Aaron J. Lopez

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. - It had the potential to be historic. Annika Sorenstam swinging for the Grand Slam. Michelle Wie trying to steal the spotlight.

Just as Arnold Palmer catapulted golf into the public consciousness 35 years earlier at Cherry Hills Country Club, Sorenstam and Wie had a chance to take the women’s game to the next level.

In the end, it turned out to be a missed opportunity.

Golf is a game that prides itself on integrity and honesty, so let’s be honest.

The 60th U.S. Women’s Open was an entertaining affair with final-round drama and a fantastic finish, but it did little to alter the perception that the ladies remain a par-5 behind the men when it comes to major championships.

Birdie Kim? A nice young player, I’m sure, but women’s golf did not need a Birdie this week. It needed an eagle. Something that would grab viewers and spectators by the back of their well-pressed polo shirts and leave them begging for more.

After seven days walking in Arnie’s footsteps, I didn’t get the sense that the women’s game got much of a popularity boost — despite Kim’s tournament-winning bunker shot on the 72nd hole.

Fair or unfair, the blame falls upon Sorenstam and Wie.

Sorenstam came to Colorado with the single-season Grand Slam in her sights.

She was halfway home and riding the momentum of a runaway victory at the LPGA Championship.

On a course supposedly perfectly suited for her game, Sorenstam flopped, failing to even threaten the leaders after going bogey-bogey-bogey to finish her second round.

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By the time NBC’s weekend coverage came on each afternoon, Sorenstam was nearly in the clubhouse. Those who tuned in hoping to witness history were left wondering what all the fuss was about.

"I am going to know in my heart that I gave it all, it just did not happen,’’ Sorenstam explained after a final-round 77, her worst score in 34 rounds this season. "Having said that, it just gives me something to work on. That’s not a bad thing.’’

Sorry, Annika. It is a bad thing.

When Tiger Woods ran roughshod over the competition at the turn of the century, he not only pushed his PGA Tour rivals to get better but he captivated previously disinterested market segments.

Eighty-year-old grandmothers in Des Moines. Inner-city kids in Detroit. Soccer moms in Decatur.

They all knew about Tiger and were eager to see what he would do next.

Give Sorenstam credit for creating a buzz, but her quest for the Slam still did not generate an enthusiasm and electricity common at majors on the men’s side.

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I’ve walked inside the ropes at three U.S. Open championships. Followed Tiger. Trailed Phil Mickelson.

Their short walks between the greens and tee boxes require earplugs as the din of the gallery becomes almost overwhelming.

Neither Sorenstam nor Wie inspire such enthusiasm, although the fans at Cherry Hills should be commended for shattering U.S. Women’s Open attendance records.

Wie had a chance to give her followers a round to remember, but melted like a Crayola in a microwave, shooting an 11-over-par 82 to finish alongside Sorenstam as part of an eight-way tie for 23rd.

"Difficult would be too easy of a word,’’ Wie said. "It was very hard out there for me.’’

Now for the good news.

Wie is only 15, just months removed from the ninth grade, and when she finally graduates high school, there will be plenty of competition waiting to give her a different kind of education.