After finale, Sorenstam picked for drug test

LPGA said it followed its protocol even though golfing great is retiring

J Pat Carter / AP

Annika Sorenstam waves to the crowd as she walks towards the 18th green during the second round of the LPGA ADT Championship on Friday.

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updated 6:06 p.m. ET Nov. 21, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Even in the first few minutes of a presumed retirement, Annika Sorenstam was subject to drug testing.

An LPGA official told Sorenstam shortly after her second and final round at the ADT Championship that she needed to submit to a random test, which Sorenstam said was her second in recent weeks.

“I really don’t know what’s going on,” Sorenstam said. “They’re not going to let me go (away).”

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The LPGA started a random testing plan at the start of this season. Earlier this week, LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens said she could not discuss how many players were tested, or the events where testing took place.

In Sorenstam’s case, the LPGA said it followed its protocol.

“I’ve been doing drug testing for a long time. The numbers come up and you test the players whose numbers come up,” said Jill Pilgrim, the LPGA’s general counsel who oversees drug testing. “Everyone in the field was subject to drug testing. They all had an equal opportunity to be selected.”

According to the LPGA drug-testing bylaws, the organization will hold Sorenstam’s prize money — she earned $8,000 this week, even though she did not advance to the weekend — in an interest-bearing account until the results of the drug test are known.