SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA | Annika Sörenstam sat in an armchair on a small dais at Pine Needles Golf & Lodge Tuesday afternoon and looked at a poster of herself holding the U.S. Women’s Open Championship trophy here 26 years ago.
Her hair was spilling over the top of her visor and Sörenstam had just won her second straight Women’s Open, setting in motion a career unlike any other in women’s golf.
“It was a lot of years ago,” Sörenstam said during a pre-Open visit to Pine Needles. “Some things have changed. Some haven’t changed. My memories haven’t changed.”
Among the most significant changes is the fact that Sörenstam, who retired from full-time competitive golf 14 years ago, is playing her first U.S. Women’s Open since 2008.
Sörenstam earned her spot in this Women’s Open (June 2-5) by winning the U.S. Senior Women’s Open last year in her first try, prompting a reordering of her priorities.
When Sörenstam stepped away from the game in 2008 with 72 LPGA victories, including 10 major championships, her life veered away from competitive golf. She was a wife, a mother, a businessperson and a legend.
Sörenstam is still all of those things, but golf is back at the core of her life.
“I never really planned on playing again when I stepped away in 2008,” Sörenstam said. “I was very happy, very pleased. I was getting married and wanted to start a family. I never really looked at competition again.
“Things changed.”
Her two children are growing up and, like others before her, Sörenstam considered what it would mean for them to see her playing tournament golf not just on YouTube but in person. She also wanted to support the USGA as a three-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Open and an advocate for growing the game, particularly on the women’s side.
“The last 14 years I’ve been spending time trying to inspire the next generation of girls. If I tell them to get out of the box and try new things, I have to do that too,” Sörenstam said.
“We just decided, let’s do this.”
When Sörenstam says “we,” she means it. Getting back into competitive golf – not full-time – meant talking with her husband, Mike McGee, and their children, Will and Ava. They were all in favor of her getting back into playing tournament golf again.
As good as Sörenstam was in her extended prime – there may be no one who has ever driven straighter than she did – it didn’t all come back immediately. She had played the occasional corporate outing and some casual golf, but she understood the women’s game had continued to evolve while she was at home.
Twenty-six years later, Sörenstam has adjusted her expectations. In her prime, she could lock into a mental zone and nothing could distract her. These days, she finds her mind wandering to what her children are doing, school assignments or dinner plans.
At first, Sörenstam didn’t think about what came with winning the Senior Women’s Open: a spot in the U.S. Women’s Open.
“I was talking to my family and said these are the young girls,” Sörenstam said. “It’s not my league any more. Will said, ‘Don’t worry. Jessica and Nelly Korda’s age together (52) is what you are.’”
Of all the possible spots for Sörenstam to play another Women’s Open, Pine Needles may be the perfect one.
In 1992, long before she became a one-name superstar, Annika was introduced to World Golf Hall of Famer Peggy Kirk Bell, who owned Pine Needles. Bell was one of the most influential women in golf, an extraordinary teacher who was almost evangelical in her passion for the game.
Introduced to Sörenstam, who had recently come to the United States from Sweden, Bell offered her a place to stay for a few weeks. Sörenstam said yes, and an enduring friendship was born.
“She couldn’t pronounce my name, so she called me ‘Heineken’ for some reason,” Sörenstam said. “I told her I wasn’t German and I didn’t drink beer, but that’s what she called me.”
When Sörenstam was playing her final hole in the 1996 U.S. Women’s Open, her parents were among those in the gallery, but one voice rang out. In a quiet moment, Sörenstam heard “Heineken” and knew it was Bell congratulating her.
Twenty-six years later, Sörenstam has adjusted her expectations. In her prime, she could lock into a mental zone and nothing could distract her. These days, she finds her mind wandering to what her children are doing, school assignments or dinner plans.
This is a different Pine Needles, too. It will become the first course to host four U.S. Women’s Opens, and its list of previous winners – Sörenstam, Karrie Webb and Cristie Kerr – speaks to the quality of the Donald Ross design. It will play slightly shorter than in 2007, but it has more sandscapes, and its greens remain the centerpiece of the course.
It will be the first time the U.S. Women’s Open has had a $10 million purse and the first time on Bermuda greens at Pine Needles.
“There is a reason this will be the only place in the game to have hosted four Women’s Opens. It is a very special place,” said John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer for the USGA.
“It has stood the test of time. You can’t just buy history. You can only earn it. Pine Needles has earned its history.”
Sörenstam is a part of that history and will be again.
“It’s a beautiful place,” Sörenstam said.