But Americans got off to a fast start in 2007, winning five of the first nine tour­naments. Creamer, 20, set the tone at the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay when she grabbed her third tour victory, but the first since 2005. Pressel’s first-ever victory was the Kraft Nabisco Championship, making her, at 18, the youngest player to win an LPGA Tour major. The duo was joined in the winner’s circle by Stacy Prammanasudh (age 27), Meaghan Francella (24) and Brittany Lincicome (21). At the Kraft Nabisco, Pressel, Lincicome, Prammanasudh and Creamer all finished in the top 15. The Americans’ fast start spoke well of the health of the tour, even as its marquee athlete, Annika Sorenstam, 36, was sidelined with a ruptured disk in her neck and surrendered her No. 1 world ranking to Lorena Ochoa, 25, the darling of Mexico.

As the future of women‘s golf begins to sort itself out, the remaining question mark is Wie. Only 17, she has battled wrist problems and must decide whether to commit to the LPGA Tour. At presstime,  Wie was scheduled to play her first LPGA Tour tournament of 2007, the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika, in late May, but was noncommittal about which men’s events she would enter (sources close to Wie say she’ll play the John Deere Classic in July). Remarks by her swing coach, David Leadbetter, about her intention to focus on LPGA Tour tournaments proved premature, but his prediction that she could win “eight or nine tournaments a year” on the women’s tour could still come to pass. Only time, and her competition, will tell.