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Annika Sörenstam (help·info) (born October 9, 1970)
is a Swedish professional golfer.
She is one of the most successful female golfers
ever. To date, she has won 69 official LPGA tournaments, including ten majors.
Every year from 2000 to 2005 she won at least five tournaments and she tops the
LPGA's career money list by several million dollars, with earnings of over $20
million. [1].
Sörenstam has won eight Rolex Player of the Year
awards, and is the holder of various all-time scoring records, including the
lowest score in a single round (59 in the second round of the 2001 Standard
Register PING tournament) and the lowest scoring average for one season (68.6969
in 2004). Sörenstam has also won the Vare Trophy, given to the LPGA player with
the lowest scoring average for the year, six times.
****
Personal Information
Birth: 9 October 1970,
Sweden
Height: 5 ft 6 in/1.68 m
Nationality: Swedish plus U.S. Citizenship
Residence: Incline Village, Nevada, USA
Career
College: University of Arizona
Turned Professional: 1992
Current Tour: LPGA Tour (joined 1994); life member
of Ladies European Tour
Professional wins: 85 (LPGA Tour 69; other
individual titles 15; 2-woman team titles 1)
Majors: Kraft Nabisco Championship 2001, 02, 05;
LPGA Championship 2003, 04, 05; U.S. Women's Open 1995, 96, 2006; Women's
British Open 2003
Awards: WPGET Rookie of the Year 1993; Rolex Rookie
of the Year 1994; Rolex Player of the Year 1995, 97, 98, 2001, 02, 03, 04, 05;
Vare Trophy 1995, 96, 98, 2001, 02, 05; Patty Berg Award 2003
****
Childhood and amateur career
Born in Bro, Sweden in the Upplands-Bro
Municipality outside Stockholm, As a child Sörenstam played competitive tennis
and skied. At the age of 12 she switched to golf and enjoyed a very successful
amateur career. She was a member of the Swedish National Team from 1987 to 1992
and played at the 1990 and 1992 World Amateur Golf Team Championships, becoming
World Amateur champion in 1992. Sörenstam moved to the United States to attend
college and played on the University of Arizona women's golf team where she won
seven collegiate titles including the 1991 individual NCAA National
Championship. She was 1991 NCAA Co-Player of the Year (with Kelly Robbins),
runner-up in 1992, 1992 Pac-10 champion and a 1991-92 NCAA All-American. In 1992
she was the runner-up to Vicki Goetze at the United States Women's Amateur Golf
Championship. She became a professional golfer in 1993, playing on the WPGET
(now Ladies European Tour) tour.
Professional career
After turning professional, Sörenstam was invited
to play in three LPGA tournaments early in 1993, finishing T38th, 4th, and T9th
earning more than $47,000. She finished second four times on the WPGET tour and
was named 1993 WPGET Rookie of the Year. She qualified for the LPGA Tour by
tying for 28th at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to earn non-exempt status
for the 1994 season.
In 1994, Sörenstam was named LPGA Rookie of the
Year after and had three top-10 finishes, including a tie for second at the
Weetabix Women's British Open. In 1995, she won her first LPGA Tour title at the
U.S. Women's Open. She also led the 1995 WPGET Order of Merit and won the
Jerringpriset award in Sweden, the country’s most prestigious award in sports.
Sörenstam was also awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1995 as well.
In 1996, Sörenstam won four tournaments including
the U.S. Women's Open again, passed the $1 million mark in LPGA career earnings
and won her second consecutive Vare Trophy for lowest season scoring average. In
1997 she won 6 LPGA titles, one JLPGA title plus her home WPGET tournament, the
Compaq Open in Sweden, and passed $2million LPGA career earnings. 1998 saw her
became the first player in LPGA history to finish a season with a sub-70 scoring
average (69.99). During 1999 she recorded her first LPGA career hole-in-one and
crossed the $4 million mark in LPGA career earnings.
2000 saw Sörenstam cross the $5 million and $6
million mark in LPGA career earnings. In 2001, her career started to take off.
