Annika Sorenstam
Annika Sorenstam
Annika Sörenstam; born 9 October 1970) is a retired Swedish professional golfer, one of the most successful female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer with the most wins to her name. She has won 72 official LPGA tournaments including ten majors and 18 other tournaments internationally, and she tops the LPGA's career money list with earnings...
ProfessionGolfer
Date of Birth9 October 1970
CityBro, Sweden
To come here with high expectations to defend a title is always tough, but I thought I played really well and I'm very happy about that. This is a great event to start out the season.
Obviously in Michelle's case, she didn't get off to the start she wanted, ... I saw Maria in front was making some mistakes, it was one of those days where you just really had to survive.
I felt good coming into the round. I was hitting the ball really well. I didn't really get off to the start I had in mind. I had difficulty scoring and then on the back nine, the wind picked up and it got really difficult.
I did make an incredibly hot start to the year and to have won eight times worldwide means I've had a great season,
You can never really win a tournament on the first day, but I feel sometimes there's a chance you can lose it by shooting a high score. So I'm very happy with this start. It was really the start I wanted.
It's always nice to get off to a good start and get some momentum for the week. It's no fun getting off to a rotten start. You have to fight back all the way, and you don't feel like you can make any mistakes.
We did not get off to a good start at all. We were really struggling. We kept telling ourselves, 'Let's keep fighting. We can do this.' We started making some birdies on the back nine and had an incredible finish.
It is a great way to start the year. This was my first visit to South Africa, and I have loved every minute.
This course is long for me to start with, and you put some wind and some firm greens, it made it really tough for me to get it close. It's an honor simply to come here. This is a great experience for me.
I think the tour has been in a healthy state for quite some time. And now you're starting to see the fruit from all the hard work. The up-and-coming players are definitely a sign of that.
I love the challenge and I love coming down the stretch and making the shots you need to, ... It's just the extra excitement, knowing there are just a few holes left and having to hit the perfect shot. That's when all my adrenaline starts kicking in, on the back nine because that's when it matters.
I felt really good about my game, but you never know until you come out here and start putting your score together.
I could not have asked for a better start to 2006 and I hope we'll be able to come back and defend our title next year.
This is a great start to the season. I've got good memories. I'm happy to be back here and I don't feel any extra pressure.