GOLF Zaharias was unique character on women's tour

BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) -- Olympian. Golfer. Entertainer. Braggart. Fierce competitor. Jokester.
Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, considered by many the nation's greatest female athlete, fit all those descriptions in her lifetime.
The one thing she wasn't: boring.
Zaharias' name has come up often lately because she's the last woman to tee it up with the men at a PGA event. In January 1945, she played in PGA tournaments in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., qualifying and making the 36-hole cut for all three of them.
Sorenstam to follow path
Annika Sorenstam is set to follow that path Thursday when she plays in the Colonial, having gotten in on a sponsor's exemption.
If Sorenstam really wanted to follow in Babe's footsteps, she'd tell the guys she was going to beat 'em all.
"Babe was a unique character. I'm glad I was able to be around her," said Betsy Rawls, who played with her on the LPGA tour, which Zaharias helped start.
"Some people were turned off by her brashness. But people learned to accept her. She was the real reason the LPGA survived back then. She brought people out to the tournaments. She entertained people so well, joked with the gallery, and the spectators loved that."
Humility was not something Zaharias practiced. While she had the talent of Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, she also possessed the ostentatiousness of Charles Barkley and the cockiness of Joe Namath. There was also a bit of P.T. Barnum in her.
"She was a singularly self-confident woman, and I think she truly believed she was the best athlete. She wasn't just an athlete. She was an entertainer. Her goal was the front page," said Susan Cayleff, author of "The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias."