Havre de Grace, Md. – Looking ahead and dreaming about what could be is as much a part of golf as the double bogey. A good drive on the opening tee leads the weekend hacker to envision a career-best score; an impressive opening round, and thoughts of what to say in your victory speech begin to seep into the minds of professionals.
The idea is to keep success, however minimal, in perspective – which made the aftermath of the first day of the LPGA Championship so fascinating.
For nearly five hours, Natalie Gulbis and Annika Sorenstam traded shots that would have made a heavyweight boxer proud – the latter opened the day with two birdies in her first four holes; the former finished with five straight – while playing in the same threesome.
At day’s end, both acted like nothing special had happened, though Gulbis shot a 5-under-par 67 for a share of the first-round lead and Sorenstam was just a shot back.
Afterward, Sorenstam talked about the battle that rages internally – “I’m not schizophrenic, but sometimes I think I can be on the course. There’s two people in me: one calm and one totally excited.”
Gulbis, meanwhile, went through her usual postround chores, chipping and putting before meeting with the media.
“Just trying to stay in my routine,” she said.
Gulbis’ round, her second-best of the season, placed her in a tie with veterans Laura Diaz and Laura Davies atop the leaderboard at Bulle Rock Golf Course. Sorenstam, Sung Ah Yim and rookie phenom Paula Creamer trail by one.
There was little talk from Sorenstam and Gulbis about what was at stake. Sorenstam is only seeking her third consecutive win in this major championship, one that would give her the second leg of the Grand Slam. Gulbis, heretofore better known for her femme fatale image rather than her game, is seeking her first win in this, her fourth LPGA season.
“I won four times in college; you get used to it,” she said. “I came out my first year here and I absolutely thought, I remember looking at players like Dorothy Delasin and Grace Park, Lorena Ochoa, my peers, who won right away, and I absolutely expected I would win my first year.”
Although she has yet to break through, Gulbis, 22, is inching closer. She had six top-15 finishes in 27 starts last season and has five in 11 events this year.
“I’m just so proud of her,” said Gulbis’ best friend, LPGA winner Cristie Kerr, after Gulbis finished tied for third at the Michelob Ultra Open earlier this season. “She’s worked her butt off.”
Much of that work has come with renowned swing coach Butch Harmon, the former mentor to Tiger Woods. Gulbis said she and Harmon have concentrated on refining a self-taught swing that, while good enough to get her on tour, has had a tendency to break down under tournament pressure.
“It’s just spending a lot of time cleaning up my game more than anything, trying to simplify my swing, make it shorter and repeat it,” she said. “I never had a lesson before I went to Butch; I’d never seen my swing on tape, didn’t know what a wrist-set was, anything.”
While Sorenstam has had her technique down pat for a long time, she admits it took much longer to master the mental side of major tournament play. She used to fight a tendency to try to accomplish too much too soon.
“I’ve learned that the hard way, and I’ve still got a long ways to go,” Sorenstam said. “Today is probably 10 percent of the whole tournament. I’ve got to be patient.”
Actually, countered Davies, “I think it’s 25 percent. I’m good with numbers, though. Annika has never been good with numbers.”
Paired together for at least one more day, it will be interesting to see if Sorenstam and Gulbis can match the excellence they attained Thursday. The third member of the group, Gloria Park, shot a 1-under 71.
Gulbis looked forward to the drafting effect afforded by playing with Sorenstam – “you know she’s going to play well,” she said. Meanwhile, Sorenstam expressed happiness she had a challenge in the same group.
“The last thing you want is to play with someone who’s struggling,” Sorenstam said. “They’re hitting shots that you just don’t want to see where they go.”
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or at acotton@denverpost.com.
