Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Sorenstam squeezes out second Nabisco victory

She triumphs on the 18th, edging Liselotte Neumann by a stroke.

©Associated Press
April 1, 2002

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- The shoes arrived on Thursday, patent leather slip-ons so outrageously red Annika Sorenstam would not consider wearing them in public, much less during a major championship.

She changed her mind on the biggest day of the year.

"I figured today was the day I had to go low," Sorenstam said. "If I'm not afraid to wear these, then I'm not afraid to play."

They were all the rage Sunday, and so was her golf.

Sorenstam made a fashion statement with her red shoes and sent an emphatic message about who's No. 1 in women's golf by claiming the LPGA Tour's first major of the year at the Nabisco Championship.

A duel in the desert with Karrie Webb never materialized, but Sorenstam was pushed to the end by fellow Swede Liselotte Neumann.

Sorenstam closed with a 4-under 68 that featured clutch putts and no mistakes, and she beat Neumann by one stroke to become the first back-to-back winner of the tournament. She has 33 career victories and four major titles.

"I'm still pushing myself, still working hard," Sorenstam said. "Victories like this push me more and make me want to see what else I can win."

It came down to the last hole.

With a one-stroke lead, Sorenstam hit her birdie putt 2 feet past the hole and opted to putt out before Neumann faced a 15-foot putt from the fringe that would have forced a playoff.

"I didn't want to mark it and look at it for 10 minutes," Sorenstam said. "It would probably be 4 feet by the time I hit it and that's not what I wanted. This championship means so much to me."

Neumann's birdie just missed to the left, and the drama was over. Even the traditional plunge into the water surrounding the island-green 18th was anti-climatic. Instead of diving in as she did last year, Sorenstam waded into the water with caddie Terry McNamara and his 4-year-old daughter Reilly.

"It's not very deep," she said. "I didn't want to make a silly mistake."

Why ruin a flawless day?

Sorenstam finished with 8-under 280 and earned $225,000.

"Annika was one step better today," Neumann said. "She hit it a little bit closer."

Neumann has gone 88 tour events without a victory, her longest drought. She closed with 69.

Rosie Jones, the best woman to have never won a major, got within one stroke of the lead with a 40-foot birdie on No. 13, but never challenged again. She finished at 69 for 282, tied for third with 24-year-old Cristie Kerr (68).

"This was one of my best tries," said Jones, who started one stroke out of the lead. "I just couldn't some of the birdie putts to fall."

Webb did not make a birdie until the 16th. She closed with 72 for seventh at 284.

A duel everyone anticipated from the best rivalry in golf never materialized. It was the first time Sorenstam and Webb played in the final group at a major championship, but the 27-year-old Aussie was never on her game.

Webb hit only three of the first seven greens and did not have a birdie inside 20 feet on the front nine.

The only downside for Sorenstam came when she left the water and wrapped herself in the winner's white robe.

The shoes were not waterproof.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright