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'As good as I can play' Sorenstam's 66 locks up New Albany Classic win
Posted: Thursday October 14, 1999 08:14 PM NEW ALBANY, Ohio (AP) -- Annika Sorenstam likes to play quickly. But on Sunday, a 15-minute wait on the 12th tee hurried her along to her 18th career victory at the New Albany Golf Classic. "I had time to calm down and talk to myself," said Sorenstam, who had just missed three short birdie putts in a row. "As I look back, it was a good thing to wait. I was steaming a little bit." After cooling down and collecting her thoughts, Sorenstam hit a long drive into the fairway and then drilled a 5 iron to 2 1/2 feet, leading to a tap-in birdie to take the lead for good. Finally pulling out of a tie with Mardi Lunn, she pulled away with a string of three consecutive birdies down the stretch to cap a 6-under-par 66. "It was one of those rounds you dream about having on Sunday," she said. Sorenstam had just three bogeys in the tournament and birdied four of the final seven holes to finish at 19-under-par 269. Her 6-under-par final round followed rounds of 68, 69 and 66. The victory, her second of the year, was worth $150,000 from the inaugural tournament's $1 million purse. "I felt I was in control this week," she said. "Every shot I hit, every move I made, I knew what I was doing." Last year's player of the year parred six holes in a row after building a three-stroke lead with a birdie at the par-3 fifth hole. Lunn, playing in the same twosome, pulled even with three birdies over that span. Sorenstam lipped out an 8-footer for birdie at the ninth hole, missed a 5-footer at 10 and a 4-footer at 11. "Annika just played fantastic," Lunn said. "She did deserve to make some putts." Sorenstam said she gave talked to herself while waiting to hit at the 12th tee. "I thought, 'How close do I have to hit it? How am I going to score if I don't hit any putts?' " she said. "You expect to make those. There were a lot of players close to me on the leaderboard and they were all breathing down my neck." Sorenstam said the 398-yard, par-4 12th -- which ranked as the hardest hole on the course -- "scares me to death." After hitting her approach close to the hole, she said she turned to her caddie and said, "Now I get revenge on the hole." After birdieing there, Sorenstam skirted trouble on the next hole when her drive went well right of the fairway and into the trees lining the par-5 13th. She was able to salvage par by slicing a shot into the fairway, finding the green in regulation and two-putting from the front of the green. The LPGA's leading money winner three of the last four years, Sorenstam clinched with birdies at 14, 15 and 16. She hit a 14-footer at the 14th, coaxed in an uphill 3-footer at No. 15 and made a 5-footer at 16. Lunn putted first at No. 14 and lipped out. "If I had made that, it might have been a different story," Lunn said. "That was the crucial one." After moving into the tie with her birdie at the ninth hole, Lunn parred eight of the nine remaining holes -- missing four birdie putts inside 15 feet. She shot a final-round 67 for a 16-under 272. Sorenstam had torched the front nine the first three days of the tournament, playing it in 12-under while mustering just 1-under on the back nine. But in the final round, she was 2-under on the front side and 4-under on the back. Emilee Klein shot 67, including a birdie on the final hole, to take third at 12 under. Meg Mallon shot 69 and was at 11-under 277. Mallon was just two shots behind the co-leaders before falling out of contention with a double-bogey on the 12th hole when she put her approach in the water. The lowlight of the day was Cindy McCurdy's 14 on the par-5 13th hole. She put four balls in the lake fronting the green, shot a 14-over 50 on the back nine and finished with an 85. Sorenstam said the victory helped to erase what had been a somewhat disappointing year for her.
"The way I played today is as good as I can play," she said.
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