Sorenstam: ‘Big possibility’ of playing U.S. Open

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After winning the U.S. Senior Women’s Open last year, Annika Sorenstam said there’s a “big possibility” that she will participate in the U.S. Women’s Open in June.

After 13 years in retirement, Sorenstam returned to competition last year and made the cut in the Gainbridge LPGA, playing only because it was her home course of Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida.

She followed that up by winning the U.S. Senior Women’s Open to earn a spot in the U.S. Women’s Open, which is being played June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge in North Carolina.

It’s the same course where she won by 8 strokes to capture her second straight Women’s Open in 1996.

“Obviously, I’m flattered about that, and it’s Pine Needles. … The place has a fond place in my heart,” Sorenstam said last week. “But it’s hard to go out there and play against these young players, so if I can just go out there and have a good time and not be so competitive … which is my biggest issue. I am so competitive, even though I don’t play as much.”

She said the objective would be to “go out there and relax and swing and see what happens.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.