"Just as invested in seeing her brand succeed as we are."

The Seattle Times business staff reports on Annika re-signing with Cutter and Buck, talking to Cutter's Ernie Johnson.

News this past week that the 37-year-old Sorenstam plans to retire when the season's LPGA Tour ends was not a shock to Johnson.

"We've known for sometime that starting a family was in her plans, so this didn't come as a surprise to us," he says. "We're very happy for her."

Under a multiyear contract signed in 2003, Sorenstam gets quarterly royalty checks based on sales of the Annika collection, Johnson says. In exchange, Cutter & Buck gets to use her name and image — and the exposure that goes with her appearances.

Sorenstam is "just as invested in seeing her brand succeed as we are," says Cutter & Buck spokeswoman Meghan Graves. Sales grew in double digits this past year, she says.

Isn't it touching to see a major brand putting someone else's brand above their own? Who says corporations don't have hearts?

Annika "Stepping Away" Stories

Golfweek's Evan Rothman paints a picture for us of the press conference scene while his colleague Beth Ann Baldry talks to Suzann Pettersen about her disappointment in hearing the news. Meanwhile Brian Hewitt offers a few predictions about how this may play out.

Steve Elling catches up with Kathy Whitworth about Annika's decision to go out while she's at the top. Golf For Women's Dave Allen gets Lorena's "surprise" reaction to the news and also explains how the timing of the announcement came about.

Golf.com (here) and GolfDigest.com (here) offer career retrospectives while Ron Sirak learned of the news Sunday and therefore had a little more time to file this career obit.

Sorenstam's mastery of emotional balance was so complete she gave no hint of inner turmoil. In 2004 she won eight LPGA events and twice more overseas as her marriage to David Esch was crumbling. Divorce papers were filed the following February. She similarly kept her father Tom's prostate cancer battle the last few years private, never using that distraction as an excuse.

And, of course, there was the transformation she made in dealing with the attention that came with being so dominant. As a rookie Sorenstam was so shy she took a month off after winning her first U.S. Open because she wanted to avoid the media. In 2003, the year she played in the PGA Tour's Bank of America Colonial, she handled the nearly four-month buildup to her appearance with aplomb.

Dan Jenkins, the Golf Digest writer who has witnessed virtually every significant event in golf for nearly 60 years, has said Annika's opening tee shot at Colonial -- a 257-yard 4-wood off the 10th tee -- might have had more pressure on it than any single shot in the game's history. It was perhaps the most important shot in the history of women's golf and her superb execution in an opening-round 71, combined with the classy way she handled the attention, earned women's golf new fans and enhanced respect.

"Colonial was my mission," Sorenstam said Sunday as she looked back over her career. "It was my path, my journey and I felt like people accepted that, 'Hey she's an athlete, and she wants to get better.' I've always let my clubs do the talking. And I felt like people accepted me for that."

Annika Retiring To Spend Less Time Playing Mediocre Courses

Doug Ferguson reports. Thanks to reader Greg for the link.

Update on 2008-05-13 22:54 by Geoff

Here's Annika's press conference.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I wanted to let you all know that. I feel like I have a responsibility to the LPGA, to my fans, and I wanted to announce it as early as I could.

The reason for this decision is that I have other priorities in my life. I have a lot of dreams that I want to follow, I want to live, and I'm getting married in January. Mike and I want to start a family. I want to continue to build the ANNIKA brand of businesses, and this includes my academy, my foundation, my golf course design projects, all my corporate relationships, hosting golf tournaments, clothing lines, etc.

I am very, very proud of what I've achieved. Golf has been great to me. I think I've achieved more than I ever thought I could. I have given it all and it's been fun.
I have come back from an injury, and I feel strong, I feel healthy, and the season has started really well, and I'm leaving the game on my terms.

"You know what? It's women."

Thanks to reader LPGA Fan for noting my oversight in not highlighting Juli Inkster's summation of the bizarro new LPGA rule about overcrowding on the putting green. From Doug Ferguson's weekly AP notes:

A half-dozen players not eligible for the pro-am last week on the LPGA Tour were on the putting green, with their caddies standing on the fringe. That's courtesy of a daft new policy that bans caddies from being on the practice green between the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Turns out a couple of players were having a putting contest when a caddie was standing in their line. They asked him to move, he did, but that wasn't enough. They went to the commissioner to complain about crowded conditions on the green, and a new policy was enacted.

