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Thank you.
That was the text message Lorie Kane sent her friend and fellow LPGA Tour player Annika Sorenstam yesterday afternoon. Kane had just listened to the final 10 minutes of Sorenstam's telephone conference call from the Sybase Classic in Clifton, N.J., where the LPGA Hall of Famer announced she will retire at the end of this season.
“That's all,” Kane said from her hometown of Charlottetown, where she is taking the week off. “Thank you.”
Everybody in golf might send Sorenstam the same message. She's been a class act since she arrived on the golf scene on this side of the Atlantic from her birthplace of Stockholm. Canadians perhaps first became aware of her when she represented Sweden at the 1992 World Amateur in Vancouver. She couldn't have been more accommodating to fans and the media as she went on to win the individual title.
What hasn't Sorenstam done in golf? Sorenstam, 37, has won 72 LPGA tournaments during her 15-year professional career, including 10 majors. She shot 13-under-par 59 in the second round of the 2001 Standard Register Ping tournament in Phoenix. She was the first woman in 58 years to play a PGA Tour event when she competed in the 2003 Colonial Invitation in Fort Worth, Tex. She shot 71-74 and missed the cut by four strokes.
Sorenstam conducted herself with great dignity, while controlling the ball beautifully from tee to green. But for a few missed putts and a relatively weak short game, that playing the tournament helped her identify, Sorenstam would have made the cut. She played the Colonial for one reason only, to test herself.
“Her play at Colonial probably changed the face of women's golf,” Kane said. “People saw us as pretty decent, but there was always a question of the strength of women's golf. But for Annika to test herself against the men and do as well as she did, that raised the bar for us. People started to see how competitive we are.”
Sorenstam will continue to be as competitive as possible the rest of the year. She plans to play a full schedule and is expected to be at the CN Canadian Women's Open at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club from Aug. 14 to 17. Meanwhile, she will play in a charity event with Morgan Pressel and Alena Sharp of Hamilton at the Magna Golf Club in Aurora, Ont., on May 20.
The Dubai Ladies Masters on the Ladies European Tour from Dec. 10 to 13 will be the final tournament of her career.
“I haven't questioned myself,” Sorenstam said of retiring. “I have no second thoughts.”
Perhaps her announcement shouldn't have come as a surprise. She said a while ago that she will be getting married next year to Mike McGee, whose father, Jerry, played the PGA Tour. She has said they would like to start a family. She had also hinted at retirement during the past year. And then there was something she saw on television.
“I was watching the press conference a few months ago with Brett Favre when he announced his retirement,” Sorenstam said of the Green Bay Packers quarterback's official announcement on March 6. “Some of the things he said, that he loved the competition, but that he was tired of the daily grind, I feel the same way.”
Sorenstam was speaking clearly, without betraying any emotion. She said her decision “came from the heart.” At the same time, her departure cannot help but leave a hole in women's golf, simply because she has achieved so much and remains so competitive.
She's certainly continued to be as competitive as ever this year after being hampered by neck and back injuries last season and failing to win for the first time in 12 years. Sorenstam has already won three tournaments, including the Michelob Ultra Open in Kingsmill, Va., by seven shots last week.
Sorenstam played the first three rounds with Lorena Ochoa, the No. 1 player in the world. Ochoa won four consecutive tournaments earlier this year and has won the past two majors.
“I've thought about it for a little while,” Sorenstam, having made up her mind some time ago that she would announce her retirement yesterday, said. “It's been a year or so where I've just been very content and I felt like when I came back after the injury, I've proven to myself I can do it, and you know, it's a special feeling for myself.”
But not entirely for herself. Sorenstam has given golfers around the world special feelings for years. She has seven months left in her career, and wants to keep winning. Meanwhile, she'll get standing ovations every week she plays.
“She deserves it,” Kane said.
She sure does.
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