LPGA Has Its First Big Thing

By THOMAS BONK

March 27, 2002 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

RANCHO MIRAGE — It has a new name, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, but it’s still the LPGA’s first major tournament of the year.

There’s nothing like the best female golfers in the world trying to figure out which way their year is going to go and at the same time win one of the game’s most coveted titles on one of the top courses they see all year.

Other than that, there’s not much at stake in the $1.5-million event, Thursday through Sunday, at Mission Hills Country Club.

To start with, Annika Sorenstam, the defending champion, should find the surroundings comforting. That would be good news for her. When Laura Diaz won last week at Tucson, Sorenstam was five shots back in a tie for seventh, perhaps feeling the effects of the week before at Phoenix, when she closed with a 76 and lost to Rachel Teske in a playoff.

Then there is Karrie Webb, who tied for 42nd at Phoenix and tied for fifth last week. She did win the Australian Open, which isn’t an LPGA event, so this would be a good time and place for Webb to reassert herself as she did when she won here in 2000.

Se Ri Pak, who worked her way into a tight little trio with Webb and Sorenstam as the Big Three of the LPGA, hasn’t been around much this year. She has played once and tied for 18th at Phoenix.

Laura Davies has won 20 tour events, but this tournament isn’t one of them. She has come close three times--second to Donna Andrews in 1994, and tying for third in 1995 when Nanci Bowen won and in 1998 when Pat Hurst won. Davies turns 39 this year, so her chances might be running out.

As for Nancy Lopez, her chances are definitely running out, because that’s the way she wants it. Lopez has said she will no longer play the tour regularly after this year. She missed the cut by one shot last week at Tucson when she bogeyed three of her last six holes.

“I never played to make the cut,” Lopez said. “I don’t think about it. I am not out there trying to do that, I just want to play my best golf.”

Meanwhile, Diaz, who turns 27 next month, is showing signs of breaking out. The former two-time All-American at Wake Forest is in her fifth year as a pro, but she didn’t make much of an impact until last year. Diaz tied for ninth in her first appearance at the Nabisco, was second to Webb in the LPGA Championship and tied for third at the British Open. It is a record that seems to indicate she plays well in big events.

What put her over the top at Tucson was her training, Diaz said.

“At the 18th tee, I put my yoga that I had learned during the off-season into practice, just really trying to control my breathing, control my nerves, really just thinking about the last hole ... and not getting distracted.”

Diaz is friendly with David Duval, who has given her advice about a workout routine and about her approach to the game.

“He asked me, ‘Did you earn those seconds last year or did someone hand them to you?’” Diaz said. “I told them I earned them.

“His advice to me was to just go out and play.”