She recorded eight LPGA wins, set or tied a total of 30 LPGA records, including
a 59 (-13) during the second round of the Standard Register PING. She became the
first LPGA player to cross the $2 million mark in single-season earnings, and
became the first player to cross the $7 million and $8 million mark in LPGA
career earnings.
In 2002, she joined Mickey Wright as the only
players to win 11 LPGA tournaments in one season, earned her fifth Player of the
Year title and fifth Vare Trophy; set or tied a total of 20 LPGA records; won
her fourth major championship title by successfully defending the Kraft Nabisco
Championship; her 11-stroke victory at the Kellogg-Keebler Classic tied the LPGA
record for largest margin of victory in a 54-hole event. She also became the
first player to cross the $9 million, $10 million and $11 million marks in LPGA
career earnings; There were also victories in the ANZ Ladies Masters in
Australia and Compaq Open in Sweden on the Ladies European Tour, giving her 13
wins in 25 starts worldwide.
In 2003, Sörenstam won the McDonald’s LPGA
Championship and the Weetabix Women’s British Open to become only the sixth
player in LPGA history to complete the LPGA Career Grand Slam. She had 5 other
victories worldwide and set or tied a total of 22 LPGA records. She became the
first player to reach $12 million and $13 million in LPGA career earnings. This
earned her her sixth Rolex Player of the Year award. She competed against Fred
Couples, Phil Mickelson and Mark O'Meara in the Skins Game, finishing second
with five skins worth $225,000; Sörenstam holed a 39-yard bunker shot on the
ninth hole for eagle, only the eighth eagle in The Skins Game history. She was
awarded her second Jerringpriset award in Sweden plus the 2003 Golf Writers’
Trophy by the Association of Golf Writers. The United States Sports Academy
named her 2003 Female Athlete of the Year.
In 2004, she earned her seventh Player of the Year
award to tie Kathy Whitworth for the most in LPGA history. On the LPGA she
posted 16 top-10 finishes in 18 starts, including eight wins becoming the first
player to reach $14 million and $15 million in LPGA career earnings. She took
her own LPGA single-season scoring average record to 68.69696. She had 2
additional international wins.
2005 was a landmark year in Sörenstam's career. She
finished first on the ADT Official Money List for the eighth time in her career
to tie Whitworth for the most in LPGA history. She became the only player in
LPGA history to sweep Rolex Player of the Year honors (8th time, an LPGA
record), the Vare Trophy (her sixth) and the ADT Official Money List title five
times. She joined Mickey Wright as the only players in LPGA history to win 10 or
more events in two seasons. Sörenstam won 10 out of 20 tournaments entered. She
became the first player in LPGA history to win the same major three consecutive
years at the McDonalds's LPGA Championship. She won her fifth consecutive Mizuno
Classic title, making her the first golfer in LPGA history to win the same event
five consecutive years. This all helped her to cross the $16 million, $17
million and $18 million mark in LPGA career earnings. She also won the Swedish
Ladies European Tour tournament she hosted.
She opened 2006, with a successful defense of her
title in the MasterCard Classic, then went winless in eight starts, causing some
to talk of a slump. She emerged to win the U.S. Women's Open in an 18-hole
playoff for her 10th major championship title, tying her for third among women
with the most major championship wins of all time.
Amid notable controversy, Sörenstam was invited to
play in The Colonial golf tournament in Fort Worth, Texas in May of 2003, making
her the first woman to play in a PGA event since Babe Zaharias, who qualified
for the 1945 Los Angeles Open. Cheered through each hole, she shot a +5, tying
for 96th out of the 111 who finished the first two rounds, not enough to make
the cut.
She qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame in
2000, but was not eligible for induction until finishing her tenth year on the
LPGA tour, which she did in October 2003. Sörenstam was the first international
player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame through the LPGA criteria.
She has been named Golf Writers Association of
America Female Player of the Year 1995, 1997, 2000-05. She also won the
Association of Golf Writers (Europe) Player of the Year award in 2004 and 2005.
