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Tiger Woods called her the best female golfer of all time and rightly so. After all, how many females in golfing history can lay claim to achieving in such a short time everything that Annika Sorenstam has done? And, given who she is to the golfing world, more than one eyebrow shot up in incredulity when Sorenstam announced her retirement in March 2008. What will she do next? Will she still play golf? Where will she go? These are only some of the questions that Sorenstam was pelted with after her dramatic announcement.

Who Is Annika Sorenstam?

Questions followed Sorenstam's decision to retire and rightly so. Upon her retirement at the end of the 2008 LPGA season, Sorenstam had to her name 90 wins in various international tournaments, 72 official LGPA, including ten majors. To date, she is the most successful female golfer in history with the most wins to her name.

Sorenstam turned pro in 1992 and joined the LGPA tour two years later. Since 2006, the Swedish golfer has held dual American and Swedish citizenship and lives in Orlando, Florida. Besides holding various scoring records, Sorenstam went down in history in 2003 as the first woman to play in a men’s event on the PGA tour – a first in 58 years. She missed out in the American Colonial but gained worldwide respect for comporting herself well amidst scrutiny.

On A Gravy Train, From The Bank To The Green

Besides the LPGA tour, Sorenstam competed and won in both the US Women’s Open and the Women British open, taking the 1995, 1996 and the 2006 championships in the former and the 2003 in the latter.

Sorenstam's success doesn't start and end with her club. She raked in tons of money while on the course, topping the money list on the LPGA tour. Her total of over $22 million in earnings is more than $8 million ahead of her closest rivals' money stats. In addition to her golf career, Sorenstam has had endorsement deals, including one with Lexus which included public appearances for the automaker. When she announced her retirement early last year, Sorenstam said she wanted to spend her time concentrating on business and starting a family.

Golf, A Family Affair

Despite both parents having high-powered corporate careers (her father was an executive at IBM and her mother used to work at a bank), Sorenstam was already into sports as a very young child. Her elder sister Charlotta is a professional golfer who taught at her school. Sorenstam, however, only started playing golf at 12. Before trying her hand with golf clubs, Sorenstam played football (soccer) in her hometown, was an excellent skier, and had once been a nationally-ranked junior tennis player. The Sorenstam sisters have both won $1 million on the LPGA tour – the only two sisters to have done so thus far.

Off the course, Sorenstam's interests are in the Annika Golf Academy, a charity foundation, Annika-brand goods, and most recently, golf course design. She has two secret loves as well but few people know about them. Named Denali and Devon, the two canines make Sorenstam light up even while off the green.