Kerr wins US Open, dozens celebrate

SOUTHERN PINES, NC — This past Sunday, in front of nearly 20 spectators, Christie Kerr became the 62^nd US Open Champ. “It’s great to see so many people supporting women’s golf,” she said at a post-tournament reception at the local Denny’s.

Sunday’s crowd was the largest at a women’s golf event since the second World War, a time when most of the members of the LPGA were in fact draft-dodgers in drag.

Kerr confessed that such a sizable gallery definitely added to the anxiety of being a female golfer. “I mean there’s a lot of pressure on us girls to be like the men. Someday we hope to be as popular, if not more so!”

Sunday’s television ratings also topped all LPGA records with an international viewership of nearly 6,000 people – besting, among other programs, re-runs of Mad About You, the WB presentation of Bring it On 4- Special Delivery, and a PBS special on The French-Indian War.

Kerr will be back in action Thursday at the Sioux City Sporting Complex, where she plans to challenge local youngsters to a long drive contest, some putt-putt and – if there’s time – a race around the go-cart track.