COLORADO SPRINGS — There are far worse neighborhoods to raise a teenage girl than the manicured fairways and white tablecloths of the ritziest country clubs in the world. But where is the joy? Shouldn’t golf be more fun than a grind?
Addicted to Facebook, grooving to Shakira and regretful she didn’t invent nail polish, Jessica Korda appears to be much like the 18-year-old adolescent next door. But rather than hanging out on the cul de sac, she has spent this weekend reading greens at The Broadmoor with a caddie who sure looks familiar.
Hey, isn’t that Petr Korda, who used to exchange volleys across a net with Boris Becker? And what’s his daughter doing playing golf instead of tennis?
“I just didn’t like to run. What 5-year-old wants to run around a tennis court all day?” Jessica Korda said with a mischievous grin. “I like being outside in nature. That’s why I like golf. I think tennis courts are kind of fake. For me, the love of tennis was not there. And you have to love the sport you play.”
It’s a thin line between love and obsession.
Korda, already competing in her fourth U.S. Open at an age when peers are graduating from high school, is blessed with a father who can stand by her on the green with the understanding of how to channel a natural-born desire to take on the world.
Loving anything too much, however, can smother the joie de vivre from it. While cheers from the gallery echo through the pines at the East Course, smiles on the faces of competitors seem to be in shorter supply than birdies on their scorecards. There were 23 teenagers who qualified to play in the 66th Open, and from tee to green, too many of them looked as if they were taking a calculus exam.
We know competing in a major championship is serious business. The winner of this tournament walks away with a check for $585,000. But here’s an irreverent thought: Perhaps one reason more people don’t watch women’s golf is this game takes itself so darn seriously. Have personalities been ground out of the game by gritted teeth?
“You don’t want these young girls to burn out too early, if you don’t enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, you’re not in the right place,” said Annika Sorenstam, the greatest female golfer of a generation. She retired in her late 30s to start a family with 10 major championships and more than $20 million in career earnings.
When the NBA enforces a minimum-age rule, it’s criticized as an unfair restriction on the capitalism we celebrate in the United States. Maybe the pursuit of happiness includes more than happiness. While the courtesy cars at this tourney provide sweet rides, it can be a bumpy road for a teenager to grow up in golf.
“It’s a grind. It’s tough. It’s hard,” said Paula Creamer, the defending U.S. Women’s Open champion and a contender for the title again this year. “Thirty weeks of the year, you’re traveling and you don’t live that normal life — quote, unquote — whatever a normal life is outside of this. But, for me, I have embraced it. This is what I want to do.”
A half dozen years ago, Creamer arrived at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver as a 19-year-old rookie pro who worked in the shadow of phenom Michelle Wie, hyped as the next big thing of Tiger Woods proportions. The spotlight has burned Wie, now fighting the perception that she is a bust at age 21.
What’s far more impressive than her smooth swing is how Creamer has avoided the bunkers associated with fame. That’s trickier than a 10-foot putt to save par.
“My No. 1 goal every year is to be the No. 1 American, so I can help promote the game and give back. That takes time, as well,” Creamer said. “So learning how to manage everything in a week is difficult, let alone a whole year.”
During the opening round, as 27-year-old Christina Kim blasted from the notoriously nasty rough ordered by the U.S. Golf Association, she punctuated her shot with a mild expletive. “I release a lot of my nervous and negative energy through verbalization,” explained Kim, whose punky attire and exuberance takes hits from golf fuddy-duddies because she dares to show a personality at work.
In “Swinging From My Heels,” her excellent 2010 confessional book from the LPGA Tour, Kim described the golf lives of many young South Korean players who have staked out their turf on the leaderboard. It made golf sound a little like being shackled to a corporate job.
“About half of them lead very solitary lives,” Kim reported. “They are usually the youngest girls — around 20 years old or even younger, having left school in their midteens to turn pro — and they travel with one or both parents. If they’re not on the golf course, they are on the range or putting green or in their hotel room resting, so they can go practice even more the next day.”
A sport having trouble connecting with sponsors or television viewers wonders when its next crossover star will appear. Sorenstam worries not enough young girls are playing and staying in the sport. Creamer is as classy as any pro athlete could possibly be and treats her responsibility as a role model with the utmost respect.
But girls just want to have fun.
Isn’t golf supposed to be a game of a lifetime? As a profession, it’s a case of burnout waiting to happen.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
Teen scene
A look at the younger players in the field, with their age and current score. Notes: (a) denotes amateur status; MC — missed cut; number in parentheses is how many holes the player has completed:
Player Age Score
(a) Amy Anderson 19* +5 (39)
(a) Doris Chen 18 +18 (MC)
(a) Emily Collins 19 +14 (MC)
(a) Mariel Galdiano 13 +28 (MC)
Jennifer Johnson 19 +7 (36)
(a) Ariya Jutanugarn 15 +12 (MC)
(a) Moriya Jutanugarn 16 +3 (36)
(a) Danielle Kang 18 +7 (36)
(a) Kyung Kim 17 +13 (MC)
Jessica Korda 18 +6 (36)
(a) Erynne Lee 18 +12 (MC)
(a) Xiyu Lin 15 +11 (MC)
(a) Brittany Marchand 19 +14 (MC)
(a) Lisa McCloskey 19 +14 (MC)
(a) Chelsea Mocio 19 +17 (MC)
Harukyo Nomura 18 +7 (37)
(a) Kelly Shon 19 +8 (MC)
(a) Mariah Stackhouse 17 +21 (MC)
(a) Emma Talley 17 +10 (MC)
(a) Victoria Tanco 17 +6 (37)
(a) Gabriella Then 15 +23 (MC)
Alexis Thompson 16 +11 (MC)
Soo-Jin Yang 19 +7 (36)
*Turns 19 today
