Forget making history. Annika Sorenstam has some work to do just to make the weekend. Looking to become the first LPGA player to win six straight tournaments, Sorenstam instead had one of her worst rounds in recent memory Thursday, shooting a 5-over 76 at the Michelob Ultra Open. It’s the first time in 44 rounds she finished above par.
‘I don’t know what to say about this round,’ she said. ‘I thought I played pretty good today. It just didn’t go my way at all.’
Annika Sorenstam had a rough time of it as she posted a 5-over 77 in the first round.
No, it didn’t. Sorenstam’s score was her highest in relation to par since a 5-over 77 in the second round of the 2002 British Open. That, by the way, was also the last time she missed a cut. She shot a 76 in the second round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year, but par was 72.
It also was her highest score in an opening round since a 76 in the 2000 Rochester International.
‘I can’t remember it. And I don’t want to remember it,’ Sorenstam said when asked the last time she had a round this bad. ‘I just want to move forward. I’ve got to go low the next three days, and I know I can do it.’
She’s going to have to Friday if she wants to play this weekend. Sorenstam was eight strokes behind early leaders Cristie Kerr and Kristen Samp, and several strokes off the projected cut. The top 70 players and ties make the cut, and 70 players were at 1-over or better midway through the afternoon.
But if anyone can rally, it’s Sorenstam.
She’s been on an amazing roll lately, winning five straight to tie Nancy Lopez’s long-standing LPGA record. She shares the LPGA record for biggest comeback victory, rallying from 10 shots back on the final day to win The Office Depot in 2001. She also made up four strokes in the final three holes, then won in a playoff, at the Safeway International, her fourth victory in the streak.
And she finished her round Thursday with her best shot of the day, chipping in from 50 feet on the par-4 No. 9.
‘I’m hoping my luck is turning,’ she said. ‘That’s how I’m going to look at it. That’s what I need the next three days.’
Sorenstam hasn’t played since winning the Kraft Nabisco Championship, a five-week layoff. But she said she felt good when she started her round, and she didn’t look unnerved by the pressure that’s come with the streak. She smiled and waved at the few dozen fans who greeted her with applause when she stepped on the 10th tee, and she smiled and laughed throughout the round.
‘I thought I played well,’ she said. ‘It’s just one of those days.’
For every other golfer, sure. For Sorenstam? No way.
Her drives were spectacular, as usual. She routinely outdrove playing partners Carin Koch and Wendy Ward by 10 yards or more, and her drive on No. 9 carried 300 yards. But her short game was shaky and her putting was dismal.
Take the par-3 17th hole. She had a 4-footer for par, but it curved around the upper edge of the cup and refused to drop in. As the crowd groaned, Sorenstam looked around in amazement as if to say, ‘What is happening?’
Things weren’t any better on the second nine. She three-putted for bogey on the par-3 No. 2, and made another bogey when she missed an 8-footer on No. 4. On the par-5 No. 7, she hit a beautiful drive, the ball landing 195 yards from the green.
But she pushed her second shot far right, and the ball landed on a slope under a group of trees.
‘I thought I had a good lie,’ she said.
Not really. She hit a rock and chunked her first attempt to get out, moving the ball only a few feet. She flew the green on her next shot, landing in the rough about 35 feet from the pin. She chipped within 8 feet, but her putt rolled 6 inches past the hole and she finished with a double-bogey.
Caddie Terry McNamara gave her an encouraging hug, and Sorenstam threw the offending ball away.
She finally started looking like her old self on No. 9, her last hole. Her second shot hit the edge of the green and bounced a few feet back, leaving her about 50 feet shy of the hole. She chipped on, and the ball rolled ever so slowly toward the cup, knocking against the pin before dropping in.
One fan yelled, ‘Yeah, Annika! Yeah!’ and Sorenstam gave a triumphant swing of her putter. She grinned broadly as she handed the putter to McNamara, and the two slapped hands and bumped fists.
‘It’s just one of those days,’ she said. ‘I’ve just got to laugh about it and move on.’
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