Sat, Sep 18, 2004 - Page 19 News List

Thirteen-year-old Jane Rah decides on pacing herself

AP , PORTLAND, OREGON

Jane Rah is no Michelle Wie, and doesn't really want to be.

Last year, Wie was the teenage sensation in the Safeway Classic. This year, it's the 13-year-old Rah. And that's where the similarities end.

Wie stands 1.83m tall and has played many LPGA Tour events, as well as some men's professional tournaments. Rah stands at about 1.5m.

Wie is a long hitter, Rah is working on it.

And the schoolgirl from California has no plans to jump into the spotlight like Wie has.

"I think I would probably hold back a little bit," she said.

Rah is the youngest player in the field in Safeway Classic, her first LPGA Tour event. Wie, now 14, is not playing in the tournament at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.

Rah earned a sponsor's exemption for the event by winning the Safeway Classic Amateur Open. She shot a 4-over 76 in wet weather to beat Kailin Downs of Oregon by one stroke.

Rah is keeping her expectations realistic for the tournament that Annika Sorenstam has won for the past two years.

"I'm just hoping I can make the cut. But whatever happens it will still be a fun experience. I'll learn a lot from it," Rah said. "Just to play with the pros is pretty cool."

Sorenstam is coming off a victory last weekend in the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic, where she beat South Korean rookie Shi Hyun Ahn by four shots for her 53rd LPGA Tour win.

The victory in Broken Arrow, Okla., came after a month off. If Sorenstam wins Sunday, she will have a rare third consecutive tournament win, something that has happened just nine times on the LPGA Tour.

Sorenstam -- the only player to do it twice -- took the Michelob Light Classic from 1997-1999 and the Mizuno Classic from 2001-2003.

"She's very consistent, very competitive, hits the ball very straight," Don Brown, Rah's coach and caddie, said.

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