Annika Sorenstam came up with clutch shots down the stretch Sunday and was flawless in the playoff, making a routine par on the toughest hole to beat Grace Park and win the LPGA Championship.
Three weeks after testing her game on the PGA Tour, Sorenstam won her fifth major among 45 career victories, and had to work harder than ever for this one.
Leading by four shots going into the final round at waterlogged DuPont Country Club, she closed with a 1-over 72 and had to make a par on No. 18 in regulation with a 7-wood from the first cut of rough just to get into a playoff.
Park came up short of the 18th green in the playoff and missed a 12-foot par putt that would have extended the playoff. Sorenstam, who hit a 6-iron into 20 feet, tapped in her par putt and skipped across the green and into the arms of caddie Terry McNamara.
The reason she became the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour was to elevate her game for moments like this.
Sorenstam won't get any style points for this one, but she'll take. The McDonald's LPGA Championship is one of two majors she had never won.
A victory this summer in the Women's British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes would make her the fourth woman in the modern era to complete the career Grand Slam.
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