Bidding farewell to a pioneering legend
The game of golf bids farewell to one of its greats this week.
A professional in every manner of the word, who elevated the sport to a new level with a period of dominance unmatched by rivals.
A player who transcended boundaries, but who always had the utmost respect to the regular paymasters on a Tour she made her own over the past decade.
Women’s golf will be forever indebted to Annika Sorenstam who retires at the end of season. She departs the major scene in which she triumphed 10 times, at the Ricoh’s Women’s British Open at Sunningdale this week.
The 37-year-old is leaving golf for a career in business and to spend more time with her family.
No doubt she will be successful in both, having been a dedicated, determined and pioneering golfer on the course.
Born in Stockholm in 1970, the blonde-haired Swede had a similar impact on the women’s Tour to that of Tiger on the men’s tour.
She elevated women’s golf from poor relation to respected equal.
Her dominance of the sport for more than a decade enhanced the quality of golf on show. She raised the bar that others since have tried to reach.
A graduate of the University of Arizona, Sorenstam split her time between playing in America and forging the reputation of the Ladies European Tour on her home continent.
In 1995 she gave notice of her intentions with victory in the US Women’s Open.
It was the first of 10 major titles, including the career grand slam which she completed in 2003 with the McDonald’s LPGA Championship and the Weetabix Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham, her only triumph in Britain’s main event.
Sorenstam won three LPGA Championships in a row and helped cement the Kraft Nabisco Championship as the womens game’s fourth major with another trio of titles in 2001, 2002 and 2005.
Her major-winning career came full circle in 2006 when she won the US Open at Newport for a third time, making it a grand 10 to her name.
With that victory she tied her great friend Tiger Woods on 10 major championship wins. Woods has since gone on to add four more titles, while Sorenstam slid down the rankings, overtaken by the new crop of American players like Morgan Pressel, the influx of players from the Far East and the growing dominance of Mexican Lorena Ochoa, who has strode out from the long shadow cast by Sorenstam, to dominate the sport in a similar fashion.
For years pundits drew hypothetical parallels as to who was the greatest golfer, Tiger or Annika?
In 2003, she got her chance to put that theory into practice.
In a landmark for women’s golf, Sorenstam became the first LPGA player to compete on the men’s tour at the Colonial tournament in Texas. Her inclusion in the field polarised locker room opinion, Vijay Singh the loudest voice calling for her to stick to her own tour.
Sorenstam missed the cut, largely due to her lack of length off the tee and from the fairway when measured against the men.
But when it came to her short game she was than a match for her temporary peers, and at the end of two emotionally-draining days she broke down in tears, showing a human side that tugged on the heart strings.
There may be tears at Sunningdale again this weekend, whether she crowns her career with another title, or whether she fades into the field and makes the walk up the 18th fairway out of contention.
One thing is for sure, women’s golf has lost its greatest player and its greatest ambassador.
A professional in every manner of the word, who elevated the sport to a new level with a period of dominance unmatched by rivals.
A player who transcended boundaries, but who always had the utmost respect to the regular paymasters on a Tour she made her own over the past decade.
Women’s golf will be forever indebted to Annika Sorenstam who retires at the end of season. She departs the major scene in which she triumphed 10 times, at the Ricoh’s Women’s British Open at Sunningdale this week.
The 37-year-old is leaving golf for a career in business and to spend more time with her family.
No doubt she will be successful in both, having been a dedicated, determined and pioneering golfer on the course.
Born in Stockholm in 1970, the blonde-haired Swede had a similar impact on the women’s Tour to that of Tiger on the men’s tour.
She elevated women’s golf from poor relation to respected equal.
Her dominance of the sport for more than a decade enhanced the quality of golf on show. She raised the bar that others since have tried to reach.
A graduate of the University of Arizona, Sorenstam split her time between playing in America and forging the reputation of the Ladies European Tour on her home continent.
In 1995 she gave notice of her intentions with victory in the US Women’s Open.
It was the first of 10 major titles, including the career grand slam which she completed in 2003 with the McDonald’s LPGA Championship and the Weetabix Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham, her only triumph in Britain’s main event.
Sorenstam won three LPGA Championships in a row and helped cement the Kraft Nabisco Championship as the womens game’s fourth major with another trio of titles in 2001, 2002 and 2005.
Her major-winning career came full circle in 2006 when she won the US Open at Newport for a third time, making it a grand 10 to her name.
With that victory she tied her great friend Tiger Woods on 10 major championship wins. Woods has since gone on to add four more titles, while Sorenstam slid down the rankings, overtaken by the new crop of American players like Morgan Pressel, the influx of players from the Far East and the growing dominance of Mexican Lorena Ochoa, who has strode out from the long shadow cast by Sorenstam, to dominate the sport in a similar fashion.
For years pundits drew hypothetical parallels as to who was the greatest golfer, Tiger or Annika?
In 2003, she got her chance to put that theory into practice.
In a landmark for women’s golf, Sorenstam became the first LPGA player to compete on the men’s tour at the Colonial tournament in Texas. Her inclusion in the field polarised locker room opinion, Vijay Singh the loudest voice calling for her to stick to her own tour.
Sorenstam missed the cut, largely due to her lack of length off the tee and from the fairway when measured against the men.
But when it came to her short game she was than a match for her temporary peers, and at the end of two emotionally-draining days she broke down in tears, showing a human side that tugged on the heart strings.
There may be tears at Sunningdale again this weekend, whether she crowns her career with another title, or whether she fades into the field and makes the walk up the 18th fairway out of contention.
One thing is for sure, women’s golf has lost its greatest player and its greatest ambassador.
Labels: Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, LPGA, Royal Lytham, Tiger Woods
posted by Nick Westby at 11:31 AM
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