Sorenstam to retire at end of season

Annika Sorenstam ignored her notes and spoke from the heart. One of golf's greatest players was leaving the game, and she handled her retirement announcement the way she would a 10-foot birdie putt with the tournament on the line.
With command and composure.

Calling her decision one she'd "been thinking about for a while," Sorenstam said Tuesday she will retire after the season. The 37-year-old Swede ends an LPGA Tour career in which she has won 72 tournaments to date and delivered a defining moment when she teed it up against the men on the PGA Tour.

"I have made a decision to step away from competitive golf after this season," she said at the news conference, held at the site of this week's Sybase Classic. "Obviously this was a very difficult decision for me to make because I love this game so much. But it's the right one."
Her final event will be the Dubai Ladies Masters after the LPGA Tour season ends.