Golf

'She's better than Tiger Woods'

Annika Sorenstam's at a point where her talent, success might better be measured against men.

By BOB HARIG
Published March 31, 2005

She made more history on Sunday, winning for the fifth straight time on the LPGA Tour and capturing her eighth major championship.

But as is usually the case for Annika Sorenstam, playing with men helps bring her enormous accomplishments into focus.

It was on Tuesday at a made-for-TV outing in which she played with a bunch of PGA Tour stars that Sorenstam shot 73, tying or defeating eight of the 17 men in the field for the Tavistock Cup.

Sure, Tiger Woods shot 67, but Sorenstam's 73 came on an Isleworth course at Orlando that is supposedly way out of her league. It measured some 7,500 yards and is considered one of the hardest courses in Florida from the back tees. She usually plays courses on the LPGA Tour that are more than 1,000 yards shorter.

These days, it might be best to put Sorenstam's accomplishments up against men, because women on the LPGA Tour sure are not giving her much of a fight. It is a similar situation that faced Woods a few years ago when he was winning seven of 11 major championships. People wonder why there is not more competition and often lose sight of what has occurred.

"I think she's awesome," said LPGA Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez, whose record Sorenstam tied with her fifth straight victory on Sunday at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA's first major of the year.

"I don't think anybody in the sports world gives her enough credit for what she has done and what she's accomplished and I think, really and truly, she's better than Tiger Woods. She's a great athlete, works very hard, very dedicated. She knows what she wants and I admire her for that."

Sorenstam took a five-shot lead into the final round and won by eight shots. Rosie Jones said she knew she was playing for second.

"I had a lot of things go right this week," Sorenstam said afterward. "I felt really good, calm. Hit some good shots, got some good bounces. I've been driving down the street, it's been green lights. Good music on the radio, you name it."

The impressive numbers are now piling up for Sorenstam.

Already a member of the LPGA Tour's Hall of Fame, Sorenstam, 34, won for the third time at the Kraft Nabisco, tying Amy Alcott and Betsy King for the most. It was her 59th career LPGA Tour victory, leaving her one short of Patty Berg for third place on the all-time LPGA list. (But 29 behind the record 88 of Kathy Whitworth.)

Her eighth major championship (Woods also has eight majors) is fifth all-time among LPGA players, trailing Berg's 15.

Since the start of the 2004 season, Sorenstam has won 11 of 21 LPGA events. And her fifth straight matched the 1978 mark of Lopez, when she was an LPGA rookie.

"She just hits the ball so pure, straight down the middle," Lopez said. "She's just not feeling afraid of anything, and I only relate with what I was feeling those times when I won golf tournaments, when your golf game is that good and you feel that good."

Sorenstam did not say when she would attempt to go for her sixth straight victory. The LPGA is off the next two weeks before the schedule resumes in Las Vegas.

But she acknowledged that the Grand Slam - winning all four major championships in the same year - is on her mind. She set that as her goal last year, but won just one major. The next major is in June at the McDonald's LPGA Championship.

"I think it's very realistic," Lopez said. "Her mind can put her there, and I think she could do it, definitely."

Two years ago, Sorenstam was the talk of the golf world when she received a sponsor's invitation to compete in the Colonial, a PGA Tour event.

Media from all over the world converged on the Texas golf course, and Sorenstam showed something, even in missing the cut. It helped bring attention to her and the LPGA Tour.

But her recent run of success has largely gone unnoticed. Part of the reason is that two of the five straight victories came last year.

"I think I get a lot of recognition in what I do," Sorenstam said. "I think people understand my success on the golf course. I feel it in my home country (Sweden). I feel it here. I feel it among my friends. I feel it amongst you guys (media). Sometimes maybe I take certain things for granted."

There was a time when many wondered what was left for Sorenstam. She has already qualified for the Hall of Fame. She has won each of the major championships. She has dominated the LPGA Tour for years.

But there is more out there, and it drives Sorenstam.

"It does play a part," she said. "I try to look at things mostly for myself, but what am I capable of? What's exciting to me? What's most important to me? I look at some of the records and say what's possible and what's not, put that together and that's what gets me motivated."

[Last modified March 31, 2005, 01:50:13]