CARLSBAD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 4, 2006–Ten years after winning her second United States Women’s Open Championship, Callaway Golf (NYSE:ELY) Staff Professional Annika Sorenstam yesterday added her third, crafting a brilliant 1-under-par 70 at the Newport Country Club to defeat Pat Hurst by four strokes in an 18-hole playoff.
The margin of victory was the largest in a U.S. Women’s Open playoff in 50 years.
The victory gave Sorenstam, 35, her 10th career major title, tying her with Babe Didrickson Zaharias for fourth on the career list and moving her within five of Patty Berg’s all-time total. It also marks the sixth consecutive season in which Sorenstam has won a major championship, the second-longest stretch in LPGA history.
As she has in each of her professional victories, Sorenstam again relied on Callaway Golf(R) equipment to make history — including the Big Bertha(R) Fusion(R) FT-3(TM) Driver, X-18(R) Irons, X Tour 3-wood, Big Bertha 7-wood, and Callaway Golf Forged+ Wedges (48 and 54 degrees), the new HX(R) Tour Golf Ball and an Odyssey(R) White Hot(R) 2-Ball Blade Putter. She also wore Callaway Golf Footwear with the patented Big Bertha Spike.
"It’s awesome, really," said a relieved Sorenstam. "What a great week and a great finish. I was talking to myself out there so much today that people probably think I’m a little weird. I just kept telling myself to just play my game. This is fantastic. It’s been a long wait, and a long road. On the way, I’ve learned a lot. The way this season has gone, kind of up and down, to win the Open is pretty ironic."
Sorenstam set the bar very high for herself by making her first tournament victory a win at the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open and she followed it up with a win her second U.S. Open title the following year. She has compiled a total of 68 victories in her Hall of Fame career, and now edges one step closer to Mickey Wright (82) and Kathy Whitworth (88) on the all-time victory list.
Sorenstam birdied two of the first three holes yesterday to open a three-stroke lead that widened to five strokes when her competitor double-bogeyed the sixth and bogeyed the ninth. In an exceptional display of tee-to-green consistency, Sorenstam played the back nine in even par to lock up the championship.
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