Category: LPGA

Fresh off a year in which she won ten of the twenty events she entered, Annika Sorenstam was named the Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year. Sorenstam won the award easily, earning 40 first place votes while her closest competition garnered only 15 votes. Few athletes in any sport have been as dominating as Sorenstam has. Since 2001, she has logged 38 victories including four majors, topped the money list every year, and entered The World Golf Hall of Fame.

Sorenstam’s first win of the year began at the ANZ Ladies Master’s in Australia. Sorenstam would go on to win nine more times in four different continents. Although Sorenstam did not play enough rounds to qualify for the scoring title, she did tie her record scoring average of 68.7. Yet, Sorenstam refuses to be satisfied saying, “I’m still so far away from it but I’ve come so far ahead of what I ever thought I would.” With so many accomplishments under her belt and a career that is far from over, few can argue with the AP’s choice for the female athlete of the year.

Closing with a 2-under 70, Paula Creamer cruises to a five-shot victory in the LPGA qualifying tournament. Six months from high school graduation, Creamer has secured a spot on the 2005 LPGA Tour.

Creamer entered Q-School as an amateur and waited until she’d secured her card. The decision was easy Sunday evening at LPGA International. Creamer hung near the lead all week, but pulled away on the weekend. “This hasn’t sunk in yet,” Creamer said. “I’m really thrilled and I’m really anxious to get started.”

Continue reading “Creamer Medalist at LPGA Q-School”

Paula Creamer’s world is starting to open up, and she has an important decision to make: turn pro or not.

After ending up tied with Michelle Wie in the US Women’s Open earlier in the year, she decided to remain an amateur and keep her options open for Q-School.

Now, she’s sharing the medalist honors at the Futures Tour Q-School with soon-to-be pro Brittany Lincicome. Lincicome has already decided to turn pro, but Creamer is still keeping her options open after helping the United States team finish second (and personally finish seventh overall) in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championships in October.

Just 18-years-old, Creamer is currently in the LPGA qualifying finals, which start Wednesday. If she doesn’t get her LPGA card however, she still has the option of joining the Futures Tour. Saving that, she could always go to college and remain an amateur. Oddly enough, if she remains an amateur she could still compete in the Futures Tour as an amateur, and doesn’t necessarily have to turn pro.

Swedish sensation Sorenstam earned only $29,643 in her 7th year on tour, with 0 top-10s in 22 tournaments. Coach Henri Ries says “I don’t know what happened, she’s a talented player.” She did well at the University of Arizona.

Indeed Charlotta Sorenstam is talented, but apparently not as talented as her older sister. Charlotta finished 139th on the money list and is now non-exempt on the LPGA Tour.

By the by, here’s another impressive statistic for the Sorenstam elder: 18 starts, 8 victories, and 16 top-10s. ESPN may be able to compare Annika and Tiger’s last five years, but Tiger’s 2004 can’t hold a candle to Annika’s sweltering season.

Ho hum. Annika Sorenstam wins another tournament. It’s become old news, as we said two days ago when she built a one-shot lead after the second round of play. After Cristie Kerr forced a playoff with a 4-under 68, Annika bogeyed the first hole of sudden death to beat Kerr’s double bogey from a splashed-down approach.

Sorenstam made it interesting, yanking her own 7-iron approach into the spectators, but two-putted from eight feet for the win. “It wasn’t as pretty as the previous holes,” Sorenstam said. “A win is a win. By the end of the day, the trophy is in my hand. I’m happy.”

The victory marks Sorenstam’s 56th career win and into fifth all time. She’s now also the first three-time winner of the LPGA’s season-ending championship.

Continue reading “Annika Again in the ADT”

Ho hum. “Annika Sorenstam leads the tournament.” It’s become almost cliché, hasn’t it? After firing a 6-under par 66, which included four birdies in the last five holes, Sorenstam holds a one shot lead after one round of play in the season-ending ADT Championship. Close behind her are Cristie Kerr (67) and Karrie Webb (68).

The ADT Championship has been played at the difficult Trump International the past four years, but Annika is confident, saying “Now I know where the ball is going, I can be more aggressive with these pins if they’re tucked in the corner or just behind the bunker. I’m not afraid of being a little more aggressive because I have a better feel.” She spent several days with her coach Henrie Reis before coming to West Palm Beach.

Other notables include Laura Diaz at -3, Grace Park at -1, and Meg Mallon, who triple-bogied 18, at +2. Lorena Ochoa shot 75, giving Grace Park a leg up on the race for the Vare Trophy. All told, only 11 players managed to break par.

Showtimes for the ADT Championship‘s second, third, and fourth rounds include coverage Friday and Saturday, from 4:30 to 7pm on The Golf Channel, and Sunday coverage on CBS from 1 to 3pm.

Laura Diaz was just about to have her worst season in four years until she finished birdie/birdie at the Mitchell Company LPGA Tournament of Champions last week to move into second place, earning her spots in the top 30 and the ADT Championship at Trump International.

“I really, really wanted to play this week,” said Diaz.

Once thought to be a rising star on the LPGA Tour, Diaz has suffered a few setbacks of late. After winning twice in 2002 and finishing seventh on the money list, Diaz injured her left ankle. She played through the pain and qualified for her first Solheim Cup, but had surgery in December to repair four tears in a tendon and one in a ligament.

Continue reading “Diaz Bounces Back”

Laura Diaz finished her round with three birdies for a 5-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead in the Mitchell Company LPGA Tournament of Champions. Heather Daly-Donofrio was alone in second after a second-round 66 at the Magnolia Grove’s Crossings Course, and Lorena Ochoa fired a second 68 to tie with Christina Kim (70) three strokes back.

“It was a good day today,” Diaz said. “The course was soggy with all of the rain, but the greens crew did a good job of getting the course ready for us. With the greens soft, you just have to go out and be aggressive and keep shooting at the pins.”

Diaz, 36th on the money list, needs a good showing to leap to the top 30 and qualify for next week’s season-ending ADT Championships. Stacy Prammanasudh, who is not playing this week, is in 30th and $33,923 ahead of Diaz. Sister to sometimes-PGA-Tour player Ron Philo, Jr., Diaz needs to finish fifth or better for a shot to compete in the ADT.

Continue reading “Diaz Up by Two”

With all the talk about Vijay Singh’s historic season and his quest to win his tenth tour victory of 2004, we seem to have forgotten about the other dominant player in golfdom:

Annika Sorenstam.

At the Mizuno Classic this weekend, Annika picked up her seventh LPGA win of the year, and her fourth consecutive Mizuno Classic title. The win was also her 55th career win, which ties her for fifth on the all-time LPGA victories list, and puts the icing on her seventh Player of the Year award.

Beyond the pure victories, though, Annika is dominating the event as well; this year’s nine stroke victory marks her second consecutive nine stroke win at the Mizuno Classic. As if that weren’t enough, there’s the style in which she wins: twenty-two under par. Her final-round 65 was partnered with a seemingly mediocre 66 and an amazing first-round 63, giving her a four-stroke lead after the first round from which she never looked back.

Lastly, her 22-under par was just two strokes shy of the tour-record for a 54-hole event – two guesses who set that record in 2003.