Annika Sorenstam has been making friends with Ronald McDonald for three straight years, and is hoping to greet the clown once more this coming Sunday as she looks for her fourth consecutive McDonald?s LPGA title.
“Obviously it would mean a lot, and what I mean by that is just a lot of it is personal satisfaction,” said Sorenstam, who admits she enjoys meeting the McDonalds? figurehead during the spoils of victory. “A lot of it is achieving a goal. A lot of it is doing something that nobody else has done.”
Sorenstam would become the first female professional golfer to win a major in four consecutive years with a victory this weekend.
“That?s kind of what gets me going today, is the extra little challenge, the extra little hurdle I have to go through and make it,” Sorenstam said at a Tuesday news conference at Bulle Rock in Harford County.
“And I think that?s what would mean a lot to me.”
A year ago, Sorenstam played through the 9-year-old Havre de Grace course in record fashion, shooting an 11-under 277 over 72 holes.
“I think I played pretty good last year and hopefully I can do the same thing this year,” Sorenstam said. “When it comes to the golf course, they lengthened a few holes, the fifth and the ninth that I can remember off the top of my head.”
The weather was clear during Sorenstam?s practice round Tuesday, and she is looking forward to cooler weather than last year?s tournament, when the thermometer was in the upper 90s.
“I love mid-70, a little breeze, partly cloudy, kind of where I come from, it?s pretty nice,” Sorenstam said. “So we?ll see if it lasts or whatever we?ll get. Last year was quite hot, so just totally different contrast to playing the course.”
Michelle Wie, who finished three shots behind Sorenstam as an amateur in 2005, is amongst 149 competitors looking to knock Sorenstam off her streak.
THE SORENSTAM FILE
Age: 36
Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
Residence: Incline Village, Nev.
Experience: 12 years
Did you know? Sorenstam has picked up one win and six top-10 finishes in her eight events on tour this year ? Annika attended the University of Arizona before joining the LPGA Tour in 1994 ? She has earned over $600,000 thus far in 2006, and more than $18 million in her career ? Sorenstam?s sister, Charlotta, is an alternate for this weekend?s tournament field
