Cherry Hills Village – It was hard to tell who was having the most fun Tuesday at Cherry Hills Country Club.
Sitting in the players lounge having lunch with LPGA star Christina Kim, with the likes of Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel just a tossed crouton away, giddy 18-year-old Marlowe Boukis might have been better off using her eyes to hold her coffee cup.
“You can’t explain it; every turn, you run into a pillar of the game. It’s mind-boggling, absolutely fantastic,” she said before adding in a conspiratorial aside, “I was supposed to be playing in a junior tournament in Oklahoma this week. I think this beats that by just a little bit.”
Meanwhile, just outside the driving range, the legendary Kathy Whitworth watched players hit shots with metronomic efficiency. Even though it has been 15 years since Whitworth officially retired from the LPGA, from the look in her eyes it was clear she would enjoy nothing more than grabbing a 7-iron and testing her mettle against her successors.
“If I were just a little younger, you bet,” said the woman who holds the LPGA record of 88 career victories. “Right now, I have putters that are older than these girls.”
If there were a tournament that’s truly of the people, it’s the U.S. Open. Any player with a handicap of 4.4 or better willing to fork down the entry fee can take her shot at competing with the world’s best players.
The dream of winning the most prestigious title in women’s golf can be chased by anybody and shared by everyone. Whitworth still speaks with regret of never winning an Open; Boukis, who qualified by beating out a number of LPGA players during a sectional near her home outside Baltimore, salivates at the thought.
A little more than two weeks ago, the freshman-to-be at Princeton was, in her words, “a no-name” in golf. If Boukis has her way, years from now she will be chasing the LPGA record for career victories.
By then, the record may no longer belong to the 65-year-old Whitworth. Somewhere between the dreamer and the legend stands Annika Sorenstam, who this week is vying for her 63rd career triumph.
“I have a record that she’s trying to break, and unless she just falls off dead somewhere, she’s going to win more than 88. It just depends on how many she wants or how long she wants to play,” Whitworth said. “I broke Mickey’s (Wright) record (of 82 wins) and when I have an opportunity, I would love to pass this on to Annika. Mickey told me: ‘You know, don’t let the public dictate how you play; set your own record. Don’t stop at 83, win 100 if you want.’
“I thought that was very nice, and I feel the same way about Annika.”
Although Boukis hadn’t had a direct encounter with the world’s top player this week, she nearly had the chance to tee off with the game’s biggest phenom.
“I was standing on the 10th tee getting ready to play, and Michelle Wie came up to me and introduced herself. I was like, ‘Well, duh,”‘ Boukis said. “I thought we might play together, but she went over to No. 1.”
However, there have been other compensations. The chance to play and practice alongside established players, some of whom have shared tips, has been invaluable to Boukis. Even more tangible have been the gobs of free equipment made available to all players.
“It’s the U.S. Open,” Boukis said. “You deserve to be spoiled a little bit, I guess.”
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