She won the "World Sportswoman of the Year" award
at the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2004. She won her last two LPGA events of
that season and her first three of 2005 to equal Nancy Lopez's LPGA Tour record
of five consecutive victories. Sörenstam received the 2005 ESPY Award as Best
Female Athlete having previously won six outstanding women’s golf performer of
the Year ESPY awards.(1996, 1998-99, 2002-04). She has been named Associated
Press Female Athlete of the Year 2003-2005.
She has topped the Women's World Golf Rankings
since they were introduced in February 2006.
She has been a member of seven European Solheim Cup
teams: 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005. In 2006 she won the Women's
World Cup of Golf for Sweden in partnership with Liselotte Neumann.
In 2004, she released a combination autobiography
and golf instructional book called Golf Annika's Way.
She was ranked 91st place on Forbes 2006 Celebrity
100 list, and 89th place on the 2005 list. [2]
2006 saw three major announcements concerning her
legacy. The first and third are related; the first being that in 2007 she will
host her own LPGA tournament at RiverTowne Country Club in Mt. Pleasant, SC,
called The Ginn Tribute hosted by Annika Sorenstam. The third major announcement
for Sorenstam in 2006 was that she had been selected to redesign RiverTowne's
sister course, Patriots Point Links, also in Mt. Pleasant. This will be her
first course design in the US. 2006 also saw the beginning of construction on
the Annika Academy in Kissimmee, Fl at Ginn Reunion Resort where Sorenstam's
longtime coach Henri Reis will serve as head instructor, and her personal
trainer Kai Fusser will focus on overall fitness training geared toward
improving students' golf skills.
Professional wins
LPGA Tour
1995: U.S. Women's Open, GHP Classic, Samsung World
Championship of Women's Golf
1996: U.S. Women's Open, CoreStates Betsy King
Classic, Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf
1997: Chrysler Tournament of Champions, Cup Noodles
Hawaiian Open, Longs Drugs Challenge, Michelob Light Classic, CoreStates Betsy
King Classic, ITT LPGA Tour Championship, Hisako Higuchi Kibun Classic
1998: Michelob Light Classic, ShopRite Classic, JAL
Big Apple Classic, Safeco Classic
1999: Michelob Light Classic, New Albany Golf
Classic
2000: Welch's/Circle K Championship, Firstar
Classic, Evian Masters, Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Japan Airlines Big Apple
Classic
2001: Welch's/Circle K Championship, Standard
Register PING, Kraft Nabisco Championship, Office Depot Championship Presented
by HP, Chick-fil-A Championship, BMO Canadian Women's Open, Cisco World Match
Play Championship, Mizuno Classic
2002: LPGA Takefuji Classic, Kraft Nabisco
Championship, Electrolux Championship, Kellogg's Classic, Evian Masters,
ShopRite Classic, Williams Championship, Safeway Classic, Samsung World
Championship, Mizuno Classic, ADT Championship
2003: Office Depot Championship Presented by HP,
Kellogg Classic, LPGA Championship, Women's British Open, Safeway Classic,
Mizuno Classic
2004: Safeway International, Office Depot
Championship Presented by HP, LPGA Corning Classic, LPGA Championship, John Q.
Hammons Hotel Classic, Samsung World Championship, Mizuno Classic, ADT
Championship
2005: MasterCard Classic, Safeway International,
Kraft Nabisco Championship, Chick-fil-A Championship, ShopRite Classic, LPGA
Championship, John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic, Samsung World Championship, Mizuno
Classic, ADT Championship
2006: MasterCard Classic, U.S. Women's Open, State
Farm Classic
LPGA Majors are shown in bold.
