Galloway Township, N.J. ? Without ever mentioning his name, Annika Sorenstam brushed off Vijay Singh’s comments about her playing in the Colonial, saying he was entitled to his opinion.

She also thinks she can win.

“I believe so, if all the stars are lined up right,” she said Wednesday.

Sorenstam was surprised at the stir created by her decision to play in the PGA Tour event.

“I think everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, and obviously they speak their minds, and that’s just where I want to leave it,” she said. “I don’t hold anything against anybody. I was maybe a little naive when I didn’t think about this. I’m still amazed by all the attention, all the opinion, all the experts on my game. It’s really funny. I never expected anything like this.”

Singh said Sorenstam had no business in next week’s Colonial and said that on the odd chance he gets paired with her, he’d withdraw.

“I hope she misses the cut. Why? Because she doesn’t belong out here,” Singh said. “If I’m drawn with her, which I won’t be, I won’t play.”

Singh later said he was sorry if his comment came across as a personal attack.

Fuzzy Zoeller backed Singh.

“Vijay said the right thing,” Zoeller said. “There’s a men’s tour and a ladies’ tour. There’s nothing wrong with that. Do I think she can play? Of course, she’s a really good golfer. But can she play at 7,100 or 7,200 yards? No.”

Nick Price, the Colonial’s defending champion, has said Sorenstam’s appearance “reeks of publicity.”

“The people that say that, they don’t know me,” Sorenstam said. “When I started playing golf many years ago, I was afraid of the limelight.

“My game has changed, but me personally has not changed.”

By accepting a sponsor’s exemption, Sorenstam will become the first woman in 58 years to compete on the PGA Tour.

“I don’t understand why there’s any objection at all,” Tom Watson said. “The sponsor can invite anybody they want to invite, so there shouldn’t be any objection whatsoever.”

Sorenstam won 13 times last year, the most by a woman in nearly 40 years. She acknowledged she will be nervous playing the 7,080-yard, par-70 Colonial Country Club course, but thinks she can shoot par if the weather holds.

“I’m doing this because I want to test myself. I’m coming to a stage that’s totally different than I’m used to: tougher course, tougher competitors, all the attention. It’s just going to be so different,” Sorenstam said.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said critics of Sorenstam should “just relax.”

• USA to cover Annika live: Sorenstam will get more TV coverage at the Colonial than Tiger Woods ever got on the PGA Tour. USA Network announced Wednesday it will provide live coverage of Sorenstam’s first two rounds next week.

USA Network has the rights to today’s and Friday’s rounds. On the day Sorenstam has an early tee time, it will present 41/2 hours of coverage and then return to the Colonial at its regularly scheduled time from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

CBS Sports will broadcast the weekend rounds. It already had said it would expand coverage by one hour Saturday.

• Watson cited: Tom Watson was presented with the 2003 Card Walker Award Wednesday for his work in promoting golf among young people. The Walker Award is given each year to a person who “makes significant contributions in support of junior golf.”

Watson, a lifelong Kansas Citian, has spearheaded Clubs for Kids, one of the largest youth clinic programs in the country, since 1981. More than 1,200 youngsters participated in the last clinic in Kansas City.

• Ryder Cup formula altered: Europe changed its Ryder Cup selection process Wednesday to take the top five players from the world ranking and then five from the European tour money list.

The change will bolster a team that won the Ryder Cup six of the last nine years. Tour officials said it was necessary to accommodate the rising number of Europeans who play most of their golf on the PGA Tour. The 12-man team still will be filled out by two captain’s picks.

The money list had been the primary source of Europe’s team since 1975.