The fine for a caddie being on the green - to work with his player's mechanics or retrieve balls from the cup - is $500.

The policy even applies to the chipping area, and it's peculiar to see players hit three or four chips, then shag their own golf balls.

Count Juli Inkster among those who think the policy is bordering on ridiculous.

"You know what? It's women,'' she said when asked for a comment. "If you just put that down, everyone will know what you mean. Just capitalize 'women' and you don't need to explain anything else.''

Lorena, Annika and Suzann

There were a pair of interesting takes on the World Nos. 1-2-3 pairing of Ochoa, Sorenstam and Pettersen at Kingsmill. Golfweek's Beth Ann Baldry posted this breakdown of a day where Annika posted a ho-hum 64 to Lorena's 65.

Dave Fairbank files this entertaining take on the round and also the need for less niceness between the three top players.

Pity that the buzz and the galleries didn't match the golf. Sorenstam fired a 7-under 64, her best round of the year and by far her best round in five appearances at Kingsmill. She is just one shot off the lead.

Ochoa, three times a runner-up here, was one shot back at 65 following a birdie binge on the back nine. Unable to find a rhythm, Pettersen managed only level par.

They toiled in front of a traveling party of approximately 300. The crowds, or lack thereof, likely were a reflection of the Thursday workday, intermittent rain and, alas, the niche appeal of women's golf.

Ochoa's Streak Ends; LPGA Once Again Makes For Better Viewing Than The PGA Tour

Of the parts I caught (hey, the Lakers were on...), today's Semgroup Championship in Tulsa was far more fun to watch than the Wachovia rout by Anthony Kim. It never hurts when firey types like Paula Creamer and Angela Stanford are contending while veterans like Juli Inkster are in pursuit.

Doug Ferguson filed a lively game story, which included this:

Lost in a terrific duel was the end of Lorena Ochoa's winning streak. Going for a record-tying fifth straight victory, Ochoa never got on track, even in a final round absent of much wind. She closed with a 2-under 69 to tie for fifth, five shots behind.

"It's done," Ochoa said. "I tried really hard and it didn't work. Hopefully, I'll start a new streak next week."

The 21-year-old Creamer won for the first time without her parents at the tournament, another small step in proving she can do it all by herself. She immediately called Nancy Lopez, her former Solheim Cup captain and mentor who was in Florida last week consoling Creamer.

This time, Creamer was beaming. She only smiled when asked if Lopez was crying.

Creamer was fuming after some of her mistakes, slamming the end of her putter into her bag after a three-putt on the 13th, then leaving the tee box during a delay to use the concrete crease in a cart path to check her alignment.

And another impressive Lorena stat:

Ochoa's bid to join Lopez and Sorenstam with her fifth straight LPGA Tour victory never got off the ground. She broke par at Cedar Ridge for the first time all week, but starting eight shots behind, it wasn't even close. She had to settle for her eighth consecutive top 10.

"Imagine how the new sponsorship development will be received by the guy who lost everything, including his self-esteem, because of the falling dominos in the ailing banking sector."

Steve Elling raises the delicate question of whether fans and company employees will embrace their favorite corporations putting out up to $7 million for a week of professional golf.

 With the U.S. economy in the toilet, convincing companies to re-up or sit tight on deals with the pro tours is going to be increasingly harder, especially those with ties to banking or real estate, like the Ginn Company, a realty development firm which sponsors events on the PGA and Champions tours and two on the LPGA.

 For the PGA Tour, re-signing Wachovia was beyond crucial, since the 6-year-old event has become one of the top 10 tournaments on the circuit. With title sponsors and corporate America being held evermore accountable for questionable, discretionary expenses, it will be interesting to see if companies blink going forward on inking deals.

You know, like 84 Lumber, AT&T, PODS, Buick, Chrysler and Booz Allen have done over the past couple of years -- all have either pared back their sponsorships or walked away from existing tour contracts, largely for economic reasons. The Tampa and Atlanta events are still seeking new sponsors for 2009 and beyond, in fact.

Based on this Larry Bohannan story about the LPGA having trouble with U.S. sponsors, perhaps the economy is already catching up to one tour.

Sunday Dramatics: Andy North Wins; Vows To Keep Lulling Us To Sleep With His Commentary

And I missed all of it attending the LA Times Festival of Books (yes, we read here in southern California).

