Annika Sorenstam's Biography

In March 2005, Sorenstam won the Kraft Nabisco Championship by a massive eight strokes. It was Sorenstam's fifth consecutive LPGA victory, which matched the record winning run of Nancy Lopez in 1978.

Annika Sorenstam, whose marriage broke up because of the pressures of her high-profile golfing career, has had staggering success.

Back in November 2004, respected Racing Post golf expert, Jeremy Chapman wrote:

"Annika Sorenstam is probably the greatest sportswoman in the world ... The 34-year-old Swede has won the LPGA Player of the Year for the seventh time, has farmed seven tournaments out of 17 starts (plus four runner-up finishes), has recently completed her 32nd victory in the past four years, has amassed five Majors in that time, and posted a sub-70 stroke average for each of those years. In that period, fitness-freak Sorenstam has never earned less than $2m a year in on-course winnings..."

In 2003, Annika Sorenstam accepted an invitation to the PGA Tour and became the first woman in 58 years to play against the men at the Bank of America Colonial Tournament. Back in 1945, Babe Zaharias made the cut at the Los Angeles Open, but Sorenstam narrowly missed out with rounds of 71 and 74.

Before the event it appeared that V.J. Singh had attacked Sorenstam, but he denied that and claimed he was misquoted, however, Singh did have reservations about the nature of her participation, saying:

"This is a man's tour, and there are guys out there trying to make a living ...It's not a ladies' tour. If she wants to play, or any woman for that matter, if they want to play the men's tour, they should qualify to play like everybody else."

In 2004, golfing prodigy, Michelle Wie, acknowledged the importance of Sorenstam when she said:

"I've met Tiger once and it was really neat. Both him, Ernie Els and Annika Sorenstam are role models to me."

With her victory in the Mizuno Classic in November 2005, Annika Sorenstam broke yet another golfing record as she became the first player in LPGA history to win the same tournament five years in a row.

In February 2006, the first official ladies golf world rankings were released and Annika Sorenstam came first by a huge margin.

With 21 tour wins and three majors over the last two years, Sorenstam amassed 757 points with an average of nearly 18.5, whereas Paula Creamer was in second place with just 338 points with an average less than 10. Michelle Wie was third.

On July 3, 2006 Annika Sorenstam won her third Women's Open. It was her 10th major overall but her first since 2005's LPGA McDonald's Championship, and marked a return to top form.

Sorenstam also won at the State Farm Classic in September 2006.

2007 was the first season since 1994 that Annika Sorenstam failed to win a tournament, but she got off to a good start in 2008 when she won the season-opening SBS Open in Hawaii, which was her 70th LPGA Tour title.

In May 2008 Annika Sorenstam announced that she was retiring from professional golf at the end of the season. When she made the announcement Annika Sorenstam had won 72 LPGA tournaments and 10 major titles.

The BBC reported that Annika Sorenstam wanted "to focus on her business interests and start a family with fiancé Mike McGee."

She married Mike McGee and they have a son and a daughter.