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Annika Sorenstam takes first half of LPGA Grand Slam

Annika Sorenstam took another step toward sweeping women's golf's four majors by closing with a 1-over 73 for a three-shot victory Sunday over Michelle Wie in the LPGA Championship.

Sorenstam became the first US LPGA Tour player in 19 years to win the first half a Grand Slam, having won the Kraft Nabisco Championship by eight strokes in March.

"You are witnessing one of the greatest runs of any athlete in any sport at any time," LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw said.

Sorenstam finished at 11-under 277 and earned US$270,000, pushing her career total to more than US$17 million. Since playing in the Colonial on the men's PGA Tour two years ago, she has won 19 of her 38 events on the LPGA Tour.

"I'm just overwhelmed," she said.

Her only competition came from a 15-year-old who just finished the 10th grade and is learning how to drive.

Wie gave another big crowd at Bulle Rock a glimpse of the future with a 3-under 69 to finish in second place, the highest finish by an amateur in a major since 20-year-old Jenny Chuasiriporn lost in a playoff to Pak Se-ri in the 1998 US Women's Open.

Sorenstam was greeted with the applause when she walked onto the first tee with a five-shot lead. It was up to six shots by the second hole, and the tournament was effectively over at the par-3 third.

She stroked her 20-foot putt, not looking up until it was in the hole.

The next stop is the US Women's Open in two weeks at Cherry Hills outside Denver, the biggest major of the year and one that has eluded Sorenstam since she won in 1995 and 1996 at the start of her career.

Pat Bradley was the last woman to win the first two majors of the year in 1986, and she tied for fifth in the US Women's Open that year at NCR Country Club in Dayton, Ohio. Bradley then won the last major of the year.

Mickey Wright also won the first two majors in 1961.

Arnold Palmer first cooked up the notion of a professional Grand Slam on his way to the 1960 British Open. Since then, the only other men to get halfway to the slam were Jack Nicklaus in 1972 and Tiger Woods in 2002.

Sergio Garcia emerged from a pack of contenders to master Congressional's Blue Course as few others have, closing with a 6-under 65 on Sunday for a two-stroke victory in the Booz Allen Classic.

Garcia looked in major form in the final tournament before the US Open when he took a big lead with a front-nine 30 and then held steady through a few precarious holes down the stretch. He finished with a 14-under 270 total.

Davis Love III (66), Ben Crane (67) and 2004 winner Adam Scott (68) tied for second.

Garcia's 270 total tied the course record at Congressional, which wasn't its usual fearsome self in its first US PGA Tour event in eight years. Craig Stadler shot a 10-under 270 when the Booz Allen, then known as the Kemper Open, was played on the Blue Course in a different configuration in 1981.

Third-round leader Tom Kite, attempting to become the oldest winner in PGA Tour history at age 55, struggled with his putter and finished with a 74 to tie for 13th at 7-under 277.

Garcia's sixth US tour victory helped compensate for his collapse in last month's Wachovia Championship, when the Spaniard blew a six-shot lead in the final round before losing to Vijay Singh in a three-way playoff.
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