After the 2008 season, Annika Sorenstam stepped away from full-time competition, leaving the LPGA Tour with 72 career victories. The total placed her third on the all-time wins list and capped a 16-year run that reshaped the women’s game.
A farewell built long before the final round
Sorenstam, 37, announced her decision in May, making clear that the season would be her last on the LPGA. Her final tour win arrived that same month at the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill, on the River Course in Williamsburg, Virginia.
She closed that week with a final-round 66, hitting every fairway and putting or chipping for birdie on every hole. The seven-stroke margin of victory tied the tournament record and broke the 72-hole scoring mark by five strokes.
The scene that sent a signal
The tournament had long been a measure of precision on tight, tree-lined fairways, and Sorenstam’s control that Sunday was absolute. She moved ahead early and widened the gap with each nine, leaving no doubt about the outcome.
The performance distilled the qualities that defined her prime: relentless fairway accuracy, cold patience on the greens, and a scoring pace her chasers could not match.
Ten majors, a 59, and a Grand Slam
The 72nd win was the final entry in a ledger that included 10 major championships and eight LPGA Player of the Year awards. She was the first woman to shoot 59 in a professional tour event, completing that historic round at the 2001 Standard Register Ping.
By 2003 she had earned the career Grand Slam with her Women’s British Open victory, becoming one of only six players to hold all five majors at least once. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame that same year, while still an active competitor.
A quiet outro and a new chapter
Sorenstam’s farewell LPGA week came in November at the ADT Championship in West Palm Beach, with more than 50 friends and family watching. “It’s a special week in many ways,” she told reporters afterwards. “I’m sad that it’s coming to an end, but it’s my decision, and when I decide to do something I stick with it.”
From a rain-soaked amateur start at Oakmont in 1992 to a final runaway victory in Virginia, she left the tour on her own terms.