Associated Press
Monday, March 13

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Annika Sorenstam doesn't lose many playoffs. She wasn't about to let it happen twice, not with entrance into the LPGA Hall of Fame on the line.

	Annika Sorenstam picked up her 19th career title.

The 29-year-old star, who left the University of Arizona for the LPGA Tour in 1994, won the Welch's/Circle K Championship on Sunday by beating Pat Hurst on the second hole of a playoff.

The win, Sorenstam's career 19th, put her at 27 points, the Hall's entry-level standard.

"I have to wait another 3½ years anyway (to meet the career requirement), so it's not like right away," she said. "But I've achieved it now. I guess I could take a few years off and come back. But it's exciting to be a part of something, you know, an elite group."

Sorenstam, beaten by Karrie Webb last week in a playoff in Hawaii, shot a 5-under 67. Hurst closed with a 66 to finish 72 holes at a tournament-record 19-under 269. The previous best was Chris Johnson's 272 in 1984.

Sorenstam sank a 4-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole after Hurst had parred it.

"I'm glad that I played so well," said Sorenstam, who skipped Tucson the three previous years. "That I kept my composure under the pressure and finished last week, and then to win this week. I mean, I love the feeling."

Earlier, Sorenstam defused the charge of defending champion Juli Inkster with an eagle and two of her three birdies in the last 10 holes.

Inkster, who qualified for the Hall of Fame last year when she won five times, matched the lowest finishing score ever in the tournament with a 64, and was third at 270 -- her third top-three finish in as many events this year.

Sorenstam improved to 6-3 in playoffs, dropping Hurst, whose last championship was the 1998 Dinah Shore.

The $105,000 first prize increased Sorenstam's earnings to $184,870 and boosted her from 13th to third on the money list, trailing only Webb and Laura Davies.

Dottie Pepper was alone in fourth at 271, one shot ahead of Johnson and Se Ri Pak, who also fired a 64.

Davies, A.J. Eathorne, Michelle McGann, Brandie Burton and Moira Dunn, who shared the third-round lead with Sorenstam, tied for seventh at 273.

It turned out everyone except Hurst had too much ground to make up, especially when Sorenstam holed out from the fairway for an eagle-2 on the ninth hole.

Just before the shot sent Sorenstam to 17 under, Inkster sank a 60-foot putt for birdie on No. 12. She was in the 13th fairway waiting to hit her second shot when the crowd around the ninth green erupted in applause.

Unruffled, Inkster reached the 470-yard, par-5 with her second shot and rolled in a 30-foot, uphill putt for an eagle-3 that tied Sorenstam again.

But Inkster had just one birdie left, and Sorenstam grabbed the lead again when she birdied No. 13, then birdied No. 16 as well.

Hurst, who had one birdie through the first 12 holes, birdied five of the last six to catch up.

"She's tough," Hurst said. "Me, as a player, I have to step it up to a different level when she's ahead. You know, just like Karrie, the same thing."

Sorenstam and Hurst twice played No. 18, a 458-yard par-5, in the playoff. Each birdied it the first time, but on the second run-through, Hurst sliced her drive and wound up on the wrong side of the cart path, almost into a grove of trees.

She had enough room to swing, but her approach shot was short.

"The trees were just kind of hanging down, so I just kept it low," Hurst said. "I didn't think it would check up that much at the front. I thought if I hit it front, it would release, but it kind of just stopped."

Hurst's 60-foot chip for eagle rolled 20 feet past onto the fringe, and her chip back was inches short.

Sorenstam reached the green in two and left herself a 35-foot putt over a knoll. She rolled that one 4 feet past and made the comebacker.