Sorenstam faces strong Michelob Ultra challenge
IN: News | LPGA | Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill (2006) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 10 May 2006
Annika Sorenstam returns to the LPGA Tour this week when she plays the Michelob Ultra Open at the Kingsmill Resort in Kingsmill, Virginia.
The Kingsmill layout was, for many years, used as the home for the Michelob event on the USPGA Tour until a decision was made for the beer company to sponsor Women's golf in 2003. The River course at Kingsmill is one of three at the facility and was designed by Pete Dye nearly thirty years ago and upgraded in 2004.
Sorenstam has again played well this year but the improvement shown by the likes of Lorena Ochoa, Karrie Webb and Juli Inkster in 2006 suggests she is not going to have things all her own way this week.
Sorenstam does not possess the record in this event that she has in most other LPGA Tour events and so this provides yet another opportunity for her domination of the LPGA Tour to be once again challenged.
Ochoa, the LPGA Tour's leading money winner in 2006, finished runner up to Se Ri Pak at this event in 2004 and finished third to Grace Park in 2003. She is the hottest player in the game right now and it would be no surprise if she was to finish ahead of Sorenstam again this week.
Webb was runner up to Park in 2003 and now she has the confidence back in her game in 2006, then another top finish at Kingsmill can be expected. Juli Inkster is also a previous runner up in this event and she is in her best form in quite some time in the early months of 2006.
Cristie Kerr was magnificent last week when winning and as the defending champion she will be expected to go well again.
Other Australians include the much improved Lindsey Wright, Michelle Ellis, Nadina Light, Katherine Hull and Shani Waugh.
The tournament has prizemoney of US$1.1 million.
