Annika Sorenstam celebrates after a birdie on the 9th hole of the LPGA Circle K golf tournament on March 12, 2001. She won for the second year in a row with a record-breaking 23-under par. Photo by Francisco Medina / Tucson Citizen
March 11, 2001: Annika Sorenstam wins second consecutive LPGA title at Randolph Park with record 23-under par score
Ten years after she won the NCAA championship as an Arizona freshman, Annika Sorenstam was the world’s No. 1-ranked women’s golfer when she returned to Tucson for the Welch’s/Circle K Championship.
If anyone knew the turf, it was Sorenstam. She won the 2000 Welch’s/Circle K title on the same course, but more than that, the Randolph North layout was where she evolved from an unknown Swedish freshman at Arizona to golf prominence.
“Annika would get up before classes, sometimes at sunrise, drive to Randolph and work in their short-game practice area for a few hours,” remembers Pam Drake, a teammate who shared a midtown apartment with Sorenstam and later became Randolph’s club pro.
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“She was so diligent.”
Sorenstam’s finest hour in Tucson golf came at that 2001 tournament. She won by six strokes, at 23-under par, the second lowest score on LPGA Tour history. It was her 24th career win.
A day before the 2001 tournament, Sorenstam ate lunch at a Tucson Asian restaurant and opened a fortune cookie as she paid her bill.
“Your goals will all come true this week,” it said.
And it wasn’t just the week at Randolph, either. A week later, in the LPGA’s Phoenix event, she shot an unprecedented 59. She remains the only LPGA player to break 60 on Tour.
Sorenstam’s arrival in Tucson, a UA freshman in the fall of 1990, was pure serendipity.
She was playing with the Swedish National team in the Shiseido Cup in Fukushima, Japan, in 1989, with Arizona standout Martina Koch, who is Swedish.
UA coach Kim Haddow watched Sorenstam and was impressed.
“Annika’s scores weren’t that good but I loved her swing,” she told the Star. “I asked Martina if she thought Annika was good enough to play for Arizona. Martina felt she was. So I approached her and asked if she was interested in playing for Arizona. She was. She really wasn’t recruited by anyone else.”
Sorenstam arrived to enroll in fall semester, 1990, without having visited Tucson.
After winning two regular-season tournaments and finishing second in the Pac-10 finals, Sorenstam won the 1991 NCAA championship at the Ohio State Scarlet Course, shooting 74-72-70-74.
Incredibly, she did not use a driver during her UA career. She was one of the shortest hitters among the elite college players, but was so accurate from longer distances that it didn’t seem to matter.
After working with former Tucson Country Club pro Tom Olson, Sorenstam developed an almost unerring short game. Once retired PGA Tour standout Johnny Bulla, a Phoenix golf instructor, saw Sorenstam play at Arizona, he was sold.
“Annika hits the ball as pure as anybody I’ve seen since Sam Snead and Byron Nelson,” he said. Bulla was correct.
In her LPGA career, Sorenstam won 72 events, including 10 majors. She was eight times the LPGA Player of the Year.
Sorenstam left Arizona after her sophomore season; she finished second in the NCAA championships that season, 1992, when Georgia’s Vicki Goetze shot a final-round 65 to move in front. The No. 1-ranked Wildcats finished second in the NCAA event, held in Tempe.
Where are they now? Now 45, Sorenstam lives in Orlando, Florida. She retired in 2008. She runs a charitable foundation, has two young children, and stages a college golf tournament each fall, at which the UA has participated. She has endorsement deals with Rolex, Oakley, Cutter & Buck, Lexus and Callaway.
How they did it: Sorenstam’s coach at Gymnasiet School in Stockholm was an Arizona State alumna and friend of ASU golf coach Linda Vollstedt. But the Sun Devils didn’t offer a scholarship. “I didn’t even visit Tucson,” Sorenstam told the Star. “I told my parents, ‘See you in nine months. If I don’t like it, I’ll be back earlier.’”
Photo: Annika Sorenstam celebrates after a birdie on the 9th hole of the LPGA Circle K golf tournament on March 12, 2001. She won for the second year in a row with a record-breaking 23-under par. Photo by Francisco Medina / Tucson Citizen
