Lydia Ko celebrated her 18th birthday last week, which got us thinking about the year she was born, 1997. It was a good year for golf. Here’s a look back at the year that was.
Annika Sorenstam won six times in 1997 en route to being named Rolex Player of the Year for the second time. She also became the oldest to hold the number one spot in the Rolex World Rankings on April 22, 2007 at 36 years, 6 months, and 13 days. “The way I started this year was just incredible. I still can't believe it. It's given me a lot of confidence,” Sorenstam said at the U.S. Women’s Open.
Nancy Lopez suffered her fourth and final runner-up finish in the 1997 U.S. Women’s Open to Alison Nicholas at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. Lopez missed her birdie putt on 18 and finished one behind Nicholas despite becoming the first to shoot four rounds in the 60’s in the event. “It's a tough thing, because I've always wanted to win the U.S. Open and this was really, I felt like my time to do it,” Lopez said after the tournament. “But I think that this is probably the beginning of many more good U.S. Opens for me.”
On this week in 1997 the Sprint Titleholders Championship was held at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida. Tammie Green went wire to wire to win by two ahead of Annika Sorenstam. It was her first win since the 1994 Youngstown-Warren LPGA Classic. “I saw Karrie coming up and Annika, those are two great competitors,” Green said after the tournament. “I knew I couldn't let up at all. It was a grind out there.”
Karrie Webb won the Vare Trophy at the end of the 1997 season for having the lowest scoring average of 70 on Tour. It was her first of three times receiving the award (so far!)
On the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters by a record 12 strokes.
In other news, Brett Favre led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl win over New England, LeeAnn Rimes won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Bill Clinton was president of the United States.