Annika Sorenstam recently came home from a practice round at Lake Nona with her Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational partner and basically told the family she got smoked. Fellow Swede Madelene Sagstrom shot 30 on the front, besting Sorenstam by six or seven strokes in nine holes.
“I came home and I told Mike and the kids, and they were like, what?” recalled Sorenstam during a pre-tournament press conference.
“I was hitting it quite well, but…. Then a few weeks later we decided to do it again, and when I left the breakfast table, the rules were clear: She’s not beating me by six again, otherwise I wasn’t welcome back.”
At this point on the conference call, Sagstrom interjected to say, “Let me just add, she did beat me that last time.”
When the LPGA returns to action July 13-16 at Midland Country Club in Michigan, the Swedish duo will be among the most popular teams, along with LPGA Hall of Famer Karrie Webb and Marina Alex.
Sorenstam noted that she had to find an extra gear to keep up with Sagstrom, who first won the LPGA in 2020. It was Sorenstam who picked Sagstrom as a rookie on the 2017 European Solheim Cup team. Both Swedes live in Orlando, Florida.
“She pushes me as well,” said Sorenstam, “so hopefully I can teach her a few things. I look forward to playing as a team with her really close up. Her driving is spectacular. We played together at U.S. Open, and I know that it wasn’t the finish either of us wanted, but Madelene, you’re right there, and you know it in your heart, and it’s going to happen.”
Annika Sorenstam hits her tee shot on the second hole during a practice round at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open Presented by ProMedica at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
Sagstrom said she asked her childhood idol to be her partner in 2021 as well, but Sorenstam had a schedule conflict. This year, the Dow event will serve as a solid warm-up for Sorenstam before heading to the Senior LPGA Championship the following week in Kansas.
Sorenstam was asked which was more nerve-wracking, returning to competition in the past year or teeing it up in a PGA Tour event at Colonial. She said it’s a different kind of nervousness.
“I’m starting to see that my mind is probably a lot stronger than my body is,” she said. “In my mind, I feel like I’m right there, and then the body just doesn’t do always what I want it to do. It’s just the reality of it.
“But I enjoyed teeing it up at the U.S. Open. It wasn’t the finish I wanted, of course, but I really put in a lot of time to get ready. I’ve enjoyed that journey with my family, and Madelene and I, we have had some good practice sessions, and I do enjoy that … I have a lot of distractions that keep me focused on really what’s important.”
