Special feature

Annika Sorenstam Take a look at some highlights from Annika Sorenstam's LPGA career. NBCSports.com

/

updated 6:45 p.m. ET Nov. 19, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Annika Sorenstam typically asks for no more than 10 tournament passes in a normal week, enough to accommodate close friends and family.

This is not a normal week.

Barring a change of heart, the ADT Championship this weekend will be Sorenstam’s farewell to the LPGA Tour.

So with more than 50 friends and family in tow, some of whom flew in from Sweden and around the globe, Sorenstam is set to tee it up Thursday for the final LPGA tournament before she “steps away.”

She refuses to call it retirement — “the r-word,” as she puts it — and many around the tour figure she’ll be back.

Just not in 2009. The 38-year-old plans to get married, start a family and tend to her array of business interests, including designing golf courses.

“Normally, I’m this cold Swede just going down the fairways,” Sorenstam said. “It’s been very different. But I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been a great year in so many ways. I’ve had a chance to summarize my career and had a chance to share my memories with a lot of fans.”

After 72 LPGA wins, 10 major championships, a Hall of Fame enshrinement, more than $22 million in prize money, her own academy, a round of 59 and one memorable matchup against the men of the PGA Tour, Sorenstam has decided the time is right for a new chapter.

She made the announcement in May, and the last six months have been a whirlwind goodbye tour.

“I think everybody has tried to talk Annika out of retiring,” LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens said. “At the same time, you’re pulled by the fact she’s a young woman who knows very much what she wants, and she has priorities. I think you’ve got to admire her and respect her for that. We’ll miss her very much.”

Her first tournament on the LPGA Tour was the U.S. Women’s Open in 1992, when she played as an amateur. Back then, few knew who she was. Some of the papers covering that tournament referred to her as “Sorenstan,” while others said “Anika.”

But along the way, Annika became a one-name brand, just like Tiger and Jack and Arnie.

“Maybe she won’t get the itch to play again,” said Morgan Pressel, the 20-year-old who grew up emulating Sorenstam’s game a bit. “But I would think that somebody as competitive as she is would.”

Sorenstam’s first LPGA round started in a downpour, which seemed fitting. She took the game by storm.

That was July 23, 1992, when torrential downpours flooded the fairways at Oakmont. First-round play was delayed for much of the day, and a young Swede waited hours to take her first swing in an LPGA event.

“Honestly, at that point, there was nothing special about her,” said Kelly Skalicky, one of Sorenstam’s playing partners that humid afternoon. “So she obviously did something right.”