MIAMI, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Annika Sorenstam’s LPGA Tour farewell came to a shuddering halt when she missed the cut at the season-ending ADT Championship on Friday.
A four-times winner of the elite event, the Swede slid to a three-over-par 75 in the second round at Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach for a five-over tally of 149.
Only 16 players in the 32-strong field advanced to Saturday’s third round and Sorenstam missed out by two shots after finishing in a seven-way tie for 18th.
“It’s been an emotional week,” the world number two told reporters. “You go back and forth from happy to being sad, and you always think: ‘Have I made the right decision?’
“All of a sudden the time is here,” added Sorenstam, who announced in May she would be quitting golf at the end of the year.
“It was always at the end of the year, in another month or so. And then all of a sudden you’re standing on the 18th fairway and it’s the last approach shot in an LPGA event.
“A lot of thoughts go through your head and you’re trying to win a golf tournament and you’re trying to enjoy it.”
Taken aback by the huge galleries following what proved to be her final round on the LPGA Tour, Sorenstam said she was looking forward to her life away from the game.
She wants to start a family and plans to pursue business interests, including her golf academy in Florida, her charitable foundation and course design projects.
“I’m very content and another win or so is not going to change that,” said the 38-year-old, who has triumphed three times on the LPGA Tour this season.
LEARNING EXPERIENCE
“Sometimes it’s more about the experience and what you go through, how you learn about life and yourself than just numbers. I’m going to miss a lot of these things. The good thing is I have a lot of fun things ahead of me.”
Sorenstam has been the dominant figure in women’s golf for the past decade and has piled up 72 LPGA Tour victories including 10 major titles.
She earned a record eight Player of the Year awards on the LPGA Tour after making her debut in 1994, won six Vare trophies for the lowest scoring average and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.
After ending the first round at Trump International six off the pace, Sorenstam needed to make up ground on the leaders but double-bogeyed the second and bogeyed the ninth to reach the turn in three over.
Although she birdied the par-four 10th, she dropped another shot at the 16th to end the day a distant 10 strokes behind the pacesetting Katherine Hull of Australia.
Hull carded a bogey-free 71 to hold a one-shot lead over American Angela Stanford (67).
Sorenstam will play in the Lexus Cup in Singapore later this month before bringing down the curtain on her competitive career at the Dec. 11-14 Dubai Ladies Masters.
“It’s been a wonderful career,” the Swede said. “I’ve enjoyed it immensely. I don’t think just a few words would summarise how I feel or what I’ve achieved or what I’ve gone through in experiences.” (Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Tony Jimenez and Peter Rutherford)
