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Sorenstam comes back to retain lead

"Sometimes you've got to turn it around, get mad at yourself and turn it into a positive."

Annika Sorenstam

Annika Sorenstam, angry with herself after three-putt bogeys on consecutive holes, birdied the last five holes to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Kellogg-Keebler Classic.

"I told my caddie, `I've had enough. I'm playing great, I've had a lot of great shots. Let's get this turned around. There's five more holes, let's just go get five birdies,'" Sorenstam said Saturday. "And that's what happened."

She finished with a 6-under 66, the second-best round of the day, giving her a two-day score of 16-under 128. Mhairi McKay had nine birdies on her way to a 64 and is at 130.

Rosie Jones, who began the day tied with Sorenstam, shot a 71 and is five strokes off the lead.

"I got away with something today. I didn't hit the ball well at all," Jones said. "I feel like I could have shot three or four under. I just didn't do it."

Jones said she was bothered by the cool conditions with wind gusting up to 48kph at times.

And the leaders didn't have it as bad as the early groups. Sorenstam, Jones and McKay were in the last two groups, and the rain had stopped by the time they went off. The wind died down during their rounds, and the sun actually came out by the end of the day.

"If not, we might have been finishing in the dark," Sorenstam said.

But Sorenstam's problem was not the conditions. Her historic trip to Colonial was cut short last weekend because she didn't put well, and she didn't have her touch again Saturday.

She missed four birdie chances on the front nine when the ball scooted past or stopped short of the hole, including twice when it stopped within 6 inches of the hole.

And it got really ugly on the back nine. On the par-3 12th, Sorenstam's birdie putt slid by the hole and ran about 3 feet back. She just missed the par putt, settling for a bogey.

On the par-4 13th, Sorenstam left a long birdie putt far short and then missed a 3m shot for par. That dropped her a stroke behind Jones and McKay, and she was clearly disgusted with herself as she watched the ball slide by the cup.

"I was extremely mad," she said, smiling. "That happens. It's golf. It got me fired up. Sometimes you've got to turn it around, get mad at yourself and turn it into a positive."

That she did. She rolled a 9m within inches of the cup and then tapped in for a birdie on the par-5 14th. She made 1.5m putts on the next two holes, and a 2m on the par-3 17th.

With the crowd already murmuring about her score as she came up the 18th fairway, she closed with a spectacular finish. From 89m out, she hit a sand wedge that hit the green with a thud and stuck, 2m from the pin.

The crowd hooted and hollered. Sorenstam wore a wide grin as she came to the green, waving to the crowd of about 2,000.

"I'm very pleased with the way I played today," she said.

"Tomorrow I've just got to play solid golf. I'm going to continue to shoot in the 60s and see how low we can go."

Sorenstam won last year's tournament at Stonebridge, matching the tour record for relation to par in a 54-hole event with a 21-under 195. She won by 11 strokes.
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