Sorenstam romps to another LPGA win

No record seems safe from Annika Sorenstam.

A little more than a year after shooting the first 59 in LPGA history, Sorenstam matched the best 54–score ever on the tour in winning the inaugural Kellogg–Keebler Classic here yesterday.

Sorenstam fashioned a 21–under–par 195 with a sizzling finish to win by 11 strokes, the largest margin on the tour this year.

So which was more surprising: 21 under or winning by 11?

"You tell me," Sorenstam said. "Obviously, I'm very pleased with the way I have played this week. I could not have expected 21 under, especially when somebody asked what the winning score would be on Thursday and I said double digits.

"I was right. But I didn't know it was going to be 20–something."

It was the fourth tour win of the season and 35th overall for Sorenstam, who closed with a 7–under 65, and it set her up for a strong run at the tour's second major, the LPGA Championship starting Thursday at the DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware.

Sorenstam, who also opened the season with a playoff victory in an international event in Australia, won the first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship in late March.

Sunday, she matched the best 54–hole winning score in relation to par. Wendy Ward was 21 under in the 2001 Wendy's Championship in New Albany, Ohio. Had Sorenstam not lipped a couple of putts to looked to be sure birdies early in her round, there's no telling how low she might gone.

"To shoot 65 on Sunday, I'll take that any day," said Sorenstam, who set or tied 30 LPGA records last year. "It would have been nice to shoot one or two better, but this was a sweet win anyway."

Sweet and dominating.

The largest victory margin on the tour previously this year was Janice Moodie's seven–stroke win in the Ashai Ryokuken International in May. The largest ever was 14 strokes by Cindy Mackey in the 1986 MasterCard International.

Danielle Ammaccapane, Michele Redman and Mhairi McKay finished 10 under. Redman closed with a 68, McKay a 70 and Ammaccapane a 71, finishing with two birdies to pull into the tie. Kris Tschetter (68) and Candie Kung (70) were 9 under.

"I really wasn't playing to win this golf tournament, I was playing to finish second because I didn't see her coming back," said Ammaccapane, who was paired with Sorenstam.

"Not on this golf course and not the way that she's been playing. I was trying to stay close to her, but at one point, she just pulled away."

Sorenstam started her final round slow, playing the first seven holes without a birdie. She finally broke through after Ammaccapane had a near hole–in–one on the 130–yard eighth.

Ammaccapane's tee shot hit the green in front of the pin and rolled toward the hole, stopping just short of the cup. If the ball had turned one more time, it would have dropped.

Even Sorenstam smiled when she reached the hole and looked down at how close her partner had come to an ace. Ammaccapane tapped in for her birdie to get to within four strokes of Sorenstam – but only for about a minute.

Sorenstam promptly knocked in a 20–foot putt to return the lead to five and that seemed to get her going, not what Ammaccapane and the rest of her challengers needed.

"I hit a lot of lips instead of the bottom of the cup," Sorenstam said. "I think that was the difference the first few. Then I rolled in that nice birdie putt on eight. After that, it just turned."

The 31–year–old Swede birdied four of the next six holes, ending what little suspense remained in the tournament. Sorenstam did it with the type of shot–making she had displayed in the first two rounds, dropping precise approach shots that left her birdie putts of 5 to 10 feet.

She also was accurate off the tees and her only semblance of trouble Sunday came on No 9, when her second shot landed in some rough sloping toward a bunker. A problem? Hardly.

Sorenstam chipped within 4 feet and made the putt for birdie to go 16 under – and just kept rolling from there, dropping to 21 under by hole 17. With a chance to break the 54–hole record, Sorenstam barely missed a long putt for a birdie on 18, then tapped in to finish, her name in the record book again.

Now there's already talk of a Grand Slam for Sorenstam, even with three majors still to go. "Of course I have thought about a Grand Slam," she said. But next week is a new tournament. I've got to play well there first. It's fun to have those thoughts, but you've got to go and do it. If I don't do it next week, obviously it won't happen."