Cherry Hills Village – Figuring she might as well go down swinging hard, Annika Sorenstam made the driver a key part of her U.S. Women’s Open strategy for the first time Sunday.
It backfired.
The driver got loose, and Cherry Hills smacked back.
Sorenstam pulled driver from the bag eight times in her final round and netted 3-over par for those eight holes. She did record her first birdie on a par-5 in the tournament, on the 522-yard 11th, but bogeyed Nos. 1, 2, 16 and 17 using the big stick.
“My game plan today was to be a little bit more aggressive, and it totally backfired,” said Sorenstam, who bogeyed the last four holes and shot a 6-over-par 77 to finish in a tie for 23rd place.
Aiming to become the first woman to win a four-tournament Grand Slam in a calendar year, Sorenstam began the day five strokes off the lead. She knew pars likely wouldn’t be good enough to climb the leaderboard. A more aggressive strategy was her only hope.
The threat of spraying a tee shot into Cherry Hills’ 3-inch rough had kept her driver gathering dust for the first 36 holes and for all but four holes Saturday. But for her final round, Sorenstam figured she needed more length off the tee so she had a short iron or wedge to the green and a better chance at a birdie.
As it turned out, that birdie on No. 11 would be her only one. She hit only seven fairways and reached just five greens in regulation, both her worst efforts of the tournament.
When using her driver, Sorenstam hit three of eight fairways and reached three of eight greens.
“Our original plan was good; you can’t hit driver on this golf course,” said Terry McNamara, Sorenstam’s caddie. “It’s like trying to hit into a thimble.”
Sorenstam, winner of this year’s first two LPGA major championships and four other tour events, teed off 1 1/2 hours before the final pairing. She wanted to post several red numbers early in her round to put pressure on the leaders.
Instead, she bogeyed her first two holes. She pushed her first drive to the right and into a creek, forcing a penalty drop. Using a driver again on No. 2, she poked her tee shot into the left rough and was able to advance her next shot less than 100 yards.
“I am disappointed, but I am going to know in my heart that I gave it my all,” Sorenstam said. “It just didn’t happen. Right now, the golf course feels like it’s super difficult. That just gives me something to work on. That’s not a bad thing.”
Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-820-5456 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