Other
1994: Holden Australian Open Championship (ALPG
Tour)
1995: Australian Masters (ALPG Tour), OVB Damen
Open (Ladies European Tour (LET)), Hennessy Cup (LET)
1996: Trygg-Hansa Ladies' Open (LET)
1997: Compaq Open (LET)
1998: Compaq Open (LET)
2002: ANZ Ladies Masters (co-sanctioned by ALPG
Tour and LET), Compaq Open (LET)
2003: Nichirei Cup (LPGA of Japan Tour),
2004: ANZ Ladies Masters (co-sanctioned by ALPG
Tour and LET), HP Open (LET)
2005: Scandinavian TPC (LET)
2006: Women's World Cup of Golf (team event with
Liselotte Neumann; endorsed by all the main women's tours, but not an official
money event), SAS Scandinavian TPC (LET), Dubai Ladies Masters (LET)
In addition to the 12 Ladies European Tour events
listed above, Sörenstam's wins in the Evian Masters in 2000 and 2002 and the
Women's British Open in 2003 also count as European Tour wins as the events are
co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour, giving her 15 wins
on the Ladies European Tour in total.
Results in LPGA majors
Tournament 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000
Kraft Nabisco Championship DNP DNP DNP T24 T2 T8 T7
T7 T17
LPGA Championship DNP DNP DNP 10 T14 3 T30 T16 T12
U.S. Women's Open T64 DNP DNP 1 1 CUT T41 CUT T9
du Maurier Classic DNP DNP T22 T45 T6 CUT 2 DNP 3
Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Kraft Nabisco Championship 1 1 2 T13 1 T6
LPGA Championship 5 3 1 1 1 T9
U.S. Women's Open T16 2 4 2 T23 1
Women's British Open ^ T32 CUT 1 13 T5 T31
^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier
Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied for place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for
top-10.
LPGA
Tour career summary
Year Majors Other wins LPGA wins Earnings ($) Money
list rank Average
1994 0 0 0 127,451 39 71.90
1995 1 2 3 666,533 1 71.00
1996 1 2 3 808,311 3 70.47
1997 0 6 6 1,236,789 1 70.04
1998 0 4 4 1,092,748 1 69.99
1999 0 2 2 863,816 4 70.40
2000 0 5 5 1,404,948 2 70.47
2001 1 7 8 2,105,868 1 69.42
2002 1 10 11 2,863,904 1 68.70
2003 2 4 6 2,029,506 1 69.02
2004 1 7 8 2,544,707 1 68.70
2005 2 8 10 2,588,240 1 69.33
2006 1 2 3 1,971,741 3 69.82
Solheim
Cup Record
Year Total Matches Total W-L-H Singles W-L-H 4somes
W-L-H 4balls W-L-H Points Won Points %
Career 32 20-9-3 4-2-1 10-2-1 6-5-1 21.5 67.19%
1994 3 1-2-0 0-1-0 lost to T.Green 1-0-0 won w/C.Nilsmark
1up 0-1-0 lost w/C. Nilsmark 6&5 1 33.33%
1996 5 3-0-2 1-0-0 def. P. Bradley 2&1 1-0-1 halved
w/C. Nilsmark, won w/C. Nilsmark 1 up 1-0-1 won w/K. Marshall 1up, halved w/T.
Johnson 4 80%
1998 5 3-2-0 1-0-0 def. D. Andrews 2&1 1-1-0 won
w/C. Matthew 3&2, lost w/C. Matthew 3&2 1-1-0 lost w/C. Nilsmark 2 up, won w/C.
Nilsmark 5&3 3 60%
2000 4 2-2-0 0-1-0 lost to J. Inkster,5&4 2-0-0 won
w/ J. Moodie 1 up, won w/ J. Moodie 1 up 0-1-0 lost w/ J. Moodie 2&1 2 50%
2002 5 3-1-1 0-0-1 halved w/W. Ward 2-0-0 won w/C
Koch 3&2, won w/C. Koch, 4&3 1-1-0 lost w/M. Hjorth 2&1, won w/C. Koch 4&3 3.5
70%
2003 5 4-1-0 1-0-0 def. A. Stanford 3&2 2-0-0 won
w/S. Pettersen 4&3, won w/C. Koch 3&2 1-1-0 lost w/C. Koch 1 down, won w/S.
Pettersen 1 up 4 80%
2005 5 4-1-0 1-0-0 def B. Daniel 4&3 1-1-0 won w/S.
Pettersen 1up, lost w/C. Matthew 2 up 2-0-0 won w/C. Matthew 2&1, won w/L.
Davies 4&2 4 80%
****
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