Real story of Swede success

Neumann inspired her countrywomen

Challenging to win the McDonald's LPGA Championship, Sweden's Maria Hjorth was brought before the media and faced a series of questions about her golf game. Then came the obligatory question about countrywoman Annika Sorenstam, who surely inspired Swedish golfers, yes?

The answer was no and Hjorth was quick to set the record straight.

"First of all, I think Liselotte Neumann came over here and she won the US [Women's] Open and she's always been a great figure and role model," said Hjorth. "I think Liselotte Neumann was more of an impact on me."

Saturated in respect, Hjorth's words were repeated to Neumann, who left little doubt that they meant a lot.

"It is nice to hear that, very nice," said Neumann, a soft-spoken woman whose success may not rival Sorenstam's, but her professional demeanor is what fellow Swedes have tried to emulate for years.

"She just helps you push yourself harder," said Hjorth, who fell short on the fourth hole of a playoff in last weekend's major championship, but surely it wasn't for a lack of effort.

Meanwhile, Neumann, as if to prove she can still lead by example, pulled off an impressive performance to assure that she'll have a spot in her 22d consecutive US Women's Open. Hours after closing with a 1-under 71 to finish tied for 29th at 4-under 284 in the LPGA Championship, Neumann made her way to the airport to catch a flight to Los Angeles the next morning to play in an Open sectional qualifier.

Coast-to-coast meant she'd get little sleep, so Neumann was asked why she didn't try to qualify at a site closer to Baltimore. She had a good reason. The site was her home course in Rancho Santa Fe, Farms Golf Club.

"I'm a member out there and when I saw that they were going to have a qualifier there, I knew I had to make it back," said Neumann. "I figured I'd have a huge advantage at a place where I play a lot and practice a lot."

The 11-time winner on the LPGA Tour was right. Though she didn't get to her home in Palm Springs, Calif., until after 1 a.m., Neumann was up early and ready for her 7 a.m. tee time. Confident because, "I knew that course inside and out." She was nonetheless hesitant to get her hopes up too high. After all, only six spots were up for grabs and "it's always tough to go up against so many good players."

It turns out, she had no such worries. With a 137 for 36 holes, Neumann had given herself reason to celebrate. Every year since 1987, Neumann has teed it up in the Open and this year's appearance will salute a special milestone - the 20th anniversary of her 1988 triumph that still serves as inspiration to many of her countrywomen.

"It would have been a real shame not to have gotten in [this year]," said Neumann. "So it's a great feeling. I'm really psyched."

While embroiled in the LPGA Championship last week at a furnace called Bulle Rock GC in Havre de Grace, Md., Neumann decided to make a day trip to Baltimore Country Club with her caddie, Mark Scott. It was his first visit there since that memorable Sunday 20 years earlier when she finished at 277, three strokes better than Patty Sheehan in the 43d US Women's Open. Her first LPGA Tour win was a major championship and it made her an instant hero in Sweden and throughout Europe.

"It was pretty awesome to go back there [to Baltimore CC]. They had the replica trophy and they took it out of the case and we took pictures," said Neumann, who posed with Scott, who also caddied for her that year. "It brought back so many great memories."

One of which holds a special place in her heart.

"I remember the birdie I made at the 15th hole that day," she said. "It might be my favorite memory. I hit a 5-wood onto the green, and that was back when we hit persimmon, and I made a long putt, maybe 35 feet. I walked to the back of the green. It was so hot that day, so I sat on the bench shaking my head. I said to myself, 'Oh, my God, what has happened?' I just tried to calm myself down."

Neumann always has had the ability to calm herself down. It is why a long line of Swedish women have looked up to her and it's why at the age of 42 she is excited about her 22d consecutive US Women's Open, to be staged June 26-29 at Interlachen CC in Edina, Minn.

"I still love the game," she said. "Obviously, it's a little harder these days - the travel, the hotel rooms, all of that is a bit tiring. But on the golf course, when you hit that great, solid shot or make that long putt, there's no greater feeling."

She had missed the cut in eight of nine starts this season before playing well at Bulle Rock to get a bump of confidence. Then, going coast-to-coast to shoot herself into the US Women's Open only helped increase that confidence level.

"I still have a chance to win. I still work very hard on my game," said Neumann.

Wind sails into Hall of Fame
His eloquent words helped shape Hall of Fame careers of many legendary golfers and now Herbert Warren Wind can share eternal residency alongside those heroes.

According to a report in Golfweek, the Brockton-born iconic writer has become the latest to be nominated for induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

The official announcement is expected this week.

Wind, who died June 1, 2005, at the age of 88, for years wrote brilliantly on the game's greatest players and tournaments for The New Yorker and Sports Illustrated.

The news also comes at the same time when the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund has announced the establishment of a permanently endowed Herbert Warren Wind Scholarship in memory of the man who learned the game at Thorny Lea GC and whose passion for it took him throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. He shared longtime friendships with legends such as Bobby Jones and Ouimet, the caddie who in 1913 walked across the street from his home and won the US Open at The Country Club in Brookline.

"Herb was very close to Francis and would be proud to be affiliated with Mr. Ouimet and helping young people and possibly a future young writer," said Gertrude "Gitty" Scheft, Wind's sister and a former president of both the Ouimet Scholarship Fund and the Women's Golf Association of Massachusetts.

In addition to his incomparable career as a magazine writer, Wind was the author of 14 books, including the classic, "The Story of American Golf."

Wind will join five other Massachusetts-born members of the Hall of Fame - Ouimet; 1938 Masters champion Henry Picard of Plymouth; Fred Corcoran of Cambridge, who could be considered one the leading figures in the formation of the PGA Tour; LPGA Tour legend Pat Bradley of Westford; and Richard Tufts of Medford, a longtime advocate of amateur golf who later founded the famed golf resort in Pinehurst, N.C.

