
This Week
June 3-9
PGA
Kemper Open, TPC at Avenel (below), Potomac, Md.
With Tiger away, cats like Justin Leonard and Mark O'Meara play
for a $360,000 first prize
LPGA
Michelob Light Classic, Forest Hills Country Club, St. Louis
Annika Sorenstam's less-fulfilling '98 continues at
Anheuser-Busch's $600,000 beer bash
Senior
Nationwide Championship, The Golf Club of Georgia, Alpharetta
The Alpharettical order starts with Hale Irwin, returning to
Senior action after four weeks off
Europe
National Car Rental English Open, Marriott Hanbury Manor, Ware,
England
The trend's up for Per-Ulrik Johansson, who was sixth here in
'93, fourth in '96 and first last year
PGA Tour
Meet the Happy Kemper Campers
The list of Kemper Open champions reads like a Who's He? of the
PGA Tour. Dick Lotz took home the trophy in 1970. Bob Menne won
in '74. Joe Inman Jr. ('76), Morris Hatalsky ('88), Tom Byrum
('89) and Grant Waite ('93) all won here, making fellow champs
Bill Glasson ('85), Billy Andrade ('91) and Steve Stricker ('96)
seem famous by comparison. Glassonmania, anyone? How about
Stricker Shock? Texan Justin Leonard brought some Lone Stardom
to Maryland with a Kemper victory last year. Tiger Woods is
nursing a bad back as Leonard returns to duel with marquee
players including Mark O'Meara and Tom Lehman.
CBS, SATURDAY, 4 PM; SUNDAY, 3 PM
LPGA
Six Wins Short Of Half a Dozen
Annika Sorenstam has eight top 10 finishes in nine starts this
season, trails only Karrie Webb in the Vare trophy race and
ranks fifth on the money list with $297,765, and she's having a
rotten year. Or so it seems when you contrast her superb 1997
with the mere excellence of her '98. Now the defending Michelob
champ faces Webb, Se Ri Pak and three others who have done
something Sorenstam hasn't this year: win a tournament.
ESPN2, SATURDAY, 2:30 PM; SUNDAY, 3:30 PM
Senior Tour
Marsh Mellows With a Hot Stick
Graham Marsh earned $1,128,578 last year, seventh-best on the
Senior tour. Not bad for a guy whose middle name is Vivian.
Still more impressive, the 54-year-old from Kalgoorlie,
Australia, made nearly half that sum between June 12 and June 29
by placing third at the du Maurier, first at the Nationwide
Championship and first at the U.S. Senior Open. "The early part
of the year is tough for me. I'm always flying back and forth
between the U.S. and Australia," says Marsh. The well-rested
defending champ may be the man to beat this week, even in a
field featuring Hale Irwin, Gil Morgan and Larry Nelson.
ESPN, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, 5:30 PM
COLOR PHOTO: STAN BADZ/PGA TOUR [Avenel Golf Club]