“I haven’t been here since then and I knew I liked the course, but I couldn’t remember a lot about it,” the Swedish superstar said. “Now all the memories are starting to come back.”
Sorenstam, who is having one of the greatest years any LPGA player has ever put together, visited the Donald Ross-designed course and played an impromptu practice round with her husband, David Esch.
Curious onlookers from the Peggy Kirk Bell Women’s Golfari followed the couple as they played the course from the spots where the USGA will have the tees set for the Open May 31-June 3.
Sorenstam, who had to be tired after finishing third in the Electrolux USA Championship in Franklin, Tenn., on Sunday, was driving the ball down the middle of the fairways, averaging more than 260 yards. Then she would measure the yardage to the flagstick with special glasses and fire for the pin.
She appeared loose and easy, and during one stretch of three holes rolled in consecutive putts from at least 20 feet.
“The greens are rolling about 9½ (on the Stimpmeter) now,” Bell informed Sorenstam as she was leaving the seventh green. “The USGA will have them rolling at about 11 during the Open.”
Sorenstam rolled her eyes, smiled and said, “That will fast enough for these greens.”
“It’s great to be back here,” she said during a brief interview between green and tee. “I have a lot of wonderful memories from here and they’re coming back now.”
Sorenstam, who came to Pine Needles in 1996 as defending champion, has already won five tournaments this season, including one major, the Nabisco Championship. That was her first major title since 1996 and she appears to be a woman on a mission.
So far this year, she has defeated Sophie Gustafson in a sudden-death playoff to win the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship to become the first LPGA player ever to gross $7 million in career earnings, won four straight tournaments to join legends Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright as the only players to win four consecutive Tour events, came from 10 shots behind in the final round to win The Office Depot, and set a 72-hole scoring record of 27-under-par to win the Standard Register Ping, where she also set an 18-hole record by becoming the first LPGA player to shoot 59 in competition.
She’s done all that, and she’s still hungry for more. And she isn’t concerned that her game might be peaking too early in her quest to become only the fifth woman to win a third U.S. Open Championship.
“I really don’t feel any pressure growing (because of the tear she’s been on),” she said. “When I came here in 1996 after having won in ’95, that was more pressure. Now, I’m enjoying it more. I’ve been there and I know what it’s like. I’m more comfortable in this situation.
“As for my game peaking too soon, I don’t worry about that. I’m just going out and playing as well as I can each week. I’m just enjoying the ride.”
It’s no accident that Sorenstam is having such a sensational season. After seeing her biggest rival, Karrie Webb, dominate the Tour for the past couple of years, she rekindled her competitive fires and went on a strict physical fitness regimen that would make David Duval proud. She reportedly runs four miles daily, even after walking 18 holes of golf, and does as many as 700 situps.
The work is obviously paying dividends. She looks like a champion and is playing like one. Can she beat 159 other players at Pine Needles? Don’t bet against it.
“Once I won my first Open, nothing seemed impossible,” she said.
