Annika Sorenstam to retire, according to Associated Press

[twotacosfor99cents]

Saw this on MSNBC:

BREAKING NEWS: Annika Sorenstam to retire, a person familiar with her plans tells Associated Press.

She's 38 and probably has bigger plans in her life. I wish her well!

[Lemay427]

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24597454/site/21683474/


at end of season. not really much of a surprise.

[BruceMGF]

Saw this on MSNBC:

Assuming this is true:

How long before she tries a comeback?

[Backspin]

She's aready said that 2008 won't be her last event, she may play a few down the road. After she has children I'll bet she'll play several a year. Second best female golfer. I'd put Wright ahead of her, with Whitworth or Babe in 3rd.

[Thrash13]

This completely surprised me for some reason. I didn't expect Sorenstam to play forever, but I didn't think she would hang it up so soon. And with how she has played so far this season, it's even more surprising. I wish her well with whatever she does, and she will go down as one of the best female golfers of all time.

[Avid Golfer]

This completely surprised me for some reason. I didn't expect Sorenstam to play forever, but I didn't think she would hang it up so soon. And with how she has played so far this season, it's even more surprising. I wish her well with whatever she does, and she will go down as one of the best female golfers of all time.

I feel the same way. It is surprising and odd that she has choosen this as her last year considering how she is playing, and the records she is within reach of breaking.

She's aready said that 2008 won't be her last event, she may play a few down the road. After she has children I'll bet she'll play several a year.

I hope she does decide to play some events after this year, but that is not what it sounds like from recent reports and quotes she has made.

“After much consideration, I have made the decision to step away from competitive golf at the end of this season,” said Annika, who has added three more victories to her career total so far in 2008. “Because I love the game so much, this is obviously a hard decision to make, but it feels like the right one. I made this decision because I have a number of other priorities in my life, including starting a family, that I want to be as dedicated to as I have been to playing golf and it was always important to me to go out on my own terms.” “I am very proud of what I have accomplished as a professional golfer, and while I will no longer be playing competitively, I will continue to be very involved and engaged in the game of golf,” Annika said. “I want to ensure that I am always giving back to the game that has given me so much and I feel like I can best do that by helping develop young golfers through the growth of my Academy, my Foundation, my continued promotional programs with my corporate partners, and by continuing to serve as an ambassador for women's golf.” Annika Sorenstam http://www.lpga.com/content_1.aspx?pid=15338∣=2 I'm shocked that she has decided to retire when she is very much in reach of Micky Wright and Kathy Withworth's LPGA victory records. (She already has more total professional wins, but they don't count her wins on Australian and Japanese soil towards the LPGA even though most of the big name women golfers, like Webb, played against her in those events). If she continued to play on tour an additional year or two beyond this I think she could get to 90 or more wins on the LPGA tour. There are 24 events (counting this week) listed on the LPGA schedule for the rest of this year, but there is no way she is going to play in all of them, and it is extremely unlikely that she'll be able to win every tournament she does decide to enter between now and the end of the year. Ten more wins would tie her with Wright's LPGA record, and an addtional six beyond that would tie her with Whitworth's record. I just don't understand why she doesn't postpone her other interests (like starting a family) for another year (or two at the most) considering what she could achieve in that time span. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Wright http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Whitworth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annika_Sorenstam

[tm22721]

Her biological clock is ticking...

I followed her last Sunday at Kingsmill. She striped every fairway, hit close to every pin, an amazing round. I have never seen Tiger do that on 18 holes. She was trying to prove something. I was close enough to see the fire in her eyes, you can't see that on TV. I have it recorded in HD for posterity.

[QWKDTSN]

I saw most of a press conference on the Golf Channel, she seemed downcast about retirement but matter-of-fact. She's getting married before too long and I don't blame her for wanting to shift priorities. You can't stay young and travel forever. Better for her to go out at the end of a great season and focus on the non-touring side of golf.

[Doctorfro]

With there being talk of her trying to return to #1 I assumed she'd be around for a while. For her to overtake Lorena she would probably have to win everything this year which is probably not feasible. That's why I was surprised but I understand where she's coming from and I respect her decision. Right now I'd say she's best all-time because she won when things were more competitive. No disrespect to Wright, Whitworth, Didrickson, etc. I love watching her play because her swing is so effortless and relaxed. I hope she can dominate this year. That would be a cool way to go out.

[crawf061]

You can't stay young and travel forever..

You might not be able to stay young, but she makes good money to travel. She has made $21.1 million dollars on the LPGA tour (

source ). If she wants to just live off of that then more power to her. I guess the greediness in me would make it hard to walk away from that kind of earning potential at such a young age.

[Thrash13]

The Golf Channel did a nice job of recapping her career last night on Golf Central. They did a one-hour special on her, and it turned out really nice. I give kudos to The Golf Channel for paying her career the respect it truly deserves.

[twotacosfor99cents]

I can't blame her - traveling is stressful, and I do believe she wants children. I may get a chance to meet her and play with her sometime in the future, so we'll see how that goes.