GIANT EAGLE LPGA CLASSIC Annika expected Thursday

The Swedish standout has commitments elsewhere early next week.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
VIENNA -- Better late than never.
Annika Sorenstam only plays in a dozen or so full-field tournaments on the LPGA Tour each year and unless she is a defending champion rarely makes up her mind until the last minute.
That was the case this week, when Sorenstam officially signed up to play in next week's Giant Eagle LPGA Classic at Squaw Creek Country Club.
According to Sorenstam's agent, Mark Steinberg of Cleveland, Sorenstam always makes her decisions at the last moment.
"Unless she is a defending champion," Steinberg said.
Because of the tremendous success the Swedish golfer has had on tour in recent years, she chooses her events carefully.
May not practice
Even next week when she comes here, she won't arrive until Thursday, the day before the tournament begins, and probably won't even get a chance to play a practice round on a course that she has never seen before.
"She is the main attraction on the tour and she has so many commitments that require so much of her time," said Giant Eagle executive director Eddie Thomas.
In the 13 years of the Valley tournament, Sorenstam has only appeared here once, in 1998, when she finished tied for ninth place when the tournament was played at Avalon Lakes Golf Course.
Sorenstam is always going to be playing in the four major tournaments each season and she will always come back to a tournament that she has won the year before. This season she is the defending champion in 11 tournaments.
"Because she has cut back on her tournament schedule we feel very happy that she has selected our tournament as one of her stops this year," Thomas added.
"We knew it was going to come right down to the deadline before she made her decision, because that's just the way Annika does things. She very rarely commits early to a tournament that she is not defending," he said.
Sorenstam's name added to an already outstanding field for this year's tournament.
Leading money winner
She took over the LPGA money lead a week ago by winning the Kellogg-Keebler Classic in Naperville, Ill., moving past runner-up Se Ri Pak, who will also be playing at Squaw Creek next week.
With Sorenstam in the field the tournament will have six of the top 10 money leaders, 16 of the top 25 and 32 of the top 50.
Sorenstam has won 44 tournaments on tour since turning professional in 1994. She qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame in 2000. That induction will take place later this season.
She has career earnings over nearly $12 million and ranks No. 1 on the LPGA Tour. Going into this weekend's McDonald's LPGA Championship, she has won four major titles and is the only women's golfer to ever shoot a 59 for 18 holes in LPGA competition.
Three weeks ago she did something that only one other woman professional has done before, compete against the men on the PGA Tour.
She took part in the PGA Colonial Invitational on a sponsors exemption and although she didn't make the cut, she proved that she could play with the men on their level and from their tees.
"She is without a doubt the greatest woman golfer on tour today and we are very happy that she's going to be here playing next week," Thomas said.
mollica@vindy.com