This NY Times wire service compilation covers the basics, including Adam Scott's win at the Nelson and the team of Tom Watson/Andy North winning the Legeds.

This AP story explains how there's life in the old Swede yet. Annika even had Paula Creamer shaking. Literally.

And there's and ESPN.com report summing up the most exciting win of the day, Darren Clarke's Asian Open win.

For those of you who watched, anything we should know about? 

Who Needs Lorena?

When you have an Annika-Paula Creamer final pairing?

Now, I don't want to sound like Kramer yearning for a catfight, but the history between these two does make Sunday's final round more appealing than watching Adam Scott and friends plodding around TPC Las Colinas.

"If it’s so hard to find accessible pin placements on these two tracks, then why bring amateurs here?"

Randell Mell reports from the Stanford International where an excessively difficult setup mixed with a pro-am format to create 6 hour rounds Friday.

"Just silly tough," Sorenstam said.

It wasn’t a bad day for Sorenstam, whose 2-under-par 68 on the Miller course left her just one shot off the lead, but she felt for all the amateurs struggling in high winds and on undulating greens with tough pin placements.

"It was way too tough," Sorenstam said. "Some of the pins, it’s U.S. Open. These guys are intimidated. They want to help out. It’s long, it’s tough, it was just way too difficult. They’re tucked behind bunkers, they’re tucked in the back."

Sorenstam and her amateur partner, Stanford Financial advisor Russ O’Brien, played a 5-hour and 50-minute round teamed with Natalie Gulbis and her partner, IMG Chairman Ted Forstmann. That was about the average round on both courses. The average early rounds with threesomes on the LPGA Tour is about 4 hours and 40 minutes, according to LPGA Tour officials.

Great to see Ted Forstmann supporting the LPGA Tour.

"It would be fun if it was a little more friendly for them, so they can enjoy it," Sorenstam said of the amateurs. "You can see they’re dragging in the end because they’re focusing so hard and want to help."

LPGA Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Chris Higgs said the pro-am setup is a work in progress. It’s the first LPGA pro-am within tournament competition in seven years.

"We have to make sure the course setup is worthy of a championship round of golf in an LPGA tournament," Higgs said. "And at the same time, you have amateurs playing as well, so there’s a balance you have to reach."

The tees, pin placements and overall course setup must remain the same today on both courses so everyone plays the same setup, but Higgs said the tournament staff will reassess for future consideration.

"It’s a necessary evolution of a format like this," Higgs said.

Beth Ann Baldry catalogs the slow play issues in more detail, sharing Young Kim's slow play related knickname and the disaster of a difficult par-3 second hole on one course. It's enough of a design flaw to have a par-3 so early in the round, and then to stretch it out and tuck the pin takes real talent!

Let’s start with the par-3 second hole on the Miller Course. Weighing in at 210 yards, it ranks as one of the longest par 3s LPGA pros will face all year. Add the element of amateur players into the equation and it’s no wonder players were waiting 45 minutes to an hour on the tee. (I’d tell you the hole’s scoring average for the week, but the tour didn’t keep stats on the Miller Course.)

Sounds like they're reading from the Tom Meeks School of Course Setup manual...

LPGA COO Chris Higgs convened the media Friday afternoon to revisit a conversation on course setup that took place the day before. He stuck by all of his comments from Thursday, adding that six-hour rounds were “normal” for this type of format. He also said tucked pins on these undulating greens were sometimes easier for players to get to than those sitting in the middle of these rather severe greens.

If it’s so hard to find accessible pin placements on these two tracks, then why bring amateurs here?

Should Ochoa Tee It Up With The Men?

Steve Elling reports that Lorena Ochoa has twice turned down sponsor's invites to the PGA Tour's Mayakoba Golf Classic, staged in her native Mexico. And while it's not the Colonial in terms of exposure, it's hard to fathom a negative in this should she accept what sounds like an open invitation to play anytime.

Moving up a league seems downright logical, since tedium could set in at any moment -- if not for her, then her growing fan base. She's has won her five LPGA starts this year by an average of 7.6 strokes, including a pair by 11. Yeah, a touchdown, field goal and two-point conversion amount to a pretty big deficit in golf.

