Annika Sorenstam announced today that she is “retiring” at the end of the season. Here is the excerpt from Fox Sports.
In the end, it was quintessentially Annika Sorenstam.
Speaking in a cramped media center at the Sybase Classic, Sorenstam, winner of 72 LPGA titles, announced she would “step away from competitive golf” at season’s end following a historic 15-year pro career. The 37-year-old LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame member kept her composure throughout the 25-minute press conference; it may have been more surprising had she not.
Sorenstam arrived at the dais wearing a black hat and black long-sleeved top, the funeral attire broken by khaki pants. She looked down at a lone, folded piece of paper she brought with her while patiently waiting for a few minutes for technical difficulties to be resolved, occasionally smiling at a familiar face.
“Hi, everybody — thank you for coming,” Sorenstam began. “The last time I saw this many cameras was at Colonial.”
Age: 37
Career LPGA events: 293
Major wins: 10
Career LPGA wins: 72
Career top 10s: 206
Career prize money: Over $22 million
AP Female Athlete of the Year: 2003-05
LPGA Tour Player of the Year: 1995, 1997-98, 2001-05
World Golf Hall of Fame: Elected 2003
You can get the full story over at Fox Sports Golf
I told him that he had no one to blame but himself, that ‘until you start realizing that you’re the cause of all this and get some help, you’re going to continue to have problems.’ I told him I would be glad to help. But I wasn’t going to retract anything that I said.