GOLF Sorenstam still rules the LPGA

Sorenstam has won a golf major tournament for the fourth straight year.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Having won more than $2 million each of the last four years, surely Annika Sorenstam could afford to hire someone to paint the inside of her summer home in Lake Tahoe.
But after winning for the seventh time this year on the LPGA Tour, she flew home from Japan and went to work on two bedrooms, two bathrooms and the living room.
"Therapy," she said with a laugh. "I enjoy being a little handy and doing stuff. Took four days with a little help from my husband and my sister, but we had a good time."
It was that kind of moment that has made this year stand out.
Player of the year
Winning never gets old, but it has become routine for Sorenstam. She won a major for the fourth straight year. She already has crossed the $2 million mark for the fourth straight time, an amazing feat considering no other woman has done it once. She already has wrapped up LPGA Tour player of the year.
The difference this year is that Sorenstam started taking more time off.
The ADT Championship, a season-ending tournament for the top 30 players on the money list, is only her 18th start on the LPGA Tour. She is working less off the course, learning to get more quality out of her practice sessions.
The bad news for the rest of the LPGA is that she is as good as ever.
"I've played less and still played at the same level," Sorenstam said. "I stepped away from the game a lot more this year, and I'm still able to be up there. People from the outside might not see that, but I've noticed that."
Sorenstam played only 17 times a year ago, but that was different. She spent long, hard hours in the gym and on the range to get ready for the Colonial, where she became the first woman in 58 years to compete on the PGA Tour.
"I've had more time at home and less on the road," she said. "I think the negative -- which I thought would be, but I haven't really noticed any -- is that I wouldn't play as much and I'd be a little more rusty. But I'm surprised how consistent I'm playing the weeks I've played."
Woods vs. Sorenstam
Her dominance during the last four years is similar, if not greater, than Tiger Woods' run on the PGA Tour.
Woods was No. 1 for more than five years, when he won 32 times, swept all the awards and won seven majors. Sorenstam has won 32 times in the last four years, including five majors.
"Annika, of course, week in and week out is the person to beat," Grace Park said. "When Annika is in the field, everybody is aware of it. We know the competition will be that much tougher."
Park is No. 2 on the money list by more than $800,000, although she showed more promise than ever this year by winning her first major at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Meg Mallon, 41, won the biggest prize in women's golf at The Orchards Golf Club, coming from three shots behind and leaving Sorenstam in her wake to win the U.S. Women's Open. Mallon won two other tournaments for her best season since 1991.
But that hasn't closed the gap on No. 1.
"The kind of golf she's playing, it's unbelievable," Mallon said. "Everyone is taking about Vijay's year. She's done it for the last six years. My years on tour, I've seen great players, and Annika is one of them. But those great players always go through a down time. She hasn't done that.
"That's what is so exceptional about she's done. That's why it makes it even more fun to beat her occasionally, because you know it doesn't happen very often."