With ten major championships on her resume, Annika Sorenstam is arguably the greatest female golfer of all time — a superlative she further established when she emerged from retirement to win her first USGA championship in 13 years, the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, by lapping the field with an eight-stroke victory at Brooklawn Country Club.
It’s been a joy to watch the now 51-year-old shoulder her way back in the competitive mix. She teeed it up in the celebrity division at last week’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and made it to a playoff for the victory at her home course, Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, where she ultimately fell to former MLB star Derek Lowe.
In the aftermath of her runner-up finish, Sorenstam was asked if there was a specific, game-changing tip that stood out to her from her long career, and she gave a predictably insightful answer.
“There’s been several tips,” she said. “Not necessarily like a swing tip or like a putting tip or anything. It’s more my dad told me a long time ago there are no shortcuts to success. Keep on working. Face the fears is another one I keep on thinking in my mind.
“Go out there and step up to the ball or whatever you got to do. I especially do that with my kids, trying to be a good role model,” Sorenstam continued. “Hopefully they get something out of this week, that I didn’t give up and I kept trying, and that’s really what life is about. You might not have all the best tools in your bag, get all the best bounces, but keep on fighting and you never know what’s going to happen.”
Sorenstam has a son, Will, who’s nine, and a daughter, Ava, who’s 12, with her husband, Mike. And given her recent success on the course, it appears she’s certainly practicing what she preaches. Before she defends her Senior Open title at NCR Country Club in Kettering, Ohio, in August, she says she plans to play the 2022 Cologuard Classic Celebrity Challenge in Tucson at end of February, and in a senior event in Portugal in March.
