BIG APPLE NOTES
It wasn’t a great day for Rosie Jones and the NBC television crew that covered the JAL Big Apple Classic yesterday at Wykagyl Country Club.
On the 17th hole, Jones was tied at 6-under with Annika Sorenstam when she tried to line up a 20-foot birdie putt, the camera man had trouble getting a signal. He turned several times, forcing Jones to back off the putt.
“You ready?” Jones asked.
The apologetic camera man took his position but Jones still pushed her putt a bit right. Sorenstam then drained a 15-footer for a birdie that proved to be the difference as she finished at 7-under 206, edging Jones by a stroke ahead of.
Jones refused to blame the camera man for her missing the putt. It was a professional stance on her part considering she also had trouble with an NBC sound man on the 18th hole.
Jones had about a 45-footer that would have tied Sorenstam. As Jones started to read her lie, a sound man began to walk behind the hole. Jones shouted to him to move away from behind the hole. He did so and Jones’ bid for a birdie that might have forced a possible playoff, ended up a tad left.
“None, not at all,” said Jones when asked if she was distracted on 17. “It was fine. He’s been out here a long time, working really hard. It was the first time he got in the way. He probably was just trying to get a signal. He probably had someone yelling in his ear, ‘Do you have a signal? Do you have a signal?’ It was his helper who was causing more trouble.”
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With her win yesterday, Sorenstam surpassed Karrie Webb on the LPGA money list for this season. Sorenstam, who earned $135,000 for her win, now has won $985,635. Webb, who finished tied for 18th, earned $10,279 and has now earned $963,742.
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Saturday’s third round was washed out so Sorenstam decided to see the movie, “The Perfect Storm.” “I could have just looked out my window,” she said. She then went to a nearby public driving range, Cherry Lawn. When asked if she was noticed, Sorenstam quipped, “It’s hard not to be,” she said. “Not too many people bring their caddies and their tour bags.”
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The Big Apple Classic donated all food from the volunteer tent to the Westchester Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless in White Plains … Our Lady of Mercy Healthcare System donated the food from their hospitality tent to Rosalie Hall, a residence in the Bronx for unwed mothers and the babies.
