Annika Sorenstam

The most dominant woman golfer of our day, Annika Sorenstam is enjoying her best years on the LPGA Tour.

ProFilesIt’s pretty hard to argue that Annika Sorenstam is anything less than the most dominant woman in sports. She has been at the top of her sport since she joined the LPGA Tour in 1995. She stacked win upon win again in 2005, finishing the season with an astounding nine-win season. She has won more than eight tournaments in a season four different times. The last six years in particular she has owned the LPGA tour win column. Since 2000 Annika hasn’t won any less than five tournaments per year. The little blond from Sweden is a fierce competitor and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. Sand Trap staff member Stacy Solomon recently featured the dominant Swede in Annika Sorenstam’s “Vision 54.” Here are some more thoughts on the most dominant of women golfers.

PeakVision Sports Glasses Review

PeakVision Sports is making a big name for itself with a line of golf- specific sunglasses. Our verdict: The company has a bright future.

PeakVision LogoYou might have noticed that an increasing number of Tour pros wearing sunglasses during their rounds. And you might also have noticed that most of those shade-sporting players tend to take off their sunglasses around the greens.

PeakVision Sports is trying to change that. The company has a unique line of golf-specific sunglasses that are supposed to improve your vision from tee to green – and even help you see the contours of the putting surface better than without sunglasses. Longtime Tour players like Billy Andrade and Bruce Fleisher have been wearing the shades on Tour this year and have become enthusiastic spokesmen for the product.

Fellow Sand Trapper Jeff Smith and I have had a chance to try out PeakVision Sports glasses for the last couple months. Did they turn us into putting masters? Read on and find out.

Controversy Surrounds Sorenstam, Creamer @ ADT

Controversy surrounds Annika Sorenstam’s tee shot on the 18th in the first round of the ADT Championship.

ADT Championship LogoControversy – and a 30-minute discussion on the 18th hole – surrounded Annika Sorenstam’s tee shot on the 18th hole at the end of her first round in the ADT Championship today. After hitting the ball in a bunker inside a marked lateral water hazard, Sorenstam was given a drop near the back edge of the bunker and hit the green with her third shot. Paula Creamer, Sorenstam’s playing competitor and Kay Cockerill, on-course commentator for The Golf Channel, disagreed. They contended that the ball never crossed the hazard line. If that were true, Sorenstam would most likely return to the tee to hit her third shot.

Flogging

‘Flog’ may be golf spelled backwards, but it isn’t backwards golf. There isn’t much advantage to this style of golf, but it is here to stay.

The Numbers GameYes, there is such a word. At least in golf there is. It is the term given to those golfers that try and hit the ball as far as they can, not caring whether or not they hit the fairway or not. This gives them a short distance into the green and a supposed advantage. Notice the stress on supposed. I’ve said before that the numbers don’t lie. I’ll show you some figures about flogging that will dispel the myths. Read on…

LPGA Beats PGA Tour to Playoff Punch

The LPGA Tour will feature a season-ending playoff in 2006, beating Tim Finchem to the playoff punch by a year.

Carolyn BivensAccording to an AP article, the LPGA will beat the PGA Tour to the punch in offering a season-ending “playoff” system. New LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens today announced the 2006 LPGA schedule. That schedule included details on a playoff system that will be the first of its kind in golf.

Instead of the top 30 players on the money list qualifying for the season-ending ADT Championship, the field will be comprised of 30 players who have racked up points throughout the year along with two wild cards for a total of 32. The field will be cut to 16 players after 36 holes and to only eight players after 54 holes. The eight remaining players will start the field at even par, leading to a $1M payout for the winner of the 18-hole shootout.

20 Questions With Grand Slam Fantastic Four

20 questions with the Fantastic Four 2005 major winners.

PGA of AmericaPlaying 20 questions with today’s top golfers has always been a personal dream of mine, aside from playing wiffle ball on the floor of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. Well The PGA of America has beat me to it. They were able to ask the 2005 Grand Slam of Golf participants, being the winners of this year’s four major tournaments Tiger Woods, Michael Campbell, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, 20 questions about their interests. With questions from their favorite golf hole inside of the U.S. and outside of the U.S. to their favorite male and female athlete.

ADT Championship Preview

The final LPGA-sanctioned tournament of 2005 takes place at Trump National Golf Club. An exclusive group of thirty LPGA golfers are invited to attend.

adt_championship_logo.jpgThe top thirty LPGA golfers finish off the season in style this weekend at the illustrious 6,506 yard par-72 Trump International Golf Club. Donald Trump will host his fifth ADT event at the beautiful West Palm Beach course.

Annika Sorenstam heads up an exclusive group of competitors as the defending champion of this tenth anniversary ADT Championship. She is also one of the more seasoned tour pros being challenged by a group of youngsters more than ten years her junior. It’s Annika versus the new kids on the block.

WGC-World Cup in Portugal Preview

Arnold Palmer’s Victoria Clube de Golf is the host for the final World Golf Championship event of the season.

World Golf Championship LogoThe 2005 PGA Tour season may be over, but there is still good golf being played around the globe. The final World Golf Championship event of the season takes place this week in Portugal. Two-man teams from 24 different countries will be battling it out for their respective country’s bragging rights.

The defending champion and 18 other countries are determined by the world rankings, while the other five teams have to win a competition to earn their spot into the field. The format for the event is very simple. The golfers will start off playing four-ball in Thursday’s opening round, followed by foursomes on Friday. They will go back to four-ball on Saturday and finish the event with foursomes on Sunday.

Big Break IV: Give ’em a Break

Is this season’s Big Break the best ever?

Thrash TalkI didn’t get a chance to watch the first two seasons of The Golf Channel‘s Big Break series. I saw highlights of both seasons, but that was it. However, I did watch Big Break III earlier this year. It wasn’t something I thought I would watch, but I ended up watching it religiously. Last season’s Big Break had a lot of drama, and many people really got into the show. The Sand Trap forum was full of posts discussing Danielle Aimee’s attitude and anatomy, among other things.