Havre de Grace, Md. – For Annika Sorenstam, it is two down and two to go, with Cherry Hills Country Club directly in her sights.
Sorenstam won the 62nd golf tournament of her career and her ninth major championship, the LPGA Championship, on Sunday. She became the first golfer, man or woman, to win the same major in three consecutive years. The victory was her sixth in eight starts this season.
But those facts seemed almost anticlimactic in comparison to what awaits the person who is arguably the most dominant player, male or female, in the world.
That’s a date at Cherry Hills just outside Denver, where the Swede will attempt to win the U.S. Women’s Open, the third leg of the LPGA Grand Slam. The most hallowed achievement in golf, winning each of the four major championships in the same season, has been achieved once – by the legendary Bobby Jones in 1930. However, the possibility came into focus after Sorenstam completed the formality of a final-round 73 at Bulle Rock Golf Club.
Afterward, Sorenstam was hesitant to look ahead, preferring to deflect the attention that’s sure to build during the next 10 days until the opening round of the Open.
“I’m not thinking a second about tomorrow or the next week – and definitely not about two weeks,” she said. “I’m going to have a week off, and I’ll totally rest. I need to rest. I worked hard for this, and I want to enjoy it. I don’t want to start thinking about something two weeks from now.”
Sorenstam coming out on top in the biggest events is nothing new – she has won at least one major in each of the past five seasons – however, the thought of getting all four in the same season was enough to, at least, set the tongues of the other players a-waggin’.
“It’s not surprising that she has this opportunity; it was just a matter of timing,” Rosie Jones said. “She’s won two majors in a year before (2003), but I guess it’s when you win the first two that makes it really interesting.”
“The odds of her doing it have to be quite short because she wins 80 percent of the tournaments she plays in,” added Laura Davies, who finished in a tie for third with rookie Paula Creamer. “I still think it will be very difficult, but you can’t bet against this girl, she’s just so good.”
Sorenstam became the first woman since Pat Bradley in 1986 to win the first two legs of the Slam. Bradley lost the Open, but rallied to win what was then the fourth major, the duMaurier Classic.
The only thing that resembled any sort of glitch was another of Sorenstam’s LPGA records, her streak of consecutive rounds in the 60s, came to an end at 14, when she finished with a 1-over-par 73 for 277. But some thought that was only because she didn’t need a 15th to win.
“She’s just cruising along and winning another major,” Davies said. “If someone were pushing her and she needed to, she would have done it again.”
When she made the turn, Sorenstam had an eight-shot lead; although she said she actually felt a case of nerves during the day, there was never really any question about the outcome.
“I was hoping that maybe she would forget to sign her scorecard,” Michelle Wie said.
Wie, the 15-year-old amateur who arrived here under a cloud of controversy because she was granted an exemption into the previously LPGA professionals-only event, acquitted herself spectacularly well. She was the only person in the 150-player field to shoot four rounds under par. Her 8-under 280 finish was good enough for second place, three shots behind Sorenstam.
That made the rising high school junior the second amateur in 38 years to finish second in an LPGA major; the other was Jenny Chuasiriporn, who was runner-up to Se Ri Pak at the 1998 Open.
“I’m pretty used to people not wanting me at tournaments by now,” said Wie, whose amateur status cost her a check for $164,385.
The masses also have become accustomed to Sorenstam hoisting a big trophy at the end of events. Although Wie has a boatload of talent, and carries the insouciance of youth – “I’m trying to win a major too, so maybe she can just win three,” she said – it may be awhile before she, or anyone else, is ready to overtake Sorenstam, even with everything that will be on the line at Cherry Hills.
“I know it’s going to be a lot of pressure,” Sorenstam said. “That’s the goal I set, and if I want to achieve my goal that’s what I will have to accept. But right now, I want to absorb this – this is a wonderful feeling and I’m very proud of what I’ve done.”
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
