WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Here in the translation nation, many of us have heard the equivalent of goodbye uttered in other languages a zillion times over.
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| Annika Sorenstam has won 89 titles worldwide, but her impact stretches far beyond that. (AP) |
Sweden's signature sendoff, for whatever reason, has never caught on. For the record, adjo is the country's formal equivalent of saying "good day." As it relates to Annika Sorenstam's exit, it's more like "great career."
"She's done a lot of pretty amazing things for the game," veteran Cristie Kerr said this week.
Including changing it.
Sorenstam, 38, signs off this week at the ADT Championship, her final event on the LPGA circuit she has carried for most of the past decade. The huzzahs and hosannas will be both plentiful and completely deserved, since 72 of her 89 worldwide victories were delivered on the U.S. tour.
For aficionados of factoids, that second number is particularly compelling. Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth won a record 88 times on the LPGA but said she never won an official event overseas, so from that standpoint alone, Sorenstam stands as the winningest female ever to lace on kiltie spikes. And she was carting off double-digit victories totals at a time when the talent pool has never been deeper or more global. She leaves very near the top of the heap, with four worldwide victories this year and sitting at a solid No. 2 in the women's world rankings.
Through it all, the understated Sorenstam has been shy and retiring, though now she's especially the latter, having announced at midseason that she was punching her ticket after 15 full seasons with the LPGA. She surely deserves the sappy sendoffs that are already surfacing, but for the daughter of an IBM employee who poured over her computer statistics trying to find a way to beat the pantsuits off the other players, we thought a more black-and-white salute was appropriate.
After all, the true import of a player really isn't measured just in the moment, but in the after-the-math aftermath, too. From that standpoint, Sorenstam stands not only as the greatest player in the modern era, but the most influential.
Here are five ways the Swedish sister from the tiny town of Bro proved she not only could play as well as any female in history but changed many of the rules of engagement in the process.
Age is a state of nevermind
Where most found expiration, Sorenstam found inspiration.
A staggering 49 of her LPGA victories have come after she turned 30, an age where history and biology have shown that most female professionals begin an inexorable slide. The onslaught of kids in women's game has been well-chronicled -- teenagers claimed two major championships this year -- yet Sorenstam won more often in her 30s than any player in history.
