Posted on: Thursday, February 28, 2002
Kane making up for late start on tour
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Lorie Kane will begin defense of her LPGA Takefuji Classic title today at the Waikoloa Beach Course.
2002 LPGA Takefuji Classic • WHEN: 7:20 a.m. today-Saturday • WHERE: Waikoloa Beach Course (Par 70, 6,163 yards) • FIELD: 128 LPGA players, two Japan LPGA sponsor exemptions and Hawai'i amateurs Michelle Wie and Sally Soranaka • DEFENDING CHAMPION: Lorie Kane • PURSE: $900,000 ($135,000 first prize) • TICKETS: $15 daily. Free parking with shuttle at resort • TV: TV Tokyo (Japan) and The Golf Channel (U.S.), noon-2:30 p.m. live each day, with 6-8:30 p.m. repeat Advertiser library photo |
Lorie Kane's perspective on playing the LPGA Tour is a bit warped. She has worked for a living surrounded by something other than lush green grass and awesome ocean views.
When she tees off today at the Waikoloa Beach Course, the 37-year-old Kane will be defending her LPGA Takefuji Classic championship. A decade ago, she was giving junior lessons. Before that, she worked in pro shops and cart barns, studied at Acadia University in Nova Scotia and schlepped for Moosehead Brewery.
With no collegiate competition in Canada and snow hitting her Prince Edward Island home as early as September some years, it was difficult to keep Kane's competitive fires stoked. She compensated with as many major amateur events as she could play and a frequent-flier mentality.
"I came out here (on tour) definitely ready to be here," Kane said. "I wasn't 19 or 20. I'd lived life as far as going to university and working and I really wanted to give this a shot.
"If my mother were here she'd tell you I did everything late so this was all no surprise. But I came in with a great appreciation for the people who built the tour and the women who came before me. It's exciting to have the opportunity to help develop the tour over the next 10 years so somebody else can have the opportunity to appreciate it.
"It's not a matter of how old you are, just how good you are."
Kane didn't turn pro until she was 29 and didn't win until her 126th LPGA start, after nine runner-up finishes. Her victory here a year ago was her fourth in 14 starts.
"Before I was trying too hard," Kane said then. "Way too hard."
She'd finally figured how to work for a living on the golf course.
"Everybody talks about the nine seconds and that was part of the process," Kane said. "I remember at the Tour Championship in 1997, I was in a playoff with Pat Hurst and Annika (Sorenstam). I was thinking, 'What am I doing here?' When it was over, the tears were because I didn't complete the climb, but also because I knew I had arrived.
"I know where I fit in and I know I have game. I have to pinch myself sometimes because it amazes me the success I've had in a very short time."
Blessed with a simple swing "that requires little tweaking" and an outlook that finds something positive in even the ugliest shot, Kane hasn't been out of the top 12 on the money list since. She comes into her sixth full LPGA season 18th on the career money list.
She was fourth, behind Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak and Karrie Webb, in 2001, which she closed with her career-low scoring average (70.59). Now the million dollar question — literally — is how to close the gap on that diverse trio, which won nearly half the LPGA events last year.
Sorenstam, who will also be at Waikoloa this week, and Webb, who will not, have already qualified for the Hall of Fame. They have played on another golf planet the last five years, swapping Player of the Year honors on a biennial basis (Sorenstam also won it in 1995). But Kane caught and passed them, at least for one day, last year on the Big Island.
Kane went into the final round tied with Webb and trailing Sorenstam by two. Kane carved up Kona Country Club's Ocean Course in a course-record 66. Sorenstam finished second for the second straight year and Webb was sixth.
Kane said after that she'd never been so calm during any round, and admitted she found peace in the memory of her grandfather, who had died exactly a year earlier. She was in such a serene zone, even Webb and Sorenstam could not nudge her into nervousness.
"I just go out and be the best I can be," Kane said. "Whatever the media has created for them, that's for those two to worry about. And they don't worry too much."
