Sorenstam captures record-tying fourth straight
LOS ANGELES (April 14) -- Annika Sorenstam took advantage of Pat Hurst's back-nine collapse to make up 10 shots and win her record-tying fourth consecutive LPGA Tour title Saturday.
Sorenstam parred the 155-yard 18th on the first hole of a playoff with South Korea's Mi Hyun Kim to win The Office Depot. Kim's tee shot sailed over a back bunker.
Sorenstam shot a 6-under-par 66 and Kim had a course-record 65 playing five groups in front of Hurst, who led the first two rounds.
Sorenstam's comeback was the biggest in LPGA history, bettering the record of eight shots by Muffin Spencer-Devlin in the 1985 MasterCard International Pro-Am.
The Swede earned $120,000, and overtook Betsy King as the LPGA's career money leader with $6,957,044. King, who tied for 25th and earned $7,205, is second with $6,847,284.
Hurst, trying to become the first American-born winner on the tour this year, was 11 under through eight holes and had an eight-shot lead over Sorenstam.
But she fell apart with bogeys on Nos. 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18. Hurst three-putted from 5 feet on the 16th. The bogey on 17 dropped her into a three-way tie for the lead.
Hurst had a final chance to win outright on 18, but her tee shot landed in the middle front bunker. She got on the green with her second shot, but faced a 15-foot par putt and missed. She finished at 5-over 77 for a 211 total and third place.
"It's awful," she said. "You can't do that and win a golf tournament."
Sorenstam joined Hall of Famers Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright as the only players to win four consecutively scheduled tournaments. Her other wins came in Tucson, Ariz., and Phoenix, where she became the first LPGA player to shoot 59, and Rancho Mirage, Calif., at the Nabisco Championship.
The LPGA record of five is held by Nancy Lopez, who won three in a row, took a week off and won two more in 1978. Sorenstam will try to tie that mark at next week's event in Sacramento.
Sorenstam began the final round 10 shots behind Hurst, while Kim was 11 back. The Swede got going quickly, with three birdies on the front nine, including a 35-footer at the 185-yard 4th.
She added birdies at 10, 12 and 16, but bogeyed the 17th when her 7-iron tee shot went over the green. She chipped within 2 feet and dropped a shot.
At 18, Sorenstam hit a 7-iron within 12 feet, sank the birdie putt and then waited 45 minutes for the playoff to begin.
GolfDigest.com
