By Gregory Cerio

updated 6:05 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2008

In a late November afternoon in midtown Manhattan, LPGA Tour star Cristie Kerr is sitting in Morrell Wine Bar & Cafe, enjoying a rare moment of downtime. Tomorrow she travels to Washington, D.C., where President George W. Bush will host the members of the winning U.S. Solheim Cup team at the White House.

Later in the week, she will fly to Australia for the season-ending Lexus Cup, which pits the best women golfers from Asia against those from the rest of the world. But right now she's indulging a personal passion for wine, in this case a 2001 Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon priced at $114. She discovered the joys of Bacchus in 2000 while on a tour stop in Napa Valley.

"People tell me I have a good palate," Kerr says.

She swirls her glass, savors the bouquet and sips.

"Lots of fruit here," she says. "I'm getting a strong flavor of black cherry. This isn't an earthy Cab; it doesn't have that musty taste. An '01 has a bit of age on it. The tannins have softened. You can tell it was really potent when bottled. This one's a keeper."

Influential wine critic Robert Parker could scarcely have described it better. She goes on:

"I like to taste the fruit, so I prefer American wines, especially from smaller vineyards like Hall, where they only put out about 1,000 cases of this vintage. I think we got this one right at its peak. Wine has a life. It has a time when it's at its best—just like people."

As with the 2001 Cabernet, this is a pretty good time in the life of Kerr. The current titleholder of the U.S. Women's Open and the No. 6 golfer in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings, Kerr has accrued close to $8 million in prize money during her 11-year career, and holds lucrative endorsement contracts with businesses ranging from insurer Mutual of Omaha and sportswear designer Lacoste to super-luxe French watchmaker Audemars Piguet. She flies to and from tournaments on private jets, has a closet full of designer shoes and counts such movers and shakers as Donald Trump among her friends.

"The game has given me everything: beautiful houses, a great husband, the ability to give back," she marvels. "When I was younger, I had dreams beyond golf, but they were sort of cloudy."

Now Kerr can afford to dream big. She views golf not only as a career but also as a vehicle for personal enrichment and a stepping stone to future business opportunities. Golf, Kerr says, has afforded her the chance to learn about art and culture, and to address issues she cares about.

Her main philanthropy, Birdies for Breast Cancer, has raised nearly a half million dollars for treatment and research since she founded the organization in 2004, after her mother, Linda, was diagnosed with the disease (she is currently in remission). Kerr hopes to own a vineyard someday and is in discussions with the owners of California's Chimney Rock winery for a "CK" signature wine that will benefit Birdies for Breast Cancer.

She looks forward as much to earning her sommelier certification as she does to winning her next major. In fact, one of the incentives for her to play in the Lexus Cup was the opportunity to visit the vineyards in Australia's Margaret River valley just before "crush time," when grapes are harvested and vintners get "the first true test of what they've grown that year," she says.

At the not-so-ripe age of 30, Kerr is planning for life beyond the golf course. "Golf is what I do, not who I am," she says. "The game doesn't define me."

A few years ago, the closest an LPGA player might come to an expensive wine was if she walked down the wrong aisle of a wine shop. But today, sparked by a core group of smart, personable, young, attractive and—above all—brilliantly talented golfers, the LPGA Tour is enjoying unprecedented exposure and popularity. In 2007, total LPGA tournament prize money topped $54 million, a threefold increase over tour purses in 1990.

The best players have begun to snag lucrative corporate endorsement contracts from equipment manufacturers, clothiers and luxury brands as well as six-figure appearance fees. The top women not only are earning the best paychecks in the history of the game and enjoying the finer things in life, they are also flexing their entrepreneurial muscles, becoming "players" in the business sense.

When fans and the media refer to you by your first name—Annika, Lorena, Cristie, Paula, Morgan—you are platinum; you are a brand. Exhibit A, of course, is Annika Sorenstam, who has a bevy of seven-figure sponsorship deals, a thriving golf course design company, a golf academy and a Cutter & Buck sportswear line.

Lorena Ochoa, 26, who replaced Sorenstam as the world No. 1 in 2007, is devoting herself to a pursuit once reserved for financiers: philanthropy. Ochoa set a new LPGA Tour single-season earnings mark of $4.36 million—almost equal to the total 1980 LPGA Tour prize money of $5 million. When Ochoa won the $1 million first prize at the ADT Championship in West Palm Beach in November, she immediately earmarked half the winnings for charitable causes such as a school and community center she supports in her hometown, Guadalajara, and relief for flood victims.

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