Inkster still a giant in women’s game
You want a Bay Area sports figure who blends grace and humility with relentless ferocity? You want someone adept at promoting his or her sport after competing at the highest level?
Well, we give you Juli Inkster.
Inkster might count as the most underappreciated icon (if that’s possible) on the Northern California landscape. That’s probably because she has made her mark in women’s golf, which unfortunately sails below the radar of many sports fans.
This came to mind while watching Inkster, as United States captain, guide her team to victory in last weekend’s Solheim Cup. One moment, she animatedly exhorted the American players. The next, she gave Lexi Thompson a gentle pep talk when Thompson fell behind in her singles match.
Not to oversell this, but Golf World referred to Inkster as “Captain America.”
Inkster struck the perfect balance, at once feisty and respectful. That’s not always easy to pull off, but she did it — and earned lofty praise from her players.
“I’m sure every girl up here would agree she is a freakin’ rock star,” Gerina Piller said.
Inkster — raised in Santa Cruz, educated at San Jose State, now living in Los Altos — also used the Solheim Cup platform to make an impassioned plea for women’s golf. She brings credentials to this conversation, given her 31 career LPGA victories, including seven majors, and 2000 induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
So there she went during Sunday’s news conference, upon fielding a question about how this year’s Solheim — which featured high-quality, entertaining golf — might boost the women’s game in general.
“I just think as women golfers we always get shortchanged and it irks me,” Inkster said. “If anybody has kids and has girls, you want to give them an opportunity to do what they want to do and be who they want to be.
“And even from the PGA Tour down, I just don’t think we really get the respect we deserve. Hopefully, things start to change, especially in sponsorships. I’m going to say it right now, and I probably shouldn’t, but I just don’t understand how all these companies get away with supporting PGA Tour events and not supporting the LPGA.
“It makes me a little upset, because I think we’ve got a great product. I think we do a lot of things really well and the golf is fantastic. And I think we deserve our due.”
Inkster is right in many respects — the top women’s players are really good. But the game still hasn’t resonated with a mainstream audience, and until it does, the big-money sponsors will hesitate to hop aboard. Just look at the disappearance of the LPGA event at Lake Merced, which couldn’t find a new title sponsor.
At any rate, this year’s Solheim offers hope given the impressive U.S. performance and raucous crowds in Des Moines. Sunday’s final round also was the most-watched women’s golf telecast on cable in eight years (albeit with a modest total of 795,000 viewers).
Also worth noting: Paula Creamer, who lived in Pleasanton until age 14, went 3-1 in this year’s event. She now has earned 19½ points in her Solheim Cup career, vaulting her past Inkster (18½) for the most by a U.S. player. McNealy to turn pro: More than two months after his senior season ended, and after uncommon contemplation for the world’s No. 2-ranked amateur, Stanford’s Maverick McNealy announced he will turn pro after next month’s Walker Cup.
McNealy will make his professional debut Oct. 5 at the Safeway Open in Napa. He accepted a sponsor exemption to play in the PGA Tour’s seasonopening event at Silverado Resort.
This wasn’t a sure thing, though McNealy has been leaning toward a professional golf career the past year. He also seriously considered pursuing a business career, following in the footsteps of his father, Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy.
Ultimately, the challenge of chasing the world’s top players proved too tempting, as Maverick McNealy articulated in a first-person story posted Wednesday on Stanford’s athletic department website.
“Let’s start with the fact that I love golf,” he wrote in explaining his decision. “Anyone who has ever flushed a high-draw 5-iron, shot their personal best or sprinted down the 18th hole to finish in the dark knows why.
“I honestly believe that with a huge amount of work, I have what it takes to be one of the best players in the world. Getting better at something is one of the most exciting and gratifying things for me in life, and I’m excited to see how good I can get at golf.”
McNealy could become good enough to bolster the Bay Area’s thin population in the upper echelon of the PGA Tour. James Hahn (Alameda/Cal) is the only player with local roots to win on tour in recent years. McNealy grew up in Portola Valley.
As for the Walker Cup, he was one of four players with Northern California ties to earn a spot on the U.S. team. He will join Cal’s Collin Morikawa, Cameron Champ of Sacramento and San Francisco native Will Zalatoris (who moved to Texas as a kid) in representing the U.S. in its match-play event against Great Britain/Ireland on Sept. 9-10 in Los Angeles.