Cristie Kerr is doing the laughing now, even though the situation was never funny to her. She heard all the cruel comments from other kids, the cracks about her glasses, her weight.
That's why golf was a way to feel good about herself. It is a solitary sport, one that doesn't require acceptance from others. It offered solace.
"I took a lot of abuse when I was growing up,'' said Kerr, who hears nothing but compliments now.
That's because you'd never figure it to be her. Kerr, over the course of some two years, went from more than 180 pounds to 125. She slimmed down from a size 16 to a 4. At 5-foot-4, she almost looks tiny.
|  | | Dropping more than 50 pounds has changed Cristie Kerr's golf swing; she's now able to make a full turn. |
And her golf swing changed, too, an understandable result of losing so much weight. Now she's able to make a full turn, something not always possible with too much body getting in the way.
Kerr, a rising star on the LPGA Tour and one of the key members of the U.S. Solheim Cup team that will take on the Europeans this week, had to buy all new clothes because her old ones didn't come close to fitting anymore. They were too big, she was too small.
But perhaps the biggest source of pride for Kerr is the fact that she could so easily go unrecognized. Even her father did a double-take.
|  | | People don't even recognize the old Kerr; this shot was taken in 1999, before she lost more than 50 pounds. |
"People don't believe it's me,'' Kerr said. "I had to go get a new driver's license. They weren't going to let me on a plane after Sept. 11. They said it wasn't me. That's my funny story. People just don't believe it's me.''
It is no coincidence that Kerr is having the best season of her career. Although she won't celebrate her 25th birthday until next month, Kerr is in her sixth full season on the LPGA Tour, having turned pro out of high school in Miami.
She won her first LPGA event earlier this year at the Longs Drugs Challenge in Lincoln, Calif., and qualified for her first Solheim Cup team. The Ryder Cup-style event begins Friday in Edina, Minn.
"I think the Solheim Cup fits in as one in a series of events,'' she said. "It's one of the ultimate goals I've had since I was a junior golfer. I don't think I would have been able to reach it at this young age if I hadn't changed my body and changed the way I eat and just gotten more on the straight and narrow path.''
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Ty's trials
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 Ty Tryon came onto the PGA Tour this year with a great deal of fanfare. But he missed the cut in his only four tournaments, then was diagnosed with tonsillitis and mononucleosis after the Bay Hill Invitational. He didn't play again until two weeks ago at the Buy.com Utah Classic, where he missed the cut.
Tryon became the youngest player to earn his PGA Tour card when he made it through all three stages of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament last year when he was 17. A tour policy kept him from becoming a full member until he turned 18 on June 2, and he was allowed to take up to seven sponsor exemptions until then -- all of which became a moot point due to his illness.
This week's Tampa Bay Classic will be the first of 23 PGA Tour events Tryon will be allowed to play this year and next as part of a major medical extension he has been granted. If he fails to retain his tour card this year by finishing among the top 125 money winners -- which seems to be a longshot, considering he has yet to make a dime -- he can combine whatever money he makes this year with the remaining tournaments he plays next year.
If that dollar amount is equal to or better than the money made by the player finishing 125th this year, he'll retain his card for the rest of 2003.
"I've matured quite a bit,'' said Tryon, who lives in Orlando. "I'm going to go out this time and just have fun and play golf, and not worry about people's expectations for me. Just go out and play like I used to play.''
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Kerr had a distinguished amateur career, winning three Florida State Junior Girls Championships (1993-95), the Junior Orange Bowl Classic, the Doral Publix Junior Classic and the Women's Western Junior. In 1995, she was named the American Junior Golf Association player of the year after winning the Harder Hall Women's Championship, the Women's Western Amateur Championship and the Florida State Women's Championship. In 1996, she was low amateur at the U.S. Women's Open.
Perhaps as a shield, Kerr developed a tough exterior. She was arrogant, and not afraid to tell people how good she was. Winning 22 of her last 25 tournaments as an amateur only fed her ambition. She felt no need to attend college.
And she learned the hard way the difficulty of playing professional golf.
Kerr didn't post a single top-10 during her rookie year in 1997 and finished 112th on the LPGA money list. For three years, she was the youngest player on the tour, which made making friends difficult. That's why she quickly became buddies with Beth Bauer, 22, and Natalie Gulbis, 19, both rookies this year on the LPGA Tour.
And it's one of the reasons she is looking forward to the Solheim Cup.
"I love being a part of a team,'' she said. "I feel like I'm a very motivational person. Very optimistic. It's going to be challenging, but I love being part of a team because we don't ever get to be part of a team. It's a very lonely lifestyle, especially if you don't have people traveling with you. You have friends, people to go to dinner with, play practice rounds with. But being part of a team, focused on the same goal, is tremendous.''
It is difficult to imagine Kerr being more focused on anything than losing weight. It was a process she started at the end of 1999.
"If I hadn't, I'd be in bad shape. For me, it wasn't an option,'' Kerr said. "If I had not done it, I don't think I would be sitting where I am right now, looking to play in my first Solheim Cup. I just got sick of being fat, basically. And not playing as well as I wanted to. I knew I had to make a commitment to myself first in order to go forward.''
Kerr had been on diets as a kid, but fast food always managed to creep back into her eating habits. She simply quit eating bad foods, quit eating anything fried while working in salads, smoothies and exercise. "If I eat something fast, it's a turkey sandwich or a smoothie,'' she said. "You have to look for a healthy option.''
The changes have helped Kerr's game. She finished 15th on the 2000 money list and missed the Solheim Cup team that year when she three-putted the last green at the Safeway Classic, the final qualifying tournament. Last year, she had five top-10s and was 28th on the money list.
Now, she's got a victory under her belt, and lessons came with that, too.
"After I won, I got bogged down,'' she Kerr, who is ninth on the money list with $515,896. "I did every interview. I tried to do all the right things. Leading up to winning, I did all the small things well. I practiced more. I was more focused in my practice, I worked out four or five days a week. I did all the small things that led up to that.
"After I won, everything kind of got scrambled. Now I'm back to doing those things well again and I'm playing better. It's not rocket science. You have to set priorities and that's what I learned.''
Bob Harig, who covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times, writes a weekly column for ESPN.com.
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