of America Colonial tournament was accepted. Her decision was applauded in some quarters, the cacophony of derision a counter-balance as the world's media descended on Texas for golf's "freak show".
Rarely can a sportsperson have endured more pressure, hype or claustrophobic focus on every thing she did or said, while trying to compete at the highest level.
Once her intentions were clear, opinions rained in on whether she would compromise the integrity of the women's game by risking abject failure amongst men or that she was incredibly brave and by dint of her ability deserved what she herself considered the ultimate benchmark of that talent.
The experiment was afforded a whole new complexion when Major winner Vijay Singh's views were canvassed. The Fijian shot from the lip, nothing pc in his comments. "This is a man's tour. There are guys out there trying to make a living. It's not a ladies' tour. If she wants to play, she should - or any other woman for that matter - if they want to play the man's tour, they should qualify and play like everybody else."
Singh was not alone as Sorenstam was hit by what she might have considered friendly fire. One of America's top lady golfers, Kelli Kuehne, who the Swede would subsequently face in the Solheim Cup, ventured: "A lot of us are concerned by her want and need to play on the PGA tour when we have the LPGA as our women's tour.
"Annika doesn't think that she has anything to lose but she's looking at it from her perspective. She's not looking at it overall to help grow the women's game. She has a lot to lose and nothing to gain. My concern is that she plays poorly and misses the cut. It'll take women's golf back a couple of steps."
Her equivalent in the men's game Tiger Woods, a global superstar that transcended sport, but an individual who would have appreciated the intense pressure Sorenstam faced, perched neatly on the fence. "I think it would be more fair to her if she could play four or five tournaments, then you could judge her on those results. I'm sure if she did play four or five she'd get on a roll. In one tournament a lot could go wrong for her."
By and large the reaction among the men's professionals was cautiously positive and so on May 29th, in company of her playing partners Dean Wilson and Aaron Barber, a petrified Sorenstam hit her first tee shot on the PGA. By Friday afternoon she had shot 71, 75, for a five over par total, four shots outside the halfway cut of a tournament eventually won by Kenny Perry with a 19-under par four-round total. There were tears, cheers but very few jeers in the aftermath.
Barber, who along with Wilson helped, by her own admission, a nervous Sorenstam, enthused: "She's a machine. She's awesome. I have never played with someone over 18 holes who didn't miss a shot."
Fellow Swede Jesper Parnevik noted humorously: "She played amazing. I guess we have the Shark, the Tiger and now we have Superwoman."
Sorenstam then returned to being the biggest fish in small pool, going back to what she does best, winning, her curiosity satisfied; at least for the time being.
