Annika Sorenstam won her eighth money list title this year, finishing more than $1 million ahead of the field. Bob Martin/SI
	SI's writers offer their 2005 choices: REILLY: It's the only thing Leinart doesn't have HERSCH: Gore came out of nowhere SILVER: Rosenhaus was a real lifesaver WALTERS: The Mulkey provides inspiration PERLOFF: You gotta love -- or hate -- T.O. CAZENEUVE: Meet a taekwondo family dynasty SHIPNUCK: Capt. Jack is still relevant DAVIS: Sorenstam is long overdue BECHTEL: Kerr is Crash Davis on skates BEECH: Weis revived the Fighting Irish KENNEDY: A former slugger turned truth-teller DEITSCH: Henry not afraid to take a stand FRIEDMAN: A hometown boy makes good McCALLUM: The best sportsmen of the pre-SI era GREENFELD: Tagliaube's success is legendary SCHECTER: Dunn is more than a football player HABIB: The everyman can relate to Hachem ALTOBELLI: Bruschi inspires on and off the field > More Sportsman Choices

By Seth Davis

SI's Sportsman of the Year is often an athlete who demonstrated uncommon excellence during that particular year. Other times, the honorific is bestowed more as a lifetime achievement award, recognizing someone who has dominated a sport for a long period of time.

In 2005, SI has a chance to do both by choosing Annika Sorenstam as Sportswoman of the Year. Not only did Sorenstam fleece the competition every bit as much as Tiger Woods did when he was named Sportsman in 2000, she also burnished her credentials as the best women's golfer of all time. Golf is a hard game. Choosing Annika as Sportswoman of the Year is easy.

You can make a great case for Sorenstam based solely on what she did this year. In November, she notched her 10th victory in just 20 starts. That would have set an LPGA record were it not for the 11 wins Sorenstam claimed in 2002. (That was also the year Sorenstam became the first woman to shoot a 59.) Sorenstam won her eighth money list title this year, finishing more than $1 million ahead of the field. She won her sixth Vare Trophy for the season's best scoring average (69.33), giving her the top five year-end averages in LPGA history. She tied Nancy Lopez' record for consecutive wins with five. Oh, and she also won two majors, giving her nine for her career and five in her last 10 attempts.

When Woods won three majors and nine tournaments in 2000, it was deemed such an awesome feat that SI made him the magazine's first-ever two-time choice. Shouldn't Sorenstam's equally incredible year of two and 10 warrant her a first-time honor?

If the answer is still maybe, then Sorenstam's status as the best to ever play her sport should cement her as the choice. This is the fifth year she has swept the LPGA's player of the year award, the Vare Trophy and the money title in the same season -- and she would have had two more Vare Trophies to her credit had she played enough rounds in the U.S. the last two years to qualify. (She still had the lowest stroke average on tour.) The only things Sorenstam has yet to achieve are a) win all four majors in the same year, and b) break Kathy Whitworth's LPGA record of 88 career wins. The first is doable and the second is inevitable: Sorenstam has 66 wins, and she's only 35. Whitworth was 46 when she won No. 88 in 1985.

Sorenstam also fits another category under which athletes have earned Sportsman of the Year award: trailblazer. Much like tennis star Billie Jean King -- who was co-Sportsman with John Wooden in 1972 -- Sorenstam has given her sport unprecedented respectability and profitability. She earns tens of millions of dollars off the course (she has a higher profile in Callaway commercials than many of the company's male endorsers), and she has been invited into the previously all-male money grab called the Skins Game. She's now among the few athletes and entertainers who are recognizable by just one name.

And of course, two years ago Sorenstam became the first woman in 58 years to compete against the men, when she played in the Colonial Invitational. No, she didn't make the cut, but she still beat 11 men while performing under the most intense scrutiny an athlete can face. Sorenstam's appearance was derided by some (including several small-minded PGA Tour golfers) as a publicity stunt, but in the years since she's proven how much of a competitive boost it gave her. Since that week, Sorenstam has won 46% of her starts. Beforehand, she had won  22%.

I'm still mystified as to why Sorenstam wasn't SI's choice in 2003. (The magazine went with Tim Duncan and David Robinson instead.) Maybe Annika isn't the sexiest choice in '05, and maybe people won't want to read a 10-page story about her. But in a year that will be remembered mostly for a metastasizing steroid scandal and an arrogant loudmouth named Terrell Owens, isn't this an ideal time for SI to celebrate a quiet, graceful, groundbreaking athlete whose actions speak louder than words ever could?

Sports Illustrated will announce the 2005 Sportsman of the Year winner on Friday, Dec. 9 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. Check back every weekday until then to read more Sportsman picks from SI writers.