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Sorenstam’s Fifth Win in a Row Is No Nail-Biter

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Times Staff Writer

Here are some things that are suspenseful: mystery novels, overtime, runoff elections, scary movies.

But here’s something that wasn’t: Annika Sorenstam’s turning the Kraft Nabisco Championship into her personal bake-off, blowing out the candles on her eighth major championship, winning her record-tying fifth tournament in a row and running over every other player who showed up at Mission Hills Country Club.

All Sorenstam did Sunday was shoot a four-under-par 68 and win by eight shots, the largest winning margin of any of her eight majors.

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Is this exciting or what?

“For me it was exciting,” said Sorenstam, who had the nerve to claim she was “starting to reach” her peak.

What? Sorenstam has not shot over par in any of her last seven tournaments, she has played the last 39 holes without a bogey, played the weekend in 10 under par, out-drove her closest competitor each time by an average of 41 yards and missed only one green Sunday. If Sorenstam reaches any more of a peak, they’re going to start climbing her with ropes and hooks.

When she tapped in a short putt for par at the 18th, the celebration began. Sorenstam tossed her putter into the air, got a champagne shower courtesy of her sister, Charlotta, then hopped into the pond that fronts the green, where she was joined by Charlotta, her mother, Gunilla and caddie, Terry McNamara, who leaped from the bridge.

So a pool party broke out once the golf tournament ended, but this one was all but over when it began.

In the most dominant performance of her 12-year career of majors, Sorenstam started the round with a five-shot lead and allowed no one to come any closer.

Rosie Jones shot 71 and wound up second, which in this case was barely in the same county. Sorenstam’s rounds of 70-69-66-68 and 273 total was 15 under and added up to her seventh victory in her last nine tournaments.

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Jones realized early what was at stake.

“I knew I was playing for second place,” she said.

Jones birdied the ninth and 10th holes to get within six shots of Sorenstam but missed an eight-foot putt for birdie at the 11th. When Sorenstam two-putted from 40 feet for her birdie, it was all but over.

“That was the turning point, it really was,” Sorenstam said.

“I had a lot of things go right this week. I felt really good, calm. Hit some good shots, got some good bounces. I’ve been driving down the street, it’s been green lights. Good music on the radio, you name it.”

If it was a week of good vibes, it was also a day of history and some very big numbers. Sorenstam’s $270,000 winner’s share put her over the $1-million mark in 11 appearances at Mission Hills. Her third victory at the Kraft Nabisco ties Amy Alcott and Betsy King for the most.

But there’s more. Her 59th career victory is one short of Patty Berg for third place, and her eighth major is fifth all time, trailing Berg, who leads with 15.

Since the start of 2004, Sorenstam has won 11 of the 21 tournaments she has played (she was second in four others) -- a winning percentage of 52%.

Sorenstam’s fifth consecutive victory matched Nancy Lopez’s mark, set 27 years ago in her rookie year. Lopez said Sorenstam is in a class by herself right now and said the Grand Slam, winning all four majors this year, isn’t out of the question.

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“I think it’s very realistic,” Lopez said. “Her mind can put her there, and I think she could do it, definitely.”

If Jones was playing for second, that left everyone else to fall in line after that. Laura Diaz shot a four-under 68 and tied Christie Kerr for third. Grace Park, the defending champion, said she played pain-free for the first time this week, and her 67 earned her a tie for third with Mi Hyun Kim.

Park, who has an MRI exam scheduled for her back injury Tuesday in Seoul, said there’s no one like Sorenstam right now.

“She’s the most dominant player in women’s golf, and that’s it,” Park said.

Someone who might become that player, 15-year-old Michelle Wie, finished her round at one-under 71 and wound up tied for 12th. Even though that was good enough to make her the low amateur, it was her worst finish in three trips to Mission Hills.

“Can we erase the last two days?” Wie said and smiled.

It was an unsettling week, she said, and that was completely unexpected.

“I’m glad I lived through it,” she said. “I learned a lot. I didn’t play my best, far from it, and I really learned how to grind it out there.

“I take it for granted I’m going to play good out here, and this is a big wake-up call.”

Wie, who was fourth last year and tied for ninth as a 13-year-old, said she is going to play in the remaining three women’s majors this year and intends to try to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Public Links, but doesn’t think she can get back from Europe in time to qualify for the women’s amateur.

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“I confess I’m not really looking forward to school, with four tests waiting for me,” she said.

As for Sorenstam, she’s taking the next few weeks off and isn’t tipping her hand about when she will take a shot at a sixth consecutive victory. The next LPGA event is in three weeks at Las Vegas.

Until then, history can wait. But Sorenstam acknowledged that something stirs inside her when the big moments of history are there for the taking.

“It does play a part,” she said. “I try to look at things mostly for myself, but what am I capable of? What’s exciting to me? What’s most important to me? I look at some of the records and say what’s possible and what’s not, put that together and that’s what gets me motivated.”

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