Annika Sorenstam to Compete at 2022 U.S. Women's Open

The World Golf Hall of Fame member will return to Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, the site of her 1996 Women's Open victory.

Annika Sorenstam will tee it up at this year’s U.S. Women’s Open, marking the return of one of the game’s legends to the biggest event in women’s golf.

The USGA confirmed Thursday that Sorenstam would play at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, June 2-5, after earning a spot in the field thanks to her win at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open in August. She topped Liselotte Neumann by eight shots at Brooklawn Country Club in her U.S. Senior Women’s Open debut.

The 51-year-old has played in 15 U.S. Women’s Opens and was victorious three times. One of those wins, in 1996, also came at Pine Needles – where she won by six strokes.

Sorenstam’s other U.S. Women’s Open victories came in 1995 and 2006. Her win in 2006 was the last of her 10 major championship triumphs.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to play in a U.S. Women’s Open again, especially at Pine Needles,” Sorenstam said in a press release. “I really never thought I would play in another one, but everything fell into place.”

Sorenstam is one of the most decorated golfers of all time – male or female. She won 72 times on the LPGA Tour and has inched back into competition over the last few years after stepping away from the game 13 years ago to raise a family and explore other business interests.

Sorenstam played the Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club – where she has a home – in 2021 and made the cut. It was her first LPGA Tour start since November 2008.

Earlier in 2022 she played the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in the “celebrity” division and finished runner-up to former MLB pitcher Derek Lowe after losing in a playoff.

Despite stepping away from competitive golf, Sorenstam still leads the LPGA Tour’s all-time money list and she can add to that from the record $10 million purse at this year’s U.S. Women’s Open. She won LPGA Tour Player of the Year honors a record eight times and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.

“Teeing it up in the greatest championship in women’s golf, at a venue that has so many incredible memories for me, and to be able to do so with my family means a lot to us,” said Sorenstam. “I’m sure Peggy Kirk Bell [World Golf Hall of Fame inductee and long-time Pine Needles owner] is looking down and smiling at how this all came together.”