American uprising: U.S. players starting to climb back to the top

Cristie Kerr celebrates winning the LPGA State Farm Classic last September in Springfield, Ill.

SETH PERLMAN / AP

Cristie Kerr celebrates winning the LPGA State Farm Classic last September in Springfield, Ill.

The No. 1 women s golfer in the world is from Sweden. We know that not because of the women s world rankings officially, there are none but because Annika Sorenstam wins just about every time she puts a tee in the ground.

On those rare occasions since the mid-1990s when Sorenstam s dominance was in doubt, the talk turned to either an Australian, Karrie Webb, or the leader of a rapidly growing Korean contingent, four-time Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic champion Se Ri Pak.

Before that, you had to factor in an Englishwoman, Laura Davies.

Notice anything missing? Like an American?

Not since Betsy King in 1993 has a U.S. golfer led the LPGA money list. Not since Beth Daniel in 94 has a Yank been the tour s player of the year or won the Vare Trophy for lowest stroke average.

The LPGA has long been pro golf s only true world tour but over the last decade, as more and more talented foreigners have set up shop in this country, Americans have been overwhelmed, to some degree, in their own backyard.

But that may soon change. The U.S. may be poised to grab back its own tour with a promising core of stars ranging from 27-year-old Cristie Kerr to the Chosen One, as Kerr refers to 15-year-old amateur Michelle Wie.

You know that if Annika is on top of her game that she s going to be in contention come Sunday, but I have to tell you there are a lot of players out here now that can hang with her, said Kerr, who is currently second on the tour s money list with more than $900,000 and is considered by most to be the No. 1 American player today. We re not seeing all those players breaking through and winning yet, but we re very close. It s great for women s golf to see that.

There are a lot of great young Americans, Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis and others. I am really proud of them. It s good to see the resurgence of American women s golf again back on tour.

Perhaps that resurgence will continue this week in the Farr Classic.

Defending champion Meg Mallon, who last summer became the first American in seven years to win at Highland Meadows, returns and will be joined in the field by young-gun professionals Kerr, Creamer and Gulbis.

Brittany Lang and Morgan Pressel, the two amateurs who tied for second in the recent U.S. Women s Open, will also play at the Farr as sponsor exemptions. Lang will make her professional debut while Pressel presses on as an amateur.

Kerr has won five titles since the start of the 2002 season, more than any other American. Creamer, who like Kerr skipped college to go right to the pro tour, won six weeks ago as a rookie and actually expressed some disappointment that it took her all of nine pro starts [and 19 LPGA tournaments in all, including those in which she competed as an amateur] before she broke through.

It came fast in a way, I guess, but I expected to win sooner, Creamer said. I ve had many more chances, I feel, that I just didn t take advantage of.

Paula Creamer's decision to skip college and go directly to the LPGA Tour paid big dividends when the rookie won the Sybase Classic in just her ninth pro start.

I d like to be known as the next great American. I m trying to be the best player in the world.

Creamer won the Sybase Classic in New York on May 22, graduated from high school the next week, then returned to action a week later at the ShopRite LPGA Classic at Seaview Resort in New Jersey.

She told reporters there that she was not playing in an early-week pro-am event and might instead hop over to Atlantic City for the day.

Writers were quick to remind her that she s only 18 and wasn t old enough to gamble.

That s nothing. Wie can t get her driver s license until October.

So some of this talented young crop of stars is really young.

Gulbis is just 22, but seems to have been around for years and, in fact, is in her fourth full season on the LPGA Tour. She became the youngest player to qualify for a tour event in 1997 at the age of 14, a record that stood until Wie did the same thing in 2002 at the age of 12.

Natalie Gulbis has been best known for fashion shoots and calendars but her golf game is quickly catching up.

Gulbis, who left the University of Arizona after just one year, has yet to win, but has gotten consistently better, contends regularly and moved into the top five on the 2005 money list with earnings of nearly $700,000 after a tie for fourth at the Women s Open.

I had a pretty successful time in college, Gulbis said. I won four times. You get used to it. I came out here and I absolutely expected I would win my first year. But I haven t been consistent enough. I ve had good rounds and been in the hunt, but I haven t put together four good rounds.

Gulbis, as well known for her fashion/swimsuit calendars as her golf to this point, has recently been working with Butch Harmon, her first instructor other than her father, to simplify what she admits is an unorthodox swing.

I ve spent a lot of time cleaning up my game, trying to simplify my swing, to make it shorter and repeat it, and to improve my focus and concentration, Gulbis said. Annika is still a better player, but I think I m getting closer with my game. I think everybody wants to get to the point they can beat her.

Kerr s fifth tour win earlier this year at the Michelob Ultra Open was an especially big moment for her because it marked her first triumph at a tournament that included Sorenstam in the field. In fact, it snapped Annika s string of five straight victories.

Honestly, if you look at what Tiger did and what she s done, I think she s been a little bit more dominant through the years than maybe even Tiger, Kerr said of Sorenstam. I mean, Tiger is amazing and, on the men s tour, he was very dominant for a long time. But to win seven, eight, nine tournaments a year is pretty incredible. I don t think we re going to see another player like her for another 50, 100 years.

[For me] to beat her out to be No. 1 in the world is going to take quite a lot. If I m going to be No. 1, whether it s next year or five years or 10 years from now, well, if it s meant to happen then it s meant to happen.

I have just got to keep doing the things that make me perform at my peak level. I feel like I am definitely one of the players carrying the banner.

For many years, American players didn t have to worry about who was carrying the banner. It was always one of them, regardless of era.

Michelle Wie, left, and Morgan Pressel are the biggest names in women's amateur golf.