Annika Sorenstam and family – Photo Darren Carroll USGA
In 1994 Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam won her first professional tournament when winning the Women’s Australian Open at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club.
14 years later in 2008 she retired from competitive golf with an amazing record behind her including a massive 95 professional wins, amongst them ten majors, 72 LPGA Tour titles and a host of other victories too extensive to mention here.
Today the 50-year-old displayed the brilliance which made her arguably the greatest of all female golfers with an eight-shot victory at the US Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield in Connecticut.
Sorenstam dominated the event from the start although, after an eagle by her nearest pursuer and fellow countrywoman Liselotte Neumann at the opening hole today, the pair were briefly tied but she would soon draw clear and win in a canter over Neumann with Laura Davies a shot away in third place.
“It’s really hard to describe,” said Sorenstam of winning her fourth USGA championship, after U.S. Women’s Open victories in 1995, 1996 and 2006. “When we came here, I just loved the place from the start.
“Everything felt so good, and then obviously you have to go out there and finish it up, and today I really felt like I played very, very well. To come in here on Sunday knowing what I had to do and I did it, obviously I’m very happy.”
Sorenstam is the mother of two children and has dedicated herself to motherhood and was keen to get the children’s approval before setting out on the mission to win this title.
“When I turned 50, we had a discussion. I said, do you want to see Mama play? And they said, ‘Yeah, we want to see Mama play.’ I said, to do that I have to put in some time. You can’t just go out there and compete with the women out here. They have seen me hitting the balls, they’ve seen me go out there and really put sweat and tears into it, so it’s really paid off. Without them this would not really happen. It’s certainly a team effort.”
Victorian amateur Sue Wooster made the cut but finished well back while Jan Stephenson missed the weekend.
