Preferred Lies January 2008

Fairway’s fairest…

Aussie Anna’s hot stuff, on and off the links

She’s been called ‘Golf’s answer to Anna Kournikova’, but if anything – that’s doing Anna Rawson an injustice.

For the 26-year-old Australian pro is not just a stunner in the glamour stakes, she’s also pretty hot on the golf course.

Rawson is ranked in the top 10 most beautiful female athletes by Sports Illustrated, but she’s more impressed by her ranking on the Ladies European Tour order of merit.

She was 25th on the money list for 2007 before the start of the Dubai Ladies Masters, and although she only just made the halfway cut, that alone guaranteed another pay cheque – albeit a small one.

A full-time modelling career would amount to virtually a blank cheque, but for the moment at least, golf comes first.

She’s quick to come to the defence of Kournikova – tennis’s favourite pin-up girl – whom she describes as a ‘role model’.

We tend to remember Kournikova more for her cover-girl assets than her on-court exploits, but when I suggest this to Rawson, she counters by reminding me that the Russian blonde did reach the Wimbledon semi-finals:

“Anna didn’t get there on her looks alone – she was a pretty good tennis player first and foremost, and I have a very high regard for her.

“It’s nice to be seen as a sex symbol like the way she’s seen, but I’d like to have a longer career.”

However, Kournikova isn’t her biggest sports hero. Her all-time athletic role model is none other than Greg Norman, Australia’s most famous golfing export (so far).

“I love what he’s done on and off the course and how he’s done it with class and integrity,” she says.

But she’s learned lessons from Kournikova, though, and is conscious of doing a better job of handling media and dealing with the pressures that come from being as prominent on the glamour pages as in the sports columns.

With a BA degree in communications from the University of Southern California behind her, that shouldn’t be too difficult. She also added a minor in visual arts and graphics to her student course load – more ammunition for her long term goals of developing the Anna Rawson brand, with clothing, cosmetics, and fashion accessories.

Rawson got hooked on golf when she was 13, although she freely admits to being ‘mad about all sport’ – playing tennis, basketball, and whatever came her way in her Adelaide home town.

“My whole family played golf – there was a club down the street,” she says.

You’d think with Anna around, golf would be fairly low on her brother’s friends’ priorities, but no.

“My brother and his hot friends would come home and talk to me about golf, so I guess I got into it for the hot guys and to hang out with my brother’s friends.”

Within a year, her handicap was down to 11 and she was in low single figures by the time she turned 15.

A year later, her looks were attracting as much attention as her rhythmic golf swing. At the age 16... Anna was a finalist in the Australian “Dolly” Magazine cover contest, kick-starting her parallel modelling career on the catwalk, in print ads, and on television.

In 1999, she was selected to be on the Australian National Senior Squad, having finished as the leading qualifier for the Australian Amateur and winning both the South Australian and Victorian Junior championships.

In July that year, Anna won the Jack Newton International Junior Classic and was selected to be a member of the South Australian Senior State team.

Despite her commitments to golf and modeling, she still achieved outstanding school results, graduating from high school with an entrance rank of 94.05 out of a possible 99.95.

Early in 2000, Anna competed in the Australian Open, where the University of Southern California recruited her for a golf scholarship.
Highlight of her time there was winning the national university championship with USC in 2003, a historic ‘first’ for the institution.
“The college national championship was really it,” she said. “That’s what I’d set my sights on from first getting there.”

After graduating, Anna dedicated herself to golf full time and started working with a professional coach. After a few months of working with Brady Riggs – a full time swing coach, and golf guru Butch Harmon – the man who shaped Tiger Woods, Anna had brought her game to another level.

She had a top 10 finish in her first professional event, coming fifth in the Orient Masters in China, and qualified for the Futures Tour with ease. During her first season on there, she managed two more top 10 finishes, and ended the year ranked 22nd in scoring average.

In November, 2005, Anna travelled to Spain to the Ladies European Tour School where she qualified in third place, and earned her 2006 tour card.

As a rookie on the Ladies European Tour, Anna continued to impress. She posted one top ten and two top 20 finishes in only 11 events. She finished the year 74th on the New Star Money List with €24,981 and kept her full card for 2007. Her best finish was tied for 10th at the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open, tied-15th in the Open de Espana Femenino, where she fired a career low 67 in the third round.

Now, she’s ended 2007 in 33rd place with earnings of €66,190 from 18 events– fair progress in only her second season as a full-time tour pro.

To put that in perspective, 167 players picked up prize-money of some sort, even if the bottom-ranked collected only €460.

One thing for certain, we’ll be hearing – and seeing – a lot more of Anna Rawson in the months and years to come.