On Friday afternoon, not far from the mesmerizing beauty of the 18th hole at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, Annika Sörenstam tried to pull together all that her final appearance in the U.S. Women’s Open meant, not just to her but to the sport she helped propel into a new age.
There are mileposts in lives, careers and businesses, and playing the U.S. Women’s Open at one of the most spectacular natural settings on the planet, a course as rich in history as it is in photography backdrops, moved the marker in the advancement of the women’s game.
It came with an element of melancholy as Sörenstam and Michelle Wie West waved goodbye to the national championship on the same day, but as big as they have been for women’s golf – and they have been the two most recognizable figures in the game during the past two decades – there was an opportunistic feeling of what comes next.
“We can’t go backward from here,” Sörenstam said.
While men’s professional golf has been torn apart by the divisive arrival of LIV Golf, tugging at allegiances and raising ethical questions, the women’s game has gone about its business. The day may come, perhaps soon, when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund wants to buy a bigger piece of the women’s game, but it’s not here yet.
Just as it is for thousands of golfers around the world, playing Pebble Beach was a bucket-list item for women’s golf. Finally getting there with the Monterey Peninsula providing its catalog of weather options ranging from gray and chilly to sunny and breezy made the stage the star for most of the week.
Women’s sports is having a moment, and playing the Women’s Open at Pebble Beach matched the moment.
The road ahead goes through Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Country Club, Erin Hills, Riviera, Inverness, Oakmont, Pinehurst and beyond. That’s what the U.S. Women’s Open deserves.
While the Pebble Beach leaderboard may have been lacking in star power, it did what U.S. Opens tend to do: identify the best player or players that week. Show up with a few loose threads and the U.S. Open will pull them, a player’s weaknesses standing out like a mustard stain on a white shirt.
Major championships can do multiple things. They can define careers when the best players win more than one major, and they can create new stars.
Fans might be familiar with Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda, but before last week how many people knew Nasa Hataoka was named for NASA because her parents hoped it might inspire her to reach for the stars and do something exceptional?
Or that U.S. Women's Open winner Allisen Corpuz attended the same private school in Honolulu as Wie West and Barack Obama and that she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links championships when she was 10 years old?
Professional sports, particularly golf, are driven by stars. An executive with a prominent PGA Tour event said privately that only three players – Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth – truly move the needle with sales. Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas may belong in that group, but the point is that the exceptions drive the story.
How much do stars matter?
When it was announced that Lionel Messi was joining Inter Miami in the MLS this summer, one league team sold more than $1 million in tickets for his scheduled visit – in one day.
Obviously, Messi is an outlier, maybe the best to play his sport, but the combination of talent, style and personality can elevate players and the sports they play.
That’s what Sörenstam and Wie did, along with Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and others.
That’s where Rose Zhang comes in. Women’s professional golf is blessed with an abundance of talent, the level of play being better than ever, and it has an opportunity to build on the moment.
Jin Young Ko, Korda, Minjee Lee, Brooke Henderson, Ruoning Yin, Lexi Thompson, Leona Maguire and Danielle Kang are among those who have the spark that can propel the sport. Ko’s sustained excellence may be one of the most underappreciated achievements in sports.
As for Zhang, she could be the galvanizing presence who takes the LPGA Tour to another level. It’s a heavy burden to put on a 20-year-old, but in just three professional events, the camera and the eyeballs gravitate toward her.
Dynasties and dominators matter in sports. That’s why the New York Yankees, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Tom Brady are viewed differently. That’s not to suggest Zhang should be that good, but if she is as good as she might be, women’s professional golf could have that must-see personality.
She has a Rickie Fowler-like appeal and a game that’s the envy of everyone. Zhang didn’t win at Pebble Beach, but perhaps we will remember in a few years how she arrived as Sörenstam and Wie West were leaving, not unlike how the careers of Woods and Jack Nicklaus intersected at Pebble Beach 23 years ago.
Saying farewell to the Women’s Open, Sörenstam chose not to dwell on her own memories but on what’s ahead.
“Let’s just go up from here,” she said.
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Top: Annika Sörenstam (left) and Michelle Wie West embrace after what's likely their U.S. Women's Open finales.
darren carroll, usga