When Annika Sorenstam played against the boys at Colonial in 2003, it created a three-tiered public-relations boon for her career, the event and the LPGA. Ochoa last year supplanted Sorenstam as No. 1 in the women's rankings, and though the notion of females competing against men has since been relegated to the stuff of desperate publicity stunts (see: Michelle Wie), Ochoa's presence in a field can be justified on a competitive level.

Lorena Does Something Tiger Will Never Do: Wins For Fourth Straight Week...

...unless of course he decides to play all four playoff events this year. 

Which reminds me, I've got to go check the FedEx Cup standings.

But first, Ochoa's five of six this year and just won each of the last four weeks, taking the Ginn Open. That's insane. 

Larry Dorman reports that she is finally taking a few weeks off. 

"Ochoa visited the Mission Hills grounds crew Monday to thank them for their hard work and help them make scrambled eggs."

A nice anecdote about Dinah Shore winner (sorry, I can't keep up on the latest tournament name) Lorena Ochoa from Golfweek's Sean Martin:

The people she really had to win for this week were the five mariachis standing behind the 18th green. What would they play if Ochoa slipped up Sunday and let Maria Hjorth or Seon Hwa Lee walk away with the title?

Ochoa visited the Mission Hills grounds crew Monday to thank them for their hard work and help them make scrambled eggs. They promised the mariachis would be there for her Sunday.

“I said, ‘OK, I’m going to wait,’ ” Ochoa said. “But it was a good surprise, and they kept their promise.”

I wonder the last time a PGA Tour player visited the maintenance yard and cooked with them...before a tournament to boot.

Doug Ferguson sums up her remarkable performance and the scene Sunday:

She has won the past two majors by a total of nine shots. Ochoa has won three of four tournaments this year by a combined 23 shots.

And...

Ochoa became the first player since Annika Sorenstam in 2005 to win two straight majors, having captured her first major in the Women's British Open at St. Andrews last summer by four shots. Since winning that first major, she is 8-for-13 on the LPGA Tour.

Tiger Woods also has won eight of his past 13 events, including a major.

All Eyes On Ochoa

Nice to see what looks like a solid media turnout for the LPGA's first major of the year. Naturally, they focus on Lorena Ochoa's bid to win her 8th tournament in her last 12 starts. Lawrence Donegan provides the UK take while Thomas Bonk (here) and Leonard Shapiro (here) offer the American perspective.

Only Doug Ferguson dared to focus on someone else, considering the pressure Paula Creamer is under to win even though she's still only 21. 

Brand Lady Sacks Drug Testing Firm; Execs "Role Play" For Scribblers

I never like to encourage Carolyn Bivens' passion for firing people, but it sounds like this move was more than justified after the fiasco earlier this year.

Sean Martin reports on the change.

Now, would someone who was in the press tent please explain this fiasco.

Here I am checking out transcripts on ASAP thinking it's going to be a boring night of blogging when I see that the LPGA general counsel Jill Pilgrim and new testing outfit VP Chris Guinty role-played how the LPGA drug testing program will work with players (let's hope they didn't pee in cups in front of the scribes).  

I wish I could write stuff like this:

(Role playing. Jill playing LPGA Volunteer Escort, Donna playing LPGA Player, Chris Guinty playing self/Drug-Free Sport Lab Representative).

PLAYER ESCORT: Excuse me, Donna? Hi, I'm Jill Pilgrim. I'm a volunteer that's working here with the tournament and the LPGA, and I have been asked to notify you that you have been selected for drug testing.

And I have this form here that explains the process, and there's a notification form, and what I'd like you to do is look at this form and read this paragraph here that explains the different things that you need to do in the next hour to comply with the drug testing program, and then what's going to happen is that I'm going to stay with you and escort you to the drug testing station when you're ready to go tested.

LPGA PLAYER: Okay, do I have to do this right now or can I do it a little bit later?

PLAYER ESCORT: It says right now you have to 60 minutes from now, and we're going to record the time on the sheet in a moment.

So if you want to go off and do something else, you're welcome to but you have to stay within the tournament site, and just understand I'll be with you wherever you go and I'll be your chaperone until we go to the drug testing station. So if you want to go putt, or is there something you want to go do, do you have to go do media or something?

LPGA PLAYER: Actually do I need to go run over to media for a minute, and after that I would like to hit a couple of putts if I have time.

Okay that's enough bandwidth wasted on that.

Ty, will Ed Moorhouse or Charlie Zink be role playing the PGA Tour's testing approach at The Players?