Annika, Michelle. Michelle, Annika. It’s open for debate which player will capture the most headlines this week.
Ultimately it comes down to performance. If Annika Sorenstam works her way into contention at the Women’s British Open, her last appearance in a major championship, she deserves a bulk of the ink. The only way she wouldn’t get that ink is if Michelle Wie makes the cut at the PGA TOUR’s Reno-Tahoe Open.
History says that Sorenstam has a better chance of winning than Wie has of making the cut, but stranger things have happened.
Wie, 18, makes news no matter what she does – good or bad – and she’ll be playing in the U.S., a significant piece to the puzzle. Most of the American golf media will be at neither event, rather will be home resting before a busy week at the PGA Championship. Still, should something develop with Wie playing on the weekend, it means the media will have easier access to her because she’s in the States.
Meanwhile, Sorenstam will chase her 11th major championship at Sunningdale and Lorena Ochoa will look to become the first repeat champion of the Women’s British Open since Sherri Steinhauer won in 1998-99, when the event wasn’t an LPGA major.
If there wasn’t enough anticipation about this week’s events – and we haven’t even mentioned the WGC-Bridgestone or the U.S. Senior Open – Sorenstam fired the first blow Tuesday afternoon from across the pond.
