 Annika Sorenstam has won a record eight Player of the Year awards |
Annika Sorenstam is optimistic she can put her poor recent form behind her as she bids for a third US Open title in Rhode Island this weekend. The world number one, who won the event in 1995 and 1996, has won only one tournament so far this season but says recent results are not important.
"It really doesn't matter what I have done this year. Thursday through Sunday is what matters," the Swede said.
South Korean Birdie Kim defends the title at the Newport Country Club.
Among the other leading rivals for Sorenstam, 35, at the richest tournament in the women's game is 16-year-old Michelle Wie.
The American, second in the LPGA rankings, recently accepted a sponsor invitation to play in the men's European Masters, thereby making her the first woman to play in a European Tour event.
Other contenders include Australia's Karrie Webb and South Korean Se Ri Pak, who have each won one of the first two majors of the year, and world number three, Mexico's Lorena Ochoa.
British hopes are slim, with just five players in the field - Laura Davies, the 1987 champion, Karen Stupples, winner of the 2004 Weetabix British Open, Scots Catriona Matthew and Mhairi McKay and Wales' Becky Morgan.
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