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American Morning

PGA Plunge

Aired May 22, 2003 - 08:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The best female golfer on the planet will take her first real swings on the men's tour. Annika Sorenstam is the first woman to compete in a PGA Tour event in 58 years. If her scores are low enough, she'll play on through the weekend. "Sports Illustrated" senior writer and golf fanatic, Rick Reilly, has some opinions on Annika testing the grass ceiling. Her latest book is called "Who's Your Caddy?"
Rick Reilly's live in Denver. How are you? Thanks for being with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

RICK REILLY, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": How is it going? You probably don't get to pay too much golf in New York, though, do you?

HEMMER: No, listen, it takes too much. It's like an eight-hour day to get out of town and back. Hey, would you caddy for Annika?

REILLY: I tried to. That's why when Nick Price said, oh, she does anything for publicity. That's not true. I asked her for two years. I did caddy on the LPGA Tour for a woman named Jill McGill. And of the 12 players I caddied for, I caddied for Nicklaus, David Duvall, John Daly, Donald Trump. She hit it closer than anyone, Jill McGill hit it closer than anyone on any of the four tours. She just didn't make any putts.

So I honestly think Annika, who's our best player since Babe Didrikson, could make the cut. I see her shooting 72, 72.

HEMMER: So you see her right around par then, which is what she is aiming for?

REILLY: I think she can do it. I mean, my buddies down there this week, and I was down there last week, they say they're totally impressed with how perfectly straight. She's straighter than Pat Boone. I mean, she's just -- and because the greens are so wet, what I thought the problem is going to be, they're going to hide pins under Hagen-Daz carts and parking lots, because they don't want her to do well on this tour.

HEMMER: You don't see, huh?

REILLY: But If the greens are wet, she can throw it in there and it will stop. Those Ft. Worth greens are about as hard as the hood of a '57 Chevy, about the size of a postage stamp, but if the greens are wet, I think she'll do well.

HEMMER: You said if she goes 72, 72, that's par, par. Is that considered a victory, Rick?

REILLY: I think if she beats one man, it's a victory, and I think she'll beat a lot of men, because nobody on that PGA Tour right now wants to be the one lose to her. Because, OK, fellows, you can stop hanging bras off my bags, stop throwing pink tees to me. It's not funny anymore.

HEMMER: Would you want to be Dean Wilson or Aaron Barber? These are the two guys who are her playing partners today and tomorrow. Do you want to be them right now?

REILLY: No, these guys are called category III, which means they've never won on tour, and nobody has ever heard of them basically, and they basically usually have two lawn mowers and a stray dog following them. But today and tomorrow, they're going to have thousands and thousands of people. Not Tiger came out in '97 are you going to see this many people there to watch one player, and that's going to be a lot of pressure.

HEMMER: I agree with you. You could have tens of thousands really tracking them today if the weather holds out, if it's not as rainy as predicted.

REILLY: Even the practice rounds have been nuts. "The New York Times" yesterday ran every shot she hit in a practice round. It's amazing.

HEMMER: Listen to what Tiger said. I'll quote him for you -- "It will only be great for women's golf if she plays well," says Tiger. If she puts up two high scores, it will be more detrimental than good. Is he on to something?

REILLY: I disagree. I mean, it's going to show in the paper that Annika Sorenstam beat some men, and I think she's going to beat a lot of men. Even if she only beats one or two, she has nothing to lose here, unless she finishes dead last. And having seen her play, she is the kind of person that, you know, she'll get upset if she loses at chess or ping-pong. She's like Joe Montana and Michael Jordan that way, she wants to win. And believe me, she and Tiger have the same agent. They've checked this out. They know what she can do on this course, and I think she'll do world.

HEMMER: Nancy Lopez, you know, one of the best know golfers in the world on the female side, she says thinks this is Annika testing Annika, a test herself and her own challenge.

REILLY: Yes, you know, a lot of my buddies, well, what is she doing out there? They don't have a problem taking their 6-year-old and making them play with 10-year-olds, because they want to, oh, I want him to test his skills. She's playing up is what's doing.

And what's wrong with trying -- she's not trying to join the tour. I'll tell you something else about golf. The golf ball doesn't know if you got ovaries or not when it's hit. If you're playing great, you're going to do well. And if you're playing bad, golf will take down your pants in front of all your schoolmates and slap you around and steal your lunch money, and this is what's is going to happen. If she's playing great, she'll do great.

HEMMER: We're going to use that quote for the rest of the day.

