Annika Sörenstam won the U.S. Women's Open for a third time on 3 July 2006 at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. The title closed a ten-year gap since her back-to-back wins in 1995 and 1996. She sealed it in an 18-hole playoff.
A decade's wait ends in a Monday playoff
Sörenstam and Pat Hurst finished level at even-par 284 after 72 holes. Both survived pressure on the last green, Hurst holing a four-footer before Sörenstam's short tap-in forced the extra round. Fog had already pushed the schedule back, sending the decider to Monday.
The playoff turned early. Hurst three-putted the first hole for a bogey while Sörenstam made birdie. By the sixth she led by four, and she never let go.
Sörenstam's control did the work. She struck 11 of 14 fairways and never missed one on the back nine, while Hurst needed 24 putts through her first 12 holes. The lead grew to six before she settled for a 70 to Hurst's 74.
Her tenth major, and the last of the old format
It was Sörenstam's tenth and final major title, part of 72 career LPGA wins and enough to push her past $20 million in prize money. Her 1995 debut win came by one stroke at The Broadmoor; the 1996 defense came by six at Pine Needles. This was also the last U.S. Women's Open decided by an 18-hole playoff.
"It's been a long wait, a long road, but along the way I've learned a lot," she told reporters afterwards. "This week obviously means a lot to me, to come back the way that I did."
The victory came a week after she became a United States citizen. It closed her Open story a decade after it began, and stood as her last major.