As we celebrate National Women’s History Month, the USGA is highlighting five significant players who captured multiple U.S. Women’s Open championships. First up: Annika Sorenstam.
It can be argued that Annika Sorenstam is the greatest female golfer of her generation. The numbers speak for themselves: 72 LPGA Tour titles; 10 majors; eight-time Solheim Cup competitor; eight-time LPGA Tour Player of the Year; the only female to shoot a 59 in competition; 2003 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee; 2012 USGA Bob Jones Award recipient.
Need we say more?
Sorenstam parlayed a brilliant amateur career – 1991 NCAA champion and 1992 U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up – into professional stardom that began with a come-from-behind, one-stroke victory in the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor, her first as an LPGA member. A year later, she successfully defended her title at Pine Needles, this time by six strokes. Ten years later, her 10th and final major title came in an 18-hole Monday playoff over Pat Hurst at Newport Country Club.
Related Sorenstam Videos On U.S. Women's Open History Timeline
Highlights of Sorenstam's 1995 U.S. Women's Open Victory
Highlights of Sorenstam's 1996 U.S. Women's Open Victory
Highlights of Sorenstam's 2006 U.S. Women's Open Victory
Sorenstam Reflects On Three U.S. Women's Open Titles
But Sorenstam’s Women’s Open résumé wouldn’t be complete without one more heroic moment. In her 15th and last start in 2008 at Interlachen Country Club, she holed a 6-iron approach from 199 yards for an eagle 3 on her final hole, drawing a roar from the large gallery around the 18th green.
Her legacy secure, Sorenstam retired a few months later. But her name and accomplishments continue to resonate, as shown by her performance in late February in the LPGA Tour’s Gainbridge Classic. At the age of 50 – 13 years removed from her last competitive start – Sorenstam remarkably made the 36-hole cut, her 299th made cut in 308 starts in a legendary LPGA Tour career.
