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Sorenstam Not Finished Yet
March 13, 2008
By Phil Howley
Men’s professional golf belongs to Tiger Woods. There are only ephemeral challenges to the claim, occasional protests from an otherwise docile and subservient PGA Tour.
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| Injuries contributed to an off year for Annika Sorenstam in 2007. (John Mummert/USGA) |
But there is a game going on in golf, a contest crowded with headliners, a table where the seat at the head is still a matter of contention. The honor currently belongs to 26-year-old Lorena Ochoa, who was the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 2007 for the second year in succession. Ochoa set new standards, winning eight times and earning a record of $4,364,994. She is all that and a bag of chips.
Yet the LPGA is not a one-trick pony. The LPGA is a League of Extraordinary Women, a group Sean Connery might be proud to lead. From week to week, any number of players can contend. A plethora of stars shine in the galaxy, which includes Paula Creamer, Angela Park, Suzann Pettersen, Morgan Pressel and 2007 U.S. Women’s Open champion Cristie Kerr.
Ah yes, and then there is Annika Sorenstam.
You remember her, the former most extraordinary woman of all, the steely Swede who dominated her sport Woods-style with 70 LPGA Tour wins and 10 majors, including three U.S. Women’s Open championships (1995, 1996, 2006).
Over the past two seasons, Sorenstam seemed to get of out of the way of the young and talented stampede. A series of injuries and distractions appeared to force an abdication. Last year, Sorenstam failed to win an LPGA regular-season event for the first time since 1995.
But it turns out, at 37 years of age, Sorenstam is not ready for the rocking chair, not ready to pass the baton, not willingly anyway. Turns out, she’s itching for a fight.
“I’ll say I was disappointed about '07,” Sorenstam said at the recent HSBC Women’s Championship. “I had a chance to play 13 events, and half of it I was just trying to get back to playing some good golf.
“I did go back to basics when it comes to working on my swing this winter, but in other terms, I wouldn’t say I’m starting from scratch. I mean, I still have experience that I’m carrying with me. I still have the excitement. I know what it's like to be out here. In that sense it’s just a matter of going back to where I was. You know, it's going to take some hard work and some dedication, but nothing I can’t handle.”
Sorenstam wasted no time getting back on the horse. She made the trip to Hawaii to play in the first event of the year and immediately re-established herself, winning the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, birdieing two of the final three holes to close it out.
“I’m excited to be back,” she said. “I think that’s going to be easier the rest of the year for me … knowing that I’m swinging better again and knowing that the desire is there.
“Last year the desire wasn’t there. And my swing was definitely not there. Now it is. And, like I said, those are two important components you need to play well and to be the top player out here.”
The road back is long, congested and unclearly marked. Consider where Sorenstam comes from. She is the only player in LPGA history to win the Rolex Player of the Year Award eight times. She has won the Vare Trophy scoring title six times, set the single-season scoring record (68.69), recorded a 59 in competition. She is the only LPGA player to win Money List, POY award and Vare trophy in the same year in five different years.
The landscape has changed. With Ochoa, with the stable of worthy contenders, with the embarrassment of riches on the LPGA Tour, Sorenstam may never get home again, not to the place where she twice won as many as 11 times in a season. That place may no longer exist.
“I just believe that there's more players that play at that top standard,” said Karrie Webb, who has 35 career wins, seven majors and two Rolex Player of the Year trophies. “I think when I first came on the Tour, there was probably only 20 players that really could compete at a top level for most of the year.
“But now I think it’s at least half the field has the ability to hang in there week in and week out and play consistently good golf. That then raises the level of what the top players have to do to stay up with what the 50th player in the world plays at. So I think that's what the difference is.”
For Sorenstam, the picture began to change in 2005, when her marriage to David Esch officially came to an end. Midway through the following season, Sorenstam began experiencing pain and restrictions in her neck. Not long after, it was discovered she had ruptured and bulging discs.
After trying to play through it in the second half of 2006, she finally took two months off early last year to rest and rehab. A golfer of her ilk, of her competitive nature, does not go quietly to injury.
“The toughest part is not being in contention, not being able to perform to the level that I know how,” said Sorenstam. “You know, when I was sidelined with the injury, first of all, I was away from competition for two months. When you're a competitor like myself, that’s not so easy. I mean, I love to play and that's what I do for a living. So that was hard.”
To get all the way back, Sorenstam had to be patient - one small step before one giant leap. “I was forced to take it easy, and that’s not something I'm used to, either. I’m always full force, and I go, go, go.”
The effortless swing had to be rebuilt. The back-nine poise had to be recaptured. At the same time, Sorenstam has been redefining her life off the course, which includes a marriage engagement and expanding interests in golf course design and clothes.
Her return to low numbers and top rankings will require balance and synergy, as well as technique.
“Hopefully this year I can be happy on the golf course,” said Sorenstam. “I don’t take it for granted, but I’m focused. I know what it takes. I know how it makes me feel and it’s worth it. It’s a lot of hard work, don’t get me wrong, but I know what I want to do.
“Is it going to be fluid? Is it going to be straight? No. It’s going to be bumpy, but I’m going to get there.”
Ochoa is the No. 1 player in the world of women’s golf these days. She showed her form at the HSBC Women’s Champions, dusting the runner-up Sorenstam by 11 strokes.
Several others show No. 1 promise. But if the golf community has learned anything over the past two decades, it should know that you never underestimate Sorenstam.
“It’s excitement, it’s … I know I can do it,” said Sorenstam, who is currently No. 2 in the Rolex Rankings. “I lost the (No. 1) ranking for several reasons; I mean, obviously, one is because Lorena plays so well. But another reason is because I didn’t play. I want to play, I want to be competitive, and therefore I'm looking forward to a season where I’m going to play.”
Phil Howley is a freelance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.usga.org.
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