Sorenstam scoops Golf Writers’ gong

ANNIKA SORENSTAM’S historic season has been recognised with her winning the 2003 Golf Writers’ Trophy.

Sorenstam’s list of achievements during the year helped the 33-year-old Swede top the annual Association of Golf Writers’ poll ahead of Britain and Ireland’s Walker Cup team, the European Solheim Cup side of which she was a member and European tour number one Ernie Els.

“I am deeply honoured,” said Sorenstam, who completed a career Grand Slam in the women’s majors and became the first woman to play on the US men’s tour since 1945.

“I am proud of what I have accomplished and thankful to the European press for recognising my achievements. It means a lot to me to join the prestigious list of past recipients of the Golf Writers’ Trophy.”

The trophy is awarded to the player, born or resident in Europe, or team who have made the ‘most outstanding contribution to golf during the preceding 12 months’.

Sorenstam is the first woman to win since Alison Nicholas in 1997 and the first ever from outside Great Britain and Ireland, apart from the 1992 Solheim Cup team. She joins Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer and Sergio Garcia as continental Europeans who have won the award on their own.

Ian Randell, chief executive of the Ladies European Tour, said: “Annika’s performances justify the award. Her achievements and the way she conducts herself on and off the course are something of which we can be very proud. She was an inspiration to the Solheim Cup team and led from the front. Everything she has done has had a very positive impact for the women’s game.”