Sorenstam to play at Brooklawn CC
Will compete for U.S. Senior Open title
One of the greatest champions in the history of women’s golf will indeed be playing in her first U.S. Senior Women’s Open this summer in Fairfield.
Annika Sorenstam has officially entered the third U.S. Senior Women’s Open, to be held July 29-Aug. 1 at Brooklawn Country Club. The United States Golf Association said Sorenstam filed her entry Wednesday morning.
Sorenstam, 50, had hinted at playing the event earlier this year when she competed at the Gainbridge
LPGA in February.
That tournament was the first Sorenstam, a threetime U.S. Open champion, played since retiring in 2008.
“When I finished that round at Interlachen (2008 U.S. Open), I’m not sure I would have expected to compete for another USGA title in the future, but to have this opportunity now, at this stage of life, is incredible,” said Sorenstam in a statement. “USGA championships set themselves apart with world-class venues and world-class fields,
and I know the same type of challenge I used to relish at a U.S. Women’s Open awaits at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. I am looking forward to the opportunity to compete, and to do it with my family by my side.”
Sorenstam has seven total finishes inside the top 10 at the U.S. Women’s Open. She has 72 LPGA Tour titles, 10 major championships and eight LPGA Tour Player of the Year honors — all helping her earn induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.
“Having Annika, the greatest women’s golfer in the modern era, playing her first major in 13 years at
Brooklawn is epic,” said Rick Ryan, Brooklawn CC’s general chair for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. “Very few good things came out of last year’s (COVID-19) pandemic. Annika turning 50 was one of them.”
Brooklawn CC was scheduled to host the third U.S. Senior Women’s Open last summer, but the championship was canceled due to the pandemic. Brooklawn CC remained in pursuit of the event again for 2021 and was awarded the chance by the USGA last August.
The dates were originally Aug. 19-22, but those conflicted with the AIG Women’s Open and would have forced golfers to decide
between the two events. The event was moved to its current dates in January.
There was a potential conflict with Sorenstam also being the president of the International Golf Federation, which oversees golf’s involvement in the Summer Olympics. The Olympics are being held July 23-Aug. 8 in Tokyo. But getting another chance to play in a USGA event was an opportunity Sorenstam chose not to pass up.
Online entry applications for the championship will close on June 9.