“The win the other day was just a bonus, really,” said Sorenstam, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the New York Mets hosted the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night. “I had made this decision a while back. I was almost at peace winning on Sunday, knowing what was going to happen here today.”

Sorenstam dominated women’s golf like few others, especially during a five-year period when she won 43 times and finished among the top three nearly 70 percent of the time. But for all her achievements — the only woman to shoot 59, 10 majors and one of six women to complete the career Grand Slam — she became most famous for testing herself against the men.

Sorenstam became the first woman in 58 years to compete on the PGA Tour when she played at the Colonial in 2003. She missed the cut, but earned worldwide respect for the way she comported herself amid massive scrutiny.

She won LPGA Tour player of the year a record eight times, including five straight seasons until Ochoa ended the streak in 2006. Sorenstam was ineffective most of 2007, the first time in 12 years she failed to win on the LPGA Tour, as she recovered from back and neck injuries.

She won the first tournament of the year in Hawaii, picked up a playoff victory in South Florida three weeks ago, then continued a slow rise in the world rankings toward Ochoa with a dominant victory in Virginia.

Sorenstam still faces a large deficit to reclaim the No. 1 ranking from Ochoa, although LPGA Tour players measure themselves more on winning the money title and the points-based player of the year award. Those are easily within reach for Sorenstam with the season not even half over.

Sorenstam’s 72 victories put her third on the tour’s career list behind Kathy Whitworth (88) and Mickey Wright (82). She is tied for fourth in career majors, five behind record-setter Patty Berg.

At the end of the ‘07 season, Sorenstam felt she had arrived at “the back nine of my career.”

“I’ve done a lot, and I’m satisfied in a lot of things,” she said. “I’ve achieved so much more than I ever thought I could.”

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click hereSharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 800 characters max

Receive China Post promos

Respond to this email