Kortan beat the odds to be playing at Torrey Pines
Check the roster of players in the US Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego and you will find 156 names. No doubt, there are 156 stories, but few rival Brian Kortan's. The ultimate journeyman, Kortan is a 37-year-old from Albuquerque, who is making his first appearance in the Open.

That in itself is remarkable, given he has only one PGA Tour season (2004) and one Nationwide Tour season (2005) under his belt. But it's another part of his life that gives a clear picture of why Kortan's story is compelling.

You won't find any other competitors in the field this week who wear a heart monitor and carry a defibrillator in their golf bag.

"I was playing a little golf tournament up in South Dakota [in August 2006] and I went to bed one night and had a heart attack," said Kortan. Airlifted to a hospital in Sioux Falls, Kortan spent eight days there and said he had three stents put in.

"I've lost about 40 to 50 percent of my heart function and had some changes in my life, I guess."

Did he ever think that he was done with his dream of being a professional golfer?

"Every day for about eight or 10 weeks," he said.

When Kortan played the PGA Tour in 2004, he was noticed not so much for his performances (just $159,939 earned in 24 events), but by his stature. At 5 feet 3 inches, he was the shortest player on Tour, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't think he's standing tall this week.

A regular on the Adam Series Pro Golf Tour, Kortan made it through local and sectional qualifying and few are treating the opportunity with the gratitude that he is.

"To be here is an experience that I'm grateful for," said Kortan. "I'm glad I'm able to have this experience, because there was definitely some times over the last year and a half that I didn't know if I'd ever get to experience something like this, ever again."

Etc.

Wie back in the swing
One of the consistent criticisms of Michelle Wie during those meteoric early teenage years was that she shouldn't receive so many exemptions, certainly not into the 2004 US Women's Open, which has a qualifying system. Well, no complaints this time around. The 18-year-old shot 137 and finished second in a 36-hole sectional qualifier in Rockville, Md., and thus earned a spot into a sixth straight US Women's Open. After a forgettable 2007 season in which she went 90 over par in 19 rounds and earned just $23,024, Wie has shown some signs of progress. She has played in two LPGA Tour events and three of her five rounds have been 73 or better. Prior to the successful Open qualifier, she finished sixth in a Ladies European Tour stop in Germany.

Local express to Edina
For a handful of New Englanders, US Women's Open sectional qualifiers were a success, with five punching tickets to Edina, Minn., and the national championship at Interlachen June 26-29. At the Rockville site, LPGA Tour veterans Heather Daly-Donofrio of Connecticut and Carri Wood of South Dennis advanced, as did amateur Alison Walshe of Westford, fresh off her 4-0 performance in the Curtis Cup in Scotland. Anna Grzebien of Narragansett, R.I., who is bouncing between the LPGA and Futures tours, also made it through. At Hobe Sound, Fla., Lynn Valentine of East Lyme, Conn., earned one of the six spots . . . The list of those who made it through the sectional included veterans such as Virada Nirapathpongporn, Kelli Kuehne, Jill McGill, Eva Dahloff, Helen Alfredsson, Jennifer Rosales, Silvia Cavalleri, and Carin Koch. On the younger end of the spectrum were Stacy Lewis, who took medalist honors at her site only hours after declaring herself a pro, and 13-year-old Alexis Thompson, who earned her second straight spot in the Open.

Trying to muscle in
Fairway news: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pens a welcome note to fans and participants involved in the US Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego. He writes, ". . . as a former professional athlete . . ."

Clubhouse view: He forgot to add that he played in a day when tests for steroids didn't exist.

Fall from (Havre de) Grace
Talk about crashing down the leaderboard. On Thursday, Emily Bastel was the co-leader after a 66 in the first round of the LPGA Championship. But a 76 in Round 2 sent her tumbling and by the time she played the front nine in Round 3 at 42, she was dead last of the 82 players who made the cut. That's where it ended for Bastel, as she withdrew midway through Saturday's action.

Unlikely to repeat
If the mission was to add a great deal of buzz to the festivities at the US Open, they've done so, because the pairing of Tiger Woods with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott (Nos. 1-2-3 in the world) has everyone talking - players, fans, and media folks alike. Just don't look for it to be an annual event. "It's more a one-off," said Jim Hyler, the USGA's vice president. "It's a unique opportunity this year to do that, and particularly with Tiger and Phil being Nos. 1 and 2 and their successes here and their Southern California roots. It was a perfect opportunity for that very unique pairing."

Plenty of time to sleep in
Talk of that pairing stretched as far as Havre de Grace, Md., which is where Meg Mallon was hitting balls on the practice range during the LPGA Championship when she was asked about Woods-Mickelson-Scott. Mallon wondered if the same thing would be done for the US Women's Open at the end of the month. "If they do," said Mallon, laughing, "I'll be teeing off after 3 o'clock." Mallon is No. 110 in the Rolex world rankings for women.

Kane plugging along
Her record includes the 1991 Mexican Amateur Championship, but before you think Lorena Ochoa, meet Lorie Kane. The pride of Prince Edward Island owns that title on an impressive amateur résumé that sometimes gets forgotten. She continues on with an LPGA Tour career that includes four wins, but none since 2001. Now at 191 tournaments in this winless skid, Kane is 43, but hardly discouraged. In fact, "I want to win again," she said. "And I think that the fire in my belly kind of didn't burn out, but I definitely didn't know how to get it back." She had missed the cut in seven of 11 starts before shooting 66-70 to get into contention at last weekend's LPGA Championship. Though she faded with rounds of 76-74 to finish joint 40th, Kane has a firm grip on things. "I didn't turn pro until I was 29, so I consider myself to be very fortunate in what I have and what golf has given me," she said.