Sorenstam’s Still Hungry

Annika Sorenstam owns a plot of land at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, where the $825,000 Samsung World Championship begins today, and even if she may have a home-course advantage, that doesn’t mean she’s quite ready to hang out at home full-time.

At 34, after 53 LPGA victories, seven major titles and a career Grand Slam, Sorenstam has been a pro since 1994 and said she doesn’t see the end in sight just yet, although it may not be that far away.

Sorenstam needs two more victories to equal Betsy Rawls’ total of 55 victories and move up to fifth place on the LPGA victory list.

“I do have goals like that,” Sorenstam said Wednesday. “To be honest, I’m very happy with 53 wins. Yeah, I’m looking at 55, maybe a little more than that and see what happens.”

Sorenstam has won five times this year, but she started the season with the goal of winning all four majors and fell short when she won only the LPGA Championship.

With $1.8 million in earnings in only 14 tournaments, Sorenstam is leading the money list and hopes to pass $2 million. If she holds her position, it would be Sorenstam’s seventh money title in 11 years.

Sorenstam says she wants to win more majors but admits she is nearer to the end of her career than the beginning.

“I’m getting closer,” she said. “I’m getting very satisfied with my career. I’ve achieved a lot more than I ever thought I would. It’s just tough to keep motivating yourself to go out there and grind because the competition is so tough now and you have to do it every day.

“I have a lot of interests that one of these days I want to pursue. So who knows? I still enjoy this game very much ... so we will see. If someone would have told me, ‘If you win 20 times would you be happy, would you quit?’ I probably would have said yes. But here I am a little later and I’m still grinding.”

Sorenstam is a three-time champion in the Samsung, which features an exclusive 20-player field that includes all four major champions, Vare Trophy winner Se Ri Pak, defending champion Sophie Gustafson, European Tour money leader Laura Davies, 15-year-old amateur Michelle Wie and 12 players from the top of the LPGA money list, including Karrie Webb, Juli Inkster and Lorena Ochoa.