OPINION

By Tim Dahlberg

updated 8:48 p.m. ET June 29, 2008

EDINA, Minn. - This wasn’t exactly the way Annika Sorenstam thought it would end, if this actually was the end. It might not be, because Sorenstam conceded earlier this week there was an outside chance we may not have seen the last of her in the U.S. Women’s Open just quite yet.

For now, though, the plans of the greatest female player of her generation are to retire at the end of the year and start a family before her biological clock ticks down. Unless they change, this was the last time she would play in the Open championship she won three times in her storied career.

A few groups behind her on a windy Sunday at Interlachen Country Club, a teenager from South Korea was on her way to a final round romp to become the youngest Open winner ever. Sorenstam was once that kind of player, but at the age of 37 her desire to play golf for a living is waning at the same time her desire to have children and do more normal things grows.

She wanted to leave here in style, cradling her fourth Open trophy before heading overseas for her final major championship at the British Open. She hit the ball well enough to do just that, but the putter wouldn’t cooperate and her emotional tank had long since run dry.

Now she stood on the 18th fairway, 199 yards from the last hole of a championship that helped define her career. With a 6-iron in her hand, she needed to get up-and-down just to avoid embarrassing herself by not being able to break 80

Then the player who had always dreamed of a perfect day on the golf course got the next best thing — a perfect ending to her Open career.

The shot sailed majestically toward the green, bounced once just in front and a few more times before sliding into the right side of the hole. From the fairway, Sorenstam heard the roar grow as the ball got closer and dropped into the hole for an eagle 3.

Video   19-year-old wins U.S. Open June 29: Inbee Park becomes the youngest US Open winner ever (-9), beating out her idol Se Ri Pak by a year. NBC Sports

She had saved her best for last. And the fans, it seems, had saved their love for last.

They cheered her as she walked up the fairway arm-in-arm with her caddie. They called out for her to come back for another year.

And finally they stood as one to give her a farewell that should have reduced her to tears.

It didn’t, perhaps because there just wasn’t anything left inside to cry about. She was never the emotional sort anyway, something which may have prevented her from connecting with fans in a more personal way over the years.

Video   Inbee-lievable June 29: Inbee Park made it look easy today, shooting 2 shots under par while the rest of the leaders faltered under pressure. NBC Sports

A day earlier, Sorenstam said she felt like crying, but that was only because her birdie putts kept missing the hole. She always seemed cold and calculating on the course, largely because that was how she needed to play to win, but she could also usually count on an emotional reserve that is much harder to find now.

“My tank is empty,” Sorenstam said. “You need adrenaline, you need energy. It’s just very hard to run just on fumes. You can only take it so far.”

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