Yard-bashing tee shot Sorenstam's salvation

It was the Swede's second straight LPGA Championship victory.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- On a whim, Annika Sorenstam decided three weeks ago to get a small tattoo on the left side of her lower back. She chose a Halloween cat, with long feet and arched back in a frightful pose.
"I guess it's my feisty side," Sorenstam said.
She showed plenty of that in the LPGA Championship during a 36-hole Sunday that had a little bit of everything.
It began with Sorenstam shooting a 7-under 64 in the morning third round to build a six-shot lead. Then came a miniature collapse in the middle, where the 33-year-old Swede dropped four shots in three holes. It ended with a shot that ranks among her best, and her second straight LPGA Championship.
Fun fairway
"A lot of people say I'm robotic -- down the fairway, down the green," she said. "It's not always the truth. Today was an example of that. It's fun."
With her seven-shot lead down to two, Sorenstam hit a tee shot so far left on the par-5 16th that her best option was to play down the wrong fairway. Only 94 yards separated her from the hole, but there was a row of 60-foot trees halfway there, not to mention a bunker protecting the flag.
She couldn't see the green. She didn't have to see that the ball stopped 3 feet away. A huge roar spoke volumes.
"To tap that in for birdie was unbelievable," she said. "You're not supposed to play it that way, but I needed that at the time."
When the longest Sunday in 14 years at a major championship finally ended, Sorenstam had rounds of 64-72 for a three-shot victory over hard-charging Shi Hyun Ahn, the 52nd victory of her career and her seventh major.
She is sixth on the career list for major victories, tied with Juli Inkster, with whom she played the final two rounds. Inkster told her walking off the 18th green, "You're the greatest."
There's not much to debate.
Sorenstam joins Mickey Wright as the only players -- male or female -- to successfully defend in three majors. Wright won back-to-back in all four of the Grand Slam events of her day. Sorenstam can match her by winning the Women's British Open at Sunningdale this summer.
"Majors mean so much to me," said Sorenstam, who finished at 13-under 271 and earned $240,000 for her fourth victory of the season, pushing her over $1 million on the year.
Ahn, a 19-year-old rookie from South Korea, closed with 69-66 to finish three shots behind.
In contention
Grace Park, the Kraft Nabisco Championship winner, had visions of the second leg of the Grand Slam, but only briefly. She got within three shots of the lead late in the round until Sorenstam got back on track. Park had 70-68 and finished third, five shots behind.
"I thought about it all the way through the round -- 'I'm going to catch up with Annika.' That was my main determination," Ahn said through an interpreter.
No one looked as if they would have a chance to catch Sorenstam when she played bogey-free in tough conditions for a 64 that put her at 14-under 199, breaking by two shots the 54-hole record last set by Karrie Webb in 2001.
But, she hit a wedge over the green on the par-5 ninth, left her chip in the rough, and made double bogey. She missed the 10th fairway, couldn't reach the green and made bogey. She missed a 3-foot putt on the 11th for another bogey.
"Things were starting to fall apart," Sorenstam said.
It didn't get any better when she came up 40 feet short with a sand wedge on the next hole. But Sorenstam told her caddie, Terry McNamara, that everything was going to work out. She must have known what she was talking about, because the Swede rolled in the long birdie to stop her slide.
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