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JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) -Annika Sorenstam will retire after the season, ending a career in which she has won 72 tournaments on the U.S. LPGA Tour to date and became the first woman in 58 years to play against men on the U.S. PGA Tour.
"I think I've achieved more than I ever thought I could," she said during a news conference Tuesday at the Sybase Classic in Clifton, New Jersey. "I have given it all, and it's been fun."
The 37-year-old Sorenstam has hinted at retirement the past several seasons, saying she wanted to devote more time to her growing business and to start a family. She is engaged to Mike McGee, son of former U.S. tour golfer Jerry McGee.
"This would be very much like Annika to get on top and then quit," said Judy Rankin, a U.S. LPGA Hall of Fame member and television analyst.
Sorenstam said her final event would be the Dubai Ladies Masters after the American tour season ends.
"I'm leaving the game on my terms," she said.
The decision comes two days after Sorenstam won the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill by seven shots for her third victory of the season, and first against a field that included Lorena Ochoa. It was a sign that Sorenstam had fully recovered from injuries and was returning to the form that made her the best in women's golf.
"I just hope to continue this momentum," Sorenstam said after winning. "I'm feeling it. It's turning around, and so I can't wait for the next month or so to come with big tournaments, and I'm excited."
Sorenstam dominated women's golf like few others, especially during a five-year period when she won 43 times and finished among the top three nearly 70 percent of the time. But for all her achievements - the only woman to shoot 59, 10 majors and one of six women to complete the career Grand Slam - she became most famous for testing herself against the men.
Sorenstam became the first woman since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to compete on the U.S. men's tour when she played at the Colonial in 2003. She missed the cut.
She won the U.S. LPGA Tour player of the year award a record eight times, including five straight seasons until Ochoa ended the streak in 2006. Sorenstam was ineffective most of 2007, the first time in 12 years she failed to win on the American women's tour, as she recovered from back and neck injuries.
She won the first tournament of the year in Hawaii, picked up a playoff victory in South Florida three weeks ago, then continued a slow rise in the world rankings toward Ochoa with a dominant victory in Virginia.
But when asked Sunday if she would defend her title at Kingsmill, Sorenstam hedged.
"I hope so," she said. "I'm going to continue this year the way I started it and at the end of the year. I always assess it like I have the last few years. At this point, I feel great about what I'm doing."
