Annika Sorenstam

Swedish-born Annika Sorenstam retired from competitive golf, for the first time, in 2008, with 72

Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) titles, including ten major championships, to her name. However, after 13 years in retirement, she returned to competition in the Gainbridge LPGA, played on her home course at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Florida in February, 2021. She made the cut, but only just, and went on to finish seventy-fourth with a 13-over-par total of 301.

Nevertheless, the following August, Sorenstam produced a dominant display to win the US Senior Women’s Open, played at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Connecticut, by eight strokes with a 12-under-par total of 276. That victory qualified her for the 2022 US Women’s Open, played at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina, where she won the second of her three US Women’s Open titles, by six strokes, in 1996. Reflecting on rounds of 74 and 81, which left her well outside the cutline at 13-over par, Sorenstam said, ‘I don’t get as mad as I used to,’ adding, ‘I can’t get upset anymore. It’s just great to be here and enjoy.’

Sorenstam turned professional in 1992 and, having been named Rookie of the Year on both sides of the Atlantic in 1993 and 1994, respectively, opened her account on the LPGA Tour with victory in the US Women’s Open, played at Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado in July. 1995. On that occasion, Sorenstam recorded a one stroke victory over defending champion Meg Mallon and went on to be named LPGA Player of the Year, as she would for a record eight times in the next 10 years. She won Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2001 and the LPGA Championship and Women’s British Open in 2003, thereby completing a career Grand Slam.