Heidi disagrees. "Who is Your Caddy?" is the new book out by Rick Reilly. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 22, 2003 - 08:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The best female golfer on the planet will take her first real swings on the men's tour. Annika Sorenstam is the first woman to compete in a PGA Tour event in 58 years. If her scores are low enough, she'll play on through the weekend. "Sports Illustrated" senior writer and golf fanatic, Rick Reilly, has some opinions on Annika testing the grass ceiling. Her latest book is called "Who's Your Caddy?"
Rick Reilly's live in Denver. How are you? Thanks for being with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

RICK REILLY, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": How is it going? You probably don't get to pay too much golf in New York, though, do you?

HEMMER: No, listen, it takes too much. It's like an eight-hour day to get out of town and back. Hey, would you caddy for Annika?

REILLY: I tried to. That's why when Nick Price said, oh, she does anything for publicity. That's not true. I asked her for two years. I did caddy on the LPGA Tour for a woman named Jill McGill. And of the 12 players I caddied for, I caddied for Nicklaus, David Duvall, John Daly, Donald Trump. She hit it closer than anyone, Jill McGill hit it closer than anyone on any of the four tours. She just didn't make any putts.

So I honestly think Annika, who's our best player since Babe Didrikson, could make the cut. I see her shooting 72, 72.

HEMMER: So you see her right around par then, which is what she is aiming for?

REILLY: I think she can do it. I mean, my buddies down there this week, and I was down there last week, they say they're totally impressed with how perfectly straight. She's straighter than Pat Boone. I mean, she's just -- and because the greens are so wet, what I thought the problem is going to be, they're going to hide pins under Hagen-Daz carts and parking lots, because they don't want her to do well on this tour.

HEMMER: You don't see, huh?

REILLY: But If the greens are wet, she can throw it in there and it will stop. Those Ft. Worth greens are about as hard as the hood of a '57 Chevy, about the size of a postage stamp, but if the greens are wet, I think she'll do well.

HEMMER: You said if she goes 72, 72, that's par, par. Is that considered a victory, Rick?

REILLY: I think if she beats one man, it's a victory, and I think she'll beat a lot of men, because nobody on that PGA Tour right now wants to be the one lose to her. Because, OK, fellows, you can stop hanging bras off my bags, stop throwing pink tees to me. It's not funny anymore.

HEMMER: Would you want to be Dean Wilson or Aaron Barber? These are the two guys who are her playing partners today and tomorrow. Do you want to be them right now?

REILLY: No, these guys are called category III, which means they've never won on tour, and nobody has ever heard of them basically, and they basically usually have two lawn mowers and a stray dog following them. But today and tomorrow, they're going to have thousands and thousands of people. Not Tiger came out in '97 are you going to see this many people there to watch one player, and that's going to be a lot of pressure.

HEMMER: I agree with you. You could have tens of thousands really tracking them today if the weather holds out, if it's not as rainy as predicted.

REILLY: Even the practice rounds have been nuts. "The New York Times" yesterday ran every shot she hit in a practice round. It's amazing.

HEMMER: Listen to what Tiger said. I'll quote him for you -- "It will only be great for women's golf if she plays well," says Tiger. If she puts up two high scores, it will be more detrimental than good. Is he on to something?

REILLY: I disagree. I mean, it's going to show in the paper that Annika Sorenstam beat some men, and I think she's going to beat a lot of men. Even if she only beats one or two, she has nothing to lose here, unless she finishes dead last. And having seen her play, she is the kind of person that, you know, she'll get upset if she loses at chess or ping-pong. She's like Joe Montana and Michael Jordan that way, she wants to win. And believe me, she and Tiger have the same agent. They've checked this out. They know what she can do on this course, and I think she'll do world.

HEMMER: Nancy Lopez, you know, one of the best know golfers in the world on the female side, she says thinks this is Annika testing Annika, a test herself and her own challenge.

REILLY: Yes, you know, a lot of my buddies, well, what is she doing out there? They don't have a problem taking their 6-year-old and making them play with 10-year-olds, because they want to, oh, I want him to test his skills. She's playing up is what's doing.

And what's wrong with trying -- she's not trying to join the tour. I'll tell you something else about golf. The golf ball doesn't know if you got ovaries or not when it's hit. If you're playing great, you're going to do well. And if you're playing bad, golf will take down your pants in front of all your schoolmates and slap you around and steal your lunch money, and this is what's is going to happen. If she's playing great, she'll do great.

HEMMER: We're going to use that quote for the rest of the day.

Heidi disagrees. "Who is Your Caddy?" is the new book out by Rick Reilly. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com