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Sorenstam
invited to play in BC Open
I don't know anything about it (the offer)," she told Associated
Press in Waialea after finishing second to a rampant Karrie Webb
in the first LPGA Skins Game since the 1998.
"I told my agent I'm in Hawaii to play the Skins. We can talk
about it when I get home."
For the past two years the 32-year-old 'Super Swede' has bestrode
women's golf like a Colossus, setting or matching nearly two dozen
records.
Her 13 victories worldwide last year were the most in women's golf
in nearly 40 years.
In an interview in Orlando, Florida, last week she mused that she
would relish the chance to play a PGA Tour event, provided she received
a sponsor's exemption and the tournament was held on a course that
suited her game.
Organisers of the BC Open, played in Endicott, New York, promptly
offered her a spot in their tournament in July in the same weekend
as The Open Championship and the LPGA's Big Apple Classic in New
Rochelle.
But Sorenstam knows very littler about the offer and the details
of it.
"I don't even know where that (Endicott) is," she said.
Earlier Sunday, her agent Mark Steinberg of IMG said it was unlikely
that any decision on the BC Open invitation would be made "anytime
soon".
Meanwhile, women playing against the men in top level professional
golf has captured the public's and media's attention since Suzy
Whaley, a Connecticut club pro, won a PGA sectional event to qualify
for the Greater Hartford Open, also in July.
Whaley, who was clearly not expected to do as well as she did,
won the event from the women's tees, but has accepted that she'll
have to play off the back tees in the Greater Hartford Open when
she'll become the first woman in the modern era to take on the men
on their own terms in a regulation PGA Tour event.
England's Laura Davies, whose large stature has enabled to compete
with men in some long driving competitions, believes Sorenstam can
succeed, saying she has no doubt the Swede could make the cut "comfortably."
"But knowing her, she wouldn't be satisfied with making the
cut. She wants to win too badly," Davies said.
Davies already has some experience playing against male opposition
She played in a Skins Game against John Daly, Peter Senior and
Tom Watson, and in the Johnnie Walker Cup with Ernie Els, Vijay
Singh and Jesper Parnevik.
"I've done it before and I will tell you that besides playing
on a tougher course from the back tees, I found that there is an
extra pressure of playing well just to justify being there,"
Davies added.
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