Hot off of her seven stroke win Sunday at the Michelob Ultra Open in Kingsmill, Virginia, Annika Sorenstam announced today that she will be retiring from professional golf at the end of the 2008 season. The Dubai Ladies Masters in December will be her last event.

The 37-year-old Sorenstam cited shifting priorities as her reason for leaving the tour. That makes sense as she is engaged to Mike McGee later this year. At her press conference, she said: “I am very, very proud of what I’ve achieved. Golf has been great to me. I’ve achieved more than I thought I could. I have given it all, and it’s been fun.”

Sorenstam is one of just three women with more than 70 LPGA tour wins (she currently has 72).

^{(photo © Newscom)}

Post from: Green Posse

If the first two rounds of the HSBC Open in Singapore are any indication, this is going to be an exciting LPGA season (as if we didn’t already suspect that). Last year’s top-ranked player, Lorena Ochoa, debuted at this event and marched right to the top of the leader board. She finished Thursday’s round with a one stroke lead at six under and returned to shoot a seven under on Friday.

Trailing Ochoa by seven strokes are last week’s Fields Open champion, Paula Creamer; Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam (never one to be counted out); and South Korea’s In-Kyung Kim.

The tournament finished on Saturday.

Post from: Green Posse

It was a good weekend for golf’s wannabe top-ranked players. Phil Mickelson, who’s been struggling so far this season and even failed to make the cut at the AT&T at Pebble Beach, won the Northern Trust Open by two strokes over Jeff Quinney. It was his 33rd PGA win.

On the LPGA circuit, Annika Sorenstam showed that she’s brought her game for 2008. She won the SBS Open, the first LPGA event for the season, handily with two birdies on the last two holes. The win was an impressive #70 for Annika.

If this weekend was any indication, we’ll be seeing more of both players as the season progresses.

^{(photo © isogood/dreamstime)}

Post from: Green Posse

The ladies of the LPGA begin the 2008 season this week in Hawaii at the SBS Open, played on the Arnold Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Resort in Hawaii. The field of 138 golfers, led by defending champion Paula Creamer, includes Annika Sorenstam, Suzann Petterson, and Natalie Gublis. Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa is sitting this week out.

The three-day tournament begins on Thursday, February 14 and concludes on Saturday. It is being broadcast on the Golf Channel each evening.

^{(photo of Paula Creamer © Forrest C Smith III/cc license)}

Post from: Green Posse

Sorenstam was one of three players trying to earn the last two spots in the quest of the tournament’s $1 million prize. But after she hooked a shot into a bunker, she was soon eliminated.

Mi Hyun Kim shot two-under-par on Friday to finish atop the leader board of the 16 golfers who qualified for the weekend. She finished one shot ahead of Morgan Pressel as they head into Saturday’s action. The 19-year-old Pressel shot a 65 on Friday, equaling the lowest round in the seven years that the tournament has been played at Trump International.

Post from: Green Posse