The LPGA began the 2006 season promoting its youth, in particular a rookie class with glittering resumes and at least one second-year player, Paula Creamer, who had already proved she could compete with the best in the world. The veterans seemed to be an afterthought.
As the women's tour sets up shop at Bulle Rock golf course in Havre de Grace for the McDonald's LPGA Championship starting with the opening round today, a message has been sent by those who had won tournaments long before some of these fledglings had broken par.
They were not ready to relinquish the LPGA Tour - their tour - to a bunch of deftly marketed upstarts.
Practicing chip shots last week at a tournament outside Atlantic City, N.J., Helen Alfredsson summed up the feelings of her fellow thirty- and forty-somethings in describing this friendly but still fierce generational battle.
"The old hackers are not dead yet," Alfredsson, 41, said with a smile to another Swede, 22-year-old Karin Sjodin.
For those keeping score, the old guard has won four times so far: two wins by former No. 1 player Karrie Webb, including at this year's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and one each by reigning No. 1 Annika Sorenstam and two-time LPGA champion Juli Inkster.
The LPGA's new blood has won six times: two victories by Lorena Ochoa, a 24-year-old from Mexico who is leading the tour in earnings; and one each by South Koreans Seon Hwa Lee (20), Joo Mi Kim (21), Sung Ah Yim (22) and Meena Lee (24).
The question this week is whether one of the young players such as Ochoa or 19-year old Paula Creamer will win her first major, or if 18-year-old rookie Morgan Pressel or even 16-year-old Michelle Wie will break through to win her first pro tournament.
"You can win a tournament at any age," said Webb, 31, who won her first event as a 20-year-old. "I won I don't know how many tournaments my first three years, but because none of them had been a major, that seemed to be the next question that was asked. It's just a progression of things."
The rookie class that was supposed to transform the LPGA has played well, but with the exception of Seon Hwa Lee, has yet to win. Along with Lee, five others are in the top 30, including 20-year-old Ai Miyazato of Japan (17th), Pressel (18th) and 19-year-old Julieta Granada of Paraguay (20th).
