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Personalities >
Charting a New Course
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Charting a New Course continued...
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‘She preferred weeds’ Sorenstam admittedly has a lot to
learn about
irrigation, grading and agronomy. But as Brian Curley, who
worked with her on
her first course at China’s Mission Hills Resort,
puts it, you don’t have to be
an architect to have a huge influence on
building your home. This is one woman,
however, who didn’t want her
space festooned with a lot of flowers, as Mission
Hills’ owners were
hoping.
“She preferred weeds,” Curley recalls with a
laugh.
“She’s got very strong opinions. She’s an astute businesswoman. She’s got
the pedigree to step right into the role. She comes off as very
professional and
polished, so there’s a certain comfort level that any
owner/developer is going
to feel with her: ‘Hey, I’m in good hands
here.’”
One such developer is Bobby
Ginn. In addition to
sponsoring her academy and her LPGA event, he has
commisioned her first
U.S. project, a redesign of Patriots Point Links near
Charleston, South
Carolina. (Working with IMG’s internal design department, she
has two
courses in development, one in British Columbia and another in South
Africa, with five in the “discussion phase.”)
“She’s a class act
personified,” says Ginn, who scoffs at the notion that male players
won’t want
to play Patriots Point after Sorenstam’s name goes on it.
“If men think it’s
going to be an easy golf course because she designed
it, they’ve got a rude
awakening. She is going to design some
tremendous golf courses in her career.
She’s clearly not doing it for
the money. She’s doing it because she’s
passionate about it.”
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